DRUG ADDICTS NEED COMPASSION

Dear Editor:

Wallace G. Craig's article Insite Should be Closed Now (North Shore
News, June 13) perpetuates the war on drugs. Obviously he has never
spent much time with a drug addict and has no idea how painful,
embarrassing and difficult drug addiction is.

Most drug addiction is not about choice -- about two per cent of the
population will always be drug addicts. This is a medical issue, not a
legal one. Addicts are sick people and whether they live in the
Downtown Eastside or in West Vancouver, they all deserve medical care.

At Insite they not only have a safe and supervised place to inject,
they also have access to counselling, detox and rehab. If you live in
West Vancouver you have enough money to pay for all that privately.

If all drugs were legal and available like cigarettes and alcohol (our
legal drugs) then there would be no potency or "bad drug" issues and
we would not need places like Insite.

I suggest Wallace go and spend a couple of days and nights on the
streets of the Downtown Eastside. The poorest, most abused and saddest
people of our nation live there. They do not need more scorn heaped on
them but love and compassion to help them escape that hell hole. At
least Insite is a start.

Sita von Windheim,

Vancouver