WAR ON DRUGS HAS NO WINNERS

Having done two studies on the Downtown Eastside drug culture, I found
the Odd Squad's documentary, Through a Blue Lens, a compelling and
accurate portrait. However, I must agree with Ian Mulgrew's
questioning of the efficacy of the film's message (Up close and
personal, Entertainment, Dec. 7). I think the officers and their
National Film Board sponsors have missed the mark regarding their
intended audience.

The "fate worse than death" implication of the film will do little to
dissuade youngsters from being lured to the streets. We have far too
much evidence that such behaviours are undertaken with an attitude of
invulnerability -- "Sure it happened to those losers, but it would
never happen to me."

Instead, I think the importance of the footage is in the way it
humanizes, albeit barely, the faces of addiction. It is difficult to
imagine people sitting in their comfortable middle-class living room
watching this and not being touched by the fragility of their own
condition. I bet that almost all parents who see it will feel a sense
of panic about their own children.

Perhaps with this awareness that drug addicts are people who come from
real families with real, caring mothers and sisters and brothers, we
will begin to see more acceptance for treating them as humans, victims
of a debilitating condition rather than as criminals.

Richard Floyd Chair, Department of Sociology/Anthropology Kwantlen
University College