NOT A PRETTY PICTURE

City's Growing Drug Problem Will Eventually Impact Even The Quietest
Neighbourhoods

There's been a lot of screaming going on in Cowtown.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the yahoos and yippees of Stampede funseekers.

First we had the noisy outbursts of Braeside residents outraged by the
sudden appearance of a methadone clinic in their neighbourhood.

A townhall meeting to discuss the clinic took on some of the
characteristics of a lynch mob.

The hostile reaction -- including threats the methadone centre says it
received -- achieved its accomplished aim.

The Braeside residents didn't have to run the clinic out of town on a
rail. It is leaving the city permanently -- frustrated at repeated
failed attempts to find a location.

This caused a verbal backlash from other Calgarians chiding Braeside
for what they call an alarmist overreaction that will leave addicts in
need of treatment out in the cold.

All in all, not a pretty picture.

Those quick to point a petulant finger at Braeside ought to ask
themselves if they would want a methadone clinic in their own
neighbourhood.

Critics of that community's NIMBY reaction suggest those on methadone
pose little safety risk. That may be the case, but the people of this
quiet neighbourhood in the southwest were offered little evidence to
reassure them.

This tawdry episode wouldn't have happened if our civic and provincial
governments hadn't dropped the ball on the issue.

Second Chance Recovery operated downtown for six years, but when its
lease wasn't renewed, it moved to a light industrial area near
Highland Park in the northeast. That neighbourhood's community
association pointed out the area wasn't zoned for a clinic, so the
city ordered it to move.

A deal to lease space in a Forest Lawn strip mall was kiboshed after
community opposition there. Now it's gotten the boot from Braeside.

The clinic's lawyer blamed aldermen for whipping up hysteria over the
clinic's failed attempts to open.

But aldermen, elected to represent their ward, have a obligation to
put the interests of their constituents first.

There are some harsh lessons to be learned from this debacle.

Both the city and province have made combating crime a top priority
and acknowledged the major role treating drug addiction plays in that
fight.

So how could they have ignored the plight of this important treatment
facility as it was floundering about?

Police Chief Rick Hanson acknowledges the importance of addiction
treatment in quelling crime.

He even admits his force doesn't have serious concerns over activities
surrounding such facilities.

Ald. Brian Pincott came closest to the mark when he suggested
methadone clinics get special zoning to allow them to locate in
industrial parks.

There are other politicians at both levels of government who should
have been working to find a solution to this dilemma.

Aside from Hanson, they've remained strangely silent.

Calgarians who don't believe addicts are entitled to receive such
treatment should at least think twice about their own
self-interests.

Untreated addicts are responsible for a huge percentage of property
crimes, such as house and car break-ins.

Chronic users will even resort to violence if they are desperate
enough.

The bigger our city's drug problem becomes, the more impact it has on
residents of even the quietest, most far-flung neighbourhoods.

Politicians who pay lip service to battling crime need to find a way
to ensure this and similar treatment facilities are able to find a
suitable location.

That should include education, community consultation and special
rules that acknowledge the concerns of communities such as Braeside.

The problem of drug addiction -- and the violence associated with it
- -- isn't going to go away by itself.