The War to Help Drug Lords

It has long been my position that Canada should not be sending troops into harm's way to support a drug culture in Afghanistan.

This morning's NY Times editorial agrees calling the country a "narco-state."

America

You might think that race is no longer an issue in America.

You'd be wrong.

Check out this cautionary tale about the upcoming Democratic convention in Denver.

Scary.

Solzhenitsyn, Literary Giant Who Defied Soviets, Dies at 89

Read the NY Times bio of the Nobel winner who gave us, among many other things, the "Gulag" as an encompassing single word denouncement of very bad government.

A Mother Answers The Monumental Premier

I am a single parent, of an 11 1/2 year old son with special needs, who publicly admits to being on disability through welfare. I am shocked that this government is planning on spending money on a "capital" cost for a building for services that it does not fund. And which part of the budget is this money going to come from? Whose lives do they plan to decimate by that re-allocation?

Certainly the autism community doesn't believe others should be damaged in its' name, do they? Because it is certain that people will be damaged when money is taken from subsistence housing and welfare budgets which have been drastically cut. Of course, poor people don't really count or know much; because they have to be stupid or they wouldn't be poor, right? So the government and it's friends don't have to care.

But in case there are people who care; understand, for example, there is absolutely no respite funding for parents, child with special needs or not, who don't have enough money. The NDP eradicated in-home respite for parents. The only option is foster care, which is more costly than in-home respite.

As for supports for children with special needs: my son's diagnosis from Sunny Hill is "Complex Neurodevelopmental Disorder", an umbrella term that includes disorders like autism and FAS, which he does not have. But it doesn't matter that he has disorders in all the same areas as someone diagnosed with Autism, he doesn't have the right label, so we are not eligible for funding for the supports, respite or therapy.

I applied to the Community Living program and the At-Home Program and was refused because my son is not on the autism spectrum and his IQ is over 70. To top it off, without a referral from Community Living we are not eligible for supports from non-profit and other charitable associations I have applied to.

I had a splenectomy last September and at the same time the doctors were telling me to rest I could get no in-home child-care whatsoever. I am a single parent and was worried I might have cancer. If not for relatives who do not live in Vancouver offering to take my son for the first week, he would have had to go into foster care, which I could not allow to happen and which would have traumatized him.

I am on disability because of health reasons which have been made worse by effects from my son's disabilities, poverty, the welfare system and the continual awareness and affects of people's ignorance about all of it. If I could work full-time I most certainly would, rather than be continually humiliated.

Yet I do work full time. Like all parents who have children with special needs, especially those who are not rich and cannot afford to pay for what they need; I have to spend my "working time" as my son's administrative assistant and therapist, as well as advocating for him and making sure he is getting everything he needs in the school system. Plus, I have to try to be continually aware of the damage the government is doing and adding my small voice to advocating for services. Sometimes I imagine all I had to do was take care of my son special needs because the resources he needs would all be there.

But they are not; this government has no plans for that. The BC government, including the NDP when it was in power, is not providing practical, community supports that children with special needs and their families must have. In fact, they keep destroying them.

So, if individuals want to fund and build this new centre, please, do so, and give it your name. (By the way, how do you expect parents who don't have personal transportation to get out there?) Just realize, that in no way, by it's own admission and practice, does the Liberal government have any extra funding for this new centre; don't expect the government to fund something just because Gordon Campbell's friends want it and the university wants the ego boost; when there is no care for all citizens no matter what their income bracket.

But silly ethical issues like that have never stopped this government before. Like most of the rest of the world, these people will only listen to and respect those in a certain income bracket who know absolutely nothing about the lives of the people whose lives they are making decisions about, and destroying in the process.

Martin Luther King

Carol King

Gipsy Kings

Important addition about Autism

You are bang-on about the premier's wrong headedness regarding autism and the "centre" and cutting deals with "power couples" I am the parent of a child with autism as well as an advocate who has fought to have science-based autism treatment covered by healthcare for over a decade.

I was a litigant in the landmark Auton case which Gordon Campbell's govt. appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada where they unanimously overturned two BC Supreme Court's judgements obligating govt. to provide treatment. Campbell promised me and my colleague, Sabrina Freeman on Aug. 11, 2000 that if the Liberals formed the govt. in the next provincial election, they would drop the appeal and do what the BC Supreme Court ordered. He lied - exactly the opposite happened....and countless more lives are enduring unnecessary suffering because of it.

The last thing we need is another building, essentially run by well-intentioned parents who frankly have enough money to insulate them from the day to day realities of autism. The BC Supreme Court and the BC Court of Appeal were very clear on what the solution should be. It was ignored and so still today, the biggest crisis in BC and the rest of Canada is universal access to the only uniquely effective autism treatment which is ABA/IBI

David Marley has been helping our group for the last 2 years. He designed a very useful political strategy which we introduced in the last federal election in BC. We intend to employ it again in the next federal election in BC, Ontario and the Maritimes.

