Pubdate: Thu, 02 May 2002
Source: Abbotsford News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Hacker Press Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.abbynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1155
Author: Gertie Pool
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DETOX CENTRE IS NEEDED, BUT NOT DOWNTOWN

Editor, The News:

Detox treatment centre?

Yes.

In down town Abbotsford?

No!

It was great to hear so many people express their concerns for the 
Abbotsford downtown area during a meeting last month.

It was most enlightening and encouraging to hear Const. Denys Scully, 
chairman of the Integrated Services Team, explain the programs they've put 
in place already to help rebuild the integrity of the Abbotsford downtown 
core area.

Scully also gave a great eye opener regarding the present problems in the area.

I totally agree with Abbotsford Downtown Business Association executive 
director Mary Reeves that the downtown core is not the right location for a 
detox centre.

As she says: " . . . if we care at all about these people we'll want to 
preserve them from it, not put them in the middle of it."

Putting a detox centre right in the middle of the place where addicts have 
fed and fostered their bad habits would be insane and void of any common 
sense.  There are much more suitable locations in the area.

I believe there is no other society that does more for the needy than the 
Salvation Army has done for many years.

The Salvation Army deserves the highest of praise. But the rehabilitation 
of people addicted to drugs has far more strings attached to it than the 
handlings of some of the other physical aspects of their problems.

The federal government is planning to spend $250,000 for the installation 
of a lighting system at a baseball diamond at Mountain Institution in 
Agassiz. Surely, they must be wise enough to fairly divide our hard-earned 
tax dollars and help us fund a much-needed detox and treatment centre, 
don't you agree?

The time to point out how bad the situation is in downtown Abbotsford is 
long gone. The downtown core is deteriorating fast.

People's lives and children as young as eight are being abused and 
destroyed because of our apathy for the less fortunate.

It is the duty of a caring society to enlighten and show a better way of 
living to those in society whose early beginnings in life began and were 
fostered in the suburbs of hell.

Perhaps it is time that the conglomerate of "Bible Belt" Christians take 
stock as to the purpose of living in the hub of a drug addicted area.

The Valley is blessed with numerous "woe" callers who never lift a finger. 
What we need is to get those immobile "woe" callers off the fences to begin 
to exercise genuine compassion with constructive initiatives towards 
helping those in need.

Showing true compassion often needs far more then a hug and talk only.

Mary Reeves's attitude towards the complex problems in the Abbotsford 
downtown core is filled with genuine compassion for all concerned.

It is people the likes of Reeves, Const. Scully and Uultsje De Jong that 
give people new hope where there was none before.

Please keep up the good work!

Gertie Pool, Abbotsford
- ---
MAP posted-by: Ariel