FOUR PILLARS WOBBLE ON ONE LEG

Whatever happened to the Four Pillars, the made-in-Kelowna approach to
dealing with drug addiction and the street level problems it engenders?

Kelowna RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon asked that question yesterday at a
Rotary Club function where he spoke of the problems police have with
drug addicted repeat offenders.

It's a good question. The so-called Four Pillars approach was the
solution touted by a variety of local social service agencies for what
was seen as an epidemic of street crime--drug dealing and drug use,
petty theft and panhandling.

Instead of trying to hammer it down with law enforcement, the Four
Pillars calls for equal parts enforcement, prevention, treatment and
harm reduction.

Under the guise of the Mayor's Task Force on Public Safety, the city
set up a committee which was to figure out how to bring the Four
Pillars from concept to reality.

But as McKinnon pointed out Tuesday, only the enforcement pillar seems
to be in strong play and addicts still face waiting times for
treatment at the point when they need it the most.

His evidence? A group of 39 drug addicts arrested in downtown Kelowna
18 months ago have all been involved with police again since then and
many are facing further criminal charges.

The superintendent is calling for more resources to be devoted to
treatment for addicts, a surprise given that McKinnon is known as a
law-and-order man who doesn't support decriminalization of
recreational drugs and thinks the justice system is too lenient.

So what did happen to the Four Pillars? Could it be that the same
social service agencies who were so involved in setting it up, dropped
it like a hot potato when they saw there was no real government
funding attached to it? Or are the people of Kelowna, some who
protested mightily at the creation of supportive housing for addicts
downtown, not ready for that type of harm reduction?