DRUG COMMITTEE HEARS ABOUT ABBOTSFORD'S 'COKE ALLEY'

Beaming live into Ottawa in two official languages last Thursday, the first
parliamentary committee to visit Abbotsford heard that the community
desperately needs more treatment centres for those addicted to alcohol and
street drugs and more drug awareness education for children, parents and
politicians.

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, who was playing host to the four members
of the 13-member panel, pushed for the creation of the parliamentary
committee, which was struck in May 2001 to study the causes, effects and
treatments of non-medical drug use in Canada.

As vice-chairman, White said his job was to ensure the panel hears as many
views as possible to ensure that it "doesn't become a Liberal policy
supporting committee."

White is an opponent of Health Minister Alan Rock's tentative financial
support of safe injection sites for heroin addicts, "which is something
I've taken him to task on," said White.

Even though he is aiming for a broad range of views, White said last-minute
confirmation of the panel's visit to Abbotsford made it difficult for him
to personally contact some of the main drug addiction counselling groups in
the city, such as the Abbotsford Community Services program Abbotsford
Addictions, Fraser House in Mission, and the Polaris methadone program.

"We had four days to get the committee to agree (to come to Abbotsford.) We
can't be faulted for trying, but in this country it's impossible to hear
from everyone," he said.

However, White urged people to send their positions to the committee's
researchers, who are accepting submissions until November.

"There are so many positions. For instance, harm reduction didn't wear well
here, but it did in Vancouver," White said.

White said his compatriots were surprised that the level and intensity of
drug use that they heard about from suburban Abbotsford residents was very
similar to those from the gritty inner city streets in Vancouver, Montreal
and Toronto.

"Yes, bringing the issue out of the closet is the big issue, it's No. 1. A
lot of politicians have their heads in the sand over this," White said.

Speakers from both sides of the harm reduction debate did agree there is an
urgent need for detoxicification facilities - the closest one is in New
Westminster, which takes in addicts from the entire Fraser Valley outside
of Vancouver.

"In the last year, 89 people (from Abbotsford) needed to go there, 12 got
in. There is an average three-to-five-week wait to get in," said Sharline
Avery, clinical director for Abbotsford Addictions.

She said her two full-time drug addiction counsellors are swamped with
requests for treatment, which swelled to a 102-person waiting list this summer.

"Abbotsford has the same drug problems as Vancouver, but our treatment
facilities are seriously underfunded," she said.

Teens and children especially are in need of appropriate detoxification
facilities and safe recovery houses, the panel heard.

Barry Neufeld, a youth probation officer and Chilliwack school trustee,
said it's rare to be able to coordinate detox and a recovery program for
youth he deals with. He told of a teen who was ailing from a needle
infection his addicted father tried to fix by cutting his arm open.

"The only way I could save (the boy's) life was to put him into jail," said
Neufeld.

Andy Rowe of Full Circle Ministries, a former addict and adamant in his
opposition of methadone as a treatment, gave a gritty view of local drug
culture as he described Abbotsford's "coke alley," where drugs are sold
openly. He described a crack cocaine lab in the city, which he said employs
40 people, including adolescents who are trapped in their situation.

"These drugs are delivered by cellphone and BMWs to Kelowna and Surrey. In
Abbotsford kids are delivered to kids. Go to the Abbotsford Rec Centre
after 6 p.m. and you'll find drugs. It's on every single corner in
Abbotsford," he said.

Stringent national education presented early and often from elementary
through to high school grades was also a prominent theme.

Other speakers included Abbotsford Mayor George Ferguson, Des McKay from
the Abbotsford School Board, and various individuals.

Earlier in the day, the panel had visited Teen Challenge, a successful teen
rehab centre in Yarrow, and met with 30 inmates at Matsqui Institution.

After a trip to the United States and a whirlwind visit to European drug
clinics, the committee will begin making recommendations in the summer,
White said, adding the committee will soon post a Web site.

Submissions can be sent until Nov. 2002, via email to snud@parl.gc.ca or
may be mailed to: Carol Chafe, Clerk, House of Commons, Room 605,
Wellington Building, Ottawa, Ont., K1A 0A6.