DRUG ADDICTS GETTING TOO MUCH ATTENTION

Like thousands who live in the burbs, I'm distinctly unimpressed by the
deification of outgoing Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen, the supposed
saviour-in-chief of local drug addicts.

And I'm saddened this municipal election appears to have been co-opted by
those who drool over drug addiction, as if there weren't more pressing
things to discuss. Like traffic.

It reflects, I suppose, the great Canadian veneration of victims and those
whose greatest skill lies in draining the public purse.

Another man who remains skeptical about the Owen love-in (surely one of the
least inspirational city mayors ever, including even Mike Harcourt) is
mayoral candidate Marc Emery, the marijuana activist.

Emery says the mayor is far from the saint he was cracked up to be at
Wednesday night's send-off at the Vogue Theatre, where Owen was lauded for
promoting "harm reduction" -- a euphemism for taxpayers being forced to pay
for addicts' drugs.

"In reality, he has never done a single thing to further harm reduction,"
claims Emery. "He certainly has persecuted me."

In other words, in tackling Emery, Owen didn't wax all weepy. He tried to
run the Ontario-born pot promoter out of town.

Not that Emery, 44, needs much sympathy. From his Hastings Street Marijuana
Party Headquarters, this self-styled genius with money is running a
$4-million-a-year cannabis empire ("I'm the world's largest seed-seller").

He's even spending $85,000 on his campaign, in which he tees off at Owen
and at NPA successor Jennifer Clarke, calling her a warhorse.

Now, there are two things all candidates running for office require. One is
a healthy disrespect for the competition, the other is an Everest-sized
ego. Emery, who looks more like an insurance salesman than a pot-head,
qualifies on either count.

His views on vcaTEAM mayoral candidate Valerie MacLean (who urges readers
to consider the source) and COPE candidate Larry Campbell are positively
vindictive. "Valerie MacLean has not a new idea or a clue in her head at
all. She's completely unskilled, unpolished and uneducated in how to run a
city. And Larry Campbell's a Marxist."

Himself a high-school dropout, Emery boasts he's already done more for B.C.
than the legendary Jimmy Pattison. "I admire Jimmy Pattison a lot, but I've
easily brought more money to British Columbia than all his enterprises
combined," he notes.

And he may be right. Since arriving in 1994, Emery says B.C. bud has gone
from a $1.5-billion-a-year business to one grossing $6 billion, thanks
largely to his marketing skills.

Indeed, while Emery causes the local constabulary to choke on their
doughnuts, CNN has dubbed him the "Prince of Pot."

For the record, I agree with a lot of what Emery says. But I disagree that
government should shower addicts with free drugs. "If we give it to 'em
free and eliminate all the middlemen," Emery explains, "it'll cost you 10
times less than you're paying now."

That was the argument they used when giving us socialized medicine.

And look at what a mess we find ourselves in now.