UN-BACKED DEBATE ON DRUG HARM HITS VANCOUVER SHORTLY

Drug prohibition is killing people, according to some Vancouver experts.

And they'll get their say when a UN-endorsed conference starts in
Vancouver next week, which will ask non-governmental organizations
what they think about drug-control policy.

About 70 delegates, ranging from Drug-Free America to the Vancouver
Area Network of Drug Users, as well as a host of NGOs, will debate
the issues and get back to the UN.

"The cost of prohibition to communities all over the world is
heartbreakingly cruel," said Gillian Maxwell, chair of Keeping the
Door Open, a local group that holds "dialogues" on substance abuse.

"Third-world countries are devastated by the violence of organized
crime and some suffer from their crops, children and animals being
sprayed by toxic chemicals; in Vancouver we are devastated by the
violence of organized crime and our most vulnerable suffer from the
hopelessness of poverty, disease and stigma."

Maxwell and Dan Reist of the University of Victoria's Centre for
Addictions Research pointed out that the toll of HIV and AIDS, as
well as hepatitis C, drug overdoses and violence related to drug
trafficking have all been more deadly and harmful to society than the
simple use of drugs.

They also agreed that drug addiction is a symptom of social problems
such as mental illness and poverty.

"The gap between rich and poor is getting wider," said Maxwell,
noting that the gap contributes to drug addiction.

Jerry Paradis, a retired B.C. provincial court judge, said
prohibition does not work and that hard drugs could be better
regulated through law and taxation. "The sky didn't fall when alcohol
prohibition ended, but crime and even fetal alcohol syndrome did
drop," he said.

"Let's be honest, alcohol and tobacco are far more dangerous and have
caused far more harm than all the illicit drugs put together," said
Paradis, now a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, with
10,000 members.

Reist said he welcomes all "dialogue" next week and hopes the UN
heeds the advice of the NGOs who will speak out at conferences all
over the world, including New Zealand, Lima Budapest, Cairo, Dhaka,
Nairobi and Macau.