Pubdate: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell CITY'S DRUG POLICY LACKS COORDINATOR Resignee Notes Need For Law Reform Does the city need a drug policy coordinator now that the person who held the position for almost a decade resigned? The short and quick answer from Vision Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang is, of course. But should the coordinator's position left vacant by Donald MacPherson be held by one person, or have the work spread out among senior staff? The answer is not clear. "Maybe there's somebody on staff who wants to take that on as part of their current workload," said Jang, who is his party's point person on mental health and addictions. What the future of the city's drug policy work will look like is a question Jang has asked frequently since MacPherson announced his resignation in September. He pointed to senior staff in housing and social planning as capable of continuing MacPherson's work. He noted homelessness, mental health issues and drug addiction are intertwined. He said MacPherson's steering of the city's Four Pillars drug strategy in the early part of this decade was crucial to tackling the drug problem. Fewer Vancouverites are dying of drug overdoses and contracting infectious diseases. The city also opened North America's only legal drug injection site on East Hastings in September 2003. But the strategy, which includes police enforcement and drug treatment, is largely dependent on funding, political will and amending drug laws. MacPherson, who laid out drug decriminalization options in reports to council, felt that full implementation of the strategy was hampered by the federal government's views on drug policy and its continued focus on the so-called war on drugs. It is the reason MacPherson is seeking to form a national drug policy network to critique drug policy at provincial and national levels. "A whole group of people are being criminalized who are really in need of health services," he said. "We keep behaving as if [drug addiction] is a criminal issue. So I want to put much more energy into that, and that is well beyond the municipal level." He wouldn't weigh in on whether the city should have a stand-alone person to continue his work. That's up to city council, he said. Former NPA mayor Philip Owen, who was mayor when MacPherson became drug policy coordinator in 2000, is worried that tackling drug addiction is not a priority at municipal, provincial and federal levels of government. Owen pointed out that drug policy was absent in political campaigns during recent elections at all three levels of government. "It's just not on the radar screen anywhere and I'm really pissed off about it," he said, noting the Lower Mainland's gang violence is largely drug-related. MacPherson said leadership on drug policy must come from politicians. "They have to keep pushing and doing that advocacy work. If the politicians don't advocate, it's very difficult for staff to." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart