Pubdate: Mon, 16 Oct 2000
Date: 10/16/2000
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Author: Fred Michael
Authors: Fred Michael

I support any initiative that will help free Vancouver from the urban
cancer of drug addiction.  People need to wake-up and realize our
Downtown Eastside is populated by some of the sickest people in North
America and that their sickness is not going to cure itself.  These
people need help.

By opposing the opening of a resource centre for drug addicts, the
Gastown Strathcona and Chinatown business leaders are misguided.  As a
businessman, I have sympathy for their plight and , like them, I would
very much want my neighbourhood to be a welcoming one.  However, they
are in denial if they think that, magically, those poor souls will
migrate from their area to "somewhere else" for treatment.  For any
organized treatment plan to have a chance of succeeding, the resources
must be concentrated where the problem lies.

Fred Michael,
Vancouver