Pubdate: Fri, 01 Mar 2002 Source: Richmond News (CN BC) Copyright: 2002, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc. Contact: http://www.richmond-news.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244 Author: Trudi Beutel Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) SAFE-INJECTION SITES NOT SUPPORTED FOR THE CITY Safe injection sites may be okay in some cities, but not in Richmond, says a member of the team appointed to draft Richmond's drug strategy initiative. "It's not something we can support as RCMP," said Cpl. Davis Wendell in his presentation to the Richmond school district's education committee meeting Monday night. "But we're more than prepared to support people on their journey towards abstinence." This journey, as laid out by Wendell, a member of a community team appointed to devise a drug strategy for Richmond by year's end, will include drafting of a concrete, hands-on plan to battle the problem of illegal drugs in this community. Although safe injection sites probably won't form part of the strategy, other harm reduction programs are already in place and working well. The local methadone program, said Wendell, is currently serving 60 clients, all former heroin addicts, and the needle exchange program hasn't resulted to-date in any additional policing headaches. But the key to a successful drug strategy, said Wendell, is to help people make life choices that mean they'll never have to kick the drug habit. At the schoolyard level, that means developing more comprehensive drug awareness programs in schools as well as placing a school liaison officer in every high school instead of employing only one district-wide. The idea received nods of approval from the students themselves who sit as members of the school district's education committee. Christine McCreary, a Grade 12 student at Charles E. London secondary, said it's socially acceptable at school to smoke marijuana. This tacit approval sees kids in Grade 8 smoking pot, but by Grade 12, they're using cocaine. The socially acceptable status of marijuana, said Wendell, seems to be a made-in-B.C. standard. In this province, he said, attitudes towards drugs are flexible, leading most to classify pot as not as evil as, say, heroin. But, he stressed to committee members, marijuana is classified as a gateway drug - its smoking leads to experimentation and addiction to harder illicit substances. At the school district level, Wendell said the goal of Richmond's drug strategy will be to ensure kids who choose to remain drug-free can feel safe in their scholastic environment. "We want to ensure schools are places where kids who don't do drugs never feel pressure to do them," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth