VANCOUVER MAYOR TO VISIT NANAIMO

The mayor of Vancouver, Larry Campbell, will cross the Strait of Georgia in
March to talk about community drug strategies.

Campbell will be in Nanaimo to attend the March 18 meeting of the Nanaimo
Alcohol and Drug Action Committee (NADAC), to be held at Beban Park. The
topic of Campbell's speech will be "Vancouver's Four-Pillar Approach."

Touted during last year's municipal election as the best way to deal with
Vancouver's drug crisis in the downtown east side, the four pillars are
treatment, enforcement, prevention and harm reduction.

One NADAC member said Campbell's presence in Nanaimo is important for
anyone interested in solutions to this city's drug problems.

"I think it's exciting to listen to how problems in other communities are
dealt with," said Annie Thuveson.

Campbell is the former chief coroner of B.C. who gained a reputation at
that time for stating drug addiction should be considered a health issue,
not a matter exclusively for police enforcement. He has carried that
approach to the mayor's chair.

"The war on drugs has failed." Campbell is quoted as saying on the
Coalition of Progressive Electors web site. "As a coroner I spoke for those
who died so that others may live. In my world there are no throw-aways;
everyone is equal. Their stories have a lesson for all of us."

Anyone interested in attending the meeting can call the Nanaimo John Howard
Society at 754-1266.