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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1996-02-21, Page 4A View From Queen's Par By Eric Dowd Page 4 Times -Advocate, February 21, 1996 Publisher & Editor: Jim Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy news; Heather Mir, Chris Skalkos, Ross Haugh, Brenda Burke Production; Alma Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hern, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Flynn, Al Hodgert Front Olrtce & Accounting; Elaine Pinder, Sue Rollings, Ruthanne Negri/n, Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers ' IA" °yam"0. providing news, advertising and information leadership inion EDIT( )R1 Those who benefit from the cocaine trade 0 ver the past few years, Cana- dian and U.S. government leaders and corporations have encouraged Latin American countries to enter the free trade arena. While North America preaches the economic merits and po- tential prosperity of free trade to their southern neighbours, Latin America has little or no hope of receiving any benefits from the business elite. Any chance of economic wellbeing'for the people living in the poverty stricken countries south of the U.S. border lies largely in the drug trade. In the late 1980s, cocaine represented 40 per cent of the gross national prod- uct of Bolivia. Once the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Bo- livia is the second largest producer of coca leaves and paste which are refined into the finished cocaine by Columbia and Mexico. Bolivians who once worked in the zinc and tin mines of the Andes for less than $3 a day now earn much more in the harvesting and pro- duction of coca paste. The once popu- lated mining cities and towns are being abandoned by people migrating to the semi -tropical valleys where coca is grown. Before the 1980s, people living in smaller urban centres of Latin Ameri- can countries would never have dreamed of the &hopping malls, hotels, anches, rhahsions, government build- ings and recreation centres which are now part of their landscape as a result of the drug trade. While the leaders of the drug cartels are portrayed as the true vil- lians of the of the Latin American drug trade, everyone, including the malnour- ished street vendors, has experienced the benefits of the multi-million dollar cocaine industry, and they are happy for it. Bolivia is just one of 19 Latin Ameri- can countries participating in the drug trade. Every country on the South Amer- ican continent, Central American isth- mus and Caribbean islands is a fully - established participant in the production and exportation of drugs through mon- ey-laundering, harvesting, exportation or refining. So long as there is demand for illicit drugs in North America, the profits and political strength of the Latin American drug industry will grow stronger and more unified. Drug consumption in the United States has doubled from 27 tonnes a year during the 1980s to 63 tonnes a year in the 1990s. The U.S. government may rant and rave about the Latin drug trade, but they have failed to solve the growing consumption in their own country. They might sing the prais- es of freer trade, but continue to admit their inability to deal with a stronger and deadlier form pf trade. If thelia is ply cure or prevs ion for 'the modern-day drug trade, it lies at the heart of North. American society. Fergus Elora News Express Your Views : Le:•ttersto the editor Vocational Institute 140th anniversary reunion All former students and staff are invit- ed along with family and friends to bid a fond farewell.... Dear Editor: The Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Insti- tute is holding its 140th anniversary reunion May , 17-18-19, 1996. All former students and staff are invited along with family and friends to bid a fond farewell to the school which is slated for demolition within the next year or two. Program features of this great OSCVI celebration includes an open house, Friday night decade parties, a parade, special assembly, dances for all ages, fam- ily picnic and much, much more. Pre -registration is now being accepted and forms are available with a registration fee of S6 single or SIO double. , Forms are available from the OSCVI Reunion Committee, 951 5th Avenue East, Owen Sound, On- tario, N4K 2S1. Thank you, Sandra Armstrong Publicity Committee TORONTO -- Four students have had the book thrown at them, in being charged with in- timidating the Ontario Legislature, when some of its own honorable members are far more threatening to each other. The students were among demonstrators against cuts in school funding who smashed windows to get into the legislature building, an atrocious act of vandalism for which they should be appropriately . punished But the legislature was not sitting and al- though a handfil of MPPs were in a committee room, the students'made no ttempt to go after the and probably did not know they were there, It will be difficult to make the rarely used charge of intimidation stick. Anyone looking for real intimidation need have gone no further than another kgislature committee a week or two earlier, when New. Democrat MPP and former minister Paver Kor- mos called Progressive. - ve member Peter Preston a "dumb . ' - , these • should now be a warning that this column con- tains coarse and obscene language, every word of