A recent news story said that BC Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe criticized a well-meaning valiant program by Alternative Funeral Services to dissuade young people from using drugs.
Their visual poster of a grieving family around a coffin with the caption “Will fentanyl be the reason for your next family get-together?” is considered by Lapointe to be shock treatment and “not effective in saving lives.”
Was it not this same coroner’s service that supported the government-mandated policy of shocking gruesome images of victims of cigarette addiction to be placed on every package of cigarettes?
This shock treatment aimed at smokers is deemed to have positive results, so why not for other addictions?
The current passive, enabling, accommodating and make-no-judgments approach to drug-taking has been an abysmal failure as evidenced by statistics.
The funeral service should be commended for their educational approach, not ridiculed, as the scourge of addiction needs a many-faceted approach.
It is not a “one size fits all.”
Jeanette Smith
Mission