'IT'S A SHAME DEPORTEES AREN'T ESCORTED TO PLANE'

The Wednesday Province articles on missing immigrants and foreign drug
dealers involved in recent police sweeps blended two separate issues together.

As far as I know, most of the foreigners living and working illegally in
Canada are Americans, which makes an estimation of the numbers much more
difficult.

In regards to the foreign drug dealers, many of these individuals are at
the bottom of the drug food chain and can easily be replaced in the
supply-and-demand nature of the drug industry.

Many of them are addicted, with complex mental-health and settlement issues
that may be a direct result of their experience with wars, forced
displacement and civil unrest.

As a proud Canadian and "model" immigrant, I hope that we strive to deal
with the root of our social circumstances in a compassionate and humanistic
manner by providing adequate support services for those suffering from
addiction.

The overemphasis on law enforcement and policing merely masks the real
problems.

Cynthia Low,

Vancouver