WAR ON DRUGS MORE THAN SINGLE BATTLE

Recent arrests and seizures remind us once again of the criminal
underground economy that supplies illicit drugs to residents up and
down the Okanagan Valley.

While the number of individuals arrested and the amount of drugs and
other items seized sounds impressive, it remains uncertain whether
this will have any impact on the supply of illicit drugs that
circulate through the region.

Illicit drugs will continue to exact a heavy toll on Penticton and
other communities for some time and anybody who believes that a single
measure could fix the many ills connected to the drug issue is
delusional. The scourge of illicit drugs demands a number of remedies
that include decriminalization of some drugs, rehabilitation,
enforcement and education that aim to reduce demand by increasing
awareness about the harmful effects of illicit drugs.

Policy-makers are certainly becoming more interested in reducing
demand of illicit drugs. Note the recent provincial announcement aimed
at reducing crystal meth use among young people, the group for whom
the consequences of addication could be the worst. It is certainly a
step in the right direction.

The long- and short-term effects of crystal meth, which can be
produced so easily, are devastating. Anybody familiar with the effects
of the drug can share stories that will leave you shaking and any
steps underway now to reduce the supply and the demand of crystal meth
are only first ones. But we would also like to remind policy-makers
that crystal meth is only one of many drugs affecting young people.
Alcohol and tobacco remain the most abused drugs among high school
students. That is - albeit in a cold way - comforting. It means that
arguably more harmful drugs remain for now at the periphery of the
student population. But this is hardly a reason to feel smug. British
Columbia, according to the Canadian Cancer Society, now appears to be
doing less to reduce the number of smokers than it did several years
ago. This reversal should give everybody pause.

Binge drinking also remains a concern, despite some significant
efforts to reduce it among youth, especially teenagers. Some of it is
perhaps unavoidable. Young people wish to test their boundaries and
excessive alcohol consumption is part of that experimentation. We are
not suggesting tougher measures to restrict access to alcohol. This
would likely have unintended consequences. Instead, we would like to
see measures that give youth and students the skills to recognize the
harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco and discuss them in a mature
way. We would also like governments to recognize the intellectual
hypocrisy that is at the heart of legal alcohol and tobacco sales.
Taxes on their sale put a lot of money in public coffers and help fund
- - wait for it - health care programs to treat and prevent alcoholism
and smoking addiction. We recognize the inherent economical and
ethical dilemmas which elected leaders in regulating the sale and
distribution of alcohol and tobacco. But it is time that we have a
serious discussion about these issues which effect the vast majority
of the general public.