DRUG PLAN CREATES HOPE FOR SOLUTIONS

City's Sweeping Downtown Eastside Strategy Draws Mixed Reviews

Vancouver's proposal for a sweeping new strategy to deal with the drug
crisis on its streets was panned and praised Tuesday by stakeholders across
the political and social spectrum.

But all those involved said the strategy gave them some hope the city is
trying to find a solution to the epidemic of drug deaths and drug-related
disease that is festering in the Downtown Eastside and elsewhere in the
Lower Mainland.

``We're really glad the mayor has followed through with a strategy,'' said
Marg Green, who represents a group of residents and local businesses in the
Downtown Eastside and Strathcona called Community Directions.

``Most people feel the time has come to do things another way.''

Another coalition group in the area, the Community Alliance, takes a
different view about the solutions. Alliance members have been pushing hard
for the city simply to send police to Main and Hastings and start
``enforcing the law.''

But they also gave cautious approval to the plan.

``It has some good points. It's the first recognition I've seen of the
impact this problem has on the neighbourhood,'' said Bryce Rositch, a
Gastown architect who is co-chair of the coalition.

Under the plan announced Tuesday, the city would pursue a so-called
four-pillar approach that would put equal emphasis on treatment, harm
reduction, law enforcement and prevention.

Safe-injection sites, drug courts, street-drug testing, more treatment --
mandatory in some cases, and clinical trials in which longtime addicts
would be given heroin were among the strategies the policy recommended.

Green said people in her group want to see two kinds of harm reduction:
harm reduction for drug users but also harm reduction for people in the
community who feel the drug scene and its ripple effects are devastating
the the places they live. Her group's members support the idea of
safe-injection sites, for example, because they believe that approach will
help clean up the street scene without simply spreading drug dealers to
nearby neighbourhoods, the way an enforcement-only approach would.

A representative of Vancouver's coalition of drug users echoed Green's
remarks. Ann Livingston said she wishes the city would show some real
leadership and simply open up safe-injection sites now, instead of just
recommending they be considered.

But, she said, ``It's really heartening to see that some services that are
rightly needed here, like safe-injection sites and heroin maintenance, are
part of this report.''

Even politicians on the other side of the fence supported the plan, which
Mayor Philip Owen threw himself into developing a couple of years ago.

Both Coalition of Progressive Electors councillors, Tim Louis and Fred
Bass, endorsed the plan.

``I think Mayor Owen has carried the ball much farther than any other
mayor,'' said Bass.

Louis also said he thought it was a good plan, although he was critical of
other councillors who held it up for more than a month while they
``micro-managed'' it. He said the extensive massaging had him worried the
plan was going to be watered down from what was originally presented by the
city's drug policy coordinator, Don MacPherson. But, he said, in the end,
everything stayed, even the most controversial items.

The only item he was critical of was the recommendation for mandatory
treatment.

``It's a very naive approach. It's catchy to propose and superficially it
sounds great. But addiction is not just chemical. It's also psychological
and environmental.'' So just sending someone off to dry out without dealing
with their housing, job-skills, and emotional problems probably won't work,
he said.

Provincial cabinet minister Jenny Kwan, the MLA who represents that
neighbourhood and who is responsible for the provincial part of a
three-government strategy to clean up the Downtown Eastside, also
complimented the city on its comprehensive plan.

``I'm glad to see the city's sense of urgency,'' Kwan said. ``I hope this
signals their intent to act and I hope they're not just directing
everything to the federal and provincial government.''

She pointed out that there is much Vancouver could do to get things going
immediately, like speeding up approval for the controversial drug-users;
resource centre on Powell, funded by $1 million in federal money for the
building and operating money from the Vancouver/Richmond health board. The
project stalled after community opposition erupted in the summer.

The same has happened to another resource centre called Sheway, she said, a
facility meant to provide drug and alcohol counselling for pregnant women
and women with children.

``They need to deliver on their end. The question now is, do we have the
courage to act?''

Other groups that work with drug users also praised the plan.

``This is very exciting. I really commend the city for taking this on,''
said Maxine Davis, executive director of the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, a
service that deals with many people who got AIDS through injection drug use.

Mark Townsend, co-director of a group that operates five hotels in the
Downtown Eastside for the hard-to-house, said the city's strategy sends an
important signal.

``At least someone's written something down and thrown up the flag.''

The proposal was formally approved by all councillors Tuesday. The city
plans to hear reactions from the public to its proposal for the next two months.