Paper should screen out hateful rants
Regarding the letter by B.W. Lowe of Duncan, “Safe Drug supply pilot will be disastrous”, we understand that there is a great deal of work to do to educate some community members about the realities and facts surrounding a safe drug supply.
In spite of wide acknowledgement by more informed citizens and governments that we are facing a public health crisis directly caused by the long-term policies of criminalization, prohibition and historic under funding of services, there are still many individuals who feel free to spew hateful ideas about the nature of drug use and overdosing, and those who are caught up in it.
By printing this letter infused with discriminatory words and opinions, your paper risks being seen as helping to spread these destructive points of view. The confluence of a pandemic, an opioid crisis, and a growing economic crisis has presented incredible challenges for the many heroic front line workers who work daily to keep our communities safe. Your paper could be helping to make their jobs easier by printing only factual, up to date public health information, and not giving any space to uninformed, inflammatory, hurtful rants.
Joe Solanto
Cowichan Bay