TREATMENT CENTRES MAY BE KEY THAT UNLOCKS ADDICTION

The much-anticipated report on the non-medicinal use of drugs was
released yesterday by a House of Commons special committee, which
included as vice-chairman Randy White, the Canadian Alliance MP for
Langley-Abbotsford.

The report supports the contentious plan for federally approved safe
injection sites for heroin and cocaine addicts.

Not surprisingly, White is at odds with this portion of the report,
calling "harm reduction" little more than "harm extension" and arguing
such a policy simply helps addicts maintain their habits.

That may be true. After all, White has toured harm reduction sites in
three European countries - Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands
- - and came away less than impressed with the programs there that
would be emulated here.

In Frankfurt, White said in an interview with the Aldergrove Star, a
sister paper of the Abbotsford News, the harm reduction centre had
blood and dirt on the floor.

Addicts walked in, were handed a needle and steered to a small room to
shoot up (with mirrors to help in finding veins).

"Then they take them to a waiting room and if they sit there too long
they escort them back to the street, where they can do their crime and
get another hit from a dealer," White said.

"Unless they walk too far, and then they just shoot up there and
then." But here's the dilemma we face today.

Take that image and superimpose it on downtown Abbotsford and it's not
a pretty picture.

However, that same image is a vast improvement on what it now
occurring on the streets of Vancouver's downtown eastside.

White's argument is for more treatment facilities, such as the Second
Chance program in Mexico, where recidivism rates have reportedly
dropped to 10 per cent from 83 per cent.

There is no doubt that more treatment facilities are needed. And there
is no doubt money exists for all the treatment facilities and programs
needed.

Unfortunately, government continues to make decisions to spend
incredible amounts of money on other projects, as we are now seeing
with the billion dollar (and counting) firearms registry.