HOUSING FOR JUNKIES WOULD JOIN LIST OF FAILED PROJECTS

Re: Making it easier for addicts not the answer, Voice of the People, March 2

Bravo to letter writer Barry O'Regan for stating the obvious,
inconvenient truth. If anything, he understates the case when he
suggests that by enabling dysfunctional and illegal behaviour,
well-meaning politicians "will some day" turn Vancouver into a Mecca
for druggies. That happened long ago.

Furthermore, confiscating earnings from law-abiding citizens of low
and modest means to fund illegal, dysfunctional behaviour and reward
addicts with free housing is worse than ineffective and
counter-productive; it's immoral. It reinforces negative behaviour
and punishes positive behaviour. Housing for junkies would join a
long list of expensive, inefficient and even counter-productive
government programs that undermine the nuclear family, one of the
true but largely unspoken main root causes of the mess Vancouver
finds itself in today.

Louis Paquette

Vancouver