BABY STEPS IN THE CRYSTAL METH FIGHT

Campbell Has Offered $7 Million To Counter The Rise Of The Street Drug

VANCOUVER - British Columbia's mayors and councillors, who are meeting here
this week, are reasonably content with their relationship with the
provincial government and satisfied for the most part with the progress
their communities are making on all the usual fronts.

There's one thing that appears to scare the hell out of them, though, and
that's crystal meth. Not everyone is fully up to speed on the horror
spreading from the easy production and cheap consumption of the street drug.

The ones who realized the menace early on are profoundly concerned. The
fear of crystal meth was lurking around the edges of the convention, which
otherwise is a celebration of prosperity, revenue-sharing and co-operation
on all manner of other issues.

Premier Gordon Campbell tried to address it in part of his speech Thursday
to the Union of B.C. Municipalities, but it's an open question whether he
made much headway.

If you talk to Esquimalt Coun. Ruth Layne, who's involved in the local
society formed to fight it, he failed miserably.

She was in tears after Campbell, with some fanfare, announced the spending
of $7 million to cope with the drug.

"I thought they got it," she said after the speech, struggling to keep
composure. "We have five detox beds on Vancouver Island. Every single child
that talks to an adult, they're looking for help. They 100 per cent want to
get off this drug. They can't do it alone. They can't do it at home. $2
million won't do it for the province," she said, referring to a portion of
the spending meant for community programs.

"I'm glad for the province's help, but we need money today, to open up
treatment beds right now. They've got young brains with this poison in it,
and $2 million is not enough."

The Victoria group took Solicitor General John Les out on the streets last
week until 1 a.m. to observe part of the crystal meth scene.

They were impressed by his personal reaction to users' plights. But the
programs announced by the premier Thursday do sound a little paltry after
hearing about how bad is.

Acknowledging "it demands our immediate attention," he promised $2 million
to UBCM to fight crystal meth. It's considered seed money for individual
community drives, up to $10,000 in each locale.

There's another $3 million for what's billed as a major public awareness
campaign and more for targeted treatment services, all of it under the
auspices of a new crystal meth secretariat to be run out of Les's office.

The news wasn't universally panned. B.C. already spends $1 billion on
mental health and addiction services and came up with a crystal meth
strategy last year that's been making progress on some priorities.

Others in the field welcomed Thursday's steps and Campbell said there is
more to come in the next few weeks. But Opposition Leader Carole James was
also disenchanted, saying the small-scale amounts are an insult to the
local groups already working hard on fighting the drug.

It will help a bit, as "they've been working with nothing so far."

But more addiction support and detox beds would go further than education,
advertising campaigns and the secretariat.

The argument will continue for a while, and there's a sinking feeling that
a lot more localities will be getting involved in it in the months ahead.

It must be disconcerting for Liberal cabinet ministers, who have had the
run of the convention for the last four years, to turn up at panel
discussions and see a half-dozen Opposition critics at each one. They sat
impassively in clusters as the ministers answered questions from delegates.

Explaining the presence of 33 Opposition MLAs to delegates who may have
grown unfamiliar with the concept after four years, James said: "We want to
know what isn't working, so we can help facilitate change to the benefit of
local government. But we also want to know what is working in your
relationship to government."

What really worked for her Thursday was her description of the new tone in
the legislature.

She described a more constructive and pragmatic approach that is tough, but
not personal.

"Shouting is not the same as being effective. The big ideological divides
that have traditionally characterized debate at the legislature have little
resonance and even less relevance at city hall."

She promised to be "tough and unrelenting" on the Liberals when they're
wrong, but when they're working for the common good "we will join in that
pursuit."

Both leaders were gracious to one another on the tobacco case Thursday.
Campbell congratulated Joy MacPhail for starting it several years ago, and
James noted that the Liberals kept it going.

They're also united, surprisingly enough, on a Liberal election slogan.
James finished her speech to the delegates by saying: "You don't need a
government ad to know that this is the best place on Earth to live."