WE'RE CRACKPOTS FOR ALLOWING THIS

UN Report Says Toronto and Ottawa Are Little More Than Drug Pushers

Good morning, and welcome to crack central.

Yep, Toronto and Ottawa are the crack capitals of the world,
according to a UN report on the international drug trade. It slams
Ottawa and Toronto for their free crackpipe programs, and says the
cities are contravening international drug trafficking control
treaties by providing drug paraphernalia to addicts.

"The distribution of drug paraphernalia, including crackpipes, to
drug users in Ottawa and Toronto, as well as the presence of drug
injection sites, is also in violation of the international drug
control treaties, to which Canada is a party," says a report by the
UN's influential International Narcotics Control Board, released in
Vienna on Wednesday.

The report asks the federal government to step in.

"The Board calls upon the Government of Canada to end programs, such
as the supply of 'safer crack kits,' including the mouthpiece and
screen components of pipes for smoking 'crack,' authorized by the
Vancouver Island Health Authority, as they are in contravention of
article 13 of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic
in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988," the report says.

Both Toronto and Ottawa provide mouthpieces and screens for addicts.
And while Ottawa's city council voted last year to end the crackpipe
program after residents complained about drug paraphernalia littering
the streets and harassment by spaced-out addicts, the province
recently provided $287,000 to keep the crackpipe distribution going.
Kingston and Guelph have similar programs.

A spokesman for Health Minister George Smitherman said the ministry
is interested only in the health of Ontarians, not the enforcement of
international drug control treaties. Laurel Ostfield said another UN
agency, the World Health Organization, supports the "safer crack use
policy" that the INCB criticizes.

"We are concerned about keeping Ontarians healthy and we look to WHO
and they support the use of safe injection and inhalation sites," she said.

Anyone with a smattering of common sense knows that's so much fuzzy
logic claptrap.

You've only got to trip over some pathetic crack addict in downtown
Ottawa or Toronto to know there is no such thing as safe crack use.
It's an oxymoron. Crack use is dangerous no matter how you use it. It
not only hurts the person with the addiction, it destroys the entire
neighbourhood. Ottawa residents were so outraged by the program last
year that residents and business owners marched on city hall armed
with tax-funded crackpipes they had picked up in their neighbourhoods.

Opposition Leader Bob Runciman has raised the issue in the
legislature for years.

"Here we are using tax dollars to fund activity that I think most
people would find repugnant," he said, pointing out that Ottawa
council pulled out of the crackpipe program and the police chief is
opposed to it.

"Ottawa has a growing problem with street gangs and drug-related
crimes are up dramatically," Runciman said.

The report says that every year, 15 to 25 tonnes of cocaine enter
Canada, mainly from Colombia via the United States or in shipments
from the Caribbean.

Those of us who've been complaining about these lunatic crackpipe
policies of our left-wing councils for years have been told that
we're out of touch. All those raving do-gooders know what's best - so
they've been handing out drug paraphernalia to addicts. You might
just as well pour gasoline on an inferno.

Now, no lesser authority than the UN says these councils are little
better than drug traffickers.

Meanwhile, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced this week that his
government will step in and stop parents who smoke in cars when
children are present. Well, good for him. Most smokers I know,
though, have become sensitive to the problem of second-hand smoke and
tend to keep their butts away from children.

Fancy that, though. You have a government that on the one hand will
stop parents from consuming a legal product in their cars. On the
other hand, it uses our money to pay for crack pipes so drug addicts
can consume an illegal and highly destructive substance.

For shame! We must be the crackpots to let it continue.