DEMONSTRATE A CARING COMMUNITY

Council is currently rethinking its opposition to supporting a needle exchange.

While I can understand the initial desire to distance themselves from
anything that may be interpreted as supporting drug addiction, in
that 'distancing' the community distances itself from the addict who
cries for help every time he or she seeks a fix. Apart from reducing
the risk of contracting hepatitis C or HIV, a needle exchange is an
opportunity to make at least some contact and offer help without
judgment should the addict be at the point of asking, but without
that contact there is no opportunity.

Every user already knows that they are messed up and it is mostly
judgment, by self or by others, that they are in some way not good
enough that has led them to drug abuse. Demonstrating that we care as
community conveys a message that, maybe they are good enough, or at
least worth the effort.

Gary Huntbatch