VANCOUVER PACT TURNS NEW PAGE ON DEALING WITH THE DRUG PLAGUE

Both legal toughness and medical treatment are required to deal with illegal
drugs on our streets.

The Vancouver Agreement announced last Friday does something new: It tries
to reconcile the two camps of concerned people regarding the problem of
drugs in the Downtown Eastside.

The agreement offers comprehensive services to drug users on the one hand
and promises stricter law enforcement on the other.

It promises to help drug users by providing them with a package of medical,
counseling, job training, housing and remedial measures. It includes the
setting up of a treatment centre. With an even hand, it also promises to
increase the policing of Chinatown, Gastown, Oppenheimer Park and Strathcona
to crack down on drug traffickers, and to beautify the areas. It does not
include the setting up of a drug injection centre.

It is no easy matter to conduct a rational discussion about the problem of
drugs in the Chinese community. Besides cultural differences, there are also
local politics -- which can create distortions, prejudices and confusion.

In North America, the hippie culture has left its mark. U.S. and Canadian
citizens are more tolerant of drugs. Drug takers in the 1960s are now
political and public figures, even occupying the highest offices.

In Asia, drugs are seen as predatory beasts, to be shunned at all cost. The
Opium War sparked a national disgrace in the loss of Hong Kong to Britain,
and opium was partially blamed for the weakness of the Chinese army in the
conflict.

While the English-language media have recently given prominence to European
models of dealing with drugs, the Chinese media stick to the Asian model.

Many Chinese-Canadians would say "Drug addiction is not such a serious
problem in Asia. Why don't we follow the Asian example?"

A writer who researched and wrote about overseas Chinese history for a
Chinese newspaper recently delivered his view on drugs.

He said he had talks with other intellectuals and they agreed that since
Canada has abolished the death penalty, drug dealers should at least be
given life sentences while addicts should be sent to labour camps and be
forced to rid themselves of drugs.

Vancouver Councillor Don Lee, writing in a Chinese newspaper, commended the
virtues of the 19th-century Chinese commissioner who burned British ships
carrying opium to China, which started the Opium War.

Such views find ready resonance in the Asian community. They go beyond
arguments on how to deal with the drug problem, and evidence differences
between East and West on social values, civil liberty, humanity and legal
concepts.

A revealing case occurred recently. A Canadian citizen was executed for
allegedly carrying drugs in Vietnam. The incident demonstrates not only the
differences mentioned, but also the fact that even in a country where the
death penalty is in place for drug trafficking, it is not free from drug
problems.

That's why the Vancouver Agreement is an important first step, even if it
cannot provide a complete solution to the persistent drug problem. Injection
houses or not, addicts will administer drugs in the back alleys and even
main streets. On the other hand, an injection house will attract addicts
from far and wide.

The police may be instructed to get tough on crime and make more arrests,
but how much of a deterrent is the lenient justice system? Where there is a
market, there is supply. As long as addicts crave drugs, there will be
pushers and ways of expanding the market by luring more people into the habit.

A proposed government supply of drugs for addicts may drive out the pushers
but is unacceptable to many citizens. After all, the federal government's
approval of the medical use of marijuana came about only after a court
ruling. Getting the drug users to give up drugs is of course the ideal
solution, but it is easier said than done.

Even one successful attempt to kick the habit is no guarantee it will not
resurface.

People should take both a rational and concerned attitude towards the problem.

The lax way in which police previously carried out the law against drug
trafficking and drug possession has not worked, and the deterioration of the
problem has caused increased dissatisfaction and anger among citizens.

But people should also understand that approaching the problem simply by law
enforcement and forcing addicts to give up drugs will not solve anything.