Pubdate: Mon, 08 May 2000
Date: 05/08/2000
Source: Herald Sun (Australia)
Author: Name supplied
Note: Headline supplied by newshawk

I READ "Sick kids before addicts" (Herald Sun, May 2). I too am deeply
moved at the sight of so many children, like my son, suffering
life-threatening conditions with little funding available to assist.

My son is a heroin addict. He, and others suffering the same illness,
deserve a chance at life.

The government has been too slow in providing funding for these sick
children. If my son suffered a more socially acceptable illness, the
public would have reached into its pockets long ago.

You have time to write to newspaper columns, but obviously no time to
read the facts on heroin addiction publicised in the same newspaper.

It's time you got your priorities right -- everyone deserves equal
rights to medical research and treatment.

No one chooses to become an addict. I hope this terrible illness never
touches your family as it has mine.

Name supplied, Cranbourne