EVIDENCE SHOWS FAILURE AS WELL

RE "It's Cushman's job to crack down on disease" (April 21): It's nice of
you to support Dr. Robert Cushman in his effort to minimized the spread of
disease within the addict community. Ottawa must have the most responsible
drug users in the world! I can just see the drug users delaying their
"fixes" so they can get their new pipe or needle!

Dr. Cushman argues that "medical evidence supports his position" but it is
more likely that "some" medical evidence "may" support his position. I do
not doubt that Dr. Cushman believes in his program so much that he is
willing to ignore all evidence against it. I'm sure he believes in it so
much that he will be ignoring all evidence showing it's failure as well.

As far as his job is concerned, protecting people from themselves should be
a little lower on his priority list.

Gilles L. Deschamps

(Though we don't side with Cushman on this issue, we'd say that's his job,
more or less)