Pubdate: Mon, 27 Nov 2006
Source: Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN)
Copyright: 2006 Prince Albert Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.paherald.sk.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1918
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

READERS REJECT INJECTION SITE

The Prince Albert Daily Herald had a strong response to our question: 
What do you think about creating a safe injection site in Prince Albert?

The answer, overwhelmingly, was that readers do not think the safe 
injection site is a good idea.

The question was prompted when a group of student nurses from the 
First Nations University College of Nursing asked council to consider the idea.

In phone calls and e-mails, our readers communicated that they think 
a site would facilitate drug use and would not be a good use of tax dollars.

One reader wrote: "I think having a safe clinic in PA is not the 
ideal thing to do. It promotes using the drug to drug addicts who 
have a problem with heavy drugs. So instead of getting these people 
off the streets with possessions of narcadicts, we set up a safe 
clinic and watch them do it? It would become a place where your 
16-year-old child tries heroin for the first time, becomes an addict, 
ruins their lives and the crime in the city goes up because they need 
to get money for their drug of choice right? The city should spend 
the money it takes to set up the safe house to get city workers 
picking up the needles, advertise on what to do if someone finds a 
needle, get schools to tell kids on what to do if they find needles 
and possibly set up a detox centre in PA to help these people get 
their lives on track, not ruin their lives."

It was good to see some lively debate on this subject and we hope 
future questions prompt a similar response. This week's question can 
be found lower on this page.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman