There's a trend in the addiction treatment industry toward harm reduction and so-called wet housing where an occasional relapse is tolerated, but Geoff Smith is having none of it. As a director of the Cedars Residential Treatment Centre on Vancouver Island, Smith believes in tough love and using drugs at the facility will get you thrown out on your ear. Smith was in town Tuesday giving a presentation on the facility to the Philosopher's Cafe at the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre. [continues 437 words]
City councillor Brian Given on Monday praised the job Kelowna RCMP have been doing lately targeting so-called drug houses but said the police need to improve the response time to tips from the public. "There's some frustration there," said Given, who added he had heard from several constituents on this issue. "People will identify a house to the police but then it will take considerable time between the complaint and something being done about it. The frustration is over what they see as inaction." [continues 229 words]
Crossroads Treatment Centre is sponsoring the travelling production of METH, a play its producers call interactive forum theatre. "The intention is to get the audience involved and to look at solutions around addiction," said Corinne Dolman, executive director of Crossroads, which operates a residential treatment facility, a detox centre and supportive housing at its location in Rutland. Dolman says people who take in the production will actually get to see it twice. "What they do is present the play with actors and then they do it again with a facilitator," she said. "The second time, the audience is invited to participate and insert themselves in the play when they see a situation and how it could be resolved differently." [continues 256 words]
They didn't announce it until yesterday but the Kelowna RCMP Green Team has been busy lately raiding 23 large gang-related marijuana grow houses since the end of October. Sgt. Tim Shields, head of the drug enforcement unit, and Const. Annie Linteau, detachment spokeswoman, laid out the details of the team's work in a media briefing yesterday morning, which included a short video of one of the raids at an undisclosed location. Linteau said the 12-member team had seized a total of 10,500 plants, arrested 21 people and had charges pending against another 14 people who police have yet to locate. She estimated the street value of the seized plants at over $8 million. [continues 435 words]
Kelowna RCMP provided a glimpse into how the Green Team operates with the release of a video shot during one of the recent raids. Sgt. Tim Shields, head of the drug enforcement unit, said police will act on a tip about a grow house by trying to provide the corroborating evidence necessary to obtain a search warrant. "We never execute a warrant on a tip alone," he said. "We want to ensure the address is correct first." Shields said police will conduct surveillance of the house in question before applying for a warrant. [continues 358 words]
A group of fourth year nursing students at UBCO hope they can succeed in explaining the concept of harm reduction to skeptical downtown business people where the City of Kelowna and John Howard Society failed. "We're trying to inform the business community about what harm reduction actually is," said Lisa Wensink, speakign about the project the four students have undertaken as a graduation requirement. "With the whole St. Paul supportive housing thing and the lawsuit, there has been a whole lot of negative publicity around harm reduction. We want to demystify it and give accurate information about what it really is." [continues 438 words]
Before I became mayor, I always respected judges for the difficult job they have to do. But I never had a full appreciation for the enormous responsibility associated with this office until I actually had to become familiar with the day-to-day workings of the City Court. Over the past six years, my respect has and continues to grow for the position of judge after witnessing the complex situations and ever-increasing caseloads associated with this office. Much to my surprise, the two City Court judges for Cohoes are considered quarter-time judges, which mean they work approximately 10 hours a week. Ten hours does not reflect the amount of time these judges put forth in their office, as well as many of their colleagues who operate under similar conditions. [continues 226 words]
A local man who says he needs medical marijuana to stay alive has found a grower, thanks to the Capital News. In mid-December, Richard Babcock told his story of the difficulties he's had obtaining a steady supply of medical marijuana after his two previous growers had gone sour. After the story ran, Babcock said a Vernon man, John Burns, called him and offered to grow on his behalf. "After the article ran, this gentleman came forth," said Babcock. "He's being wonderful about this whole thing, trying to take the stress off me. It seems like this guy wants to help people in my situation." [continues 359 words]
Active Voice It wasn't even four years ago that the expressed policy of the City of Kelowna was that it had no mandate to deal with homelessness or drug addiction. That is a provincial or federal responsibility was the stock answer to any question of why the city didn't do something more for the people living under bridges and behind dumpsters. Their response, at the time, was to come down hard using police and bylaw officers on any homeless person who dared to make themselves too visible to the taxpaying public. [continues 439 words]
It was big news when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2001 that the government could not stand in the way of Canadian citizens using marijuana to ease the pain and symptoms of certain chronic or terminal illnesses. While the publicity has died down, the reality of obtaining a reliable supply of quality marijuana has remained the same for several thousand Canadians granted an exemption under Health Canada's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations. For Richard Babcock, a former addict living in Kelowna with full-blown AIDS and hepatitis C, it's been a constant hassle to keep his prescription filled. [continues 671 words]