Have a look at our blog: www.medicareforautismnow.blogspot.com

I would be happy to provide you with more info. on the politics of autism if you are interested.

Thank you for your interest.

Jean Lewis,

Director - FEAT of BC (Families for Early Autism Treatment of BC) and "Medicare for Autism Now!"

Chutzpah Defined

The man who most of us still believe is responsible for the murder of 331 people is at it again.

Ripudaman Sing Malik, acquitted of all charges in the Air India case, is suing the BC government for malicious prosecution.

He is suing the government that loaned him $6.8 Million of public tax money for his defense.

He has yet to repay.

He claims he has no money, although disclosure of his holdings shows otherwise.

We are Not Alone

Loathe as I am to admit that any other sovereign and allegedly democratic state could screw up its criminal justice system more than we have here in Canada, I think we must give today's blue ribbon to Spain.

A man sentenced to 3000 years - yes, that is not a typo - 3000 years for killing at least 25 people, has been released after serving 20 years.

The man, by the way, has the marvelous monicker of Jose Ignacio De Juana Chaos.

Senor Chaos blew people up with bombs.

This was not his nom de guerre.

But was it his fate?

Dion Exposed

Fazil Mihlar has written an excellent and fascinating editorial today in the Sun.

Here's the headline:

Dion's carbon tax a good way to split the country

Taking money from Alberta and Saskatchewan for Ontario and Quebec spells trouble

Mihlar makes a solid case for NOT voting for the federal liberals, and for seeing the carbon tax for what it is - a power and money ploy for votes.

More on Autism

Yesterday, I wrote in this space about our Monumental Premier and his completely out-of-synch idea for dealing with autism.

A letter to the editor in today's Sun adds an element I'd had forgotten to include.

The letter writer correctly asks why the Premier is involved with a wealthy couple and their plans to build a biug building? Why isn't the Minister responsible working on the file in some orederly and transparent way?

The answers to these excellent questions are these.

1. That's how Gordon Campbell does business. He isn't interested in process and clarity. He is interested in fast-tracked deals with people he knows. He is drawn to power and money the way Mulroney was drawn to America.

2. The Minister, Tim Christensen, is utterly irresponsible, downright dangerous in his ineptitude considering the importance of his duties - Children & Families - and easily one of the worst ministers in the history of BC government. He is on a short string attached to the premier and his powers are thankfully limited.

Today's Province Column

Friday » August 1 » 2008

Want to be mayor? Take my advice and stick to these three key issues

David Berner The Province

Friday, August 01, 2008

Here's my advice to Peter Ladner and Gregor Robertson. You want to be mayor of Vancouver? Pick three big issues and stick to them.

Drugs:

Jump on the treatment bandwagon now. Ordinary citizens are crying out for treatment facilities for their sons and daughters. Most are bone tired of the free needles, free shooting galleries and free drugs that have resulted in no improvement whatsoever in the urban human landscape.

The Harper government is poised to support real treatment options. And if you want to be mayor, vow to work with the man who holds the purse.

Presenting yourself as a warrior who is not afraid to stand up to senior governments will not be a winning strategy when it comes to addictions. People are looking for action, and action comes at a price. The price is working with senior governments.

And don't be politically correct. There is no need to be hostile in your campaigns about harm-reduction policies. But there is no profit in singing their praises either.

Stay on message -- treatment, more treatment.

Transit:

My sweetheart waits 10 to 25 minutes every day for buses in the Vancouver area. This is unacceptable.

On a recent visit to Edinburgh, I never waited longer than two minutes night or day for a bus.

In Dublin, the beautiful new LRT shows the next trains arriving at two, six and eight minutes on an electronic display. In one year of operation, the system has paid for itself.

Do not support one more cut-and-cover SkyTrain fiasco. Do not support anything but an LRT to the University of B.C. Do not support anything that will cost mom-and-pop businesses their life's work -- as the Canada Line has so cruelly and efficiently done.

The new mayor of Vancouver must be highly vocal on both the Metro Vancouver board and the mayors' council on transportation.

He should call for safety and security for riders and drivers on all public-transportation systems and create policies that support those goals.

Taxes:

We have reached our limit. Homeowners and businesses can pay no more.

Enhance the real services. But, wherever possible, remove the redundancies that bloat the city budget.

We need police and libraries, especially libraries that are open. And we need streets and roads in good repair.

But how many departments with how many employees do we need in social planning, cultural services and public health?

I'm not suggesting these areas are of no concern. But I urge every reader and every mayoral candidate to spend an hour on the Vancouver city hall website. Ask yourself if this or that particular expenditure is essential to our well-being or even vaguely helpful.

Want to be mayor? Take my advice.

david@davidberner.com

[That is NOT my home...it is s B&B in Sooke.]

Wrap it Up

The Monumental Premier has done it again.

Not satisfied with convention centres, Olympics, bridges and other concrete memorials to Self, Gordon Campbell is now saving us from Autism.

Run for the hills, kids.

