Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Barry Link Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms) READERS VOTING IN WEB POLLS CONFLICTED ABOUT DRUG POLICY The faithful readers who participate in the Courier's weekly unscientific online web poll developed a lot more angst last year. In 2004, poll respondents were a curious bunch. Concerned about police misconduct but hopeful about the economy, they claimed to see UFOs, stayed away from the beach, and took their dogs shopping. In 2005, judging by the answers provided to the more than 50 online questions we asked readers last year, poll participants were a lot more conflicted. They were socially tolerant, but increasingly impatient with city drug policy. They wanted coyotes and trees protected, but demanded foreign criminals be sent packing. They were keen on politics, but said only bona fide Vancouverites should run for mayor. Few were also prepared for a major natural disaster, but they weren't worried about it, since they'd rather spend their time learning about sex. Our online poll participants started 2005 with great hope, with two thirds saying they were optimistic about the coming year. Optimism begat social tolerance and compassion. More than half of respondents reported no donor fatigue, even after multiple appeals for charitable aid thanks to successive disasters last year. A solid 60 per cent backed more housing for the homeless. Eighty-one per cent said films deemed to be racist should be permitted for public screening. Two-thirds believed Vancouver should create more restorative justice programs. A resounding 76 per cent didn't want marijuana nut Marc Emery extradited to the U.S. Just over half thought Vancouver needs a second supervised drug injection site. But in a sign that poll participants have reached their limit with Vancouver's permissive drug policy, two-thirds rejected the notion that staff at the Insite injection site be allowed to help drug users inject drugs. And complaints about police misconduct were so 2004, with fewer than half of respondents saying allegations against the cops in the Downtown Eastside should be investigated further. But don't use politics to justify illegal activity. Two-thirds of poll respondents believed the Squamish Five bombers from the 1980s are the equivalent of today's terrorists. And refugees in Canada ought not to do the crime if they can't do the time back home. A whopping 90 per cent of our poll users would deport your butt out of the country. Our respondents remain as green as ever. Nearly three-quarters want more of Hastings Park to be regreened. Half want the Stanley Park petting zoo turned into an ecological interpretive centre. Two-thirds seek an alternative to the car for their commute. Nearly 90 per cent said the city should provide extra recycling boxes on public streets for all the new freebie newspapers. Two-thirds wanted a limit to tall buildings downtown. Three-quarters opposed a cull of the city's coyote population. Illegal tree cutters also should beware: 87 per cent wanted the city to toughen its tree removal bylaw. Poll respondents are health nuts, with 68 per cent supporting a ban on smoking outdoors. Seventy-one per cent want more public toilets downtown, and 79 per cent advocate more PE in public schools. Keeping students busy with PE might be a good idea to take their minds off certain things, since three-quarters of poll repondents also wanted schools to provide more sex education for teens. But respondents are no slouch in education on the art of love, with 60 per cent reporting they would attend a conference on sex. We don't know what kind of conference the other 40 per cent would choose. Poll participants are keen on politics, with 86 per cent saying they intended to vote in last year's provincial election. But two-thirds said they didn't understand the BC-STV proposal for electoral reform. The great majority also wanted legal limits on campaign spending in civic elections. And outsiders need not apply in civic politics, with 78 per cent saying only those who live in Vancouver should be allowed to run for mayor. Yet they have no shame. Three-quarters of our respondents would happily accept a position in the Senate if it was offered to them. Finally, our poll respondents will be caught flat-footed by a major disaster, as fewer than one in five said their household was prepared for an emergency. Only 40 per cent are worried about an avian flu pandemic, and a piddly 11 per cent fear a comet or asteroid will wipe out life on earth. I hope they're right. We have a new year of online polls for readers to answer in 2006. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom