STANCE TOOK COURAGE

Agree with him or not, love him or hate him, Coun. Bob Melnuk has to be
admired for having guts.

A week before the municipal election, in which he is running for mayor of
Courtenay, Melnuk offered what many thought was an outrageous solution to
the drug problem in the Valley: legalizing banned substances.

Legalize drugs and take away the profit from drug pushers, and the crime
rate will plummet, as will health care costs, he said. Let's bring in some
regulation and quality control so people aren't dying from overdoses in
alleys, he said.

Switzerland, he pointed out, is treating addicts in a humane and caring
way, setting up clinics where addicts can get a free fix from health care
professionals. This way, he said, addicts can keep their jobs and perhaps
even receive counselling to eventually eliminate drugs from their lives.

Switzerland, Holland - they're far away places, whose European liberalism
often shocks our staid conservative Canadian sensibilities. It took the
Canadian government a long time to allow a very limited number of
terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes.

In a community like Courtenay, which has large population of seniors and
young families and which - despite the influx of people escaping from big
city life in recent years - is still quite traditional, Melnuk couldn't
possible have thought his proposal would be welcomed.

While a few residents have said publicly there is merit to his idea, many
have lambasted him for proposing such a "radical" theory.

Melnuk is right when he says many people are fixated on what they believe
is right path, and firmly shut their eyes and ears to other options. What
he wants to do is explore and discuss other possibilities.

His remarks may or may not win him votes this Saturday, but he's scored
points for having the courage to stand up for his convictions.