Pubdate: Mon, 07 May 2001 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Rachel Evans Cited: http://cfdp.ca/ DRUG COURT AN ALTERNATIVE TO JAIL? Social Worker Says Treat Addictions As Health Problems, Not Crimes An Edmonton social worker agrees with a national drug policy expert that the spread of killer diseases by drug users would be curbed by treating drug use as a health issue instead of a crime. City social worker Neil Cameron, director of Community Addictions Services and Education, said an effective program must address the financial, family and other situations that cause an addict to use drugs - and ultimately to spread disease through dirty needles. "When frustration hits, when depression hits, they go back to the thing that works - the drugs," Cameron said. "With the treatment centres we have, people get the treatment and go right back into the community without integration skills, still with problems with the family." Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Centre for Drug Policy told a national conference on hepatitis C Friday that by treating drugs as a criminal rather than a social problem, Canada has promoted dangerous behaviour. There are about 10,000 needle drug users in Edmonton. It's a major public health problem because needle drug users run a high risk of getting blood-borne diseases like AIDS and hepatitis C. Maggie McGinn is the executive director of Living Positive, a support group for people with HIV. She agrees the old approach to needle drug use isn't working. "I think (the government) really needs to look into how they can prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C through needle use," she said. "That's one of the increasing groups (diagnosed with HIV), intravenous drug users. It is because people have to do it in secret because it is against the law." Cameron and others are proposing a drug court for Edmonton that would give addicts who commit non-violent crimes to support their addiction the chance to avoid jail time by accepting treatment. "The rate of (reoffending) is going to go way down, the rate of disease back to the community is going to go way down - the statistics out of the States proved it," Cameron said. "I think what (the law) needs to recognize is unless you're treating the root causes of the addictions and persons addicted, they're going to return to the community and engage in behaviours that endanger themselves and others." He said the drug court proposal will go to the federal and provincial governments later this month. - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew