Pubdate: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) PLAGUE OF BREAK-INS RE-IGNITES DRUG DEBATE Victims' Views Range From Legalizing Drugs To Bringing Back The Death Penalty It is hard to accurately assess just how much damage property crime is causing in the Lower Mainland. The dollar values are easy enough to dig out from insurance claims. But it goes far beyond that as I discovered when my home was broken into recently and the jewelry stolen was of greater sentimental than cash value. The costs include a fear factor, that chill when you go home at night, open the door and wonder whether maybe once again someone has smashed their way in. Since writing about my break-in, I've had many calls and e-mails from people recounting their own losses, their own fears of recurrence. But mostly, I've heard anger. There's is no excuse for so many of us being robbed each year -- whether it's our cars or our homes being broken into, our possessions rifled and our valuables stolen. What we need is a concerted effort to end this, to attack the problem at all levels and make sure that we make our voices heard. Let's start with the criminals. It's no surprise that British Columbia has the highest incidence of illegal drug use and one of the highest property crime rates in Canada. More than a year after the supervised injection site for intravenous drug users opened in Vancouver as part of the much-vaunted "four pillars" plan, the drug problem isn't better. It may even be worse. Although establishing contact with addicts with a view to connecting them to counselling and detox was one of the primary reasons that people supported a safe injection site, it turns out that most addicts don't bother with it. They get in, shoot up, maybe get some nursing care, and leave. The evaluation of the site's first year indicated that fewer than one per cent of the 15,000 or so visits to the site each month results in a visit to a counsellor. In six months of operation, only 262 referrals were made to counselling services and only 78 to detox programs. It's worth remembering that the 14,300 or so injections that take place there each month represent somewhere between $143,000 and $858,000 worth of illegal drugs depending on whether addicts are shooting 1/10th of a gram or a quarter each time. The money for the drugs likely came from thefts. And the drugs used at the site are just a minuscule portion of the total. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse estimates there are 15,000 injection drug users in Vancouver, shooting up anywhere from two to four times a day at about $10 for 1/10th of a gram. In a September report, Donald MacPherson, coordinator of the city's drug policy program wrote that: - - The number of homeless people on the street with mental health and addiction issues has increased over the past few years. - - A significant market for crystal methamphetamine has developed in the downtown core. - - Youth treatment services lag behind the demand. - - There are a significant number of addicts smoking crack cocaine who are not getting any treatment. Clearly, we're not even close to dealing with the drug problem. What to do, of course, is the tough question with readers suggesting everything from legalizing all drugs to bringing back the death penalty. The solution, no doubt lies somewhere closer to the middle. Which brings us to enforcement -- another of the four pillars. MacPherson and a group of University of B.C. researchers have concluded that the crackdown on dealers on the Downtown Eastside just moved them to other neighbourhoods -- neighbourhoods like mine where there are fewer police officers. While the police responded within 40 minutes of my 911 call, from all of the e-mails and phone calls I received it's pretty clear that that was exceptional service. The norm seems to be police taking hours and even days to show up if they come at all. Most times, it seems the only contact robbery victims have with police is over the phone when they're told that there's slim hope of ever recovering the lost items or catching the thieves. The advice police give victims is that we should barricade our homes and "harden our security." We're told to install expensive security systems with expensive monthly fees. We're told to put bars on windows, cameras in condo entranceways, prison-yard lights and locked gates on garbage bins, and to remove shrubs that might be attractive hiding spots for criminals. We're being told collectively to spend millions of dollars, lining the pockets of private "security professionals." Wouldn't we be better spending it on police -- a public security force with the power to arrest -- rather than on security guards? Many people complained about the courts, lawmakers and judges who aren't tough enough on sentencing, who have turned the courtroom door into a revolving door. Some recommended the California three-strikes' law that puts petty thieves in jail for extended periods if they have three convictions. Others suggested thieves be forced to make financial restitution in addition to doing jail time. Still another suggested penal camp/rehab centres in remote parts of the province. But even if we threw all those thieves in jail, would it solve the problem? Probably not, because criminals who go to jail usually come out still addicted, and some who weren't addicted before get hooked in jail. Why else would some people be making a case to have free needle exchange programs in jail? Of course, all these enforcement problems inevitably lead to the suggestion of legalizing some or all drugs. While the notion is appealing to our libertarian nature, there is no firm evidence that it would stop the cycle of addiction and crime. That's especially so since the new drug of choice, particularly for young kids, isn't heroin, cocaine, marijuana or even ecstasy, it's crystal methamphetamines. Cheap, with a prolonged high, it is highly addictive, psychosis-inducing and results in permanent brain damage. Not only does no one know how to treat the addiction, experts aren't even sure how long it takes to detox a meth addict. It may be too soon to throw out the four pillars approach, but the public definitely is ready to re-ignite the public debate about how to keep all of us safer. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek