BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR DRUG DEALERS

It was business as usual for the drug traffic on the streets of Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside Thursday, just hours after city police completed one of
the biggest anti-drug crackdowns in years.

Police arrested and charged five more persons with trafficking in the second
day of the crackdown on street-level dealers. This followed charges being
laid Wednesday against 41 of 73 dealers being sought by the police.

But the operation seemed to have little affect on the daily routine of
buying and selling crack cocaine on the street.

"Rock? Want some rock [crack cocaine]?," a reporter was asked at the corner
of Hastings and Carrall while on a lunchtime stroll.

Other dealers openly drummed up business at the corner of Main and Hastings,
while prostitutes openly smoked crack cocaine and attempted to lure sex
customers.

Vancouver police Constable Anne Drennan said the department realized the
crackdown would have only a short-term effect on the illegal and open drug
trade, but said something had to be done.

She said the police received many calls from citizens Thursday thanking them
for cracking down on the street dealers who threatened the safety of local
residents and commuters.

Drennan said the callers told police Thursday was "the first time in years
and years they actually felt safe in the Downtown Eastside."

While some dealers seemed oblivious to the police action, others slipped
more discreetly than usual into rooming houses, stores and back alleys to
conduct their business.

In the Vancouver provincial courthouse, some of the first dealers charged in
the crackdown, known as Operation Scoop, made their first appearances.

Five of six accused dealers were denied release until their next court
appearance and one was released.

In the one exception, provincial court Judge Kerry Smith refused to make
Mexican national Aldulfo Pino-Palacio's release conditional on not being
found in areas of New Westminster and Burnaby popular with drug traffickers.

Smith, however, did bar Pino-Palacio from the Downtown Eastside.

While the drug trafficking resumed, dealers, addicts and residents said the
police action would make little difference in the long term.

"It's economics," explained Shari, 31, a heroin-addicted prostitute. "It's
supply and demand. You get rid of one [dealer] and there are going to be
others."

One dealer, of European ancestry, congratulated the police for removing so
many of his Latino competitors, but said it will not affect the amount of
dealing.

"They are wasting their time; They are wasting taxpayers' money," said the
man, who claimed he has sold drugs ever since he turned 16 many years ago.

He suggested the Latino dealers were more violent than the locals.

"They should tighten up the immigration laws," said the dealer, who
complained that Latinos send all their profits out of the country instead of
spending locally.

Mike, a 25-year-old crack cocaine smoker and full-time panhandler, said he
could understand the need to reduce the visibility of the problem so close
to tourist areas. But he suggested the police could be creating an even more
dangerous environment.

"They are going to drive it underground, which means more people are going
to be hurt by it."

By driving the trade further into the eastside's darkened alley ways the
scene will be set for more robberies and muggings, Mike feared.

There was some support for the crackdown among the street people.

A local artist and musician, who calls himself Count Klaw, said the police
had to act because the street scene was becoming too violent.

"I am not against drugs or anything, but I think people are starting to turn
into total animals. You would have to be Stevie Wonder not to see what is
going on," he said.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst