MAYOR TELLS POLICE WHY HE BOUGHT DRUGS

Official Statement Blames Opponents For Controversy That Led To Investigation

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has turned in an official statement to
the RCMP about his past decisions to provide money to illegal drug
users, but used it to blast his political opponents for creating a
controversy that forced police Chief Jamie Graham to request a review
of his activities last fall.

In the statement, obtained by The Vancouver Sun, Sullivan declares he
has "been frustrated by the terrible harm caused to drug-addicted
individuals and the communities that they live in" and that he is
"committed to going further in following the path of harm reduction."

Sullivan is planning to release the statement publicly today.

In it, he says the only reason police are reviewing his actions is
because his political opponents whipped up public sentiment.

"Mayor Larry Campbell and his Vision Vancouver party made these
experiences a focus of their campaign .... Because of the increased
public awareness, the police chief had no alternative but to request
that the RCMP investigate these incidents."

He also gives a brief account of his interactions with a young
prostitute in the late 1990s, to whom he gave $40 a day for three
weeks for heroin, and a 41-year-old drug user for whom he bought
crack one evening sometime in 2001 and allowed the man to smoke it in his van.

Those meetings were detailed in two previous Vancouver Sun stories,
which Sullivan's account matches with the exception of a few details.

The story about Sullivan's decision to provide heroin to a
20-year-old woman working as a prostitute in his neighbourhood, then
Collingwood, was the subject of a feature story in 2000.

The woman, Michele, was never interviewed by the media separately and
Sullivan's account remains similar to what it was in 2000, with some
additional details and speculations.

Sullivan said he gave Michele $40 a day for three weeks, until "I
really noticed the effect my support was having on my bank account,
and I became resentful that over 90 per cent of my money was going to
support organized crime."

He adds that he tried going through a "goal-setting session with her
and I asked her to visualize what she wanted for her life." Now, he
says, "I often wonder if she ended up ... as an anonymous soul on
some pig farm in the suburbs."

The more controversial story, in which Sullivan said he bought crack
for Downtown Eastside resident Shawn Millar and let him smoke it in
his van, was published in September 2005, just after Sullivan was
chosen as the mayoral candidate for the Non-Partisan Association.

Sullivan's version differs slightly from Millar's in a few places,
most notably in who suggested going back to buy drugs a second time.

Millar has said in several previous interviews with The Sun that
Sullivan complained to him after the first buy that he hadn't been
able to really see what happened and that he asked Millar to go back
a second time to get more drugs so he could observe more closely what happened.

Sullivan says in his statement that Millar bought drugs once and
"smoked it while seated in my passenger seat" before Sullivan started
driving him home. "But partway there he said he wanted to go back for
more. I agreed, but asked him if he could tell me what he was looking
for as he weaved through the crowds. I parked in what I thought was a
better location to see the deal and gave him money."

In an interview, Sullivan said Millar's version just isn't true.

Millar, contacted Monday night, said he can understand why Sullivan
is telling the story that way.

RCMP have been unable to contact Millar, but asked Vancouver police
for help. They asked The Sun in December to pass a message along to Millar.

The message was passed along, but Millar said then he didn't want
anything to do with the police. On Monday night, Millar, who is now
living several hours away from Vancouver, said he didn't want to
travel into the city to talk to the RCMP.

He also wants to talk to Sullivan first before doing anything.

"If he wants me to talk to the RCMP, if he feels it's the best thing,
I'll do it," said Millar, who added he has no interest in
jeopardizing Sullivan's political career or work as mayor.

He said he tried contacting the mayor's office repeatedly in late
December and early January, but got no response.

Sullivan acknowledged he received those messages but said he just
couldn't bring himself to call back because "it was a pretty
difficult time for me."

Sullivan said he is releasing his statement to the public because
there has been a lot of interest in the RCMP review.

"I just want to clear the air and get this over with."

He says it took him awhile to write the statement, because he didn't
get the request until late January and even then, police indicated to
him at the time that they didn't really care how long he took to get it in.

Sullivan is hoping this will be the end of it.

If not, he's checked out his situation with the city clerk.

"He confirmed I could still be the mayor if I was in jail and I could
get day passes for the council meetings."