Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jul 2008 Source: Richmond News (CN BC) Copyright: 2008, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc. Contact: http://www.richmond-news.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) DON'T EXPORT SOCIAL ILLS When it comes to social ills like drugs and crime, individuals and communities can either be part of the problem or part of the solution. We, as a community, have decided to be part of the problem. We refer to the Turning Point Society's decision to withdraw its application to build a 32-bed recovery house on Ash Street. On one hand, we demand that governments "do something" about drugs and crime, but when a plan to use land owned by B.C. Housing to help addicts recover was proposed, we rejected it. "Unfortunately, your community has fought aggressively against a project that would have helped to address that (problem) in the community," Housing Minister Rich Coleman told the News. Opponents said it was the scale of the 32-bed facility they opposed, not the idea of residential treatment per se. Economies of scale meant the government and Turning Point would have been able to get more bang for its buck by building one 32-bed facility than three 10-bed group homes. So, it is just going to cost more to provide the same level of service. Turning Point will now consider a smaller, 10-bed recovery house for women, possibly on the same site. We suspect we haven't heard the last of the neighbourhood group that opposed the proposal -- the "Caring Citizens of Richmond Society" -- who recently received a certificate of incorporation. The group vows in a press release to "continue their vigilance against anything that may compromise the city's recognition as one of the world's most liveable communities." Presumably a "liveable community" is one that exports its social problems to other communities. Here's something Turning Point's critics just don't seem to get: Opposing supportive recovery won't keep addicts out of our neighbourhoods. It just means they will go untreated and unsupervised. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom