REGIONAL STRATEGY NEEDED TO FIGHT DRUG PROBLEM

Tackling the Greater Vancouver drug problem requires a regional
approach, a GVRD-led forum on drugs and crime heard Monday.

Tom Hetherington, addiction services manager for the Pacific Community
Resources Society, was among the presenters who says local plans are
often uncoordinated.

"Problematic substance use crosses municipal boundaries - all people
are impacted by it," he said in an interview.

"If one was to put a lot of pressure on the Downtown Eastside, those
people will move somewhere - they may move to New Westminster or
Burnaby or Surrey."

Coordination is particularly important in offering treatment and
prevention, he said.

But Hetherington said attempts for regional action on drug abuse have
failed before.

The last time was around 2002, he said, when some city councils feared
a Vancouver-style "four pillars" approach - particularly the harm
prevention components like safe injection sites and needle exchanges
- - would be exported around the region.

"That seems to be a hot button issue," Hetherington said. "The
communities who weren't in favour may have slowed that down."

He said his own definition of harm reduction includes abstinence,
which he said is the best form.

Pacific Community Resources is a Surrey-based, front-line agency that
works with addicts from Delta to Chilliwack and Langley to Maple Ridge.

Hetherington said needle exchanges in particular offer "enormous"
health benefits.

"It's keeping people alive," he said. "The people who are addicted are
not going to stop because we don't give them clean needles," he noted.

Dave Park, chief economist for the Vancouver Board of Trade, said
measures to stem crime can't be ignored.

He said the estimated cost of property crime in Vancouver in 2004 was
$130 million.

"Almost all crime is directly linked to drugs," he said. "Maybe we
should be looking at a regulatory approach rather than a prohibition
approach."

Chronic criminals should face stiffer sentences to deter others, he
said.

"We haven't done much to discourage them through sentencing."

Park said society must seize on the young years of an addict's life to
change behaviour, before patterns get entrenched.

Hetherington also said more must be done to encourage the vast
majority of youths who don't use hard drugs.

His message to parents and teachers: Reward positive behaviour -
don't take it for granted.

"It's so easy to catch kids not doing things right," he said. "Catch
them doing something right and tell them."

The forum was the latest of a series being held by the GVRD downtown
at the Wosk Centre For Dialogue as part of its Sustainable Region
Initiative.