DRUG WOES NOTHING NEW

All of a sudden, it seems that drugs are damaging families. Young people
who are using crystal meth are "dropping out of school and employment" and
are putting their lives in danger.

That's what has been happening in our inner cities for years with drugs of
other names and descriptions! We've attended wake after wake of young
people in our neighbourhood who have lost their battle with drugs and
alcohol. Crystal meth is a terrible drug, I agree, but it is just one
additional scourge in our neighbourhood.

Where have our politicians been when we've cried out for help? Do our kids
matter? Or are our youth seen as having no future anyway, so that it
doesn't matter what happens to them? When politicians talk about our youth,
it is most often from a law-and-order perspective rather than from a
helping point of view.

Maybe it is only children who are Caucasian and from middle- and
upper-class families who can catch the attention of our mayor and
Saskatchewan Party politicians, as crystal meth makes their drug problems
more visible.

I, too, care about your children and the damaging effects of crystal meth
on their lives. I just want you to know that our youth are just as precious
to us as yours are to you.

Margaret Pelletier

Regina