DEALING WITH DRUG ABUSE ISSUE WOULD REDUCE CRIME

A serious drug addiction to crack cocaine or heroin is never a pretty
thing.

It is a sickness and one which needs treatment of one sort or
another.

But what if you can't access the medicine which will treat this
illness?

With the situation of the Second Chance Methadone Clinic in Calgary
and its litany of problems trying to find a suitable location to
operate, we face this exact problem.

Residents of Calgary's Braeside neighbourhood said without reservation
this week the clinic is not going into its neck of the woods.

The idea of recovering drug addicts walking the streets of a suburban
neighbourhood is a tough act to spin with concerned parents.

But such a neighbourhood might be like the streets a recovering addict
grew up on or where they had their first kiss at the playground down
the way.

There is not a central well from which all hard drug users come, nor
one neighbourhood from which they spring.

Once addicted to a hard drug, committing crime to pay for heroin or
crack is an easier pill for the addict to swallow than the withdrawal.

Politicians and study groups go around the province asking the public
to voice their opinions on how can Albertans deal with crime issues.

"Deal with the drug issue and the property crime will drop," is what
experts usually say at these meetings of minds.

Which leads us back to the issue of Calgary's Second Chance methadone
clinic and its attempts to "deal" with drugs through treatment. But it
can't because nobody wants it in their neighbourhood.

A paradox if there ever was one.

Sayings often repeated in legal and law enforcement circles is that 20
per cent of criminals commit 80 per cent of crime while the majority
of all crime stems from drugs and alcohol.

Medicine Hat doesn't have this issue with our methadone clinic, but
what if we were approved to get the drug treatment facility which
community groups have been asking for?

Will we be faced with the same issue of nobody wanting it next to
their land?

Based on Second Chance's experience, we should be asking ourselves
now: Are we willing to deal with drug abuse or is it easier to deal
with our homes being broken into?