Pubdate: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 Source: 100 Mile House Free Press (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 100 Mile House Free Press Contact: http://www.100milefreepress.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2143 Author: Christopher Cain Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) MAYOR QUESTIONS MLA'S PROPOSAL FOR REHAB CENTRE Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt thinks rural B.C. would be a good place to send Vancouver's downtown east side drug addicts for rehabilitation. On Dec. 8, Mayencourt pitched his idea, modelled on a 28-year-old treatment centre in San Patrignano, Italy, to the Greater Vancouver Regional Board. In his address, the MLA mentioned 100 Mile House as a possible site for a treatment facility. Move the addicts to a rural community, he said, where they can farm and produce their own goods and be far away from the drug-infested urban centre. Mayencourt also told members of the GVRD that there are private financiers in the Vancouver business community interested in getting the project underway. Hold your horses, kind sir, says 100 Mile House Mayor Donna Barnett. She is nowhere close to being convinced that her town, or the outlying region, is a good choice to house recovering addicts. At the very least, Barnett did not appreciate Mayencourt mentioning 100 Mile House without first consulting her and the citizens of this municipality. So, she has sent a letter to the Vancouver MLA, expressing concerns over his proposal. "In rural B.C. we have our own issues and so far, with help from the provincial government, agencies, volunteers, spiritual groups and others, have managed to help most of our unfortunate," Barnett wrote. "The eastside Vancouver issue has been there for 30 years and has virtually been, in my opinion, ignored by local government other than paper plans hoping it will go away or someone else will come to the rescue." Tough words? Undoubtedly. A case of NIMBY (not in my back yard)? Not necessarily so. Barnett said the San Patrignano model, the largest live-in drug treatment centre in Europe, where 2,200 addicts live and work, may be a part of the answer to the problems faced in Vancouver's east side. Rural B.C., she added, may very well be able to play a role. But the mayor wants Mayencourt to venture east to 100 Mile House and explain his proposal and give residents an opportunity to speak on such a model before this community or others are given any further consideration. Barnett also suggested it would be beneficial if the Liberal government took officials from the proposed sites to Italy to evaluate the San Patrignano model. Doing so, Barnett concluded, "would be an asset to all and give our communities a level of comfort your intent was not to just evacuate the east side of Vancouver to 100 Mile, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Ashcroft, but to work towards a long term solution thus improving quality of life for those in need, while embracing the quality our rural B.C. communities possess." The letter was also sent to Attorney General, Wally Oppal, Solicitor General, John Les, chair and board of the GVRD, Lois Jackson, and Village of Ashcroft Mayor Andy Anderson. While Mayencourt has yet to take the proposal to his boss, Premier Gordon Campbell, he has received positive feedback from both Oppal and Les.