Pubdate: Tue, 29 Jul 2008
Source: Richmond News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.richmond-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244
Author: Elise Emnacen
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n671/a09.html

ADDICTS CAN BE ANYONE

The Editor,

RE: "Recovery not for my neighbourhood," News, Letters, July 11.

Guess what, Dezmond Mok, all of Richmond is your neighbourhood, as it is mine.

I acknowledge the concern for a 32-bed recovery home rather than a 
more discreet 10-bed facility coming into any neighbourhood. However, 
I would rather have a monitored, strictly regulated facility where 
the staff and clients know they have to keep their noses clean or 
risk of being shut down by the community and local government than a 
home that has been turned into a grow-op or chemical lab.

Which one do you think would be more concerned about its neighbours 
and being neighbourly? What do you think a recovering addict looks 
like? Unkempt and unbathed? Shaven and tattooed? Clean cut and well 
dressed? Well-groomed and well-spoken?

A person with an addiction can be anyone -- even the gainfully 
employed decent looking person who lives down the street from you or 
the stay-at-home caregiver whose yard is kitty-corner to yours.

Help should be available when these unseen addicted persons admit 
that they need help.

To continue this NIMBY campaign, Richmond citizens are abandoning 
those who have cried out for help.

According to your letter, what is important to the members of "The 
Caring Citizens of Richmond" are their property values and the 
preservation of their own pocket neighbourhood that has no interest 
in the whole of Richmond, and not interested in the value of 
compassion, understanding and the building of a healthy, integrated community.

Elise Emnacen,

Richmond
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom