Pubdate: Thu, 07 Sep 2006
Source: Aldergrove Star (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Central Fraser Valley Star Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.aldergrovestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/989
Author: Tom Fletcher
MAP Note: This is a three-topic column with the two non drug policy 
portions removed

THE DRUG CONNECTION

Hospitals report that as many as half of their  emergency admissions
are intoxicated. Panhandlers puff  cigarettes as they collect cash
from those who don't  notice or care where their money is going.
Police  report again and again that nearly all their low-level
property crime is drug-related, with a few hardcore  actors doing most
of it.

The big-city debate continues in Orwellian language,  defending "safe"
injection sites that can't possibly be  safe and needle "exchange"
programs where dirty needles  are discarded on sidewalks and parks.

Perhaps the ultimate solution is to provide hardcore  addicts with not
only free shelter and medical care but  free drugs as well. But I
don't think the public is  ready to surrender that much.

Solicitor General John Les has high hopes for the drug  court pilot
program in Vancouver that was extended for  three years by the federal
and provincial government.  It sentences chronic offenders to
treatment rather than  jail.
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath