DO WE HAVE COURAGE TO CARE?

A decision by the city of Kamloops to open a safe-injection site will
require courage, compassion and the willingness to do the right thing
in the face of public opposition.

The decision will probably not gain any votes for politicians who
support it or win popularity contests for the organization that
implements it, but an injection site, like the water plant, is
becoming a question of life and death.

People are dying from overdoses and unclean needles at alarming rates.
A safe-injection site will help slow the number of deaths.

Personally, I like the approach of Amsterdam - a place where
prostitution and soft drugs have been legalized - and I think the
inevitability of the legalization of both in Canada will happen during
my lifetime.

Drugs are a lifestyle choice and neither an increase in the number of
police officers or draconian prison sentences by judges will change
that.

This is obvious to anyone who studied the failed and disastrous
effects of the war on drugs south of the border.

If you doubt my assessment of the effectiveness of the war-like
efforts to stem the public's use of illegal drugs in the United
States, just visit Florida and quiz the guards and wardens about the
effectiveness of harsh prison sentences for drug users - chaos.

It is unlikely that anyone "wants" a safe-injection site in Kamloops,
but some people realize the necessity of having a facility here.

There is a problem with drug overdoses, trafficking and discarded
needles in the Kamloops' area.

People make poor decisions; sometimes those decisions area unhealthy
and result in life-threatening problems for the decision-maker.

The results of peoples' poor decisions spill over into the community
they live in, and their decisions begin to affect the quality of life
of those around them.

When these problems arise, civic leaders are asked to respond to the
concern. Often, the response is as unpopular as the problem itself. A
safe-injection site is a reasonable response to a public problem.

It is unlikely a facility in the Kamloops area will result in the
decline of quality of life for people living here.

In fact, I would argue residents can expect a dramatic improvement in
the quality of life if their neighbourhood is one where discarded
needles are commonplace.

Those with an addiction problem will have a place to inject drugs
safely and receive counselling and/or possible treatment.

Residents will no longer have to deal with the fear of themselves, or
their children being poked with a contaminated needle.

They will no longer have to witness the unspeakable tragedy of having
to watch someone shoot-up in back-alley squalour.

The hysteria about the fear that such a site will attract junkies from
everywhere - wherever everywhere might be - or encourage the use of
heroin among non-users is unreasonable.

Ignorance is dangerous and inhibits evolution and progress in society.
We are witnessing ignorance in the response of some community members
to gay marriage, and, now, are seeing the trend continued with an
uneducated response to safe-injection sites.

I'm proud of Kamloops and Canada when we choose education over
ignorance, compassion over cruelty and action instead of apathy.

I applaud Mayor Mel Rothenburger (Oh yeah, everyone should lighten up
on the statue thing, he was just fooling around and demonstrating that
he has a sense of humour) for his willingness to engage in dialogue
and discussion around such a controversial matter.

* Dave Gracey is a former Kamloops city councillor. His column appears
Sundays.