Fe EEN ws NS

be a a
x
/ oe ae y ra
AO Tee

‘

6 - Sunday, September 20, 1998 — North Shore News

ERE on the North Shore we

like to think of ourselves as a

Kind and compassionate
community.

And in most regards that senti-

ment is well-founded: our volunteer
force is strong and active; fundraising
events are well-attended; and our
facilities tor the young and the old are
among the best in the Lower
Mainland. Even our pets get first rate
treatment.
__ However there is one segment of
society in North and West Vancouver
that. is thoroughly: neglected: drug
abusers rehabilitation. :

Over - 160,000 people call the
North SSore home, yet there are only
eight beds available for those hoping
to kick their. debilitating habit. And
thie: average wait for one of those pre-

ous s beds is cight months.

north shore news

VIEWPOINT

Aid the addled

It is a most disturbing and embar-
rassing situation.

Some will argue that there should-
n’t be any taxpayer-funded help for
people who don’t have the will power
to conquer their addictions. Their
problem, not mine.

The sensible and sensitive, howev-
er, realize that a member of our com-
munity addled by drugs who seeks
help should be able to receive it.

That sentimer:t was endorsed [ast
week by North Vancouver City coun-
cil as it unanimously supported a
Lower Mainland Regional Drug
Strategy, a concept designed to devel-
op and implement 2 Lower Mainland-
wide drug abuse program.

_By working together, Lower
Mainland municipalities can do a bet-
ter job of combatting this oft-over-
locked problem.

aAdM |

: HAS TO WITNESS

THIS TAWPEY

BEHAV fOR.. oe

on the communal value of: attending
. (Fram ‘a Sept. 18 News This Week

air on his dispute with West Vancouver coun-
playhouse boat in his back yard.

Yesponding lic quéstion “Do you think

impeached?” (From a Sept. 18:

3 ‘her mother were hit by a car
1 the marked crosswalk at Marine and

Werth Shove New, founded in 1360 35 ar;
independent suburban newspaper end qualified
under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 c@ the
Exciae Tax Act, is published anch Wxinesday,
Friday anc S irday by Nort Shore Freo Press
pehphemhaynsh-bttr heehee

905-2131 (127)
{61,582 (average carcutalion, Wednestiay, Friday & Sundzy)

TLESOPECUSSETINTTTITTT EL Soret

FOR the first time the tobacco
industry is pleading for mercy
here in B.C. But it doesn’t mean
Victoria’s \ vigorous war against
the weed is yet over.

You've doubtless read
about the hostilities to
date in the industry’s
recent full-page newspa-
per ads.

For years provincial
cnd federal taxes have.
made cigarettes in B.C.

“the most ‘expensive in the -

country =~ today almost
$50 per carton of 200.”
($36 of it in taxes) com-

d, for example, to
just over $28 (less than $17 of it in taxes)
in Ontario. Tobacco advertising has also
been banned since 1990.

It means a pack-a-day B.C. puffer
carning $40,000 a year is sending up in
smoke some 6% or more of his or her
take-home pay:

And aside from their own fume-ridden

‘homes; consumers also have fewer and

fewer places left where they can even

‘legally indulge their habit. All of which

has already heiped rougidy four out of five
British Columbians to quit smoking com-

pletely.

In tobacco taxes alone Victoria
presently takes in $483 million a year.
Now, in addition, there’s to be a new
licensing fee costing manufacturers $26
million a year, a ban on their recouping
this cost by jacking up prices and a law
requiring them to reveal by Nov.1 this
year the exact composition of tobacco
smokc. Finally, as if this were not enough -

Meera ties

snthmens the B.C. government i is
reportedly preparing a precedeni setting
lawsuit against the industry, claiming $1.3
billion in health-related costs.
So last week Imperial Tobacco (one of
ada’s three major
manufacturers) flew: its
top brass into
Vancouver to picad for
@ cease-fire. In sessions

_ with newspaper editori-
al boards and Busines

“joint action,”
; persuading teen:
smoke, claimed
anti-tobacco campaign would furthe

B.C.’s economic climate and charged that’

the new licensing fee amounted to illegal
“expropriation of profits.”
Despite the dramatic overall decline in

smoking over the past 10-15 years, nearly.

onc in three 15- to 19-year-olds still puff
and their percentage is not declining. FAS
well, the B.C, government and alt others
are in a classic Catch-22 siniation in bat-
tling tobacco addiction with i its huge
health costs.

not simply ban a product sold
with Mii bis warning that it has an even
chance of killing you? ‘ ‘Fhe reason, of -
course, is thar it hasn’t, worked with -
booze or drugs — the effort costing
ety untold millions in crime, broken li
and policing that never comes close to
halting the illegal trade.

Also, how could cash- strapped Victoria

ever give up over half.a billion dottars i in
_ taxes and fees? :

Eni cones © 1987 Noth Shoe Foe Pres Ui. at

Artack’  conpaign

has done won acne ‘

ving. All signs suggest
rate will continue to steadil

urge to do so.
M while,

; 965-2 H (14)
«Antawn McCredie -

985-2131 (147) -