INJECTION SITES DON"T PREVENT DRUG USE

I am writing this in response to your column supporting Insite (Time
running out for injection site, Progress, Aug. 15). Not one person has
quit heroin despite the fact the proponents of the site said that was
one of the main goals of setting it up in the first place. The alleys
nearest the clinic have heroin users injecting and crackheads smoking
and dealers most times of the day and used needles are commonly found
in the area. The junkies are so ashamed of themselves and their
behaviour not one would allow you to use their name for
publication.

The money spent on the site would be better spent on a traditional
heroin detox centre or being used to keep the Carnegie Centre and
Gathering Place open longer. Both facilities are heavily used by the
seniors and poor of the Downtown South-Downtown Eastside area.

I fully support mandatory minimum sentences for heroin possession and
dealing as well as cocaine and meth dealing and possession. Since the
injection site lobby has gained credence with politicians there has
been lobbying for a safe injection site for meth users. By closing the
existing site a message will be sent that safe injection sites for
meth users is a no go for the federal government and hopefully the
provincial government will lose any interest in it.

A heroin injection site along with a meth injection site might come to
Chilliwack one day if the one in the Downtown Eastside is not shut
down.

GREG CARR

Vancouver, BC