REHAB CENTRE SHOULD DO MORE HELP THAN HARM

The Editor,

The first mandate of a physician is to do no harm.

As a compassionate person, I firmly believe in this. However it needs
to be applied fairly to all residents, especially children.

My experience of living in New Westminster for 25 years has given me
insight into what shortsightedness and improper handling of serious
issues can do to a quiet community.

As I mentioned in the beginning I am a compassionate person and I also
had a father struggling with alcoholism. So I know what it means to a
family.

When a group home was opened up for substance abusers, I thought it to
be a good thing. Then another one and so on. Then rehab centres were
added. In time, the effect of the chronic relapse syndrome started to
take its toll.

Relapse statistics are high.

Of course, the person will move into the community after
rehabilitation is not successful since he or she is used to the area.
Some friends who are into drugs will visit or drug dealers will come
to supply their customers. This is where the problem grows. Now New
Westminster is trying to cope with crime, drug dealers and
prostitution.

The SkyTrain station on 10th Street is a well-known trouble spot
because of drug dealers.

The neighbourhood of Queens Park, where I lived at the time, has to be
patrolled by the police constantly because of break-ins. My neighbours
were broken into three times in one year since they did not have an
alarm. We had two big dogs and an alarm. At 2 p.m. on a Sunday
afternoon, I witnessed one such break-in while I was home by myself. I
immediately called the police.

The parks and schoolyards are littered with needles and pills. A
friend who is a janitor at a school always laments about the troubles.
I could go on and on about the negative effects rehabs have on a quiet
residential area.

Rehabs have to be placed and operated in an appropriate setting. The
home at 8180 Ash St. is not the place to put a 40-bed rehabilitation
centre.

In the process of helping one person, it is unfair to jeopardize the
safety of 10 innocent children.

I spoke to business owners in the Garden City mall and was informed
that a few years ago, a small group home in the same location caused
them a lot of grief. Crime and drug dealing increased. The group home
was shut down. If a small group home increased the problems in the
neighbourhood, what is a larger rehab centre going to do?

There has to be a better approach to assisting substance abusers.
Richmond always impressed me since it was so well run. This is the
reason I moved here.

Let us be at the forefront of finding better solutions and not
repeating the mistakes of other cities and municipalities.

B. Hodges,

Richmond