NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY ABOUT ADDICTION

For many families, the first thing they know of their child using
heroin is when the police knock on their door to tell them the child
has died of an overdose.

Don't sit there smugly thinking this only happens to other children
and not good children like yours. You are wrong.

There is no section of society that cannot be touched by drugs. The
"just say 'no'" campaign and the push for stiffer penalties are not
working. Children are still dying. Not just losers, but ordinary
children who make an error in judgment.

All teenagers think they are immortal. Those who become addicted are
at great risk of dying. Safe injecting rooms can lessen that risk.
It's all right to think they deserve anything they get because an
addict is often a very difficult person to like, let alone feel sorry
for. But remember that every addict is someone's child. They could be
yours.

Rod Denson,
Point Clare