DRUG COURT A GREAT IDEA

The chief of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service has floated the
excellent suggestion that this region seek to be selected as a pilot
site for a drug court. Myles Burke hasn't formally presented the idea
to anyone yet but he should be able to count on broad public support
when he does.

Drug treatment courts are fairly new in Canada, the first one having
been established in Toronto only in 1998. But they are becoming
common elsewhere, including the United States, a country whose
approach to illicit drugs is generally regarded as draconian rather
than innovative.

Drug court pilots, aided by federal funding and participation, have
been underway for several years in a few Canadian cities such as
Edmonton and Vancouver. These pilots, launched by federal Liberals,
were be used to develop a model that could be rolled out across the country.

The approach may present some challenge to the Conservatives'
tough-on-crime messaging, though this shouldn't be seen as going soft
on criminals.

Treatment and rehabilitation programs administered through drug
courts tend to be more strictly supervised than other types of
court-ordered programs.

Burke suggests Nova Scotia's first mental health court, which held
its first session early last month in Dartmouth, serves as a rough
model for a drug court. The mental health court takes non-violent
offenders under certain conditions and diverts them into a team
management regime which in addition to arranging mental health
services may address such needs as housing and employment.

The mental health court is relevant in another way because Halifax
Metro was chosen to host it. Nova Scotia's second largest urban area,
the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, should have first dibs on a
drug court. It's not fair that the rollout of a national program
should focus exclusively on the largest cities first when there are
serious drug problems in many other areas of the country where
innovative approaches are desperately needed.

Another argument for Cape Breton is the success of the community
partnership on drug use, created by local initiative to co-ordinate
resources in tackling a complex medical, social and legal problem.

As knowledgeable people pointed out when the mental health court was
being created, its success would depend very much on the support
services that could be brought into the mix. The same may be said of
a drug court, and one of the bonuses is that it would focus attention
the gaps and inadequacies in those services that would then demand to be fixed.

The public would want to be assured that a drug court would not be a
queue-jumping mechanism for addicted people desperately seeking help.
These and other concerns can be answered, however. The chief should
pursue this idea and the community should rally behind him.