LAX COURTS HELP LURE ADDICTS TO VANCOUVER

Most of us try not to think about what goes on so very near to our noses in
the vicinity of Main and Hastings.

We assume that justice and health authorities are dealing with the social
crisis there and that over time things will improve.

Constable Gerry Wickstead's beat takes in that unhappy intersection and
he's concerned about trends he has been witnessing.

I mentioned Constable Wickstead in Thursday's column on B.C.'s tight police
resources. The community police officer has worked in Chinatown for eight
of his 16 years on the force.

He has been spending his off time in recent years trying to confirm his
suspicions about inadequacies in the justice system by reviewing
statistical material and various reports by government and non-government
agencies.

He doubts that "harm reduction" will adequately address the Downtown
Eastside's drug epidemic.

Constable Wickstead reports that only a small segment of pushers and
importers are getting nabbed or receiving jail time.

And he wants Vancouverites to be aware that conditions in the down- and-out
neighbourhood are getting worse, not better.

While 1,580 adults were charged in B.C. for trafficking in heroin and
cocaine in 1995, by 2000 that number was up to 2,240. The problem is growing.

In 1995 the Vancouver Needle Exchange Program handed out about 5,000
needles daily. By 2000, the number was nearly 9,500. While the general
public assumes heroin addicts represent the greatest problem and safe
injection sites must be the priority, the streets tell a different story.

"For the past five years crack cocaine has been the No. 1 drug in the
Downtown Eastside. Most of the people openly using drugs on Vancouver
streets are not injecting drugs."

Statistics show the trend clearly. Cocaine used to represent 47 per cent of
drugs sold on the street, today it's 60 per cent. Heroin is up a bit and
cannabis is way down.

Vancouver police in mid-July 2000 stationed an undercover cop for 10 days
at Main and Hastings, for 10 hours at a stretch. During that time 74
different individuals were identified selling drugs. Nearly 70 per cent of
them were peddling cocaine.

"Why has there not been a public call for supervised crack cocaine smoking
sites in Vancouver?" asks Constable Wickstead referring to harm reduction
advocates who vigorously focus their attention on heroin use.

The officer notes further, most drug overdose deaths are attributable not
simply to heroin but to lethal combinations of drugs -- heroin, cocaine and
alcohol.

Constable Wickstead points to numbers showing that police are concentrating
their enforcement efforts on the more serious offence of trafficking,
rather than drug possession.

In 2000, 82 per cent of drug-related charges in Vancouver related to
trafficking; 17 per cent to possession.

The number of drug trafficking charges is increasing. In 1993, police laid
charges against 3,200 importers and traffickers. By 2000, they'd laid
charges against nearly 6,000.

"In reality, drug possession in Vancouver has been basically decriminalized
for several years." And use has increased.

As for the traffickers, even when convicted, jail sentences are 50 to 60
days. It's clearly worth their while to return to the street and resume
their enterprise.

In the U.S. the average prison sentence for drug trafficking is six to
seven years.

In all other Canadian provinces, chances of going to a federal pen and
serving more than two years for trafficking, are also greater than in B.C.

"Try to find another city in North America that has as high a concentration
of hard-core drug addicts openly using drugs on the streets in the same
location year after year," challenges Constable Wickstead.

Vancouver has become a destination of choice for druggies. "People have
migrated here from other provinces simply because their drug of choice is
easier to obtain on Vancouver streets than elsewhere.

"Drugs in Vancouver are cheaper and can be more potent than other cities in
Canada. Vancouver has established a huge customer base for the network of
drug traffickers, so bargain-basement prices are always out there."

None of this is stuff we want to hear. But Constable Wickstead is doing a
service in reminding us Vancouver's drug scene is slowly but surely getting
out of control.

Tomorrow, Constable Wickstead looks at criminal recidivism.