NEWS ASKS THE ADDICTS: WHAT'S BEST?

It's been a political hot potato in Abbotsford for weeks and the crux of
the debate is: What is best for the addict?

The Salvation Army, with its long legacy of caring for the down-and-out,
wants to help addicts by building a 10-bed transient shelter and a bridge
house with low-cost housing for recovering addicts in downtown Abbotsford
at its Cyril Street Care and Share facility.

The Abbotsford Downtown Business Association, also showing compassion for
addicts, says it should not be located downtown, because it would drag the
addicts back into the drug pit, with its close proximity to the bars,
drug-using prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and other drug users.

What is best for the addict?

Some 50 addicts and alcoholics at Kinghaven Treatment Centre agreed to an
interview on Thursday afternoon and answered the question.

They didn't mince words.

They are overwhelmingly against a transient shelter and a bridge house
located in downtown Abbotsford. About two-thirds were opposed and one-third
approved.

During the course of the interview, 48 men were polled: 31 said the Sally
Ann proposal in the downtown location would be disaster for them, 17 said
it would be okay.

The Abbotsford News makes no claim this is a scientific study, but the
survey is a representative sample of addicts. They ranged from addicts from
Cordova Street in Vancouver, to a 19-year-old boy who lives on Homeview
Street in Abbotsford.

The men, of various ages, did not know the question the Abbotsford News
would pose to them until the interview started.

Milt Walker, executive director of Kinghaven, noted that two-thirds of the
addicts surveyed said a downtown location would not be good for a recovery
bridge house and he believes it is a fair and representative view.

"If you had 500 men, I believe the answer would be the same," said Walker.