Pubdate: Wed, 13 Dec 2006
Source: Penticton Western (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Penticton Western
Contact:  http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310

REPORT ALONE CAN'T SOLVE THE DRUG PROBLEM

Where is the beef? This is the question critics of a new city report 
on drugs have every right to ask.

The report, released last week with much fanfare, recommends the city 
step up efforts to educate the public about drugs, spend more money 
on enforcement and build more treatment facilities with the help of 
other agencies such as the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen 
and the Penticton Indian Band.

We commend the commitment of every member who served on the drug task 
force which developed this three-pillar policy and we predict that it 
will spark much-needed awareness about drugs in the community.

But we fear that this will be the maximum impact of the report for 
some time to come.

While the report brims with well-intentioned rhetoric, it does not 
force council to adopt any of its recommendations. Some can be 
achieved readily. Others -- especially those which carry a large 
price tag but are likely to make the biggest difference -- are less 
likely to be realized.

Additional RCMP officers and a new detoxification-treatment centre 
are expensive additions to any municipal wish list.

Granted, Mayor Jake Kimberley promised that the report would get a 
full and fair hearing during pending budget discussions. We hope 
council will fulfill this commitment. But we also fear that the city 
has set itself up for failure by outlining an ambitious plan without 
the financial resources to back it up.

While this approach is better than no plan at all, it is likely to 
create unreasonable expectations among the public only to dash them 
later, leaving behind criticism and cynicism.

We are not suggesting that the city should have lowered expectations, 
then exceed them. Nobody wins by pursuing goals which are met too 
easily. Ambition is a trait we should nourish, not discourage.

But the public can spot the difference between style and substance 
and the city would have done the public a greater service if it had 
rolled out its strategy in separate stages, each one endowed with 
resources to meet its intended mandate.

Is this criticism justified? We shall reserve final judgment. The 
measures which will eventually receive financial support may well 
make a difference. But they may not.

Many of the factors behind the spread of drugs are outside the 
control and jurisdiction of the city.

So we actually foresee the possibility that city officials will get 
the blame for failing to solve a problem that was not theirs to start with.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom