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By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Return to Four Pillars a hopeful sign in battle against addictions

May 3, 2023 | 5:03 AM

THE FOUR PILLARS are back.

Once the centre of a strategy to tackle the drug crisis, the approach has seldom been mentioned in recent years as the emphasis was put on only one of its pillars — harm reduction.

The other legs in the chair — as the current saying goes — were broken: prevention, enforcement and treatment.

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson used his authority under the Community Charter to call for reconsideration of council’s recent bylaw decision to ban using illicit drugs in public places, and Coun. Bill Sarai picked up the Four Pillars ball from there.

At the end of the kind of long discussion for which this council has become known, it approved adjustments to the bylaw approach, adding a 100-metre no-go zone around parks and playgrounds and adding sidewalks into the mix.

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But it was the Four Pillars that came in for the most attention. Sarai said the bylaw changes still didn’t address the other three parts of the equation and urged council to go beyond band-aids.

He was following up on an op-ed published last week by ASK Wellness executive director Bob Hughes, who described the Four Pillars as the backbone for tackling addictions and called for equal consideration by governments for each pillar.

Sarai succeeded with an amendment directing administration to work with Interior health, the provincial government and “relevant partners” on an approach that supports equal funding for all four pillars.

There was a healthy dose of grandstanding and some discussion about wanting to keep control of the agenda but, in the end, the wisdom of extending action beyond a bylaw that will have little effect was acknowledged by almost all of council.

Sarai and those who agreed with him are right: the battle can’t be won on a solitary pillar. It was very probably the most constructive discussion the council has had so far on the issue of addictions and social disorder.

It might actually lead to something.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.