Dear Editor,
I am an addict who has been in recovery for a number of years having benefited from the treatment programme run by the Salvation Army. Fortunately for me I was one of the few drug addicts whose family could have afforded the cost of putting me through the programme more than once.

Just recently in the month of April I learnt that President Jagdeo had publicly committed the government to a contribution of five million dollars to the rehabilitation programme of the Salvation Army.

This was some time in November 2007. Knowing that such contributions would allow persons to access the programme free of any cost to them, I went to the facility to make enquiries because I know someone who has expressed a desire to stop using drugs but cannot afford the financial cost attached to rehabilitation, and being an addict myself I am aware of the difficulty of abstinence prior to treatment in a controlled environment. I was informed by the Administ-rator of the procedure and criteria that an active addict is being asked to meet to access the government funded programme……