Thank you for Cathie Roy's editorial regarding the controversy over the transition house for recovering addicts (Coast Reporter, June 5).
Addiction permeates all levels of society. I visited a loved one in a recovery house recently. It was like a monastery where the occupants get up at 6:30 a.m., spend the day doing chores and attending 12-step meetings, aren't allowed to leave the premises without a fellow resident and, if they so much as sneak a smoke, are confronted by their fellow residents. The residents range from down-and-outers, through middle class individuals, to professionals. You would not recognize most of these men as addicts if you passed them on the street.
Though I think there should have been prior consultation with the neighbours on Pratt Road, I would rather have a recovery house in my neighbourhood than active addicts living next door. Active addicts are a source of trouble for friends, family, landlords and neighbours, but those who have chosen to get clean deserve respect and acceptance.
Anne Miles, Gibsons
