UN IGNORES DRUG LORDS WHILE TARGETING INSITE

Re: Safe injection site breaks treaties, UN agency says, March 2

I was a Vancouver city councillor when the four-pillars proposal for
the supervised injection site came to us for consideration. At that
time, staff told council that the proposal would contravene the
United Nations 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Article 4. Staff,
if memory serves, added two considerations: First, the UN convention
was out of date, and in significant need of revision; and, second, at
the time it was written, many of the countries supporting it wanted
to protect their local illicit drug operations.

Council agreed with the staff recommendations. It is very telling
that the countries that have contravened this convention -- Germany,
the Netherlands and Switzerland, in particular -- were then and
remain today stable, progressive democratic societies. In short,
Vancouver is in good company.

On the other side of the coin, the UN has done little that could be
seen as substantive to deal with the drug lords of South America or
Asia. It is time for the UN, not Vancouver or Canada, to answer a few
questions.

Alan Herbert

Vancouver