Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jul 2007 Source: Victoria News (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Victoria News Contact: http://www.vicnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267 HARD TO SLAY It's commendable that both local and provincial politicians are taking an alternate view on the omnipresent challenge of addiction in our society. Last week, local and provincial politicians alike returned to the forefront as they promoted addictions response and treatment processes. Locally, a report released last week supported some of the fundamental principles behind a drive to install a safe-injection site in the City of Victoria - a project keenly supported by Victoria mayor Alan Lowe. Provincially, Mainland MLA Lorne Mayencourt has brainstormed his idea for an addiction rehabilitation facility at the old CFB Baldy Hughes site near Prince George. Both suggestions carry merit, and both do more to address the challenges of addiction than the current flawed policy of simply arresting drug-users and hoping the penal system can somehow miraculously change an addict's life. It is well known that drug use and drug addiction is intimately linked with the criminal activity of many repeat offenders: officers frequently state that people "well-known to the police" (a common term for a person cycling through current catch-and-release judicial system) are at the root of some 60 per cent or more of Criminal Code cases in the Capital Region. Those crimes are usually property offences, such as break and enters, or addicts smashing into cars to steal small items for later sale. While the crimes themselves are not directly drug-related, they are nonetheless intimately linked to the cycle of addiction. Calls for punitive response to these crimes overlooks a critical problem. Jail does nothing to curb an addict's appetite for drugs, hence incarcerating a drug-addicted habitual offender for the property crimes they commit to feed an addiction is merely flailing at the symptoms of a larger problem. What is needed to stem drug--related crimes is a means to move habitual offenders with drug-use problems into a treatment system that will address the addiction at the core of the criminal behaviour. However, with deference to both Lowe and Mayencourt, that challenge is far greater than either level of government can solve. Even the federal government is somewhat powerless to render change, as forcing an addict into treatment is a violation of that person's constitutional rights: one of the weaknesses in Canadian law that will prove difficult, if not impossible to solve. Thus, moves to treatment centres and front-line harm-reduction through safe-injection sites carry considerable merit: such moves may, for the moment, be the best actions currently available under our laws. Those that decry safe-injection sites often cite the seemingly ideological flaw in pumping tax dollars to effectively allow an illegal act. That is a shortsighted view that fails to take into account the larger cycle of addiction. We trust that those opposed to such moves - and this may include supporters of the current federal government - pause for a moment and offer praise to those providing real solutions that may help create a better society for us all. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom