NEEDLE EXCHANGE LOCATION VERY FAR FROM IDEAL

Re: 'Needle exchange plan draws MLA's fire' (Daily News, Dec. 12)

I was at the same meeting on Wednesday morning as was Jane Templeman
and I read her statements in your article. She must have been at some
other meeting because she got an earful from each and every resident,
business and property owner present.

The way our city hall has handled this, one has to wonder if we as
citizens of Nanaimo can expect a needle exchange to be located next to
every school in Nanaimo, since this proposed location is next to a
school.

Nanaimo and the Port Authority are about to spend $50 million on new
dock facilities to handle the cruise ships visiting Nanaimo. The
cruise ship industry considers a needle exchange as a "red zone." This
means that all cruise ship passengers will be told not to enter one of
these areas. The red zone will be plainly marked on the city map given
to each passengers disembarking in Nanaimo.

We do appreciate the hard work that MLA Ron Cantelon is doing on our
behalf but at the same time we are considering legal action to stop
this as well.

These so-called happy neighbours talked about in the news article are
the very same ones willing to hire a law firm to fight this. We are
also disappointed in the city officials who chose to be a part of this
secret process.

Wes Strickland

Nanaimo