VANCOUVER CAN BE A 'BEACON': LEWIS

Vancouver can become North America's "beacon" of drug-policy reform,
says a top U.N. official and veteran Canadian diplomat.

Stephen Lewis, the UN's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, says
controversial harm reduction initiatives like the Downtown Eastside's
supervised injection site and the city's participation in the NAOMI
prescribed heroin trial are setting an example for North America -
even if Europe's already well ahead of the curve.

"Vancouver could become the beacon, the obvious centre for reform in
North America," Lewis said yesterday evening, after speaking at the
International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. "...
Vancouver is the city that is taking the plunge."

Lewis also criticized the Conservative government over its campaign
promise to impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug crimes.

Minimum sentences, Lewis said, are "lousy for judges, great for
prosecutors and catastrophic for drug users," while having little
impact on "kingpin" drug dealers.

Lewis, the eloquent politician-turned-diplomat who Brian Mulroney
appointed as ambassador to the UN in the '80s, said society abuses
people who use drugs.

"There are no words for the force of discrimination that's visited on
drug users." Lewis said. "... You're not dealing with a hostile and
predatory situation. You're dealing with people who have a health problem."