RADIO STATION'S HEROIN SCORE ENDS UP AS A DOWNER

VANCOUVER -- When a guy dressed in a beaver suit can arrive on a
Vancouver street corner and score some heroin within minutes, it
highlights a serious problem in the city. So says the program
director of a local radio station whose morning show performed the
bit live on the air.

On June 4, CFOX-FM (99.3 The Fox) morning-show personality Captain
Scotty went to the notorious Main and Hastings corner in the Downtown
Eastside dressed as a beaver, carrying a sign advertising his desire
to buy some heroin. Within minutes, a deal had been completed -
broadcast live on-air during The Jeff O'Neil Show. Among those
listening were two Vancouver police officers out on patrol. They
headed to the scene and confiscated the substance, but did not make
any arrests.

"They found him, intervened and took a small amount of heroin from
him. He was very co-operative. He was handcuffed and ... using
departmental discretion, after some discussion with him, he was
released at the scene," said Vancouver Police Department spokesperson
Jana McGuinness. "It was very dangerous for him to do that, but also
he was potentially making light of a tragic situation. ... It's
important that people know it's not a joke. From our perspective, it
was a silly prank that could have had some serious ramifications."

CFOX program director Chris Duncombe (a.k.a. Dunner), who describes
the program as an "edgy, comedy-based show," says the program was
trying to demonstrate how easy it is to buy drugs in the city.

"There's been so many headlines in Vancouver about the accessibility
of street drugs," he said. "It was to highlight the ridiculous nature
of that. The show obviously made some errors in judgment in having
done so, but their attempt was to highlight how simple it was for
people to be able to buy drugs. Even a man in a beaver costume could do so."

But Ann Livingstone with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users was
skeptical. "It sounds like a stunt to me," she said.

Ms. Livingstone, who did not hear the program in question, was not
impressed to hear that police did not make any arrests. "They sure as
heck wouldn't do that for anyone else. They'd charge them with
possession," she said.

Constable McGuinness said police handed disciplinary responsibilities
over to the radio station, which "took immediate action."

Mr. Duncombe said there were consequences for the staff members
involved, but would not provide details.

"There was internal action taken with the morning show, but we're not
going to discuss it. ... It's not our policy to do so."

The rock radio station is owned by Corus Entertainment, whose assets
also include a number of family-oriented properties, such as
Treehouse, Teletoon, YTV, Discovery Kids, Kids Can Press and the
animated production and distribution company Nelvana.

Attempts to reach the morning-show personalities involved were
unsuccessful yesterday. They are on vacation, and the station is
running best-of shows in their time slot until Tuesday. Mr. Duncombe
said the vacations and taped programming were planned long ago, and
were unrelated to the heroin-buying incident.