Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jan 2012
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 John Carsley
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: John Carsley

TRADE ISSUES

Harm reduction is only one element of what we can do to improve the 
health of people who misuse drugs, legal or illegal.

The real problem with spending aimed at fixing the "drug problem" in 
our society is not the very small amount spent on harm reduction. 
It's the hundreds and hundreds of millions spent on futile efforts to 
suppress the drug trade and punish users.

In Vancouver, research on injection drug use has shown clearly that 
supplying clean equipment also creates a link between health workers 
and addicts and a door to detox and other treatment ser-vices.

In any event, the crack kit project is a pilot. Let's see if it works 
before taking an ideological stance.

John Carsley, Vancouver
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D