Pubdate: Mon, 14 Nov 2005
Source: Chatham Daily News, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 OSPREY Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.chathamdailynews.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1627
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)

HOOKERS WORKING FOR VANCOUVER

Only on Canada's Left Coast would you see this: A Vancouver councillor 
wants the city to set up a non-profit brothel run by city hall. And, Tim 
Louis claims such a brothel will help get drug-addicted hookers off the 
streets.

Pardon? This is the same city that has a haven for needle jockey drug 
addicts, where intravenous drug users can come in and shoot up without fear 
of arrest. Crack addicts in the city are still lobbying to have an 
inhalation room at the facility.

And now at least one councillor wants Vancouver to run a brothel, where 
prostitutes peddle their bodies for money, only at this flop house, the 
pimp -- the City of Vancouver -- won't make a profit.

Perhaps Louis wants to wear a felt fedora and fur coat, or drive a retro 
luxury sedan with shag carpeting on the dashboard. But he says he thinks 
the city, through educating the prostitutes, can help get them off drugs 
and even out of the business.

Tossing pamphlets at his target employees -- drug addicts who sell their 
bodies to get money to pay for their next fix -- doesn't sound like a 
venture with much potential. It is downright misguided.

Help get these women off the streets; don't open up a franchise to keep 
them in this illicit business.

Many of us who don't live in the laid-back lands of British Columbia, also 
home to relaxed policing in regards to personal marijuana use, can't help 
but wonder how helping someone break the law will ultimately help them 
break their cycle of dependence.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom