Only way to get fewer drug users is to offer more treatment
Re: B.C.’s dual health crises lead to more deaths, and more demand for recovery services
It is great to see some attention paid to this very real crisis. The recovery story points to something I think Dr. Bonnie Henry is missing. Making safer drugs available does not make one single less drug user. In fact, I think it encourages more users if there is less risk.
More services that help addicts get clean and more services that turn young people away from this choice are what can make a real difference in the future. This takes a government commitment like we’ve seen with COVID.
Less addiction is really the only possible redemption for these thousands of young lives that have been lost.
Also, the pressure needs to increase on the really bad people that supply drugs and cut them with killer additives.
This situation needs to get turned around. Getting public attention is an important first step.
Glenn Allen, Maple Ridge
A much needed hospice
Re: Delta hospice that refuses to permit Medical Assistance in Dying loses funding
In my opinion, this hospice is the most caring place this side of heaven. Staff and volunteers give from their hearts for the ease of distress and suffering of the patients.
Surely, it is a comfort for a dying patient to feel safe from options other than theirs to be made.
Their families and friends need to feel consoled, too, that there is such a place to carry out their loved one’s wishes. There must be a freedom of choice for all in our many cultures. To take this away would be almost criminal.
I know of what I write, as my family member spent her last days in this haven.
All who visited felt the aura of peace and compassion. To close it would be inhuman and without empathy.
Ruth Enns, Vancouver
Slow down for walkers
A positive through the pandemic has been my long daily walks with my neighbour. But I would like to call to attention to the many drivers who are literally ripping through neighbourhoods at unbelievable speeds.
We have to cross busy Hwy. 10 sometimes at 128 St. sometimes 132 St. We have witnessed people going through these intersections at such speed that it boggles our mind. Why? What is the reason for this? These are residential neighbourhoods you’re flying into. How more people haven’t been killed by you I don’t know. If you’re reading this and this is someone you know, please implore them to consider the danger.
We stand at these intersections talking about how we will react if we are hit. What is the rush? As for the speeders on Hwy. 10, we pray you will be caught and fined, but we rarely see anyone getting pulled over. Slow down. If you like to go fast, join NASCAR, you idiots.
Lisa Sarai, Surrey