it quoted directly from the mouths of some of our most eminent legislators.) Kormos, who is a candidate for NDP lead- er and whose main task ironically would be to soothe offended factions in his party, eventual- •ly was brought to order enough to concede: "I withdraw that he's a shit, but he's still dumb." Kormos's other claim to fame was telling insurance cotnpany officials before a conunit- tee that they "lie like rugs" and were "sleazy and slimy." At some levels of society this would be al- most an invitation to physical violence and few would shed tears for the recipient, but the 'Tory and the insurance men sensibly refrained. Tory minister without portfolio Cam Jack- son also jeered across the legislmae that Liber- al house leader JIM Bradley had been drhnldng, which was totally untrue, but if reported by news media could still harm as MPPs career. moo... Puhlications Mail Registration Number 0388 $U13,SCR1PT1l)M SATES: CANADA Within 40 'a ss (65 km.) addressed to non tante canter addressee 633.00 pw 62.31 O.S.T. Outside 40 miles (65 km.) et any totter carrier address 633.00 phis 630.00 (total 63.00) + 4.33.10.11.T. tui Na•.lie) 3 OST Waked lash Winnow y Imam OirikINOBAAllikf Teleohrue lrfN • •cram et 434 Nide Paidlealleas Litt. s 1HECBC IS FACING SERvicEcuts, LAYoFTs, MAY CEASE To FapSTAS WE KNOW IT— AND THE FEDS ARE TALKING ABOUT TMIW6 IJSMORE FOR IT,/ Drug resistant bacteria It may be surprising that in an age of advanced scientific knowledge, illnesses easily treated with antibiotics just 15 years ago are making a comeback. Diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) are on on the rise and quickly becom- ing a public health threat with some types virtually incura- ble. The "wonder drugs" of the past, due in large part to mis- use by doctors and demand from patients, are becoming useless. Antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracycline, are losing their punch and as fast as research develops new drugs, bacteria are develop- ing resistance. In addition to overuse by doctors, farmers have also contributed to the rise in mul- ti -drug resistant strains of bacteria. Antibiotics are rou- tinely added to feedstocks to help reduce the cost of sick livestock. North American has evolved into a "quick fix" so- ciety, insisting on an immedi- ate solution for everything from the common cold to cel- lulite. Prevention of bacterial re- sistance by the medical com- munity includes immuniza- tion, avoiding the use of broad spectrum antibiotics and not treating viral infec- tions with antibiotics. The last recommendation is diffi- cult for some doctors who must deal with insistent pa- tients. As patients we can also take actions against resistance by finishing a course of antibio- tics and not pressuring doc- tors to prescribe drugs when they will not be effective. Washing your hands fre- quently is prevenatative measure against bacteria that causes illness. When a doctor instructs a patient to finish the full course of a prescription, it is to prevent resistant organisms from taking over. Bacteria are continually evolving and can replicate very quickly. A mutation that creates a resis- tance to antibiotics give bac- teria a chance to survive against antibiotics. Strains of bacteria resistant to a number of drugs are continually emerging and the resistance gene can be passed on to non- resistant strains. There is only one antibiotic drug left to treat ear infec- tions and doctors are using it sparingly . Legislative slurs Jackson knew fully of this danger and had once made the same allegation about another MPP and been rebuked for it. Bradley, who normally shrugs off jibes, strode purposefully across the floor, but friend- ly MPPs and officials intercepted him and later he explained he was merely trying to find out what Jackson was talking about. But a minis- ter's ill-considered remark nearly precipitated an ugly scene. Bob Runcimaa, now solicitor general and reapoosibla tot police and maintaining law and order, pearly gnio fisticuffs with New Democrat. Gilles Elston before the June elec- tion. tion. gision called Itrntcimsn a "bigot" and Runcitnan countered Bison was a "btnse's ass" and Bison walked angrily toward Runclman, but other New 06/1101:1151 palled him away. . Rwicitnan codoed`ad be had similar thoughts and "came as close as he ever come to doing something that shouldn't occur in a legislative The words dans aolldd violence fly from the most august heights. Premier Mike Hams in opposition jeered "bullshit" at New Democratic premier Bob Rae and called eco- nomic development minister Frances Lankin a "dummy." MPPs commonly call each other Nazis, fascists, liars, slime buckets and sons of bitches. An NDP MPP in the last legislature, Gordon Mills, took it further when he told one. opponent "you should be shot" and later ex- panded it to "you should be shot, the lot of you," which could have put ideas in someone's head, although Mills explained later he did not mean it literally. No fewer than three NDP women ministers complained that some male MPPs "intimidat- ed" them by acts like mockingly blowing kisses and imitating then higher pitched voices which cannot easily be seen from sidelines. MPPs make almost a way of life of threatening each other and a' judge may wonder if breaking a window, is moorr!� intimidating than calling an- other MPPa piede"bf excrement.