THIS DRUG STRATEGY IS CRACKED

It's absolutely unbelievable that in the midst of the worst wave of gang
gun violence in memory -- much if not most of it over the drug trade --
this city's powers that be actually want to get softer on hard drugs.

As usual, with its absurd new "drug strategy," the city and its public
health department are little more than enablers.

In addiction parlance, an "enabler" is someone who allows or encourages a
drug user's self-destructive behaviour, even though they may have the best
of intentions otherwise.

We can't think of a better word for the way the city now handles its many
drug-related problems -- from rampant homelessness to HIV to crime -- or
its proposals for the future.

It's shocking enough that the folks behind this study somehow managed to
spend $300,000 of our money to develop this "strategy."

But not only would they expand the nutty "harm reduction" programs that
currently dispense wine, cigarettes and "safer" crack use kits to addicts
- -- even though they admit there is no hard evidence such programs work --
they now want to study the feasibility of supervised "safe injection sites"
where people would be encouraged to use crack, cocaine, heroin, etc.

Hey, we can see why they'd want to expand that great crack kit program.
After all, it's apparently so popular, the remains of the kits (complete
with syringes) are turning up in places like a downtown park next to a
school -- as the Sun's Sue-Ann Levy reported yesterday.

One area resident told her drug dealers love to hang around the places
where the city gives out the kits ... instant customers!

As Levy reported a few months ago, the city gave another $805,531 to 51
groups this year for "drug prevention" activities, but there is little
documentation of their results, if any, or even to show they spent the cash
as promised. (Rather like the $221 million the city is spending on the
homeless this year even as their numbers rise -- another sad story of
enabling.)

Here's a thought. How about, in the name of real "harm reduction," we try
actually getting tough with the evil slime who deal and profit from these
drugs? For a change?

The only harm we see being reduced by these proposals is the kind that
should be suffered by these criminals who are wrecking our city. While the
city helps them do it.