TAKING TEENAGERS OFF THE STREET NOT ENOUGH

Without rehabilitation programs, drug addicts have little chance of breaking
free. While desperate parents might feel the need for dramatic gestures,
legal changes are the preferred route.

Last July, according to Reform MP Randy White, a 15-year-old girl was
snatched from a Fraser Valley street and spirited out of the province by her
captors, with his help. Her current whereabouts are a secret and no charges
have yet been laid. Mr. White is proud of his part in the conspiracy and
looks forward to defending his actions in court. He used his influence to
keep police from interfering.

That may seem an unlikely favour for the police to grant, even to as staunch
an advocate of law-and-order -- most of the time -- as Mr. White. But the
girl was taken by her mother, who feared for her daugher's life. She was
living with drug dealers, had become an addict and was either supporting
herself as a prostitute or soon would have been; the MP would only say that
"sex was involved."

All of this may be true and, sadly, is not unlikely. Parents have good
reason for fear and frustration. Last spring a Port Moody family staged a
fake home invasion by angry drug-dealers in an attempt to scare their
15-year-old away from the lure of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Even if the
ploy kept her in her own neighbourhood, though, she would still be in
danger. Less than a month earlier Port Moody police held a public meeting to
warn that heroin and cocaine dealers in the area were working together to
addict and then recruit teenage prostitutes.

All of which supports Mr. White's statement that because the age of consent
for sex is set at 14, desperate tactics are the only course open to parents.
More persuasively, it wins agreement from many who are not fans of his other
beliefs.

Raising the age of consent to 16, as B.C. Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh has
pushed for, would protect thousands of vulnerable teenagers from pimps and
pushers.

But federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan has not shown any inclination to
raise the age of consent. As an alternative, Michael Tammen of the Canadian
Bar Association suggests raising to 16 years [from 14] the age below which a
child cannot be taken or enticed away from a parent or guardian. Under the
existing provisions of the Criminal Code the penalty is a maximum 10 years
imprisonment and the victim's consent is not a defence.

Mr. White would serve his purpose, and the public, better by supporting such
legislation instead of engaging in operations that skirt the law.

But any cure requires more than one ingredient. Street youth societies and
social workers are unanimous that the power to remove teens from a drug
environment means little without rehabilitation programs.

At last count there were 15 residential treatment beds for teenagers in B.C.
and an eight-month waiting list. This is why the girl in the Fraser Valley
is doubly fortunate her mother could afford to take her away for treatment.