Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2010 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Ken Armstrong A HUMAN SIDE TO THE DRUG PROBLEM Re: Special report: Ottawa's dirty little secret, June 19 to 24. I read the excellent and balanced series the Citizen has run on the crack cocaine situation in Ottawa. I live in the ByWard Market area and I see daily the drug's effects on the addicts and on the community. I've come to know several homeless addicts in the market area. All of them believe that most members of the public see them as disposable, if they see them at all. It saddens me though to see such a dismissive reaction of so many people to those whose lives are being ruined by drug addiction. I am offering a challenge to your readers to have another look at the addict. I'll introduce you to someone I have had dozens of conversations with over the last three years. Sarah (not her real name) is 20 years old and has lived a quarter of her life on the streets within a stone's throw of The Shepherds of Good Hope. She left home at age 15 to escape the physical and sexual abuse of her father and her uncles. Within two days of arriving in the ByWard Market area, Sarah was addicted to crack cocaine. Now she steals, panhandles, and sells her body to support her habit. The tracks on her arms and legs are the result of abscesses from injecting, and there are neat rows of self-inflicted knife scars running from wrist to elbow on both of her arms. Each scar is a cry for help. She is homeless, she has mental health issues and she is loved by nobody. Not the dealers who sell her crack, not the men who pay for her services and certainly not the authorities. She is a nuisance, she is an inconvenience and yes, she breaks the law. But if you were to see her sitting in a heap on the sidewalk, please don't ignore her as you might be inclined to do. Look into her sad, desperate eyes and summon up the courage to smile and ask her if she is OK. She's 20 years old and nobody loves her. Surely you can grant her a kind word and a friendly face. I'd like people to be less judgmental. I always give them a loonie or a toonie despite what the police chief says. If it helps them get through another day in less pain, then so be it. Sarah has always lived in Ottawa. I asked her if she was better off in her current circumstances than with her parents and she said she definitely was. She sees no future for herself. I'm hoping if people treat her and other homeless people less like garbage some of them may feel a greater sense of self-worth and make the difficult decision of trying to change their lives. Ken Armstrong, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Matt Elrod