EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR ADDICTIONS NEEDED

Two announcements came down this week that has tremendous potential to help
B.C. tackle two monstrous addiction problems that have tragic consequences
for health and safety in our society.

One was the Supreme Court ruling that gives the Government of British
Columbia the right to go to court to recover health costs from tobacco
companies. The other was the B.C. government's announcement of $7 million
to tackle the growing crystal meth problem.

This all sounds very promising. We just hope the B.C. government does the
right thing with the money. And the right thing to do is to fund treatment
centres for all forms of addiction. Remarkably, there is no detox or
treatment centre for addicts and alcoholics in Richmond. Putting such a
facility here would be a good start.

And wouldn't it be nice if some of the millions the B.C. government stands
to reap from Big tobacco were used to treat cigarette addiction? Ever heard
of a treatment centre for smokers? Neither have we - not in B.C., at least
- - and yet tobacco is worse than heroin in many ways. There are junkies who
have kicked heroin but will never be able to quit smoking, and tobacco
kills more people than heroin.

More likely, we will probably see a lot of money the B.C. government gets
from the tobacco industry spent on advertising that tells us what we
already know: smoking stains your teeth and kills you.

We fear the ruling on recovering health care costs from Big tobacco will
end up being just another tax grab of sorts, with increased cigarette costs
simply passed onto hopelessly addicted smokers. What is needed is effective
treatment for all addicts - including smokers.