HARM REDUCTION HARDLY A WASTE OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY

To the Editor,

Re: Freebies for addicts wastes tax dollars, Letters, Sept. 22.

J. Sharpe implies that advocates of harm reduction and health service
providers for drug addicts are merely in it for the money.

According to the auditor general, about 85 per cent of our drug
control budget is allocated to law enforcement and interdiction, about
13 per cent is directed toward prevention and treatment, and about two
per cent is invested in harm reduction.

Evidently the greedy do-gooders are in the wrong business.

Studies show that interdiction is the least cost-effective way to
reduce the social costs associated with drug use. Law enforcement is,
on balance, counter-productive.

On the other hand, each dollar invested in prevention, treatment and
harm reduction saves several tax dollars downstream. For example, it
is much less expensive to provide clean syringes than treat Hep-C and
HIV.

With respect to wasting tax dollars, anyone familiar with drugs and
drug policy has much more to complain about than the uninformed
critics of harm reduction.

Matthew M. Elrod

Victoria