cannabisnews.com: Closing Comments from Raphael Flores!





Closing Comments from Raphael Flores!
Posted by FoM on March 12, 1999 at 12:28:31 PT
from ABC's Live Chat!
Raphael Flores There's a journalist who's name is Micheal Mansing who followed me in working with people from the streets for about 4 years. He was working on a book that has been published. The book is entitled, "The Fix," by Simon and Schuster. 
This books talks about during the Nixon administation there was much more money allocated to the war on drugs if you will than there are today.Today there is more money for law enforcement and less money for treatment. There are many people that are maintaining employment with regards to this policy of strengthening law enforcement and lessening treatment. Surely there has to be a middle line. Surely we here in the U.S. need to give more priority to people that are hurting. We cannot assume that the situation is better because as Nightline showed the situation is not better. In the book , it describes Hotline Cares as a simple answer to somewhat of a very complicated problem. This is all new for me to be on the internet, to be on Nightline, to be asked questions from people all over the U.S. and the world. I have trouble absorbing all this. It's great but scary. It's great but also embarrassing that so many people see my face and know what I do. It feels good but I almost blush when people say I've seen you on TV. It feels good but it's somehow embarrassing. My mother asked me "Do you think this is a bit much?" I say, "yes, ma I do think that this is a bit much." I am grateful that Nightline is so fair and honest in portraying my work. I think my work represents many other workeres in the field that are frustrated with a system that does not necessarily always have the clients best interest in mind. It is frustrating to work in the system where the priority is profit as opposed to what's in the best interest of the client. I understand that this sounds somewhat naive. However, I like to think that it's still possible today to provide quality service to people who need it. It is as simple as that. Raphael Flores at 3:22pm ET My home address if anyone would like to write me: 480 East 188th Street #12EBronx, NY 10458http://chat.abcnews.go.com/chat/chat.dll?Chat?room=abc_flores0312#new
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