MAYOR WARNS AGAINST SCARE TACTICS ON DRUGS

Scare tactics and unrealistic platitudes won't persuade people to avoid
drug abuse, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell told a forum aimed at developing
a drug prevention strategy for the city on Thursday.

"A real-world approach to prevention has to go beyond 'Just Say No,' " he
said referring to Nancy Reagan's failed drug-use prevention crusade of the
1980s.

Any prevention strategy must be based on modern realities where abstinence
plays a role but is not the saviour philosophy, he told representatives of
70 community, health, school and police organizations gathered for the
forum sponsored by the Mayor's Four Pillars Coalition.

"Let's get things that work. Let's get them out there and let's get started
on this ... Everybody is watching what we do."

Campbell emphasized the need for an honest approach when teaching
prevention to students and their parents, and the need to address
prevention issues with youth at risk.

"I don't like the scared-straight stuff," he said. "If you lie to them --
it's out there and going to come back to haunt you."

The city hopes to have a prevention strategy completed in six months.
Prevention is one pillar in the city's four-pillars approach to reducing
drug-related harm. Harm reduction, enforcement and treatment are the other
three pillars.

Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd told the forum, which wraps
up today, that the key to a successful prevention strategy for the city is
to recognize that each drug is different and each requires a different
approach.

Like Campbell, he also stressed the importance of telling the truth.