ALL METHED UP WITH LITERALLY NOWHERE TO GO BUT DOWN

Our recent special report on the effects of methamphetamine, along
with other stories of aggressive panhandlers, vacant buildings wrecked
by junkie squatters and violence at emergency shelters, are parts of a
larger picture.

Researchers tell us that "crystal meth," the latest thing in street
drugs, is so destructive it actually induces mental illness, altering
brain chemistry and creating debilitating effects that persist long
after the user stops.

It is cheap, relatively easy to manufacture and, worst of all, induces
a false sense of well-being in the user that can lead to severe
psychological addiction.

Meth users aren't the only ones suffering from a false sense of
well-being. An industry has sprung up in towns around the province to
manage the effects of what is euphemistically called
"homelessness."

Yes, people who trade their homes, their families, their earning
capacity and their self-respect for dope are "homeless," but that's
like calling a burning house "paintless."

It's technically true, but not exactly a useful observation.

These days in many communities there's a food bank, a soup kitchen and
an emergency shelter.

Provincial taxpayers support a "free" health care and welfare system
and the federal government offers a disability pension for life for
those with enough damage, self-inflicted or not.

Naive "harm reduction" programs that spend taxpayers' money on needles
or crack pipes haven't yet found a Band-Aid approach for this lethal
stuff, but give them time.

It's a truism of the addiction recovery movement that "enabling" an
addict to continue abusing himself and his loved ones, and making
excuses for him, are grave errors.

But somehow common sense gets lost at the political level, and a
growing bureaucracy is built and funded to give addicts ways to keep
making the wrong choices.

Municipal councillors talk earnestly about the wonders of "smart
growth" to revitalize downtown trouble spots, while the police are
fighting a losing battle to protect property from chronic theft and
vandalism.

All the "smart growth" plans in the world aren't going to help if they
aren't supported by social and criminal justice policies that actually
work.

- - Maple Ridge News