Pubdate: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC) Copyright: 2006, West Partners Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294 Author: Jennifer Smith DRUG POLICY COORDINATOR JOB NOT FILLED The Central Okanagan needs a drug policy coordinator. But finding someone up to the task is proving more complicated than sorting out the myriad of service overlaps which spurred the demand for such a position to initially be created. The Central Okanagan Regional District was given the go-ahead to hire a coordinator early this spring, over a year after the citizen-led Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition issued its report calling on the local government to hire a coordinator to oversee and help shape the direction of services and solutions to drug issues in the region. But there has been little to no response to the job posting. "I think the uniqueness of the position and the general competitiveness of the market place is proving the problem here," said Bruce Smith, spokesperson for the Central Okanagan Regional District. The job requires someone who understands drug policy and can streamline social services, plugging holes, tapping fundraising dollars and ensuring service providers aren't repeating themselves. "What we're hoping is that a person with a thorough knowledge of drug and alcohol strategies, and processes and treatments, will be able to work with the agencies that are already in place and are doing street level programs, to ensure there's no duplication, to ensure they're communicating with one another," Smith explained. The job was posted twice and regional human resources staff are now "repackaging" their information to make sure the advertisement accurately describes what's needed before taking the job search province-wide. Salary range is described as "competitive" and provides full benefits for someone willing to sign on to a three-year contract, although Smith was not able to comment on how much competitive means. In the meantime, a representative for the latest citizen task force targeting drug problems, the Crystal Meth Task Force, says that without the drug policy coordinator in place, there is no one to start evaluating and implementing their findings and so they've had to continue their work past deadline. The committee was given $20,000 in government grants to complete a 90-day evaluation and establish a concrete set of recommendations as to the nature, scope and possible solutions to crystal meth use in the Okanagan. "Ideally, the goal of this task force was to do a 90-day task force and then produce a document with our recommendations, and give that to the drug policy coordinator and say, 'Here, this is what the community feels is needed in terms of crystal meth,'" said Carmen Lenihan, a spokesperson for the crystal meth task force. "So that's partly why we're continuing and we have no one to pass the ball to right now. We're not going to be a flash in the pan." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman