CALGARY EYED FOR DRUG COURT

Taxpayers will reap the rewards when the federal government sets up special
drug courts for addicts, a federal prosecutor says.

Ottawa plans to expand a Toronto pilot project across the nation, putting
drug courts in Canada's major cities by 2004.

"You not only improve public safety but you also come up with savings for
law enforcement and health care," said Kofi Barnes, the federal prosecutor
who founded the Toronto Drug Treatment Court.

The court, set up and run for two years for $1.6 million, tries drug
addicts caught with cocaine or heroin, diverting them into treatment
programs and connecting them with social and health services.

Expanding the project is intended to cut property crime and get addicts
treated, said Justice Department spokesman Peter Schnobb.

Federal officials won't name which cities will get the courts, but McLellan
specified "major cities," likely including Calgary.

"Probably it would be good for a good number of people," said Lynn McLean,
treatment supervisor at Calgary's Renfrew Recovery Centre, a drug-treatment
facility.

But McLean believes the courts should stick to addicts caught possessing
drugs for personal use. "We can't excuse destructive behaviour or crimes
against persons be-cause someone has an addiction."

Calgary Northeast MP Art Hanger called the Liberal plan "a weak approach."

Special jails for abusers would keep them out of drug-oriented
environments, he said.

"There has to be a period of incarceration -- what they need is a dedicated
jail to keep drug abusers in where they're almost shocked back into
reality," Hanger said.