Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 Source: Parklander, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2005 Hinton Parklander Contact: http://www.hintonparklander.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/782 IT'S TIME TO STAND AND BE COUNTED For many long years our civic leaders, law enforcement and other organizations have toiled in a conscious, high-profile quest to address drug concerns in Hinton. If nothing else, the campaign has spawned some useful networking between agencies, as well as with other communities in similar situations. The Hinton Drug Action Committee, which was formed in the wake of this renewed focus on community drug problems, has definitely raised the awareness of both the issues -- like addiction, drug-related crime and health -- as well as some of the solutions. There was a lot of chutzpa involved in even making the drug problem a publically-debated issue because, while it seems like common sense, some communities do not want the black-eye of being known as having these ills. It's potentially bad for morale, bad for public image and bad for business. However, our leaders should be commended for realizing they had bigger fish to fry than a perceived black eye. But the question now is what effect has all of this effort, time and money had on the problem? Stakeholders like the Hinton RCMP, the drug action committee, AADAC and the legal community will be on hand at a public forum on drugs on Sept. 28 at the Hinton Centre. It'll be their job to make presentations and tell you what's been done in the fight against drugs. But it's the responsibility of the public to show up and give input to help answer the one raging question -- what effect has all this work had -- as well as one other question: What else can possibly be done? - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman