To the editor:
I know I’m not alone on this topic, but I don’t see the drug overdose problem and people dying as a crisis. I see it as a solution. I have worked for 50+ years being a contributing citizen hoping that sometime before I die, that I will be able to actually retire and enjoy what I have worked and saved for all my life.
However, I’m going to have to keep on working until they carry me out feet first from the job site (which my estate will have to pay for). Our taxes keep on going up and up and now our BC Health Premiums are also due to rise. Although I pay taxes and health care recently I got a bill from BC Ambulance Service because, heaven forbid, I had to utilize it for another tax paying citizen who had a severe medical situation. The majority of the people that are overdosing do not pay any taxes, BC Health Care, but they get the same ambulance service that we have to pay for.
What’s next for us taxpayers? Supplying safe drugs? We already supply safe needles and places to use. I spent 20 years in the military, went overseas saw and did some pretty ugly things. I didn’t turn to drugs or alcohol, I got another job and soldiered on. It’s a pretty sad situation when senior citizens who have worked their whole life contributing to the country now have to turn to food banks as they can no longer afford to purchase groceries while others who contribute nothing get the same services, (actually more, their ambulance ride and needles is paid for by taxpayers).
Duane G. Long, Kelowna