PUBLIC INJECTION PROBLEM CURBED BY ANNOUNCEMENT OF POLICE ACTION

VANCOUVER - Four days into a police crackdown on flagrant public drug
use in the Downtown Eastside, police said Thursday they haven't
arrested a single person. Insp. Doug Rolls said the mere announcement
of the crackdown Monday appears to have been enough to address the problem.

"There has been a dramatic reduction in people doing open-air
injections," said Rolls.

Police said they decided to launch the project after receiving
complaints from residents and business owners of people shooting up
across the street from Insite, the supervised injection site, and of
discarded needles in parks and playgrounds.

"It's just not acceptable to be injecting in the open air," said Rolls.

Vancouver Coastal Health estimates it recovers 18,000 discarded
needles a month in the Downtown Eastside, many within a four-block
radius of Insite. While flagrant drug use is down, Rolls said Insite
has not reported any corresponding increase in the number of people
using its services.