DRUG ADDICTS HAVE NO DESIRE TO CHANGE

RE "City soon to offer addicts free gear (Oct. 8): Handing out drug
paraphernalia to addicts in the hopes that it will stem the spread of
HIV and hepatitis C is pure insanity!

What the government is really doing is condoning these people's
sickness by offering them more druggie tools (tourniquets,
drug-cooking spoons and mouthpieces for crack pipes), to keep these
lost souls stationed where they are in life, be it homeless,
unemployed or in and out of jail (or all three).

The fact is that a lot of drug addicts have no desire to change and
therefore, it's a waste of our taxpayers' money to freely hand them
druggie gear when it will do nothing more than perpetuate their
condition. Because of the many public awareness campaigns about the
dangers of sharing equipment, there is simply no excuse for someone
being dumb enough, in 2004, to share needles with other drug users,
knowing full well the potential consequences. Then when they come down
with HIV or hepatitis C, we are supposed to foot the tax bill for
their medical treatment.

Giving drug paraphernalia to an addict, in order to help them quit,
makes no sense whatsoever. It's akin to handing out chocolate eclairs
to obese people, in order to help them lose weight.

Jacqueline Verville

(We can't say the analogy works for us -- you can't get HIV or hep C
from a dirty eclair)