ABBOTSFORD AWAKENED TO DRUG PROBLEM

"When I came to Abbotsford I wanted to know why so many people here buried
their heads in the sand about drugs and prostitution," said Bill Wolfe, one
of the sponsors of the Drugs and Reality forum held Tuesday night at
Abbotsford City Hall.

The three dozen or so hookers in the old downtown area of Abbotsford -
where he has his self-defence school - are all there because they are
slaves to their addictions, Wolfe said.

Abbotsford needs to wake up to the reality it has a severe drug problem,
said Wolfe and other presenters, who warned that safe injection sites or
decriminalizing drugs will only exacerbate the problem.

The only measures that will help are more treatment centres and broader
public understanding of this pervasive social problem.

The forum, which drew a packed house - including parents, teens, addicts
and dealers - featured two Vancouver police officers who created two
documentary films, Through the Blue Lens and Flipping the World, and two
officers from the Abbotsford police department who shot their own video of
local addicts.

The film, shot by Abbotsford police constables Wanda Lane and Kevin Murphy,
takes a voyeuristic look into a day in the life of an addicted family -
mom, dad and teenage son - all of whom were squatting in a derelict house
in Abbotsford last winter.

They had no heat, lights or running water and lived off the money the
mother made through prostitution. After a leg injury in Alberta years ago,
Penny became addicted to prescribed morphine. When she couldn't get
morphine in B.C., she switched to cheaper heroin. Now she hooks every day
to support her habit and her family, "even Christmas Eve. It's not
glamorous. I live in hell," she said. Father Rick shrugs his shoulders and
says he's been on and off heroin all his life.

Sixteen-year-old blond Matthew pours out a hyper confession of the
smorgasbord of drugs he's ingested since he was nine; a litany which was as
much bragging as it was lamenting. Shoplifting and petty crimes sustain
this family. Lane said while Penny and Rick carry on much as before,
Matthew has deteriorated physically as his drug intake has increased.

"Underneath the Rockwellian surface of any community lay these issues,"
said Vancouver police Const. Toby Hinton, a veteran of the downtown
Vancouver drug scene.

Since prevention is a lot easier than treatment, the officers are focusing
their energies on educating communities like Abbotsford. They are all
adamantly against harm reduction - drug injection sites and needle
exchanges - which are seen as ways to reduce the spread of HIV and
hepatitis C among drug users.

"Safe fixing sites are an oxymoron. there is no such thing as safe heroin
or cocaine. We need to be proactive about asking governments for more money
for more treatment centres. Addicts need the cure, not the poison," said
Vancouver Const. Al Arsenault, who admitted he was taking a political position.

Randy Miller was one of the addicts featured in the Vancouver police film
Flipping the World. On film, the audience saw him wild-haired, toothless
and ranting as he writhed grotesquely on a dirty skid row street. He then
stepped up to the mike, looking strong and healthy, and candidly shared
details of his life as an addict for 13 years.

"We used to pull used needles out of the wall and shoot up with them. I had
sores from picking at my skin. One was so bad I picked at the ligaments in
my leg," he told the audience.

Langley-Abbotsford MP Randy White said more money is needed for long-term
treatment centres. He said Canadians can help by participating in a drug
committee which will be travelling the country, starting in the spring.