A representative of the Interior Health Authority dropped some good news and bad news on the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition during its monthly meeting on Thursday morning. The good news is that the mental health and addiction services division of the IHA has been conducting its own review of the services it offers and it coincides with the conclusions the coalition has been reaching. "We're on the same page," said Pat Townsley, addictions manager for the Okanagan Health Service Area, a sub-region of the health authority that includes Kelowna. [continues 462 words]
A year-long project to give a voice to local drug users is finally seeing some results. Known as the Kelowna Area Network of Drug Users or KANDU, spokesman Brian Mairs said the project was started to allow drug users input into the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition, the city's response to soaring street crime and drug use primarily in and around the downtown core. "The fact is if we didn't have the drug users, we wouldn't have as many problems," he said. [continues 439 words]
City council got its first look at the four pillars strategy on Monday during a presentation by the steering committee of the Central Okan- agan Four Pillars Coalition. The wide-ranging strategy is calling for everything from increased policing and drug courts to improved treatment facilities and better access to recreational programs and facilities for youth. It also made a pointed reference to safe injection sites, saying Kelowna does not need one. Based on the so-called four pillars--harm reduction, prevention, enforcement and treatment--the strategy has been over a year in the making. [continues 314 words]
In response to the perception that it's going nowhere, the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition is rushing through an interim report to Kelowna city council. "They're coming to council on Monday and I've been pushing them to do that," said Coun. Sharon Shepherd who is the council liaison to the coalition's steering committee. "They're feeling not quite ready but they know there's been some criticism and questions of where are they in the process and what are they doing." [continues 310 words]
If you want to find out information about the needle exchange program in Kelowna, don't ask the man who supervises it--he doesn't know. Pat Reber, director of quality assurance at the Okanagan Boys and Girls Clubs, said he doesn't know how many needles the program gives out or what its budget is. Reber also denied knowing anything about a request by the Kelowna RCMP and the Downtown Kelowna Association that outreach health nurses employed by the Boys and Girls Club stop exchanging needles in City Park. [continues 228 words]
The chairman of the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition has resigned, according to a terse statement released yesterday afternoon. The coalition was formed a year ago in response to what many perceive to be an increase in street level crime, drug addiction and homelessness in Kelowna's downtown core. Besides wishing Alan Lueck well and thanking him for his hard work, the coalition gave no explanation for his departure. However, a source close to the coalition said Lueck had lost the confidence of the coalition's committee sub-chairs. [continues 244 words]
The Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition will be asking Kelowna city council on Monday for at least $50,000 to keep the initiative moving forward. "We haven't worked out the final figure yet but the money will be used to hold community consultations, advertising, office supplies and the hiring of a consultant," said Daryle Roberts, a spokesman for the coalition. The consultant will advise the coalition on how best to work out a trilateral agreement between the city and the provincial and federal governments on what Roberts called the Kelowna Agreement. [continues 209 words]
Safe Streets Coalition Has City Council Backing. Kelowna city council is the first municipal government to throw its support behind the Safe Streets Coalition. The coalition is a provincial group of business organizations, neighbourhood groups and tourism associations that are seeking tougher trespassing laws and the creation of so-called safe streets legislation. City council received a delegation from the coalition Monday morning outlining its aims and focusing on a private member's bill expected to be put forth in the provincial legislature in the next few weeks. [continues 184 words]
So what's happened to the Mayor's Task Force on Community Safety and Harm Reduction? The task force came to life with much fanfare last fall at the behest of Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray. After a big splash in November and early January, some are wondering if the initiative to deal with a growing street drug problem has petered out. But Daryle Roberts, one of the driving forces behind the initiative, says that's not true. "We're still meeting, in fact our next meeting is April 1," said Roberts. [continues 188 words]
Central Okanagan school trustee Gail Scanlan wants the school district to look beyond its borders at what other districts are doing in the area of drug prevention and awareness. "I would like to see us look at what other districts are doing, their effectiveness and what the costs are," said Scanlan. At Wednesday's school board meeting, trustees received a report outlining what resources are put toward drug awareness and prevention for the 23,000 students in the Central Okanagan. Scanlan made the request for the report after attending the Mayor's Forum on Community Safety and Harm Reduction, where the subject of increasing drug use in local schools was brought up during discussion. [continues 100 words]
