MAYOR SAM EXPLAINS $50 MILLION CLAIM

Sullivan Says Plan Disables Drug-Dealing

Drug dealers will lose profits of $50 million a year once Mayor Sam
Sullivan's drug treatment plan to treat 1,800 addicts is
implemented.

That's the prediction Sullivan made at his State of the City address
Jan. 24 regarding his proposed Chronic Addiction Substitution
Treatment program.

Wondering how he arrived at $50 million? Simple, says the
mayor.

Take 500 heroin addicts, who inject heroin four times a day at $9 a
dose. That equals $18,000 a day. Then take 1,300 drug addicts who
abuse cocaine or crystal methamphetamine 10 times a day at $9 a dose.
That equals $117,000 per day.

The total comes to $135,000 per day, or about $49 million per year.
"We passed this around to different people in the policy area, and
people have not had any major difficulty with the numbers," Sullivan
told the Courier. "In fact, the most common comment is that they're
fairly conservative."

The mayor's drug treatment program involves five research trials that
target 1,800 drug addicts. The plan is to have medical doctors
prescribe legal drugs as substitutes to heroin, cocaine and other
illegal drugs. This approach will not only reduce drug dealers'
profits, but put a dent in property crime, street prostitution and
homelessness, Sullivan says.

The mayor was not clear on whether all the proposals were before
Health Canada, the federal government body that will decide whether
the trials get the green light.

"As to whether they're all fully completed and in, I haven't got the
recent update on that," he said, noting he didn't know when Health
Canada will make a decision. "It's very hard for me to say. I don't
control any of that."

But the mayor said the program must be adopted soon, particularly
before the 2010 Winter Olympics. 2010 is the year the mayor has marked
to see homelessness, the open drug market and aggressive panhandling
reduced by 50 per cent. Those goals are enshrined in his Project Civil
City, which is being administered by civil city commissioner Geoff
Plant, the former attorney general of B.C. "We really want to be able
to show some very positive, innovative, progressive outcomes by the
time the world arrives," he said. "We want to be able to show that
Vancouver is leading the world in innovative research in drug addiction."

Later this month, Sullivan will meet with provincial Health Minister
George Abbott to discuss what to do with $10 million the mayor said
federal Health Minister Tony Clement promised to fight drug addiction
in Vancouver. Sullivan said he hoped "a significant" portion of the
$10 million would go towards his drug treatment plan. Exactly where
the money goes will be up to Abbott.