Sunday, December 16, 2007

Two More reactions to the Column

hi David,I wrote to the editor to support your piece but I wanted to thank you personally as well. You discredit Libby's stance while acknowledging that she's right about most things, you point out the lack of support for the other aspects of harm reduction, you expose Sullivan's shallowness, and you show your care for the women involved. Well done!I'm a long-time supporter of Rape Relief and your points are important to me. It seems so obvious, yet we hear almost nothing sensible about this co-op brothel.
Thanks for speaking up.
Brian Cross

Thank you for your very insiteful article on the downtown east side. Now if somehow you could just "weild" a big enough bar to pry loose the vested interests from the status quo down there we'd be getting somewhere. As long as Alcohol, Drugs and cheap sex all driven by our insatiable desire and ultimately unatainable need to "fit in to the mold" that the advertising/commercial industry foist on us, these people will never be "free"


Jeff Laurie
Langley BC

More Column Reactions

For a dickhead who knows nothing about the sex industry, you really shoot your mouth off. If you want an example of women exploited in degrading work conditions, check out walmart or burger king.. but at least they work in safety! The girls at madame cleo's are pulling in 2 to 3 hundred dollars an hour and cleo has been up and running for over 30 years completely free of police harassment. Why should east end girls not have the sAME RIGHT TO DO THE SAME THING? THIS IS A TRANSITIONAL TIME IN THE BIZ AND THE LAST THING WE NEED IS IGNORANT BYSTANDERS LIKE YOU MORALIZING FROM HIGH HORSES SO GO FUCK YOURSELF AND SHUT UP!!!!


I remember when you spoke about addictions at UBC and told the psychiatrists and others present that they "suck off the tit of the misery of humanity." Today when young 'uns are taken to psych wards they are given anti-depressant drugs (many of which carry a warning of suicide as a consequence). Then these children are allowed out on day passes where they meet their friends and do more drugs.Nothing is done about this. Invasion of Privacy? Who knows. Why is suicide the number one killer of 18-24 year olds in this province? That Coroner's Report this week did not say why.. It is to laugh or cry.

*** "EXCLUSIVE" ***


The Ministry of Advanced Education announced recently - and quietly - that a $2.25 Million grant was being released in the field of drug addiction.


Sounds good?


Well...


This is not money for 40 or 50 treatment beds for addicts.


This is money to go to a psychiatrist to do more research and study to possibly find "new and effective treatment approaches."


We already know what we need to know.


We have to have the courage to act.


Governments don't like to spend money on doing things, because when you do things, something could go wrong and the government will be blamed.


But research is beautiful, because there is never a result and there is never any action required.


This is an appalling waste of public funds.

Poster Boy for Ending Early Release


Robert Gary Wallin is the poster boy for ending the dreadful practice of mandatory release.


Mr. Wallin attacked a young student in Stanley Park in 2002. She spoke 4 languages, played two musical instruments and had a rich and full life. She is now in a wheelchair and severely disabled.


Mr. Pig Person will be released in a few weeks because the wrong law says that he must be released.


The irony of this horror story is that the victim, Ji-Won Park, has more of life's needs than her idiot attacker.


She is surrounded by love and care from family and friends.


Mr. Pig is unchanged.

Responses to Today's Province Column

Dear David,

I was happy to see your name and read your words as I still miss your afternoon show on CKNW. I write to them regularly to let them know this and hope my repeated suggestions that Ms. Clarke isn't particularly good at her job and you ought to be given that afternoon time slot will at some point be paid some attention.

I agree with you on the issue of addiction, I have always tended to agree with anyone who understands that harm-reduction is the exact opposite of what it purports to be. Painfully costly to the taxpayers and without discernable good outcomes, ever.

I wish I could do something so it's gratifying to see people like you speaking out. I hope you get another radio gig sometime because weekend afternoons were so vastly improved when you were on the air.

Regards,
Melissa MacKay

To the editor,I understand how David Berner got the impression that "Harm reductionmeasures ... hold sway in the official view," while "Enforcement,prevention and treatment are given short shrift." This false dichotomybetween harm reduction and the other "four pillars" is often madein the media.The "official view" is that Canada needs a "balanced approach," withequal emphasis on each pillar, however, about 75 per cent of our drugcontrol budget is allocated to the criminal justice system, 15 per centto treatment and only 4 per cent to harm reduction. In contrast toenforcement, harm reduction works synergistically with the other pillarsand more than pays for itself in downstream costs. I felt proud to see Libby Davies receive an award at an internationalconference on drug policy in New Orleans last week. Mayor Sam Sullivanalso addressed the conference, and compared addiction to his owndisability, but he did not propose providing addicts with clean drugsand syringes in perpetuity, rather, he likened such interventions toproviding crutches to injured athletes on the mend. Would wounded skiers be more motivated to recover if we took away theirwheelchairs, ramps and parking spaces and dumped them in urine soakedalleys to be preyed upon by violent criminals scalping lift tickets?Would that send the right message to kids to be more careful on theslopes? Maybe, but as a father of three daughters, when all else fails,(which it more often than not does), I would rather find them alive in abrothel or injection site than dead on a pig farm. Matthew M. Elrod4493-A Lindholm RoadVictoria, B.C.V9C-3Y1250-474-6956

Dear Mr. Burner,

The big difference between people like yourself and those you disparage in your editorial rant is that those others actually have plans and are taking steps to mitigate the lives of many unfortunate people, both of men and of women. Your ideological position might have merit if there was funding for detox and rehab, of which, as you know, there is virtually none. Therefore you advocate continuing doing nothing. If I was gambling man your column would persuade me that you probably vote Conservative federally and Liberal provincially, and resist any ideas of paying higher taxes. But guess what – solutions are going to cost big dollars and doing nothing will cost even more. So as they say “put up or shut up” – either provide your readers with concrete suggestions or restrict your ignorant comments to similarly inclined ideologists.

Raymond Graham

Victoria