METHADONE PROGRAM GAVE ME A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE

Any system designed to help people always has a couple of bad apples
to ruin it for everyone.

As an ex-heroin addict I wouldn't have had the chance for a second
start in life without the methadone program.

I'm now working full time. I don't rely on the government to pick up
the tab on my medicine, nor do I receive any sort of incentive, cash
or otherwise, for my prescription.

Leslie Tannen of the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association
should do her homework before she puts down a great program.

There are biweekly and random urine tests to make sure patients are
not misusing the program, but you can't monitor anything 100 per cent
of the time.

If anything, these ma and pa pharmacies should have more screening to
determine who dispenses the methadone and if they follow correct procedures.

Tannen's comments were insulting -- only a very few abuse the program.

Michael Smith,

Vancouver