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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom