CAMPBELL BRINGS DRUG CAMPAIGN TO NANAIMO

Nanaimo's drug problem is just as serious as Vancouver's, says Vancouver
Mayor Larry Campbell.

Speaking at a drug and alcohol abuse seminar in Nanaimo, Campbell said
Nanaimo's per-capita rate of drug-related deaths is the same as Vancouver.

"In 1994 there were 11 drug-related deaths in Nanaimo, and it has stayed
consistent at seven deaths per year since then," Campbell says.

The seminar hosted by the Nanaimo Alcohol and Drug Action Committee also
featured Nanaimo-Parksville MLA Judith Reid, Mayor Gary Korpan and Nanaimo
RCMP.

Campbell says a program similar to the four pillars approach in Vancouver,
with safe injection sites, would be a good start for Nanaimo.

In spite of the focus on hard drug use, the biggest killers are still
alcohol and tobacco, he says.

"That's by far the biggest drain on health care funds, and that needs to be
addressed," he said.

Campbell says he does not support the decriminalization of marijuana.

"Either keep it criminal or make it legal," he says, adding he would prefer
to legalize marijuana, "and then tax the living hell out of it."

He credited former Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen with launching the present
approach to the drug problem - the four pillars: enforcement, treatment,
prevention and harm reduction.

When Owen started the program in 1998 there were marches in the street by
people opposed to the approach.

The harder they pushed, the harder he worked, and came up with the four
pillars approach, he said.

Vancouver has stopped enforcing drug use laws and is focussing only on
trafficking.

He says $8 billion a year is spent on fighting the drug problem in Canada,
95 percent of that going to enforcement, something he labelled as shocking.

"What would you like to do with that money instead - health care?" he asks.

Vancouver isn't alone with its drug problem; Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg
and Edmonton are all going through the same thing. Campbell says it's not a
matter of partisan politics.

"In the 1990s we had an NDP government and we still had a problem. Money
spent on drug problems is an investment, one which will pay dividends down
the road."

He says city council has a lot of power, especially with things like zoning
laws, to control housing and other issues.

"We can be a facilitator. We work with the police, the health board.
Council is solid on this," he says.

"We'll see a major impact in three years (before the next election). If it
doesn't work, then I'll shut it down," Campbell says.