To steal unapologetically, and arguably inappropriately from stoner rockers the Grateful Dead, we could say "what a long strange trip it's been" in terms of the last decade's efforts by the Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee. In 2002 the City of Courtenay was selected by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project to develop a localized drug strategy in order to deal with problems arising from the use and abuse of all drugs, including alcohol. [continues 614 words]
Writing as a former addictions counsellor and current member of the Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee, I must commend the Times-Colonist for the excellent series, Blind Drunk -- Our Bond with Alcohol, which has been running for the past number of days. It's about time that we took a serious look at our most lethal (yet legal) drug. And alcohol is a drug, and possesses all the mind-altering and destructive properties of our believed-to-be demonic street drugs. [continues 166 words]
"Do you want to die?" I once asked an alcoholic client at a Vancouver Island addictions recovery facility at which I worked until recently as both a counsellor and director of operations. "How many more chances do you think you have?" He had just arrived, shaking, sick and despondent. He came through the door to make use of one of our two social detox beds. I looked at this man, middle-aged, sprawled out on the single bed in his room. He had just been dragged out of a bad bender, and any connection he'd had with human dignity as most of us understand it, had evaporated. [continues 468 words]
Sir, While I am not about to get into a debate about the virtues (or lack thereof) of marijuana use - it's one of those issues like abortion and capital punishment, about which people have fixed opinions, and they are unlikely to change - there are a couple of statements about cannabis in the June 26 letter by Ellen Rainwalker ('Nobody dies from marijuana') that should be addressed. While Ms. Rainwalker is quite correct when she states that nobody ever died from an overdose of marijuana per se, she tends to trivialize cannabis to the status of an innocuous substance. Such an assertion is patently untrue at a number of levels. No psychoactive drug is harmless. The fact that it might not have directly caused a death is a red herring. [continues 205 words]
Officers From Around The Province Meet Here To Discuss Programs For Schools And Community Despite the belief of those who would have it otherwise, there is no 'war on drugs' in Canada. The phrase is an American expression, and describes the philosophical dictates that guide U.S. law enforcement agencies; it has nothing to do with the approach taken north of the 49th parallel. Canadian police forces work more on the basis of being 'fore- armed' rather than armed when confronting the drug scene, and a great deal of that fore-arming lies in the area of education. [continues 1391 words]
