OLD-SCHOOL RESPONSE TO DRUG CRIME HAS ADVERSE EFFECTS

Re: B.C. has shortage of high-security courtrooms; more high-risk
gang members await
trial than venues to prosecute them, Nov. 21

Quite a game they're playing, slaughtering anyone in their path,
whether bystander or
competing player. As in the board game Monopoly, gaining more
territory is the goal.

This continuing craziness is costing all of us. Yet we continue to
drag out the same old, dinosaur -- our punitive, crime-based,
jailhouse approach -- hoping for a miracle.

Demand for drugs doesn't change by cutting off supply or jailing
dealers.

It will take a totally new, research-based approach to end this
madness. Either that or it could be you or me at the next roll of the
dice.

Valerie Coles

Director,

InnerChange Foundation,

North Vancouver