Regarding "Traders May Act over Heroin" by Andrea Carson (The Age, 16/9). Recent suggestions that the Smith Street Traders Network may consider hiring private security guards to curb illicit drug use and improve the image of Smith Street fails to recognise the breadth of the problem of which drugs are a symptom. Drug use and drug-related crime are evidence of a pattern of disadvantage, impacting on people's ability to have access to, and maintain decent, affordable and stable housing as well as other essential services and support systems. Drug use and the attendant problems of poor health, premature frailty and aging, inadequate and unstable housing, and social alienation will not be remedied by such tactics. [continues 300 words]
Drug use and drug-related crime are evidence of a pattern of disadvantage, impacting on people's ability to have access to, and maintain decent, affordable and stable housing as well as other essential services and support systems. Drug use and the attendant problems of poor health, premature frailty and aging, inadequate and unstable housing, and social alienation will not be remedied by such tactics. Bedford Street Outreach Services (BSOS) has been working with homeless people in Collingwood and the surrounding area since 1990. Drug use is common among BSOS clients, as are experiences of being unable to gain access to basic services including housing, food, and social and community supports. [continues 250 words]
