Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jul 2007
Source: Quesnel Cariboo Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Quesnel Cariboo Observer
Contact:  http://www.quesnelobserver.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1260
Author: Tom Fletcher
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)

SUMMER IN THE CITY, NOT SO PRETTY

VICTORIA -- The "honour system" has finally been abandoned on Greater 
Vancouver buses. The establishment of "fare paid zones" beyond the 
driver's seat and at least the theoretical appearance of someone to 
check tickets is an effort to stem the problem of people refusing to 
pay and assaulting drivers who remind them the ride isn't quite free.

It seems once a city reaches a certain size, it doesn't have enough 
honour left for honour systems. Surveys indicated Ottawa doesn't yet 
have bus anarchy, but Toronto does. A relieved Vancouver bus driver 
interviewed on TV said being spit on wasn't the worst of it. He's 
also been punched, kicked and pulled from his seat while the bus was moving.

Here in Victoria the Canada Day fireworks has been known for a finale 
involving drunken brawls on the upper deck of those London-style 
buses. Victoria's just reaching the critical mass where such 
night-time public events are surrendered and the downtown streets 
given over to purveyors of the nightly buffet of blood, pee and pavement pizza.

Then there is the illegal drug problem. Victoria's mayor still 
believes in something called a "safe injection site," as the city 
looks for a new home for its blight of a "needle exchange program." 
Nanaimo's pilot project to hand out crack pipes has sputtered out 
like a spent Bic lighter, due to threats from ungrateful recipients.

Capital Regional District, which still can't keep its emergency radio 
system working, is right on the ball. They've just instituted a 
crackdown, not on crack, but on outdoor patio smoking. New provincial 
regulations are being worked out now to bar smoking around doorways 
and windows as of next year, but that's not far or fast enough for 
some urban social engineers.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is offering a bit of fresh air on the 
drug problems that plague his city. He's moving on from the "safe 
injection" and "needle exchange" stopgaps that promote continued 
abuse. Give the hardcore addicts legal pills that approximate the ups 
and downs of cocaine and heroin, he suggests, and at least they have 
a hope of getting off the mean streets.

But the most sensible strategy is coming from Vancouver-Burrard MLA 
Lorne Mayencourt, who earlier pioneered the radical notion that 
pedestrians, like bus drivers, shouldn't have to put up with being 
threatened or assaulted. He has been touring the province to promote 
the model of the San Patrignano treatment community in Italy, a 
remote self-contained rural facility where people can check in and 
stay for three to five years, drug-free and working at a real job. It 
has more than 2,000 people in voluntary attendance, and claims a 75 
per cent success rate.

Mayencourt has identified a preferred location, a former radar 
station called Baldy Hughes located 30 km southwest of Prince George. 
It offers a dorm, mobile home pads, welding and woodworking shops, a 
bowling alley, curling rink and gym.

Prince George already has its share of big-city problems, being a 
service centre for the medical, social and penal needs of the 
province's north. But it too could benefit from this refreshing 
approach to low-level crime, panhandling and prostitution intertwined 
with drugs in urban centres.

It seems like a better idea than waiting for Vancouver or Victoria to 
develop something that actually has a chance of working.

Community courts

Vancouver is the site of another pilot project, a community court. 
Attorney General Wally Oppal has high hopes for this project, which 
has hearings underway led by provincial court judge Thomas Gove.

The court will deal with the break-ins and other low-level offences 
that form the revolving door for drug addicted repeat offenders. The 
idea is to direct offenders to treatment, housing and employment 
services to break the cycle of crime and drugs. If it's successful, 
community courts would be established in other B.C. centres.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom