PRISONERS MUST FACE RESPONSIBILITY

Re: Access to clean needles paramount, editorial, page 8, Nov. 5.

I am appalled at your attitude towards criminals.

You sound like you actually feel sorry for them. You say we should
begin to address this problem as a health issue and we should worry
when these criminals are released.

Well, hello.

Giving drug addicts more drugs and clean needles will not solve this
problem. I agree with Heather Hepburn [Letters, Death, not clean
needles, the solution, Nov. 5] in some respect, when she says, "Using
drugs is a choice and all addicts know the risks." This statement
holds true for addicts everywhere. Enabling a user in or out of prison
is defeating the problem.

What the government should do is supply a nice hard pallet with a dim
bulb, in an eight by 10 room with bread and water three times a day.
Perhaps when these criminals are finally released they will appreciate
that they control their own destiny and to pick up a needle again
could prove fatal.

It really is time to stop feeling sorry for criminals, they have
caused their own problems.

S. Dadswell,

Mission