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Addiction an equalizer

Randy Turner's May 12 feature, Prescription for disaster, shows a basic misunderstanding of the nature of drug addiction. The Oxycontin addict on Main Street, the college student, the construction worker and the teacher are all the same. They are people slowly dying from the disease of addiction. Not one of these individuals' sickness is different or special or apart from the other.

In recovery circles, it is often believed that this kind of thinking is what keeps addicts out of treatment and recovery. It is sometimes called "terminal uniqueness," the belief that one's own disease of addiction is unlike anybody else's, and it greatly impedes the possibility of recovery.

To say that the construction worker who takes Percocet to ease his aches is in any way different from an Oxycontin addict on Main Street is, in my opinion, incorrect and detrimental to those still in active addiction. Addiction is the great equalizer.

In seeking my own recovery, I have only been able to move forward since abandoning the belief that my own disease is any worse, or any different, from others, whom I have met in treatments centres, in 12-step meetings or outpatient programs. They were able to best understand, support and sympathize with me. This help became available to me as soon as I let my walls down and opened my eyes to the real reality of my disease.

MEGAN McWILLIAM

Winnipeg

Commitment lacking

The provincial commitment to limit tuition increases at universities and to require three-year funding levels from COPSE (Province plans to codify university funding policy, May 14) would be more reassuring if it was accompanied by a commitment to fund Manitoba universities on par with other universities in Canada.

The reality, however, is that post-secondary education (PSE) in Manitoba, including universities, is funded at a much lower level than in other provinces. Although Manitoba has about 3.7 per cent of Canada's population, our post-secondary institutions receive only about three per cent of total funding.

Although public sources mix universities and colleges, other data confirm that local universities are indeed less well funded than in other provinces. Faculty salaries that account for a considerable portion of university budgets, for example, lag comparable universities in other provinces. Our universities also receive a very low percentage of federal funds for research.

Inadequate overall levels of funding are further compromised by some of the limited funding being distributed to small institutions that are extremely expensive to operate on a per-student basis. The few students at these institutions could easily be accommodated in our mainstream institutions, markedly increasing efficiencies.

JIM CLARK

University of Winnipeg

Outmoded guidance

Joseph Ulicki seems to believe that answers to society's problems can be found in scriptures (Letters, May 12), where he quotes Deuteronomy 30:19 on the abortion question.

Deuteronomy 21:21 goes as follows: "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.

"They shall say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.'

"Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid."

Is Ulicki suggesting that we act on this quote as well?

HERVE VERMETTE

St. Andrews

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Deuteronomy 22:28-29 says that a man who gets caught in the act of raping a virgin shall buy her from her father -- but that is only if he's caught in the act.

Deuteronomy 28:57 also sees God threaten to make mothers eat -- yes, eat -- their infants and children.

The Bible is hardly a source of guidance on abortion or anything else.

BOB RUSSELL

Winnipeg

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Diane Goods' letter (May 9) demands a reply. How a fetus's personhood diminishes a woman's personhood (could we call it humanity?) is a statement without proof and without sense. Sharing a pie lessens each recipient's share. Sharing a life increases it.

Her statement that pregnancy forces women to become "incubators" is laughable. How did these women become pregnant in the first place?

Women like Goods are constantly claiming the right to control their own bodies but seldom, if ever, acknowledge the corresponding responsibilities all rights demand.

Goods' analogy that "forcing" a woman to "incubate" her baby is like being forced to donate an organ for transplant is ridiculous. The donated organ has the DNA of the donor. The "incubated" fetus has a distinct DNA, though traceable to the mother and father.

Furthermore, Goods and two of the three letter writers before her ignore the rights and responsibilities of the father. Why do all those who call themselves pro-choice always say it is the woman's choice while the man has no say? What of his rights and responsibilities and those of a couple?

The truth is that a fetus is human from conception. It is not puppy or a calf or a rutabaga. A claim that a fully formed baby somehow becomes human only after a complete birth leads to the barbarism of a partial-birth abortion.

In the end, we think we have to find in favour of the living unborn.

ESME PETERKIN

Winnipeg

Tighten MP belts

Re: Tories eye changes to EI in budget bill (May 15). It becomes increasingly hard to buy into the government's proposed changes to employment insurance.

It isn't that I disagree that the unemployed should consider work not in their areas of expertise and training.

The problem is belt tightening should also apply to members of Parliament. That an MP will receive a good pension after just six years of service is scandalous. And along with their six-figure salary, it becomes obscene and disgraceful.

Since Brian Mulroney's government enacted this insanity, not one leader did the right thing and brought sanity back to the MPs' pension fund.

The first party to do so will have my vote on perpetuity.

DON HERMISTON

Winnipeg

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The attempts by the Harper government to ram through its 425-page budget bill is an arrogant attempt to subvert parliamentary democracy and public debate. Obviously, they're afraid Canadians will really see what they're up to.

Already we know they want to slash billions in spending, gut environmental protection rules, raise the age of Old Age Security and make it harder to get employment insurance benefits. What else are they hiding in this bill?

The rational solution is to split this omnibus budget bill up into manageable and debatable items. Then at least we could see for ourselves what they are really up to.

MELISSA DVORAK

Winnipeg

Humane treatment

In response to Leslie Yeoman's May 12 letter, A moment of freedom, Manitoba pig farmers genuinely feel for the animals and people involved in the truck rollover on May 8. It is an unfortunate occasion that everyone wants to avoid.

However, in the event that it does occur, the Manitoba pork industry has prepared itself with livestock emergency response units to gather the pigs that are fit for further transport, and humanely and expediently euthanize those that are hurt. This ensures the welfare of the pigs while ensuring the safety of passing motorists.

It needs to be clarified that every single one of the pigs in the May 9 photo -- and, for that matter, 98 per cent of all pigs raised in Manitoba -- are raised in social groups for their entire lives. They are raised indoors to protect them from weather, predators and disease. Manitoba pig farmers care for the well-being of the pigs they raise, and they do so with dignity and respect.

MARK FYNN

Manitoba Pork Council

Stunted analysis

Dan Lett claims that all the PC leadership candidates in the last 13 years could fit in a Honda Civic hatchback. This is patently false. I encourage Dan to do better research. I myself cannot fit in a Honda Civic hatchback.

His thesis that competition is a good thing is one I think most Conservatives support. My background in competitive sports, private businesses and politics has prepared me to face those challenges and understand the benefits.

However, Lett oversimplifies the case when he refers to the present uncontested race as a "predicament." For example, next door in Saskatchewan, Brad Wall was acclaimed the leader of his party and he went on to victory. Meanwhile, a hotly contested Liberal leadership race resulted in Stephane Dion being trounced in the federal election that followed.

Political history is full of examples that prove there are more important factors than leadership races in determining electoral success. Experience, hard work, organization and building a case for change matter most.

BRIAN PALLISTER

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 17, 2012 A10