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Leniency
and drugs don't mix
I
support the call for zero tolerance concerning the drug
problem. The argument that giving drug addicts free
needles, injecting rooms, etc. will at least keep them
alive until the day they decide to give up is misplaced
compassion. In my job as a nurse I have never met a
drug addict who was not in some measure a high-maintenance,
whingeing, pathetic, miserable human specimen, all positive
characteristics lost and destroyed by drugs. These people
need laws that will force their rehabilitation, because
they simply do not have the ability to be responsible
for it themselves.
The
small number who make the herculean effort to get off
drugs deserve praise for their courage and fortitude,
but their numbers are too small to justify the present
lenient approach.
Linda
Lonsdale, Mt Victoria (20/6/00)
The
rights and wrongs of treating drug addiction
Linda
Lonsdale revealed narrow-minded and misguided beliefs
regarding drug users (`Leniency and drugs don't mix',
Letters, 20 June). I was unaware a nursing degree qualified
people to sit high and mighty on the throne of judgment.
I would prefer to live out my life as a drug user than
be chained to a volcano of bitterness, erupting and
scolding those who fail to fit into the ideal society.
Drugs are a problem everywhere. Correct me if I am wrong,
but I believe we have already tried to make drug users
feel worse about themselves by placing our judgments
upon them. Has it worked? I wish I had a life where
I woke up each and every morning eager to get the day
under way, but unfortunately there have been instances
in mine and many other people's lives where the pain
within is so suffocating that a blow to the head with
a cricket bat would have been welcome. It's time for
positive thinking.
Jason
Giradi, Oyster Bay (22/6/00)
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In
reply to Linda Lonsdale (Letters, 20 June), I am also
a registered nurse,like her, but firstly and most importantly
a parent─in fact, the parent of a son who died
from an overdose five years ago. My son was not a whingeing,
pathetic specimen but a lovable, caring, compassionate
and worthwhile human being. These attributes not only
belonged to my son but to hundreds of sons and daughters
who die each year. Few families are not touched to some
degree by this tragedy. Does Linda Lonsdale segregate
her patients along the lines of those deserving and
undeserving of her care and compassion? Is this what
a nurse and human being is all about? Is she a parent?
How much understanding does she have about the processes
of addiction─the pain, guilt, despair and self-loathing?
Perhaps she has existed in an ideal world where she
has not used any measure (alcohol, nicotine, anti-depressants)
as self-medication when in pain and anguish. I can only
thank God my son Aaron was not cared for by her.
Karmen
Hill, Bundanoon (22/6/00)
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