Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jun 2017 Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Copyright: 2017 Metroland Media Group Ltd. Contact: http://www.therecord.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225 Author: David Kuhn Page: A10 SAFE INJECTION SITES NOT THE ANSWER Re: Supervised injection sites to be considered by region - June 7 Whenever I see or hear someone talking about supervised injection sites, I can't help but hear "they're going to do it anyway ..." in the back of my mind, because that's the rationale that people who are for injection sites use. Only, these people usually add something like "at least they'll be safe ..." to further justify their position that this is helping addicts. Clearly, we have a drug problem in this region - we have a national problem - and I think that local authorities should be working with agencies and groups to help those in our community with substance abuse issues who are battling and struggling with addiction. But I do not think that the answer is a 'safe' space for addicts to do drugs - that's not the right message or the right approach. The message and the approach should be focused on prevention instead of enabling the drug use. There's nothing safe about giving someone a needle so they can stick it in their arm and inject themselves with their drug. If we do that, we're just fooling ourselves and providing opportunities for addicts to sink deeper into the hole that is addiction instead of climbing out of it. David Kuhn Kitchener - --- MAP posted-by: Matt