DEALING WITH ADDICTS

Re: Addicts Are Not Criminals, Adam Radwanski, Sept. 5.

In an otherwise thoughtful column, typical of his style, Adam
Radwanski succumbs to the flawed statistics dispensed by the operators
of Vancouver's safe injection site.

He repeats the claim that "thousands of referrals" have been made to
get addicts into treatment. Using his figure of 600 daily visits to
the site, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority issued a report last
year stating that there are more than 18,000 addicts in the Lower
Mainland and that the "majority" congregate on Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside. If we cut that number by a third, to 12,000, it means the
600 addicts visiting the injection site represent less than 5% of the
addicts in the city. But even that is generous.

Heroin addicts generally shoot up three times a day. If addicts are
going to the site for all of their fixes, then it may be reaching as
little as 200 out of 12,000. The Chief of Police has expressed support
for the injection site, but the members of the Vancouver Police
Association have formally expressed non-confidence in his view. That's
because cops know that for every one of those 600 daily fixes,
something was stolen.

Addiction is indeed a sickness, and a health crisis. Surely then we
need hard evidence of the efficacy of treatment before funding vague
experiments. Effective drug treatment should be measurable in terms of
prolonged abstinence and a return to a healthy, productive lifestyle.

If a junkie continues to use drugs and steals in order to support his
habit, I take no consolation in knowing that he might be having a
weekly one-hour chat with a counsellor and otherwise lounging around
his tax-supported room.

Victor Godin, Vancouver.