I was left shocked and terrified at the same time at the grim reality of our drug policies that Tara Brosnan’s article exposed. If we have come to believe that saving someone from an overdose is considered to be beneficial medical care, then we have completely lost the battle against drugs. It is not treatment from death that we need to be looking at, but rather prevention from addiction in the first place. And this starts with educational classes and a better environment for kids in high school: these efforts should extend to the Montreal police going after the drug dealers with more resources, rather that sitting around all day and giving speeding tickets.
In the end, Richard Elliot’s argument in The Daily article that explains how we should save public funds by treating people on site (while they are overdosing their brains out) really says it all. It’s not that they think this is the best solution, but they just don’t want to spend too much money on those people and that’s the sad truth.
Alexander Kunev
U3 Mechanical Engineering