METH ADDICTS DON'T WATCH A LOT OF TV

Look at any press release from any police department in the country, and
chances are you'll find the phrase "drug-related" or "alcohol was involved"
somewhere on the page.

It's so commonplace that even when booze and drugs have nothing to do with
what happened, the cops' PR flacks feel it's newsworthy that "alcohol was
not a factor."

I can't count the number of police officers I've talked to over the years
who estimate that 85% to 95% of the people they place in handcuffs and stick
in the back seat of their cruisers have some kind of addiction.

Then they'll roll their eyes and say that they just keep arresting the same
people over and over and over again.

Pick 'em up, take 'em to the buckets and lock them up, let 'em go in the
morning when they've sobered up. A night or two later, it's the same old
song and dance with the same partners.

If they get really unruly, they're charged and spend the next three months
in the remand centre. They face a judge, maybe spend a little more time in
jail and then get put on probation and told to stay clean and sober.

Once they're out, they head to the nearest bar or drug dealer and pick up
right where they left off. Their next arrest means more jail time for
breaching their probation order.

Round and round it goes.

Cops will quietly tell you that locking up addicts isn't going to solve the
problem. What they need is treatment.

Addicts - yes, even those who steal to pay for their habits - are sick, just
like the mentally disturbed individual who sets a building on fire because
he thinks it's where Satan lives. You wouldn't expect him to mend his ways
in prison, would you?

If you want to break the cycle of drugs and crime, one of the critical
pieces to the puzzle is helping addicts overcome their addiction.

This isn't about coddling criminals. This is about cutting the horrendous
cost of policing, prosecuting and incarcerating the same addicts over and
over and over again.

The Alberta government doesn't get this simple fact. Or rather,
acknowledging it and actually trying to do something effective isn't good
politics, so the Tory braintrust just isn't interested.

Just look at the numbers. Police say that the marijuana industry alone --
never mind crack, crystal meth and the booming trade in reselling
prescription drugs - is worth more than $600 million a year in Edmonton.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission had a total budget of $60
million in 2003-04.

The lion's share of that cash was spent on running the commission's various
offices around the province and its massive public awareness machine, which
cranks out endless stop-smoking and
maybe-you-shouldn't-gamble-away-the-grocery-money-on-government-lottery
campaigns.

What was left, just over $20 million, is all that's left for detox and
treatment facilities. For the entire province.

AADAC's latest campaign is a one-month $450,000 TV blitz warning people that
crystal meth is bad for you.

Memo to AADAC chairman Dave Rodney: meth heads are too busy dumpster diving
for people's personal information to watch TV.

That money would buy treatment literally for hundreds of addicts, helping
them get back control of their lives.

And in the end, that would save taxpayers a bundle.

Don't be fooled, those just-say-no-to-meth commercials you'll soon see
aren't about preventing drug abuse. They're about the government looking
like it's trying to prevent drug abuse.

If the government was really serious, addicts wouldn't languish on waiting
lists to get help because there isn't enough room in treatment centres.