Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2000
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Toronto Star
Contact:  One Yonge St., Toronto ON, M5E 1E6
Fax: (416) 869-4322
Website: http://www.thestar.com/
Forum: http://www.thestar.com/editorial/disc_board/
Author: Camille Bains, Canadian Press

VANCOUVER MAYOR RELEASES PLAN TO COMBAT DRUG ABUSE

Approach Based On 'Users Are Sick, Pushers Are Evil'

VANCOUVER -- Mayor Philip Owen released a bold, unprecedented discussion 
paper yesterday to deal with drug abuse that he believes could serve as a 
framework for the country.

"This is probably one of the most comprehensive documents ever put forward 
anywhere in North America and it's an accumulation of what we've learned 
over the last 21/2 years," Owen told a news conference.

He said the city has borrowed from other models in Portland, Ore., 
Frankfurt and Liverpool and Switzerland.

The document includes 31 recommendations at a cost of up to $30 million.

The discussion paper advocates a four-pillar approach including prevention, 
treatment, enforcement and harm reduction, and is open to public scrutiny 
until spring 2001.

It advocates drug courts that would put users into treatment instead of 
jail, housing support and efforts to target organized crime, drug dealers 
and drug houses.

The plan also calls for a redeployment of police officers to the city's 
downtown eastside, where open drug use is rampant, and day centres for drug 
users outside that area.

Owen said he's discussed the problem of drug abuse with federal and 
provincial health ministers and mayors across Canada.

"Our approach is, fundamentally, that users are sick and the pushers are 
evil and the people dealing in human misery should be dealt with very 
harshly and that's going to require the attorney general and the minister 
of justice in Ottawa," Owen said.

"Our view at city hall is that to do nothing with illegal narcotics in our 
city is not an option," he said. "We just cannot ignore this any longer."

Jurisdictions around the country are looking to Vancouver's "watershed" 
document to deal with their own problems involving illegal narcotics, Owen 
said.

He said the mayors of Yokohama, Japan, and Seattle, Wash., have also shown 
interest in what Vancouver is proposing.

Owen was initially reticent when asked if he supports a safe drug injection 
site, saying a comprehensive approach is needed and that senior levels of 
government must take responsibility by ensuring services are available 
across municipalities.

But when pressed further, he said he's not personally in favour of a safe 
injection site, such as Geneva's infamous Needle Park, which he said has 
attracted 25,000 drug users from around Europe.

Such a site in Vancouver would be a magnet for drug addicts from across the 
country, he said, citing Alberta residents in particular.

Owen said the document will be controversial but that the drug crisis 
that's claimed so many lives and comprises 12,000 injection users in 
Greater Vancouver requires a radical plan.

Donald MacPherson, the drug policy coordinator for the city of Vancouver, 
said 25 per cent of the city's drug users are also HIV-positive or have 
hepatitis C.

Illegal drug use is also linked to crime and costs society millions of 
dollars, with $7.5 million a year just in hospital costs, MacPherson said.
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