REAL ISSUE GETS LOST WHEN MUD IS THROWN

Ann Livingston of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users isn't
doing her cause much good by verbally abusing the people she seeks to persuade.

Earlier this week, Livingston was one of several activists who held a
protest in Abbotsford to denounce that community's long-standing
policy of banning needle exchanges.

Among her comments were, "Council looks pretty stupid" and "You can
be a complete nutbar and control a municipality and introduce these
weird ideological things."

These kinds of comments, especially over such an emotionally charged
issue as lobbying for a needle exchange in a famously conservative
community, are counterproductive. Is Livingston suggesting she's less
"ideological?" Should her views be as equally dismissed as "stupid"
or the ramblings of a "nutbar"?

What gets lost in the rhetoric is the fact that more than 20 years of
research has concluded that needle exchanges are a good thing.
Overall, they tend to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C and
other less-serious infections. Given that the current estimated
lifetime cost to B.C. taxpayers of caring for an HIV/ AIDS patient is
$375,000, politicians of all political, religious or ethical views
should agree prevention is the cheapest option.

Urban sprawl and affordable housing are going to keep bringing
big-city woes to the Fraser Valley. Residents and politicians there
can't just stick their heads in their famously black loam and pretend
otherwise. Drug addicts are just people with a problem who need our
kindness and help, not shunning.