PUBLIC HEALTH/SOCIAL APPROACH TO DRUG PROBLEM THE MOST EFFECTIVE

Lots of ideas and hopes expressed at the CBC's Beetle Forum held here
last week but there was one interesting gap. Most of the focus was on
the use of trees, dead or alive. Less was said about the value of the
forests, the non-timber use, the wildlife, the environmental importance.
UNBC Dean William McGill did speak briefly about the culture of forests
and the First Nations speakers certainly made the point. Tourism was
mentioned, and MLA Bob Simpson spoke of the need to change our focus,
but most of the speakers and panel members were concerned with the
uses of wood in its various forms.

Maybe we can't see the forest for the pine trees.

Hopefully the program got some attention from folks living outside the
MPB afflicted zones.

It won't surprise anyone who knows us, but I rarely agree with opinions
expressed by my good neighbour and fellow columnist Walter Cobb, or he
with mine. We come from different directions on most issues.

It would be a dull and unproductive world indeed if everyone agreed on
everything, and besides, our democratic system calls for discussion and
dissent.

Having said that, there are issues that call for a united front.

In his last column, Walt raised questions about the illicit drug trade in
our community. I agree. It truly is a worrisome issue.

With all due respect to city council's efforts to curb crime, many
citizens see little improvement in spite of news releases telling us the
numbers have decreased.

Unless Williams Lake is totally different from other communities, and there
is no reason to believe we are, most of the B&Es, home
invasions, thefts, assaults and vandalism have their roots in
substance abuse. Williams Lake has long standing problems with
alcohol abuse, in spite of mighty efforts by community groups to resolve
them.

It is legal and even socially acceptable to buy and misuse booze.

Supplies are readily available, and consumption is desirable from the
economic viewpoint. While the end result of addictions might be the
same, the drug trade is illicit, and that makes it a very different story.

There have been numerous articles and columns in the media recently
suggesting it's time to try a different approach to crime reduction.

In spite of the hard-nosed law and order approach taken by governments
(usually at the urging of constituents) here and in the USA, the problems
with the illegal drug industry keeps getting worse.

According to a recent RCMP report, the involvement of organized crime
(outlaw gangs and groups) has significantly expanded the marijuana
industry which has branched out to include other substances such as
ecstasy. Canada is a net exporter of ecstasy and of course B.C. bud is prime.

If cracking down on criminals isn't working, what will? There is a growing
call for the de-criminalization of some drugs like marijuana.

The reasoning is that by making it legal, sales can be controlled thus
eliminating the criminal element. I think that's worth a try for
marijuana, I'm not sure about other drugs. Controlling the sale of liquor
may have eliminated the criminal element but it hasn't done much to
mitigate the adverse social effects of overuse by consumers.

The problems with the "jail 'em and throw away the key" approach is that
no one seems to have found a way to catch the big guys, and we don't have
enough jails to house the small fry who do manage to get themselves
incarcerated.

Our jails are bursting at the seams but whenever any government tries to
build a new one somewhere, people in the chosen community scream their
heads off in protest.

(Question. Would the good citizens of Williams Lake welcome a prison in
our vicinity? Like on one of our abandoned school sites? )

Overcrowding can and does generate violence in jails. (One troubled
facility meant for 300 inmates houses 650.) When increased drug activity
and young gang members join the mix the results are poisonous. The
young thugs add a new element because they don't mix well
amongst themselves, let alone with the older prison community.

Some prisons are powder kegs. How safe are the guards?

So what about treatment and prevention? I must sound like a broken record
on this but there is plenty of evidence to show that the public
health/social approach is effective. Well-cared for and well-educated
children are less likely to grow up to be criminals.

The catch is this calls for a co-ordinated effort from all agencies,
including those in the justice system, and it can be a slow process in
terms of seeing results. Our city council has taken a first step by adding
a social development co-ordinator to its staff.

There is one other alternative.

A Saskatchewan woman has successfully sued a street drug dealer after she
nearly died from an overdose of crystal meth. The case was heard in civil
court and according to the CBC, she won by default when the dealer
wouldn't say where he got the drugs. (That shouldn't come as any
surprise.)

Let's hope this lawsuit won't be the last.

I honestly don't see how our city is going to grow and prosper as long as
the criminal element is running wild. And if, as our mayor has suggested,
our high crime rate is related to our prosperity, we'd better be prepared
if his predictions for even better times ahead come true.

Diana French was editor of the Williams Lake Tribune from 1979 to 1984, and
has written her current events column since 1972. French Connection appears
weekly in the Tuesday edition of the Tribune.