Editor: I finally have to write in about some of the inaccuracies I’ve read about methadone that seem to be floating around Langley.
I have been really upset to see some of the misconceptions and outright lies being perpetuated, especially when it’s being done by mayor and council.
I was stunned to hear the mayor making these claims during the election, but am shocked it continues with apparently little or no actual fact checking.
There are so many points that need to be addressed, but the first has got to be the matter of the pharmacies in Langley. Does the council really not understand the demographics of this city?
Is it possible that they’re that out of touch with the people they are supposed to be representing?
Just in case, I would like to point out a couple of things. We have a huge population of senior citizens in Langley, and given the increased health problems as we age, and the natural proclivity of doctors to prescribe medications, these seniors need convenient access to their medications.
I’m sure a high number are on multiple daily prescriptions, and a lot no longer drive, so they need these services within short walking distance.
Another contributing factor is the influx of new residents that are filling the developments happening everywhere, but especially downtown, Willoughby, Brookswood and Murrayville.
One council member pondered how these pharmacies can stay in business.
I am fairly confident that it’s not the 109 methadone patients that are currently registered among the pharmacies (according to another article).
Another really important factor that needs to be recognized is that methadone is used by people who are trying to stop using drugs, sometimes legal and prescribed narcotics. A lot of people have assumptions about who is taking methadone. More often than not, they’re wrong.
And then, of course, there is the real underlying issue here — the “undesirable” population that the mayor and council are trying to get rid of. I hate to break it to them, but these are residents of Langley. If you talk to these folks, you’ll find out that many of them have lived here their whole lives — a lot of them, in homes where condos now stand.
They don’t have any other city to “go back” to.
The council, and now a growing number of residents, need to realize that these people aren’t going anywhere, and methadone doesn’t bring addiction, an addicted population (trying to get off drugs) brings the methadone. They also need to face the fact that to try to run our own neighbours out of their hometown will backfire.
It’s a bittersweet pill to find that the council and mayor don’t represent the values of most of our residents, sweet to find out that most of my neighbours have hearts, conscience and brains, but bitter that somehow these people still managed to get elected.
The civic leadership needs to represent the will of the people, not manipulate it.
E. Whaley,
Langley