UNSUNG HELPERS IN KICKING DRUGS TO BE HONOURED

Kaiser Foundation Will Begin Program To Recognize People Who Help
Reduce The Harm Of Addiction

VICTORIA -- A multimillionaire entrepreneur is launching a national
awards program to recognize the efforts of the thousands of nameless
people and organizations who help people beat drug addiction.

The National Harm Reduction Awards program aims to recognize the
unsung heroes who help reduce the harm associated with drug abuse in
Canada, Edgar Kaiser Jr., chairman of the Kaiser Foundation, said Tuesday.

The Kaiser Foundation has put together a high-profile advisory board
for the awards that includes Canada's U.S. ambassador designate
Michael Wilson, Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti, and
Tom D'Aquino of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

"It's not a sexy subject, but it is an important one," said Kaiser,
who was in Victoria to announce the first awards banquet May 1 in Vancouver.

"The forgotten people are the tens of thousands of Canadians who work
in this field for virtually no money, helping other people's lives
get better," he said.

The awards will honour the work of individuals or groups in six areas
of harm reduction, including leadership, policy and community,
aboriginal and mental health programs. Each winner receives a $10,000
prize that will be donated to a recognized charitable organization of
their choosing.

Kaiser, a former owner of the Denver Broncos football team and an
Order of B.C. recipient, said he supports Vancouver's safe injection
site because it ultimately reduces the harm drug abuse causes.

"Safe injection sites are a good idea," he said "There are people who
inject drugs. You hope that they'll stop doing it but if they are
going to do it, let's reduce the harm they are going to do to
themselves and potentially to the rest of us."

As a former smoker, Kaiser compares harm reduction with dropping a
three-pack-a-day habit and instead having the occasional cigar with
golfing buddies.

He said he isn't overly concerned that Prime Minister Stephen Harper
doesn't appear to favour safe-injection sites and leans more to abstinence.

"We need to give them [Harper's Conservatives] a break," said Kaiser.
"They haven't been there a long time."

He said he expects the Conservatives to re-evaluate their views over
time. The government will soon recognize drugs are no longer a
problem related to Canada's back alleys, Kaiser said.

The B.C government supports the awards program, Health Minister
George Abbott said.

"Everybody is being educated," said Kaiser. "If I tried to get this
kind of group together 10 years ago, I couldn't have made it. People
didn't want to be identified with this field."

Kaiser is part of the industrialist Kaiser family, which made
billions in the U.S. and Canada by building the Hoover Dam in the
U.S. and through ship-building in Vancouver.