COUNCIL POISED TO ANTE UP CASH FOR DRUG CZAR

Vancouver's NPA-led city council looks set to approve permanent
funding for the city's drug policy czar.

City council approved a position for drug policy coordinator Donald
MacPherson in 2000, but funding has always been year-to-year. It
looks like that could change.

"We've concluded that we might as well keep it going indefinitely,"
said Coun. Suzanne Anton, whose centre-right Non-Partisan Association
has a majority on council. "If you ever manage to solve the drug
problem, then the program could come to an end. But I don't think
anyone sees that happening in the next couple of years."

MacPherson actually made the same request during the budget process
earlier this year, but council voted to hold off on a decision. The
city could actually have saved $10,000 by approving the program then;
the new funding request calls for $330,000 annually, more than the
$320,000 first requested in April.

MacPherson was one of the key players in Vancouver's adoption of the
sometimes-controversial Four Pillars drug strategy, which advocates
for harm reduction initiatives such as the supervised heroin- injection site.