AN EASY FIX

The Vancouver safe injection site is once again in the news since the
B.C. Supreme Court has given it exemption from federal drug laws
until June this year.

Most of the medical profession, including Dr. David Bowering, medical
officer for Northern Health, claim users get clean needles, reduce
the risk of spreading disease, and get a safe place to shoot up with
a nurse standing by.

The rationale seems to be that there will always be drug users; we'll
never get rid of the problem. So the simplest way is to assist them
in continuing their dangerous lifestyle, while detox takes a back
seat. Once in an enabling, nonjudgmental atmosphere, few, if any,
think of quitting. They just want their next fix. One blog defined
the site as responsible for state-sponsored suicide.

Dr. Bowering is very careful to indicate that the site does not
provide drugs to users. Cute. So no responsibility rests within the
site. The onus is totally on the user to get the drug. How he/she
gets the drug doesn't seem to matter.

The tiny problem, of course, is that whatever the drug of choice is,
it's technically illegal. So, then, how does a penniless addict get
the money to pay for the drug? You guessed it. He resorts to crime:
break and enter homes or vehicles, snatch-and-grabs, etc.

Of course, drug dealers love the idea of the injection site. They
feed off the addicts and all in one convenient place.

Let's clarify addiction versus disease. Drug use is an addiction,
just like smoking, drinking, gambling, etc. An addiction is a
personal choice previously made by the person addicted. A disease may
strike anyone, even without their knowledge.

If the medical establishment is so concerned about drug addiction,
why aren't they also doing something about other addictions? For
example, alcoholism, eating disorders, pedophilia?

A major reason why this injection site was created is the drug
problem is so evident. One wag's renaming: Main and Hastings equals
pain and wasting. It's given Vancouver a black eye; the community
fathers were embarrassed. Now with the support of most of the
medical establishment, it's politically correct to get on the safe
site bandwagon.

But the doctors forgot about their Hippocratic oath, defining their
ethical responsibilities. Under their tutelage, nothing has changed.
Addicts are condemned to a life of emaciation and sickness. They
shuffle through east Vancouver's putrid streets like zombies. The
scene is reminiscent of a Kafkaesque nightmare.

Marilyn Juds

Prince George