ABSTINENCE-BASED PROGRAM TAPS HUMAN NATURE

To the editor:

Re: "The Last Door," April 10.

The Courier article on the abstinence-based Last Door recovery
program was terrific, well-written, on point and gutsy. You dared to
take on the politically correct sacred cow of "harm reduction."

Director Dave Pavlus hit a nail on the head when he said there is so
much money in it--all the funding for favoured approaches.

Who dares to question a system that keeps them in work, regardless of
what may be best for addicts?

The risk factors that lead someone to abuse are the same regardless
of the substance, and the "gateway" drugs of alcohol, tobacco and
marijuana have never changed.

Certainly there is a measured place for "harm reduction," but it
should never be uttered among the youth who have yet to make
lifestyle decisions. It society's job to reach them before they need
to even consider minimizing destructive habits.

Anyone who assumes that we are all prone to substance abuse,
incapable of abstinence, and should raise a white flag to the
possibility of reform, has a woefully cynical view of human nature.

Jay Niver, Port Coquitlam