DRUG ENTREPRENEURS THRIVE

Responses to Vancouver's drug problems have been simplified to political
sound bites positioning the speaker's social attitudes.

Lost in the quest for political power or resource dollars is the primary
tension -- drug user and drug entrepreneur.

The drug user requires incentives to leave that lifestyle. Provincial
governments have failed to provide enough spaces for individuals seeking
help voluntarily, let alone mandated to seek treatment. The Willingdon
Youth Detention Centre in Burnaby has developed into a de facto youth detox.

The drug entrepreneur operates in an unparalleled free market environment
in Vancouver. Profits are high. Costs are low. Police arrests are negligible.

Decisions by provincial court judges support the free market drug
entrepreneur and serve as disincentives to local police forces. While our
communities, not just the Downtown Eastside, struggle with how to respond,
the courts have reduced the arrest of drug entrepreneurs to a "catch and
release" program.

Paul Czene

Burnaby