VANCOUVER MAYOR ENCOURAGES NEW DRUG STRATEGY

With characteristic verve, outgoing Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell
dropped by Toronto City Hall yesterday to urge politicians to be
brave enough to fight drug and alcohol abuse with a broad selection
of tools that could include safe consumption sites.

"Don't be afraid of this and you will see benefits absolutely," Mr.
Campbell told council's policy and finance committee before it voted
unanimously to adopt a comprehensive drug strategy for the city.

The most controversial elements of the wide-ranging policy, which
goes to council as a whole in early December, calls for health
workers to hand out clean crack pipes to cocaine users and study the
merits of a possible safe drug-use site.

"Consumption sites cause addiction like flies cause garbage," quipped
the blunt-spoken politician, who leaves office Dec. 5. Now a rookie
Liberal senator, Mr. Campbell said his past life as an RCMP drug
officer and provincial coroner has convinced him that the most
effective drug strategies focus on prevention and harm reduction as
well as enforcement.

Warmly applauded before and after a presentation that lasted about 20
minutes -- well beyond the usual five-minute allotment -- Mr.
Campbell described Vancouver's recent experience with a broad drug
policy that includes a safe injection site for heroin users.

In contrast to Vancouver, where the problem street drug is heroin,
Toronto's major substance abuse problems centre on alcohol and crack cocaine.

"Addiction is a health problem, a health issue and not a criminal
issue," he told the committee, urging politicians not to get "hung
up" on the possible introduction of safe injection sites (already set
up in about 40 cities around the world).

"Everyone gets hung up on it because it is the one that bothers
people the most," he said. Later, he told reporters "if you didn't
have one in your [drug strategy] program, it wouldn't fail. But it
might be more successful if you had one."

The committee also heard opposing views on the proposal to allow
health workers to provide crack kits to users in the east downtown
area as a first step to persuading them to seek help for their addiction.