HANDING OUT CRACK-PIPE KITS IS A HUMAN APPROACH

Re: 'VIHA attempts to start up city crack-pipe kit program' (Daily News,
July 15)

Once again the same tired old arguments have been used with regards to
crack-pipe distribution with the one exception being Coun. Fred
Pattje. The problem of two years ago continues to be raised -- don't
you think it is time that it was buried and that we start looking at
saving lives and the spread of illness as result of sharing drugs?

The sad part of the whole "War on Drugs" is all the faulty perceptions
associated with the "harm" that drugs do -- harm that is in large part
directly due to their illegality.

The other side to this enforced ignorance is the lack of information
on addictive behavior, and safer medical/biochemical alternatives to
the current drugs being used.

Addiction is not just about drug use. Nor is it just a problem with
the poor, or the outcasts of society. It is a wide range of behaviours
that cuts across all lines and social boundaries. This information can
have enormous impact on the future of harm reduction and offers an
alternative political approach to addiction that the public can
readily accept.

This is information that deserves to be looked at, and implemented in
our approach to drug use. Jails and prisons are not an answer. Let's
face long-standing facts and open our minds to a more humane approach.

Gordon Youngman

Nanaimo