SAFE INJECTION SITES ENABLE ADDICTS

To the editor:

I am struck by two contrasting headlines in recent Vancouver papers.
Vancouver Sun April 12 proclaims: "Nurses help addicts inject heroin." The
April 14 Courier headline declares: "Former ecstasy abuser talks to teens."
The stories expressed two very different views on the treatment and
handling of addiction.

The Vancouver Sun article describes a news conference at which
representatives of AIDS Vancouver and a drug users group endorsed a report
calling for trials of federally funded "safe injection facilities" in
Vancouver and other Canadian cities to help prevent overdoses and the
spread of diseases like AIDS and hepatitis C. The story describes in detail
how the facilities would operate, with trained medical personnel teaching
addicts how to insert the needle correctly for a safe drug injection. Near
the end of the article a short reference is made to counselling and
detoxification treatment.

The story in the Courier is the account of Julian Madigan and his four-year
ordeal abusing ecstasy, speed and marijuana, lasting until age 19. Madigan
is on a speaking tour of Vancouver high schools in which be relates his
story to students. In his words: "I don't tell them not to do it. Just what
can happen when you do, and that it's real misinformation that drugs are
harmless."

It is clear from reading Madigan's story that at the crisis point when he
saw himself reflected in the full-length mirror, he made a conscious
decision to change his life. One cannot imagine how hard it must have been
for him to do so, but he did it. The recent book, Addicted: Notes from the
Belly of the Beast, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, is a
collection of scary and moving essays by prominent Canadian authors, each
suffering from some kind of addiction, who have had the courage to bear
their souls in public and describe how they were able to "kick their habit."

To provide federally funded "safe injection facilities," in my view, is to
place the government in the role of enabling the victim. There are other
alternatives. I would counsel: You do have a choice!

Donna Hossack, Vancouver