To the editor,
Re: Ignoring root causes of homelessness is a choice, Opinion, Jan. 15
What the columnist fails to mention is that some of the countries he visited on his sun-soaked vacation and held up as exemplars of good social policy – Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea – have draconian laws and punishments, up to and including the death penalty for drug offences, including simple possession and use. These are authoritarian societies when it comes to drug use, mental health, homelessness, and everyday freedoms we take for granted. God willing, we never go down that path.
J.C. Chan-Fairweather, Nanaimo
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Hospitals aren’t the right place for hard drugs
To the editor,
Re: Ignoring root causes of homelessness is a choice, Opinion, Jan. 15
The columnist holds out Singapore as an example of what political will can accomplish. He says it is a “remarkable story of political will and leadership, social compassion and economic foresight.”
One factor he seems to ignore is the role Singapore’s zero tolerance for drug trafficking and misuse have played in this success. In the mid ’70s, Singapore recognized that drugs were a serious threat to society and enacted laws with zero tolerance to their sale or misuse.
Rather than supplying free drugs and safe injection sites and building a whole industry upon providing services for the unhoused users and sellers of drugs they went to the root of the problem. They recognized you can not tolerate drug misuse on any level. Their laws include caning, prison and even the death penalty depending on the infraction.
While this may be a remarkable story of political will, the columnist makes no mention of the foundation to this remarkable story.
Sadly, we seem to be conflicted in our approach. On the one hand we say we want to help these poor souls all the while building an industry that collapses if the problem were actually solved. Perhaps that is the root cause of what we see on our streets.
Jim Taylor, Nanaimo
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