MAYOR KICKSTARTS FOUR-PILLAR DRUG PLAN

As police press ahead with the enforcement aspect of the city's four-pillar
drug strategy, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell convened a meeting Tuesday of
community, social and business groups to rebuild momentum for the other three.

The coalition meeting came as Campbell prepares for an April 29 trip to
Ottawa to push for funding for the strategy and approval for a
supervised-injection site for drug users.

The fact that police have gone ahead with enforcement -- putting extra
police into the Downtown Eastside to break up the open drug market --
without the other three pillars being in place drew such vociferous
criticism from one participant that he was escorted out of the meeting.

Dave Cunningham, who is with the Housing Action Committee, got into a
yelling match with the mayor that ended only when Vancouver police chief
Jamie Graham and Inspector Bob Rich escorted him out of the room.

Cunningham, accompanied by a handful of others, stood outside the doors for
the remainder of the meeting, holding out a tuque asking for donations for
a safe-injection site, saying that was the only apparent way it would get
operating money under Campbell, whom he accused of supporting only the
police part of the drug strategy.

At the end of the meeting, a clearly exasperated Campbell said he was "not
going to put up with what we saw here today -- bad behaviour should never
be rewarded."

As Campbell left the meeting, he also gave Cunningham the finger as
Cunningham continued to accuse him of being a liar.

Later in the day, Cunningham and a group of about two dozen protesters
stood outside a Coalition of Progressive Electors fund-raising dinner at
the Floata restaurant to continue their criticism. About 10 police officers
watched but took no action as the protesters voiced their complaints to
about 450 people arriving for the dinner. The protesters left before the
dinner began.

Earlier, participants in the two-hour meeting at the Roundhouse community
centre made a few direct references to the police crackdown, although none
were as heated as Cunningham.

In presentations at the end of the meeting about the conclusions of group
discussions, VanCity representative Jacques Khouri said his table had some
concerns that enforcement will drive the drug problem underground or to
jail cells.

"If you try to lock up the dealers, that will not solve the problem," he
said. "If you put them in jail, jails are not drug-free either."

But most participants focused on other issues: The need for prevention, the
need to include more aboriginal groups in the process, and the need to
start acting instead of talking.

Art Steinman, a prevention-education specialist, emphasized that, while
addiction is a complicated issue, people do know what works for prevention
- -- "education approaches that don't indoctrinate and aren't judgment."

He said research has shown that if young people can be encouraged to delay
any drug use until they're over 18, they have a much reduced chance of ever
developing a drug problem.

Musqueam band councillor Wendy John asked for more involvement by First
Nations groups in planning any drug strategy.

Former mayor Philip Owen, who originally brought together the coalition of
community and business groups, said he thought the meeting did a good job
of getting people refocused on the strategy.

Owen originally created the coalition to focus on ways to make Vancouver a
safer city and to prevent crime. But the group evolved into a support
mechanism for the push to create a new kind of drug-addiction strategy,
eventually called the four-pillars strategy, that emphasizes improving the
health of addicts as much as getting police to target drug crime.

Meanwhile, Vancouver police Inspector Doug LePard, who is in charge of the
crackdown on drug dealers in the Downtown Eastside, said it is producing a
noticeable decline in drug activity and serious crime.

But he also told a news conference Tuesday there are signs some of the drug
activity has moved to the Granville Mall and the West End.

"Yes, we have received reports that there is some displacement down in the
West End," said LePard. "I think some of that is genuine, that we've seen
some displacement. But some of it is because of the publicity.

"I think people are looking more and are a little more sensitive to seeing
street people and drug pushers. We are watching that. But what's clear to
us is that we're reducing the size of the over-all pie. There's no question
about it."

LePard said violent crime is decreasing in the area. "There are early
indications, anecdotally, that show a real decrease in serious incidents.
Because of our presence, violent incidents that would otherwise occur, are
not occurring, particularly the street violence, which is the least likely
to be reported to us unless it becomes a major event."

LePard said that since the major reallocation of more officers to the
Downtown Eastside began April 7, police have arrested 98 people on
trafficking charges, about half the number of dealers they targeted in an
undercover operation.

"Of those, 62 have been released, 17 detained in custody and 19 adjourned,
meaning they are still in custody and awaiting another court appearance."

Police have arrest warrants out for 162 people on 234 trafficking charges
after an undercover operation that began March 18 and ended April 4.

On April 7, they began serving arrest warrants on the drug purchases made
during the undercover investigation.

LePard also said only a handful of drug dealers has returned to the
Downtown Eastside since the crackdown began and many addicts are thankful
for the increased police presence.

"Since we've started, there have been zero complaints to the internal
investigation section about anything to do with the citywide enforcement
team. We've also been receiving incredibly good feedback from the street.
We've got addicts telling us that they feel safer and they're the ones most
likely to be the victims of predatory crimes, which are often not reported.
Our presence makes it much more difficult for the predators to pick on the
weak."

LePard said one addict told an officer he's got a "fighting chance" to beat
his addiction because drugs aren't so convenient now.

LePard said police have not arrested anyone in the crackdown for simple
possession of heroin, and have arrested just two people for possession of
cocaine. "In both of those cases, there were other circumstances that led
us to make an arrest."

LePard said police confiscated $8,200 and a handgun from one known drug
dealer. "They went to his room and recovered this gun. This is the sort of
thing that brings misery to the Downtown Eastside and that's what we're
trying to get a lid on."

LePard said that anyone who doubts the effectiveness of the campaign only
has to walk through the area.

"A week ago, if you were to walk into the 100 East Hastings, you'd see from
50 to 150 people milling around, dealing drugs," said LePard. "There was no
way you could walk from one end of the block to the other in a straight
line without having to go around a big knot of people, watching fights
break out. Now you can go and look all the way to Main Street and just see
normal pedestrian traffic occurring. I'm not saying they've all left, but
there's absolutely been a reduction in the amount of that sort of street
activity."