READERS URGE FORWARD-THINKING SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF DRUG ABUSE

The drug crisis can be reduced in Vancouver, in B.C. and in Canada.

The assumption that "hardcore" addicts are the only ones that need
help is in itself simplistic and limited. Reducing the harm of drug
use needs a new approach through the acceptance of a new paradigm:
Replace the narrow confines of the judicial approach with a public
health framework.

While the basic goal is the same, to reduce harmful drug use, the
methods are vastly different. Public health has an enviable record in
being able to reduce harmful drug use. Primary prevention by reducing
the number of youth who start using tobacco is only one of the
strategies. Secondary prevention, treatment, regulation and
enforcement all have a role, as seen in tobacco use, our most
damaging and expensive addiction.

Trying to find a Vancouver-specific solution is not enough. What is
needed is a province-wide and Canada-wide solution that uses public
health principles.

The public health framework developed by the Health Officers Council
of BC offers a new paradigm to reduce the numbers of drug-related
deaths, the costs of drug-related illness and the harm to the public
and society. Every day we delay is hugely costly to people, in
resources and for Canadian society.

Professor Richard Mathias

Public Health

University of B.C.