COUNCIL LOOKS AT FORMING DRUG COMMITTEE

Gov't Wants To Be Prepared For Future Problems

Keremeos Village Council is looking at facing the problem of drugs and
alcohol in the community straight on.

On Dec. 5 the new village council talked about forming a new committee
called drugs and alcohol. Mayor Walter Despot said he was thinking of
appointing new Councillor Manfred Bauer as chairperson of the new committee.

Bauer pointed out that the village wouldn't be alone on this issue. He
brought forward a proposal from the Union of B.C. Municipalities.

Back in October the provincial government announced that they would provide
UBCM with $2 million for seed funding for community-based crystal meth
response programs.

Bauer explained the funding, which the village could apply for would help
to set up a project that would help define programs the community could run
to help combat the problem, raise awareness of drugs like crystal meth and
alcohol, and also build capacity for community involvement of the issue.

"This would be a big project that would involve the entire community. We
would want to partner with the first nation bands, areas B and G in the
regional district," he said. "This funding is an ideal way for us to get
into this."

Bauer added that crystal meth is specifically bad because of the
availability of the drug and the harmful nature.

"Everybody knows it's a drug on the rise. It is cheap to make and very
addictive," he said. "We need to be able to deal with this problem."

While council doesn't want to raise undue concern about the problem, Despot
said this is something they need to address.

He pointed out they are starting to see some problems in the village and
they need something in place to address it before it becomes out of hand.

"We are just trying to be proactive to this problem," he said.

Bauer pointed out that right now the community doesn't have the capacity to
deal with drug situations. He said by forming the committee with a variety
of community groups, they will be able to pin-point community needs and
also to try to discourage youth from trying the drug.

None of the committees have been formally established yet. Mayor Despot
said over the next week he would be reviewing the committee list with the
councillors.

The appointments will be made at the next council meeting.