To the editor:
Re: Rash of Drug Overdoses Speeding Up Needing for Local Safe Injection Site, Aug. 10 Kelowna Capital News.
What a terrible message Interior Health is giving to our youth, not only that intravenous drug use is OK but come on down to their site and they’ll supply the equipment and show you how to use it.
What happens after the addict gets high? Do the nurses drive them home or just put them on their bikes or behind the wheel of a car to cause mayhem on the roads?
Where do the drug users get the money to purchase their illegal drugs? Well think about it, they have to commit criminal offences—b&e's, theft from vehicles, shoplifting and armed robberies. The actions of IH are therefore tantamount to aiding and abetting the commission of crimes. Many of the crimes being committed in Kelowna are a direct result of addicts having to get money to pay for their habit.
Some health professionals go as far as to suggest that drug addiction is a disease. It is not—cancer is a disease—drug use is a lifestyle choice that everyone should realize has consequences.
Wouldn’t funds be better spent in having a drug dependency treatment centre so that these addicts might get clean and become productive members of society rather than promoting a criminal drug-dependant lifestyle?
If Interior Health has extra funds in their coffers to hire nurses and facilities, might I suggest that the money would be better spent in opening more walk-in clinics or hiring more doctors for the emergency department so that the law abiding citizens of Kelowna don’t have to wait for hours on end to get medical treatment.
Perhaps Health Canada will reject the injection site application but I won’t be sitting on pins or needles for that to happen.
Mike Humphries, Kelowna