TOUGH-ON-DRUGS SOLUTION MISGUIDED

Editor, The Star:

MP Randy White has some valid concerns regarding Vancouver's safe-injection
site. His tough-on-drugs solution, however, is misguided.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant
only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. In terms of addictive
drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

Safe-injection sites are merely a step in the right direction.

In addition to reducing the spread of HIV and the incidence of overdose
deaths, safe-injection sites serve as a bridge to drug treatment for an
especially hard to reach population. Unfortunately, they do absolutely
nothing to undermine the volatile heroin trade.

The only way to eliminate street-level drug dealing is to make it
unprofitable. Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to
reduce drug-related disease, death and crime among chronic users.

Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for zero tolerance laws that
restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they be committing crimes if
not for artificially inflated black market prices.

Providing chronic addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting
eliminates much of the problems associated with heroin use.

The success of the Swiss trials has led to pilot heroin maintenance
programs in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription
heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base.
This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future
generations of addiction.

Putting public health before politics may send the wrong message to
children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message.

ROBERT SHARPE,
Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, DC