SAFE-INJECTION SITES: YES OR NO?

Re: "Injection sites our moral imperative" (Gazette, Dec. 29).

It is quite appropriate that, at this specific time of the year,
columnist Henry Aubin comes out in favour of properly staffed
Montreal injection sites for drug users, even though the use of such
drugs is illegal. Indeed, there is precedence for such action within
our city and province.

We all know that drinking combined with driving is bad, indeed
illegal, if the driver's blood contains too much alcohol, and that
this is more likely to occur at this time of the year, when parties
and family gatherings may lead to excessive drinking. But rather than
just condemn the practice since it is illegal, society has come up
with a means of dealing with the problem: Operation Nez Rouge, a
program in which potential drivers who have consumed too much alcohol
are driven home by sober volunteers. By Dec. 24 this year, 51,602
Quebecers had availed themselves of this service.

Quebecers care about others, and if the over-drinking problem cannot
be solved, at least we have addressed the possible harmful effects of
that problem.

Drug users should expect that same concern, yearlong.

Robert Marcogliese

Montreal