To the editor;
I am watching with interest as politicians of all levels and stripes try to respond to calls to do something about the drug-overdose situation.
Addiction is called a disease, and it may well be, but it is the only one for which the recipient volunteers.
Visit B.C. Children’s Hospital or any other hospital and you will find people of all ages with diseases they contracted through no fault of their own.
They didn’t volunteer for their diseases, but the health-care budget they depend on is going to be depleted as the government diverts money away from them to stem the tide of these deadly fentanyl overdoses.
I am not without sympathy for these people, but what has happened to the concept of personal responsibility?
These people are wilfully using the next pill/joint/syringe knowing there is a high probability it could be there last living act.
Yet it is no deterrent.
I think this is one problem the government can’t solve.
It can only pretend it is helping, trying to be seen to be doing something.
I have eight wonderful living grandchildren, from tots to teens.
If, God forbid, one of them follows this life and becomes a victim of their own action, I will mourn their loss, but I will not be on the six o’clock news pleading for the government to do something.
Pat Carroll
Chase, B.C.