MANLEY 'OVERWHELMED' BY TOUR OF DRUG ZONE

Deputy prime minister John Manley, a Liberal party leadership hopeful,
spent part of Friday morning on the streets of the Downtown Eastside with
drug users, the mentally ill, and the unemployed.

"It was a little overwhelming, to be truthful," said Manley, who did a
one-hour tour of Vancouver's most troubled neighbourhood surrounded by
residents, the media, former mayor Philip Owen, and people from the city
and social service agencies who have been working on solutions for the
neighbourhood.

Manley, in Vancouver for a leadership debate today, stayed away from any
dramatic statements about what the federal government's role should be,
saying only that the government "needs to build on some of the work we've
seen this morning" and that he'd have to go away and think about what he'd
seen.

His tour included the United We Can recycling depot, the First Nations
Employment and Enterprise Centre, the Carnegie Centre, and the Portland
Hotel Society's housing, cafe, and dental clinic.

And, although some had hoped he would announce the federal government's
formal approval for an injection site for drug users, he said only that the
announcement is imminent. However, he did express personal support for the
site, which will be the first such site in North America.

"I think it makes a lot of sense," said Manley. "We need to find
progressive ways to treat addiction as a disease. I hope it works."