GOD IS GOOD FOR THOSE BATTLING ADDICTION

Editor, the Times:

Robert Rock, you are aptly named. Whatever happened to cause you to
become so hard-hearted towards those who have made unfortunate
choices in their lives? Surely you would not pretend to have never
taken a wrong turn at some point in your life? First, you profess
concern for addicts being victimized by Christians and then in the
next breath you say you don't care about them. Your final position is
that the government should protect society from them. It sounds as
though you have been hurt by them and possibly the church as well.

For this I am truly sorry. God does love you and sometimes we
Christians fail to really demonstrate this. However, as we are also
addressing literacy, may I recommend the book "Chasing the Dragon" by
Jackie Pullinger. You will find it most enlightening. God sent a 20
year old music major to the most notorious drug den on earth; the
Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. She was armed with an oboe and her
belief in God.

This woman's work with addicts and their families in a city run by
the most dangerous triad resulted in thousands of addicts becoming
drug free, law enforcement being changed, the end of the walled city
and precedent setting court cases that triad members did not belong
to gangs for life.

She accomplished what the government and professional agencies could not.

I have friends who received professional support and are now addicted
to methadone instead of heroin. They rue the day they listened to
these professionals. The Chinese government also uses methadone while
Pullinger and her squad of former addicts help current addicts go
through withdrawal without drugs. St. Stephen's Society has been
operating since 1966 with such a great degree of success that they
have now been invited to come into mainland China to assist with the
problems there.

I invite you to step outside your narrow focus and gain some real
insight into what moves people to change, both addicts and those who
work with them. True power to inspire change, whether you are a
professional or an oboe player, is love. I hope you will find love in
your life for yourself and others. It is the only thing that makes
life worth living.

Aeriol Alderking,

Abbotsford