Pubdate: Wed, 22 Nov 2006
Source: Waterloo Chronicle (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Fairway Newspaper Group
Contact:  http://www.waterloochronicle.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3417
Author: Andrea Bailey, Waterloo

KEYNOTE SPEECH TO HIGHLIGHT REALITIES OF DRUGS IN  REGION

Public health officials want to nip drug problems in  the bud.

And to help them do so, they've recruited someone who  is more than
familiar with the strain illegal narcotics  can have on a community.

Sen. Larry Campbell, the former mayor of Vancouver,  chief coroner of
B.C. and the subject of the hit TV  show Da Vinci's Inquest, will
speak at the Region of  Waterloo Community Safety and Crime Prevention
  council's continuing series called In The Minds Eye  2006: Issues of
Substance Use in Film and Forum, from  7-9 p.m. Nov. 28 at
Kitchener-Waterloo collegiate  (KCI).

Campbell was recently honoured with the 2006 National  Public Health
Hero Award for his practical policy  application of the Four Pillars
Drug Strategy. During  Campbell's tenure as mayor from 2002 to 2005,
North  America's first safe injection site was opened in  Vancouver.

The keynote speech will close the council's two-month  series, which
has reached more than 1,300 people so  far, says Michael Parkinson,
co-ordinator of community  engagement for the local council.

"We've been drawing a diversity of people," he said.  "Medical
professionals, the general public, parents,  users ... the list goes
on.

"That was one of the main goals of this series."

The series has investigated a variety of areas relating  to substance
use and abuse.

Some topics have included Drug and Alcohol Use: Costs  Trends and Local 
Conditions; 100 Years of Drugs in  Canada: What Lies Behind Us? What Lies 
Ahead?; Street  Level Sex Trade; Understanding Addiction - The Voices  of 
People Who Use Drugs; and, just last week,  Understanding Crystal 
Methamphetamine.

Parkinson said the discussion around crystal  methamphetamine -- a
highly addictive hallucinogenic  drug that can drive people into
paranoid psychosis --  drew 300 people between three sites throughout
the day.

"Two components were discussed: the production of  crystal meth, as
well as the treatment process for  those who are addicted to it," he
said.

Parkinson also said the forum tried to put to rest  rumours that
nearby Perth County is the crystal meth  capital of Canada.

"It's not," he said.

"While there is crystal meth in that area, as there is  in this
region, we liken it to a plague of locusts ...  it hit the western
provinces, moved east, seemed to  skip Ontario, but is showing up more
in Quebec and the  eastern provinces."

Nevertheless, he said, education is power over any drug
problem.

And that's what he hopes Campbell's speech will  provide.

"He helped craft Vancouver into arguably the most  progressive city in
reducing (drug use)," Parkinson  said.

"But we have to remember that it's not Vancouver here;  our issues are
different."

Campbell will speak on the Four Pillars integrated  strategy, which
many sectors of Vancouver coming  together to fight drug problems.

"We, at the Region of Waterloo, don't have a position  on an
integrated drug strategy," Parkinson said.

"But one thing I can say is that we can't keep up with  the calls we
get from parents."

Parkinson said more resources would have to be in place  for this
region to adopt a similar strategy.

"More partners would have to step up," he said.

"The private sector should have an interest in the  effects drug use
can have ... lost labour, low  productivity, accidents."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek