A FIX NEEDED?

Re: "New Habits," September 16-22

Thanks for the great front page and follow-up article on David
Mitchell. It does show what is possible. Imagine if we used the money
to keep one addict in jail-close to $100,000 per person a year-and
used it instead to support projects such as the Vancouver Island
Addiction Recovery Society.

I am aware of one such person who was incarcerated at William Head.
In our Restorative Justice circle, he mentioned he was our "million
dollar man." As a heroin addict, allergic to methadone, he was unable
to kick his habit; doctors refused to give him an option to
methadone, so he kept being sent back to prison. His "crime" was that
of breaching the conditions of his parole.

It seems to me that a million dollars could be better spent for
restorative programs. A million dollars of taxpayers' money keeping
one person in prison for non-violent offences is a waste on all
counts. It is not more prisons that we need.

Joanna Wilkinson,
Victoria