Rather than spending money on real help in the form of services and programs and people, Campbell has gotten himself in a lather about spending $20 Million on a building.

Concrete Gord.

He just doesn't get it, does he, poor sap?

His friends own a big hotel and they have an autistic son. They'd like to do something and they have the wherewithal to do it. Fair enough. Admirable.

But somebody get ahold of these good folks and explain to them what is needed and what works and what doesn't.

The academics are already slavering at the bit about the possibility of funding a "new chair" in autism studies. Whoopee. And attracting a "world-class" (BARF!) candidate to fill the famous Seat on the Hill.

But we have countless Chairs of addictions and crime and all other manner of social ills at great public costs all writing research papers and conferencing and interfacing and convening their little tushes off while the suffering down here on earth continue to suffer.

There are those who think in the box.

And then there is the Premier of British Columbia, who sees only BIG BIG boxes made of cement.

Policing Themselves - Cute

Bravo to the BC Civil Liberties Association and Pivot Legal Society for their public condemnation of the solipsistic and unproductive process involving police complaints.

The police may not be happy with citizens examining their behaviour, but that is exactly what must happen in a democracy.

As long as the police continue to investigate and study themselves, we are living in a shadow police state.

All that need happen to remedy this current injustice is an act of the Provincial Legislature.

Where is Premier Campbell on this one? We know where Wally Opaque is - nowhere.

The Future of Decapitation

They've arrested Mr. Greyhound Headchopper and he will be incarcerated one way or another - whether prison or a psychiatric facility.

The day that we all await 5 years from now is the day he is released with the footnote from the academics on the National Parole Board or the local Psychiatric Review Board:

"His management team feels strongly that he presents no undue risk to himself or the community as long as he continues to take his medicine."

Wes Montgomery

Excellent Piece on How Other Countries are Working with Drugs

It's our last chance to get tough on drugs

By Neil McKeganey

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/07/2008

Have your say Read comments

We used to count the number of addicts in the hundreds; we now count them in the hundreds of thousands. The UK Drug Policy Commission's report published yesterday - Tackling Drug Markets and Distribution Networks - contains an alarming body blow of further statistics.

Britain has a problem which is now thought to be worth in excess of £5.3 billion a year, and which the Government is spending about £1.5 billion a year trying to tackle.

As much as 60 per cent of crime may be connected to the illegal drugs trade; and the sex trade in our cities, and increasingly in our rural areas, has the women's dependency on illegal drugs at its heart.

advertisement

There are thought to be in excess of 300,000 children growing up in homes where one or both of their parents are dependent upon illegal drugs. For these children drug abuse is a fact of their everyday life.

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime has suggested that countries get the drug problem they deserve. But if that is the case, what, one might ask, has Britain done to deserve a drug problem that is virtually without equal in Europe?

The easy - and misleading - answer is to say that poverty and social exclusion are causing the problem. The trouble with that response, though, is that it divests the individual from taking any responsibility for their abuse.

Yes, drug taking proliferates in areas of social breakdown but it also causes social breakdown. Abuse has also now spread across all social classes, and among the rich and the famous.

The "poverty causes drug abuse" mantra is simply too easy an explanation. For too long we have couched our nation's drug habit within a moral vacuum in which the decision to use or not use illegal drugs is seen to be a matter for the individual.

Some commentators seem to be frightened of expressing a moral view in relation to illegal drugs, for fear of being castigated as a spokesman for the extreme Right. But moral judgments are not the preserve of the Right-wing and moral agnosticism is not the preserve of the political Left.

Moral judgments express our view of how we want to live and how we want to be treated. Instead of seeing illegal drug use as a human right, we need to see it for the hugely negative social cancer that it represents.

For the past 15 years, government has pursued a drug policy that has been more about reducing the harms associated with illegal drug use than about reducing the scale of the problem itself.

That is where we are going wrong. Yes, policy must focus on treatments that enable addicts to become drug free, but also on hard-hitting prevention with robust enforcement.

Policing the problem means tackling street-level drug dealing directly. It must also mean tougher action against those who profit from the trade. We need to ensure that our police are protecting our communities. This will not be done through intermittent, high-profile campaigns, but sustained action.

The UK drug problem is barely 40 years old. In that time, it has spread to take in somewhere in the region of 1 per cent of the population. And that's only directly. Indirectly, it is responsible for over half of the nation's crime and thereby reaches towards us all.

The horrors associated with even a 2 per cent growth in our problem would simply be beyond the capacity of any of the current systems to cope and the drugs trade would truly have won.

If we don't tackle drug abuse right now, we will look back in 10 years' time and regret that we missed our last chance.

Neil McKeganey is Professor of Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow

Quote of the Century

Kevin Falcon:

"No need to worry about a slide during the Olympics."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Now is has been revealed.

The moment BC Cabinet ministers are sworn into office, they are given extraordinary powers, such as communicating directly with Mother Nature, channeling The Forces, and God's cell number.

We rest humbled and reassured.

Slip Sliding Away