READERS URGE FORWARD-THINKING SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF DRUG ABUSE

Re: Provide drugs to addicts, mayor says, April 21

I work for a non-profit organization in the Downtown Eastside and I
see young girls prostituting themselves on the street daily. Even the
coldest individual would have compassion for these girls. I can't
help but think that it could have been me. I look into their eyes and
they are lost, cold, scared and numbed by the horrible and
dehumanizing effects of street drugs.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is a courageous and forward-thinking man
who is not stuck in the mindset of the past, and who views every
person as having a soul, granting them dignity, compassion and
respect. That's something we should all do. I don't buy the argument
that these people chose to be in such a despairing situation. That's
an easy way to blame them rather than to take responsibility for the
dismal shape of our supposedly "developed" society.

The world is changing and if we don't listen to the needs of our
fellow humans we will all suffer. Perhaps we too have "weaknesses"
that make us vulnerable to losing control over our lives, the
difference being we are much better at hiding them.

Julie Hughes

Vancouver