Vonnie Lavers is the B.C. Green Party candidate for the Boundary Similkameen riding. We have begun to figure out that addicts have illness. Their illness is exploited by criminals. We know that where there is addiction there is desperation. Impoverished addicts may commit crime to obtain money to buy their drug. What addicts obtain on the street is unregulated and too frequently deadly. The toll of misery extends from the individual and the family through the medical system and the criminal justice system. [continues 145 words]