HOOKERS WORKING FOR VANCOUVER

Only on Canada's Left Coast would you see this: A Vancouver councillor
wants the city to set up a non-profit brothel run by city hall. And, Tim
Louis claims such a brothel will help get drug-addicted hookers off the
streets.

Pardon? This is the same city that has a haven for needle jockey drug
addicts, where intravenous drug users can come in and shoot up without fear
of arrest. Crack addicts in the city are still lobbying to have an
inhalation room at the facility.

And now at least one councillor wants Vancouver to run a brothel, where
prostitutes peddle their bodies for money, only at this flop house, the
pimp -- the City of Vancouver -- won't make a profit.

Perhaps Louis wants to wear a felt fedora and fur coat, or drive a retro
luxury sedan with shag carpeting on the dashboard. But he says he thinks
the city, through educating the prostitutes, can help get them off drugs
and even out of the business.

Tossing pamphlets at his target employees -- drug addicts who sell their
bodies to get money to pay for their next fix -- doesn't sound like a
venture with much potential. It is downright misguided.

Help get these women off the streets; don't open up a franchise to keep
them in this illicit business.

Many of us who don't live in the laid-back lands of British Columbia, also
home to relaxed policing in regards to personal marijuana use, can't help
but wonder how helping someone break the law will ultimately help them
break their cycle of dependence.