KAMLOOPS WAY AHEAD OF KELOWNA ON DRUG USE ISSUE

Two similar-sized cities likely with the same social problems; two very
different ways of reacting to them.

Daryle Roberts, executive director of the AIDS Resource Society, can't
believe the difference between Kelowna and Kamloops when it comes to
addressing intravenous drug use in their respective cities.

"I think there's a lack of understanding of the issue at all levels of
leadership in the Central Okanagan," Roberts says.

Unlike Kelowna, Kamloops has not only acknowledged the problem but has
brought together a committee of representatives from civic government, law
enforcement, business and public education to closer examine the situation.

Gayle Carriere, an HIV/AIDS outreach nurse with public health in Kamloops,
said the ball started rolling with an application by the AIDS society there
to the city for a grant to study the need for a safe injection site in
Kamloops.

"They wanted to see if there was an appetite for it and would the community
support it," said Carriere, who said it alerted people in the city.

The grant application was directed to the city's social planning committee
but at the same time, Carriere said, School District 73 came out with
statistics that showed a steady increase in suspensions and discipline for
drug and alcohol use amongst students.

The superintendent of the school district in Kamloops, Dr. Terry Sullivan,
asked his school board trustees to create a task force to look into the issue.

"He got all kinds of partner groups who he felt had a stake in this then
divided them into subcommittees," Carriere said.

"One dealt with prevention and education, the second dealt with treatment
and intervention and the third dealt with enforcement and detection."

What the superintendent didn't know is how closely his subcommittees
mirrored a document entitled A Framework for Action; A Four-Pillar Approach
to Drug Problems in Vancouver, written by that city's drug policy
coordinator Donald MacPherson in 2001.

It rests on the four pillars of prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm
reduction.

Carriere said people who were sitting on both the city's social planning
committee and the school board's task force committees came up with the
idea of combining the process into what's become known as the Four Pillar
Review for Kamloops.

"We've had three meetings so far and are looking to eventually hold a
public forum," said Carriere.

"Specifically, since the movie Fix has come and gone, it's time to open
this up to the public, light a fire under them and let them discuss how
they want it to look for Kamloops."

Carriere said the city is already way ahead of Kelowna in one aspect of the
four pillars and that's harm reduction.

Kamloops' two needle exchange programs give out about between 16,000 and
20,000 syringes respectively each month, almost four times as many as
reported by the single needle exchange in Kelowna.

Several local pharmacies which already service the local methadone program
there have signed on to act as needle exchanges as well.

Kamloops has also begun an education program telling the public how to
handle syringes if they find them in public places.

Carriere agreed that Kamloops, long known as a blue-collar town that sits
in Kelowna's shadow, seems to be miles ahead on social policy issues such
as intravenous drug use.

"Even when the street nurses come from Vancouver they shake their heads,"
she said. "They marvel at the degree of cooperation."

For his part, ARC's Roberts can't understand why it's not the same here.

"If we see this working in Kamloops, why aren't we doing the same thing?"
he asks. "We're in the same health authority."

Roberts hopes the panel discussion after tonight's showing of the
documentary Fix at the Paramount will open some eyes.

He praised Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray for accepting their invitation to come
to the show.

"He's said he will not make a statement, that he's there to learn," said
Roberts. "It's a start."