DRUG STRATEGY MUST DO MORE THAN PLAY TO THE PEANUT GALLERY

Re: Insite raises use of detox, report says, May 25

As a nurse who works in the inner city of Vancouver, I am constantly
surrounded by people experiencing unimaginable suffering and pain as
they live with the scourge of addiction. I hope that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper, as he unveils his drug policy initiative, doesn't
forget that needle exchanges save lives, and that the supervised
injection site has a role to play in a comprehensive drug strategy
that's made in Canada.

A naive, simplistic and politically motivated plan, designed to please
the peanut gallery, will ultimately cost the lives of hundreds of
human beings. It will put us back into the Dark Ages where we resort
to using leeches to treat infection, and lobotomies to cure mental
illness. Let's hope that the gains we have made in treating humanity
as being worthy of real treatment will last. Now, I fear that fear
itself will lead us back into the cave.

Kim Markel

Vancouver