EXPERTS ABSENT FROM DRUG FORUM

The parliamentary committee on the non-medical use of drugs made a stop in
Abbotsford Thursday amid little fanfare. Very little.

The committee is the darling of Langley-Abbotsford MP Randy White (Canadian
Alliance), who is serving as its vice-chairman and has been at the
forefront of the issue recently.

"In (Abbotsford) there are more than 40 prostitutes and they're all
addicted to drugs. We have a problem in this community and until now no one
has been pushing this issue. These are our daughters."

Those fighting words came from White last Friday during a fete for Alliance
Leader Stockwell Day while he was visiting Abbotsford.

It came as no surprise that the committee on drug use planned a stop in
White's own stomping grounds. We have a problem - that he so eloquently
verbalized - and he is an integral part of the committee that is travelling
the country gathering information about how to deal with it from those in
the know.

In a press release announcing the committee's stop in Abbotsford, White had
this to say: "I have fought for eight long years to have a parliamentary
committee come to our communities to see first hand the problems that drugs
have caused in our prisons, our schools, our downtown cores and in each one
of our lives." He didn't stop there: "This will be a true eye-opener for
those members of Parliament who believe the drug problems are limited to
large, urban centres."

White was seen on television just the night before, touring Vancouver's
notorious east side and the addicts who call it home. The committee was
even scheduled to stop at the Matsqui Institution - another of those first
hand looks.

With a well-defined problem, Abbotsford and Mission are also equipped to
deal with it. Between the two cities there are several outlets to help deal
with addiction - Abbotsford Addictions, which offers drug counselling;
Mission's Fraser House, which offers an outpatient treatment program;
Polaris in Abbotsford oversees methadone treatment; and King Haven, also in
Abbotsford, has a residential treatment program.

All of them certainly qualify as front-line soldiers in the war on drugs,
which makes it puzzling that not a single one was aware of the committee's
information-gathering visit until informed by one of our reporters.

It's possible, and quite probable, that White and the other committee
members entered into this exercise with the best of intentions. We aren't
here to doubt White's sincerity when he says he wants to do something about
the drug problems of Canadians. But while they claim to be gathering
'expert testimony', they must actually ensure the methodology used to
gather that information leads them to conclusions that are both informed
and comprehensive.

They failed to make sure some of the most informed Abbotsford residents
attended their meeting on Thursday. Let's hope that's not an indication of
how effective this committee will be.