Pubdate: Tue, 18 Oct 2005
Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Vancouver Courier
Contact:  http://www.vancourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author: Naoibh O'Connor, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

AFGHAN DRUG CONFERENCE ENLIGHTENING FOR OWEN

A visit to Kabul, Afghanistan for a drug policy conference reconfirmed 
former mayor Philip Owen's support for Vancouver's Four Pillars approach.

Owen, who was invited to speak at the late September event organized by the 
Senlis Council, a European-based drug policy think tank formed in 2002, 
said many countries present supported or were interested in Vancouver's 
policies.

"I guess you wonder, is Vancouver wrong in what it initiated? No. Would 
Vancouver do it again? Yes," he said. "You come back with confidence that 
you're on the right side of the page with the world community-you 
understand what they're doing and they understand what you're doing. 
Vancouver is on the map."

Some participants were shocked that Vancouver could introduce initiatives 
such as harm reduction despite being so close to the U.S. and its "war on 
drugs." Owen, who was accompanied by his wife Brita, told them that 
Vancouver is committed to maintaining its course.

The couple also had a chance to see what little Afghanistan is doing for 
its estimated 60,000 drug addicts. Afghanistan has a population of 29 
million and grows 87 per cent of the world's opium. On the last day of the 
symposium, the Owens and other visitors dropped by a treatment centre and 
learned there are only 60 to 70 treatment beds available in the whole country.

The centre they visited handled 30 patients, with three beds reserved for 
women. Two doctors told them patients stayed 28 days at the facility, which 
doesn't receive government funding, at a cost of $120 per person for 14 days.

The trip was enlightening in other ways. Due to the threat of terrorism, 
conference participants were guarded by a security team of South Africans 
who had local police contacts. The guards had also worked in other 
dangerous areas like Baghdad and Kosovo.

Travel was by bus or SUV at breakneck speed through crowded, dusty streets. 
"There certainly was some nervousness especially when the bus got in 
traffic jams because there's gridlock a lot in Kabul and they would take 
side streets and go as fast as they could. The streets are full of potholes 
and the [SUV] was just banging and bouncing around. They would go very 
quickly, honk the horn and just go between pedestrians inches away from 
them. It was really quite harrowing," recalled Owen. "You're looking 
around. You're grabbing your wallet. You're ready to duck under the seat. I 
was thinking in terms of, if I hear a noise [I'll] grab Brita by the 
shoulders and push her down on the floor and fall on top of her. That's 
always on your mind. There's no doubt about it, it's a scary place."

When the Owens returned to their hotel from the clinic visit, they learned 
a motorcycle suicide bomber crashed into a bus at an army base north of 
Kabul. Seventeen died and at least 35 were injured. Three motorcyclists 
were spotted travelling from Kandahar and two were still in the region. As 
a result of the incident, plans to go to a restaurant that night were 
cancelled. A day earlier during a visit to the famed stadium where the 
Taliban executed people before soccer games, the foreign visitors weren't 
allowed off the bus because someone had been shot there earlier in the day.

The security men advised foreigners against taking photographs, except 
through the window of the bus. Some visitors tried anyway.

"People would rush up and grab the camera and break it open," said Owen. 
"Military people don't want their pictures taken. We were told not to take 
pictures of police or Afghan military people with their AK47s and they were 
just everywhere."

Despite the problems facing Afghanistan, he found the people to be 
enterprising.

"When you see the entrepreneurship and the spirit of how they go out and 
eke out a living, if you could let them go and they had 10 or 20 years of 
peace and quiet, this would be a city that would come back to life and be 
an economic centre," he said.
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