Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jan 2012
Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Coast Reporter
Contact:  http://www.coastreporter.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/580
Author: Ben Ingram

OUR EVOLVING PROBLEM WITH DRUGS

Going Coastal

It's a bit of a dirty topic, but more than ever the need to talk 
about drugs is presenting itself.

Since the days of alcohol prohibition and through the years of 
similar policies governing drug use, there have always been those who 
disobey and, ultimately, those who profit.

The laws that fill our prisons with the addicted also force drug 
users into back alleys away from the prying eyes of the public. It 
pushes them away from helpful services that could make a difference 
in their lives and society as a whole.

Surrounding this hidden culture of abuse - and it's everywhere - is 
the shadowy clandestine market of drugs where astronomical profits 
are made and often turned towards even darker enterprises.

The discovery of the highly toxic and obscure chemical PMMA in 
ecstasy tablets making their way around B.C. and Alberta has been 
both shocking and horrific for the authorities and organizations 
seeking to counter this country's drug problem.

It was just as painful for the families of its victims, like that of 
the 16-year-old Langley teen who became the fourth ecstasy victim of 
2012 last weekend.

His death, and the death of several others in the province over the 
past year, was the result of a criminal decision to lace the drug 
with a highly toxic substance in order to turn a higher profit.

While a forensic chemical analyst from Health Canada told me this 
week that his lab's discovery of PMMA in an ecstasy sample was the 
first time they've seen it in 10 years of analysis, it's a story that 
remains the same.

Dirty drugs breed corruption and line the pockets of criminals, while 
addicts and experimenting youths fork over their dollars in exchange 
for a dose of poison.

There is no easy solution to the problem, but slowly our society 
seems to be coming to terms with its problem with drugs.

In November a coalition of former Vancouver mayors, and current mayor 
Gregor Robertson, called for legalization of marijuana. While the 
dangers of marijuana use have been shown to be slim to none, apart 
from the age-old gateway drug arguments, the plant still serves to 
fund criminal activities of all kinds.

Opening its doors in 2003, the Insite supervised injection site in 
Vancouver's Downtown East Side has endured legal struggles since its 
inception to continue providing its life-saving services.

By allowing the addicted to have a safe, clean, supervised 
environment to take their drugs, the clinic prevents fatal overdoses 
and provides a trusting avenue to treatment options, counselling and, 
in some cases, recovery.

But it has taken a change in mentality, and a trip to the Supreme 
Court of Canada, for society to even begin to see the advantages of 
approaching drug users with a helping hand in lieu of a fist.

As the recent ecstasy deaths can surely attest, much more needs to be done.

While the solutions won't be easy and will likely require a 
continuing evolution of the way we think about drugs and drug 
culture, one thing remains certain.

We can continue to let the problem fester in back alleyways and 
become continually corrupted by merciless criminal forces, or Canada 
itself can admit that it has a drug problem and begin to own its consequences.

Is it time to hold a national intervention?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom