DESPITE INCREASE IN ILLICIT DRUG CHARGES, POLICE BOSS SAYS THERE'S NO
INCREASE IN USE

VICTORIA - New statistics showing that Greater Victoria has the third
highest number of illicit drug arrests by police in the country raises
questions about just how much drug use there is in the region.

The Capital Region's No. 3 ranking in Canadian drug crimes is based on
a Stats Canada study that indicates there were 459 offences per
100,000 people in 2002. Thunder Bay, Ont. came in first place with 571
offences while the Lower Mainland ranked second with 468. The study
also indicated that B.C. led all provinces for drug crimes, with
almost double the national rate.

But people need to be careful in terms of how they interpret a high
rate of drug crimes, says Victoria police Insp. Bill Naughton, who
heads the department's targeted policing unit. He says an increase in
the drug crime rate doesn't necessarily mean there are more people
using drugs.

"I think the key issue here is that people have to recognize
drug-related incidents are generally driven around (police)
enforcement priorities, not necessarily by some dramatic increase in
the user population," says Naughton.

Drug crime rates, he says, are reflective of a police department's
priorities or resources when it comes to addressing drug use and
trafficking in a given jurisdiction.

Due to successes of the targeted policing unit, Naughton suggests
there was a "very significant peak in drug crime" in 2003. "But that's
going to relate entirely to the intention of enforcement as opposed to
some dramatic shift in the population of users," he says.

Gordon Barnes, a University of Victoria child and youth care professor
who' has undertaken extensive research on drug and alcohol addiction,
says its important to consider that the statistics in question are
based on actual drug arrests. But, at the same time, he points out
that there are epidemiological studies revealing that use of marijuana
and other illicit drugs among college students in Greater Victoria and
elsewhere in B.C. is higher than the rest of the country. Another
provincewide survey suggests that Greater Victoria in general has its
fair share of illicit drug users, says Barnes.

"Victoria seems to have a higher rate of drug use," he says. "I think
that we have a pattern here and I noticed that when I moved out here
from Manitoba."

Barnes says he was surprised by the number of people from "pretty good
family situations" who are involved in heavy use of drugs such as
heroin. He says he didn't see the same pattern back home in Manitoba.

Barnes suggests people in B.C. might have a different attitude toward
illicit drug use than in other parts of the country. "I find there is
more of an acceptance of that lifestyle here," he says.

Marijuana use, says Barnes, seems to be particularly acceptable in
B.C.

"When I talk to students in my substance abuse class, they don't see
marijuana use as a problem," he points out.

Victoria resident Ted Smith, president of the International Hempology
101 Society, agrees that there is a higher number of pot smokers in
B.C. than there are in other parts of Canada. One reason for that, he
says, likely has something to do with American draft dodgers avoiding
the Vietnam War and immigrating to B.C. in the late 1960s and early
1970s.

"One of the easiest ways for them to start making money was to grow
outdoor pot," says Smith, who's also the founder of the Cannabis
Buyers' Club of Canada, which provides marijuana for medicinal
purposes to people with various illnesses.

By the early 1980s, people had figured out how to grow high-quality
hydroponic marijuana indoors, he says.

Smith says he doesn't think that marijuana consumption in Greater
Victoria and elsewhere in the province has increased in recent years.

"There has been a change in the public's attitude - both among
consumers and the general population - that cannabis users are not
causing a problem like someone who is drunk can," he says.

But Smith says there is more pot-smoking taking place these days in
public places than has been the case in the past.

The open use of marijuana in public in Greater Victoria, he says,
likely has something to do with more people getting busted smoking
pot.

Naughton says, however, that Victoria police statistics from February
2003 to the present indicate that the targeting police unit has hardly
made any arrests for simple marijuana possession.

"We've been focusing almost entirely on trafficking in cocaine and
that's been the vast majority of our charges," he says.

Whether there has been an increase in hard drug use in the Capital
Region is an issue that Naughton says he's discussed with
representatives of various agencies who provide services to people who
uses such drugs as cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.

"They're not seeing significant rises in the user population. In fact,
they're suggesting stability in the user population numbers," he says.