TAKE GLAMOUR OUT OF GANGS

There is so much news about the illegal drug trade in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside that we tend to forget that it's not just a big-city problem.

That was brought home in no uncertain terms in Sunday's Province by
reporter Glenda Luymes, with her feature on the spread of organized
crime in the Abbotsford area, including Mission.

Not that Abbotsford is a small town any more. It's a fast-growing,
medium-sized city, with a lot going for it, including a
state-of-the-art hospital and cancer centre, a booming airport and a
university.

But as Luymes points out, the image most people still have of
Abbotsford is one of farmers and church-goers.

So it may be surprising for them to learn that, in recent years, the
Abbotsford metro area has experienced a dramatic increase in crime.
Last year, it had the third-highest overall crime rate in Canada.

It appears, in fact, to be having the same kind of growing pains that
Surrey underwent a couple of decades ago. And undoubtedly, as the
community becomes more settled, the level of crime will settle down too.

In the meantime, though, something clearly needs to be done about
drug gangs offering local youngsters the promise of easy money and
instant belonging.

As Abbotsford school board trustee Sat Gill says: "Part of their
reason for turning to gangs is that a need is not being filled -- for
companionship, for family, for love, whatever -- and they're finding
it in a gang." The drug culture, in other words, is perceived to be
"cool," or at least cooler than the alternative.

The solution? Well, there is no single easy one, except to tackle it
at every level-- in the schools, the courts and the legislature.

One immediate suggestion is for community leaders in Abbotsford --
and in towns throughout B.C. -- to engage in a campaign, or series of
campaigns, to tell young people what the drug life is really about.

We're talking here about a sophisticated set of hard-hitting adverts
and posters similar to those that have been used to tackle the
crystal-meth problem in Montana and other U.S. states.

The problem of drugs and gangs in B.C. will only be reduced when
fewer folks are buying what the drug pushers are selling. At the
moment, it seems to be the gang-bangers who have the momentum.