SO LONG, CRACKHEADS

I live in Mile-End, pretty close to the crackhouse that was written about
in last week's Mirror ["Mile-End smack down," Aug. 21], and I must say I'm
pretty relieved with how quiet it has become of late.

That the police claim the place was selling "mostly marijuana" is laughable
- - if that was the case I'd have been happy to have it around. Unlike the
people who frequented this crackhouse, pot users don't follow you around
begging for money, as one regular did, when he wasn't too high to speak.
Nor do they steal or sell their bodies in public - which I heard about from
several neighbours - to support their habit.

I take the typical attitude of just about anyone with junkies in their
neighbourhood: get them the hell out of here. I realize that these people
are victims of addiction and that kicking them out of one place only pushes
the problem somewhere else - "repression achieves nothing in the long
term," as the article rightly points out. So I hope people can find better
solutions for this problem, but in the meantime, this is my home and I like
feeling safe.

Marc Boudreau