KNIGHT SHOULD TRY WALKING WITH DRUG USERS

Dear Editor:

It is appalling that Leo Knight tried to ridicule drug users (Junkies Lobby
Against Drug Enforcement, March 26) by suggesting that they don't deserve
to be called a special interest group. Let me ask Knight a question: If you
can't see it, does it mean that it doesn't exist? The premise that a
stronger police presence and harsher sentences would solve most of the
problems in the Downtown Eastside is ridiculous. By incarcerating drug
users, you're not helping them get off the streets. While I'm not
suggesting that enforcement isn't an integral pillar in the solution to the
problems in that community, it only makes sense to phase in the other three
pillars at the same time.

Drug users don't want to be drug users. It's not an issue of "Hey, I like
it here on the streets." It's an issue of "Hey, I've got nowhere to go."
The streets, for most, are a last resort. Can they get meaningful
employment? Well, I'm not too sure that your average manager at Starbucks
would hire someone living on the streets. If your sons or daughters are
having difficulty getting that first job, imagine how hard it would be for
a homeless person.

One thing that upsets me about many North Shore residents such as Knight,
is that their isolated location from the Downtown Eastside and their
higher-than-average incomes (averaging over $58,000 a year) and standards
of living make them forget that poverty, especially in the Downtown
Eastside (average wage about $12,000 a year), exists every day, not just
those days when they decide to cross Burrard Inlet.

Does Knight truly believe that Premier Campbell and his B.C. Liberals would
"shovel money" at B.C. Persons With Aids, YouthCo and AIDS Vancouver to
help those who need it most? The B.C. Liberal agenda does not provide for
the poorest in this province - it saddens me, even more so since Premier
Campbell is, for now, my MLA.

The last thing that I have to ask is whether Knight has taken a trip to the
Downtown Eastside lately. If not, I'd invite him to spend an hour talking
to its residents.

An aboriginal saying notes: "Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their
shoes." Taking that into mind, I think very few of us deserve to judge
chronic drug users.

Michael Kushnir, Vancouver