FEW BECOME DRUG ADDICTS BY CHOICE

I'm on side with a recent writer's lack of enthusiasm for people using
her front yard as a latrine.

But I'm not onside with the simplistic claim that "people do drugs by
choice." No one makes the conscious choice to be a strung out crack or
a meth addict, desperate heroin addict or alcoholic.

However addicts get started down that path, and many have gone there
to quiet demons or kill the pain from abusive backgrounds, expecting
them to just quit and get lives is unbelievably naive.

This city needs more and better infrastructure right now to deal with
a problem that is not going to go away. It takes a month to get an
appointment with a publicly funded drug and alcohol counsellor. That's
unacceptable.

We need a needle exchange now. We need it in an area that addicts can
easily access.

What about an office in the Blanshard Building that houses the
Ministry of Health?

Diane McNally

Victoria