COLUMNIST'S ATTITUDE ON DRUG ABUSE 'DEFIES BELIEF'

We are a group of public and private-sector doctors from more than 30
countries who treat patients with drug problems. As such, we feel
compelled to respond to Ian O'Doherty's writings on February 18 and
again on February 22 calling for the sterilisation of people who use
drugs.

The bigoted attitude adopted by the author defies belief and his
hatred of drug users is so deep that he wishes them dead. We are
astonished that a mainstream Irish newspaper would print such a
vitriolic and disgusting article.

The preposterous, unethical and inhumane proposal that drug users
should be sterilised is reminiscent of the hate literature of the Nazi
era. Unfortunately, the remarks of Dr Pat Troy were taken up by
O'Doherty and used as the basis for a virulent attack on drug-users
and anyone who might seek to help them, including Fr Peter McVerry, a
man who has worked tirelessly to help a marginalised and stigmatised
group, many of whom are themselves children.

It has been recognised for decades that addiction is a chronic,
recurrent, as-yet incurable but eminently treatable condition (note
that precisely this definition is accepted almost universally with
respect to alcoholism). Sweeping generalisations and vilification are
decidedly counter-productive.

Instead, compassion, as well as societal self-interest, should lead to
demands that the broadest array of treatment services be made readily
available to all who want and need them, and all too often die without
them.

We strongly condemn this article and call on Dr Troy as a doctor and
as a human being to condemn it also.

International Doctors for Healthy Drug Policies

Dr Garrett McGovern, Dr Cathal O'Sullivan, Dr Fergus McCabe, Dr
Michael Ryan, Dr Margaret Bourke, Dr Anjum Madani, Dr Joe Curry, Dr
Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Dr Hugh Tinsley, Dr John O'Grady, Dr Angela
Skuce, Dr Aongus O'Casaide

All dublin

Dr Fidelma Savage, Dr Philip Sheeran Purcell, Dr James Leitch, Dr Patrick Irwin

Co Wicklow

Dr Chris Ford, Danielle Mercey, Dr Stuart Flanagan, Dr Indrajit
Ghosh, Dr Patrick French, Dr Stuart Flanagan

London

Dr David Young Merseyside, UK; Dr Judith Yates Mb, ChB Birmingham,
UK: Dr Michael Orgel, MD Edinburgh, Scotland. Holly Catania, Dr
Robert Newman, MD, MPH, Sharon Stancliff, MD, New York. Sarz Maxwell
MD, FASAM, Chicago, USA, Mishka Terplan MD MPH, Baltimore, MD: Dr
Marc Reisinger, Brussels. Dr Albrecht Ulmer, Dr Hans-Guenter
Meyer-Thompson Germany: Simon Boerboom, Amsterdam. Docteur Laurent
MICHEL, Limeil-Brevannes, FRANCE. Dr Robert Haemmig, president of
SSAM, Bern, Switzerland. Serena Roth, MD, Bangkok, Thailand. Vicente
S Salas, MD, MPH, Phnom Penh, Cambodia/ Manila, Philippines. Dr A jaz
Akhtar, Faisalabad, Pakistan