VANDALISM, DRUGS DOG CITY

Vandalism and drugs are worrying city council, but police admit they have
few new weapons.

Councillor Kathy Bedard called the cost of vandalism in Prince Rupert
abhorrent. "The community can't afford this."

Council Cyril Stephens wanted to know how big the drug scene is here. "How
many young people are overdosing?"

RCMP Staff Sergeant Troy Gross said the dollar figure attributed to
vandalism to both public and private property is holding constant at about
$8000. (In July it was $8,.575.)

He said restorative justice programs, where the offender pays restitution
and might be ordered to do repair or make reparation in some other way, is
the most efficient approach.

"We have a fairly active system" he said, "but it hasn1t really impacted
the financial figures here."

"We do have a considerable drug problem, but it is probably not worse than
in other coastal communities."

RCMP were often unable to report publicly on drug overdoses because of
privacy issues surrounding medical records.

Councillor Bedard had another concern around drugs - the recent Senate
Committee report which recommended legalization for simple possession of
marijuana, basically treating the drug like alcohol or tobacco.

She said she had personally written to the prime Minister and other Ottawa
sources.

"I pleaded that they not adopt the report. It is reprehensible to suggest
we legalize marijuana because we are supposedly helpless to to anything else."

She called the idea of regulating and licensing marijuana sales "another
money scheme." She said she did not think the majority of Canadian
supported legalization.

"I think this community knows we have a problem, Canada has a problem. We
can1t just throw our hands up."

Coun. Paul Kennedy said the current fines for trafficking large amounts of
marijuana are a few thousand dollars, -"ridiculous"- and simply seen as a
cost of doing business.

"We have to get more serious."

Councillor Paddy Greene chided the Americans, - the big export market for
the drug - for preferring our pot to our timber.

"They'd rather have B.C. bud than B.C. softwood. They have not been very
good neighbours."

But, he said, he didn't want to see large numbers jailed for possession, or
run through an inefficient court system.

"It's a huge waste of time ... jailing a bunch of people. I don't want to
see us doing it like they do in the United States."

There were other serious drug-related issues to be tackled like gasoline
sniffing and fetal alcohol syndrome.

Mayor Don Scott said the Senate report should be taken seriously. "We
should examine why they are recommending it."

Staff Sgt Gross said the RCMP, as a police force, are opposed to legalization.

Coun. Bedard got support for a motion that a letter opposing legalization
go to the Prime Minister and other communities.