I read with interest Tyler Olsen’s piece about opiates, especially the part about the role of government in the Feb. 3 Abbotsford News.
The government has no business protecting people from themselves. People who are injecting heroin know perfectly well that it could be the last thing they do, and they assume that risk.
Supervised injection sites are not a bad idea, but where are the drugs coming from? If the government is going to be subsidizing drug dealers anyway, why not go all the way and legalize heroin, and allow doctors to prescribe it? A safe, legal, cheap supply of heroin would eliminate much of the misery of addiction, but it would also eliminate many lucrative jobs, so it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
I was surprised to read that some people believe the Fentanyl issue is created by doctors overprescribing opiates. If anything, it is exacerbated by doctors underprescribing them. Animals will chew their own legs off to escape leg hold traps, and are people very different? When you are in agony you will do anything to stop it, even if it means risking death.
It is time for the government to stop trying to protect people from themselves, and to recognize adequate pain control as a basic human right.
Stephanie McAllister
