Pubdate: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2006 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Russell Barth Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1098/a11.html MORAL VIEWS MUST NOT TRUMP FACTS IN DISEASE PREVENTION Re: Harm reduction wins, abstinence loses, Aug. 19. I have noticed that people who are against needle exchanges, free crack-pipe programs, safe-injection sites, condoms in schools and the like are usually against them for quasi-moralistic or religious reasons. They let their ideologies cloud their views of the facts. Lives are saved, disease spreads more slowly, crime rates go down and society at large benefits from harm reduction. This is not an opinion, it is a documented fact. Every article or report I have read that slams harm reduction ignores all of these facts. Maybe they think that anyone who gets a deadly disease from drug use or non-matrimonial sex deserves it? Then the "immoral" will all perish, and then the "righteous" can inherit the Earth, perhaps? These groups and individuals -- most of whom are connected to the Conservative party, a church, or some other established group with a vested financial interest in the war on drugs -- insist that harm reduction is a myth and a danger to our society. It leads me to wonder just what their motives are, and which side of the law these people are really on. RUSSELL BARTH Ottawa Federal medical marijuana licence holder - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath