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Olsplay & Real Estate Fax . Hewsrosm Fex Chascified, Accounting - a Maia Oita Fax North Shore Hews, foundel in 1969 as ax independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday snd Sunday by North Shore Fee Press Ltd, and distrebuted to every door on the Nurth Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Safes Product Agreement No, 087238, Mailing rotes available on request.

» , - Entire contents “© 1996 Noith Shore Free Press Ltd.” ___, All sights reserved.

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New prescription

HE PRUG culture knows no demo-

_ graphic bounds. Alarming news from

. the health front this week shows the

quick-fix. school of ‘succor is firmly

entrenched within the world of our senior cit- izens. |

Anewly released North Shore Health study

_ indicates that North Shore doctors are over-

: prescribing sleeping pills and tranquilizers to

’ seniors, especially women.

On onz levei we shouldn’t be too surprised. We are tiving in an age of magic bullets. Physical’ and psychological ailment is drugged into submission if at all possible. So- called recreational drugs and intoxicants con- dition us to a ready feel-good state and are available at will,

‘ The common denominator is the need to fill a void, the urge to find a fast answer for a lack of inner buoyancy and well-being.

Enjoy this year

POSITIVE, UPLIFTING thoughts for 1996 are the stuff the media should be dishing out to us right now. What on earth has hap- pened?

Instead, their current New Year's messages read more like suicide notes: we are, it seems, a total mess, with no cure in sight.

Canada’s national magazine

started it even before Christmas with

a survey that found we were more deeply pessimistic about the survival of the nation, the economic outlook and lifestyle values (including even sex) than at any time in recorded

Wright ,

The seniors’ drug of. choice appears to be addictive sedatives —~ sleeping pills or tran- quilizers. It’s only natural for doctors to pia- cate clients with drugs. It’s a matter of effi- ciency.. {.

But the senior who took on a prescription to survive a personal crisis may find a new crisis in an addiction to a substance that was meant to provide a short-term selution.

The way to equilibrium is not so easily

realized. The path involves the engaged, shar-

ing and giving support of others. The North Shore health crisis amongst seniors is an opportunity for the country. We are an aging

‘population. The North Shore has a large pop-

ulation of seniors. The way the North Shore deals with the problem may well provide a model for the rest of Canada.

The North Shore Health report is a wake- up call for all of us.

i ot | / i t

Sivuilar gloom and doom abound throughout the media: the widening gap between rich and poor; creeping unemployment; erosion of family values; youth violence; a new depression era looming; you name it!

With all this hanging over us, how can we ever hope to get through the next eleven and a half months? The only help Maclean’s eventually offers is exercise, a healthy diet and something described as “moving beyond the fear to develop meaning in life.” Whatever that means. .

Janet Luhrs of Seattle, publisher of Simple Living: The Journal of

| hither and yon

r warts.

polling history.

Last week Maclean's followed up its Yuletide cheer with a cover spread on “COPING WITH STRESS" in the lean‘mean '90s. The pace and pressures of contem- porary life are threatening our careers, families and health, it warned. With too much to do and too much expected of us relative to

- the time and energy we have avail-

able, many of us —— especially working moms —~ are going

* bananas.

Anxiety adds to the work toll, with such questions as: Could I lose my job fike thousands of other vic- tims of * “restructuring”? How can we own a home on an income of under $75,000? With wives bummed out slaving 16 hours a day at jobs plus housework, what happens to marriages? Will U.S.-style health care replace medicare and bankrupt us? Will there still be UI and wel- fare — or pensions for us any

’ longer at 60-65? Could we wind up destitute, sleeping under a bridge?

Voluntary Simplicity, prescribes scaling down ycur life, wants and belongings as the only way to escape the rat race stress.

Pay off all debts. Keep only one credit card, settled monthly. Normally pay cash. Drive a used car. Relearn simple pleasures — from walks and picnics to board

games and reading: Tum off the TV, -

For at least 10 minutes daily medi- tate in silence. And get rid of clutter. Put all the things you think you

could never live without in a box

EE PRESLEY eS ALF EIA RAN SEE OGG DETAILER NE es FT OT IIE OORT,

Get rid of a few politicos

Dear Editor:

T read with interest your News Viewpoint, “Expensive Mess” (Dec. 29, 1995) and f agree with your thoughts. Why does North Vancouver Districe . Council employ high-quality — personnel like Mel Palmer if. the councillors do not have the * intelligence to understand. what he tells them’? Wouldn’t you think even an. almost “brain-dead” councillor would : understand there would be some very large consequences. : to council's decision regarding: the Mountain Forest lands?! ~

The ‘looming: feeding fren--- zy for bureaucrats and lawyers - is just the beginning. Wait and - see what happens in a few © more years when district coun-~' cil tries to balance its budget without the benefit of nearly : 1,100 acres of tax-paying land. Parks are great, but they don’t’ contribute. a. dime ; toward ;: “municipal expenses! io

pal councils (fotir:i ‘sider the GVRD), which have shown.

down to just one council: for the whole North: Shore; I'm

municipal politician has to huge | improvement.

T.A. Kargl

North Vancouver

include your name, {Pe es telephone number. Sub: be faxed t0.985-2104.

- and seal it. If sti unopeni

year, dump it, urges Jan

Meanwhile, this column has news about the gloomsters them- - selves. Remember all the : things these same media pundits”: promised us on past New Years? :- And what became of those hopes long before the year-end? Well, it: will be just the same this time <— only i in reverse,

Mark Twain put it ‘best. He said: he'd faced many calamities in hi life, but luckily few of thein ever happened. So enjoy 1996, warts and all. In total it will be no worse better than any other New Year.

Did lever lie to you?

HONG KONG BANK. chief econ: omist David Bond forecasts 1996 at. the West Van Chamber of. °° Commerce breakfast,.7 for 7 30°. a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16, in Hollybum Country Club — reservations (926- 6614) close 2 p.m. Friday:... And? happy birthday Saturday, Jan. 13, to.

West Van Kiwanian Jack’ Wilks. - : WRIGHT OR WRONG: Despite. the cost of Hivings it's still very POp-