FOUR PILLARS A 15-YEAR PROJECT-MAYOR

The efforts of various agencies and governments have reduced the effect of
drug addiction in Vancouver, but don't expect significant improvements over
the next few years, says Mayor Larry Campbell.

That's because governments at all three levels allowed the city in the
1990s to become one of the world's most drug-plagued jurisdictions,
Campbell told the Courier.

"I always say it took at least 10 to 15 years for governments to allow this
to happen, it's going to take 10 or 15 years to bring it back," he said.

Campbell and others belonging to the Four Pillars Coalition will review the
work on the city's drug strategy, and where the coalition should focus its
future projects.

The coalition includes politicians, police, Vancouver Coastal Health
Authority and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Members meet today
at the Sutton Place Hotel.

The four pillars are harm reduction, enforcement, treatment and prevention.
The opening of the supervised injection site on East Hastings and the
stepped-up police enforcement on drug dealers has put the spotlight on harm
reduction and enforcement.

Campbell said more work must be done on treatment and prevention-a focus
echoed by various people interviewed by the Courier over the last year.

Addict Dean Wilson of Life Is Not Enough Society has waged several
campaigns for addicts to receive treatment on demand. Campbell said he
agrees with Wilson's desire, but noted his goal is not possible.

"I'd like it to come up a bright shiny day every morning, but there's a
reality here, and people have to get real, and there isn't going to be
treatment on demand. There isn't treatment on demand for other diseases."

Charles Bailie, owner of the Dundas Hotel on the East Side, said he only
sees the drug problem getting worse. Bailie, whose hotel was under siege by
drug dealers until he booted them out, encouraged people to lobby the mayor
and other politicians to make significant changes.

Campbell's response: "He was running the dump, not me. The Dundas Hotel is
hardly what somebody would call a shining example. Where has he been all
the time? He has responsibility as a landowner. I wouldn't take any guff
from him at all."

The debate around the drug issue clearly continues to be heated. Hearing a
lot of it has been former mayor Philip Owen, who will deliver the keynote
address at today's meeting.

Owen has travelled to France, Portugal, Italy and New York to attend drug
policy symposiums. He'll be attending another symposium in Belfast, Ireland
at the end of the month.

"Canada is viewed as being very progressive in a positive way," said Owen,
who spearheaded the four pillars strategy in the late '90s. "The
prohibition approach is a failure everywhere. You can either have
prohibition, reform or do nothing. Reform is the only one that's working."

City council adopted A Framework for Action: A Four-Pillar Approach to Drug
Problems in Vancouver in April 2001, when Owen was mayor.