MARCH TO PROTEST PLAN FOR FACILITIES FOR ADDICTS

A resident's group says new services for drug users in the Downtown
Eastside will worsen the area's problems

A citizen's group plans a rally and march in Vancouver Saturday to
protest a government plan it says will make the city's Downtown
Eastside even more of a mecca for drug addicts and dealers than it is
now.

At a news conference Thursday, members of the Community Alliance
criticized the Vancouver Agreement, a plan that brings the municipal,
provincial, and federal governments together to target special
assistance to the area, which is beset by drugs, poverty and crime.

The Alliance, which represents residents and businesses in Strathcona,
Chinatown, Gastown and the Victory Square area, will begin the march
beside Strathcona Elementary School and end at Premier Ujjal Dosanjh's
office at Canada Place.

There,organizers will present a 32,000-name petition opposing
government support for programs that "assist, facilitate, or maintain
the dealing and use of illegal drugs."

The Alliance is particularly upset about a draft paper it obtained,
entitled Vancouver Agreement Actions, which lists several possible
programs to be implemented, including a $300,000 expansion of the
Cordova Detox centre, a $2.7-million Sobering and Detox Centre to
provide health care for alcoholics and drug addicts, and a new
$650,000 'Medication Management' site, which the group feels could be
an authorized drug injection site.

The first phase initiatives of the Vancouver Agreement are to be
announced today, but organziers refused to release details early.

Although Mayor Philip Owen could not be reached for comment, an
official for the city of Vancouver, who did not want to be named, said
the draft paper is an old document and the first phase initiatives
will be different from those it proposes.

"There will be some similarities, but not based on the entirety of
that document."

However, Alliance spokesman Bryce Rositch - who was threatened and
harassed by several drug addicts when photographers took his picture
in an alley after Thursday's news conference - believes the draft
paper is pretty close to what is planned.

"Look at the situation in our streets and lanes," he said. "If we
become the only jurisdiction in North America with free injection
sites, we'll have a lot more [drug addicts] coming here. We're not
experts on what to do. But our neighbourhoods are on their knees."

Rositch - an architect who lives and works in the Downtown Eastside -
said the Alliance supports helping those in need.

But he said it appears the Vancouver Agreement will make things worse,
because it concentrates treatment facilities even more in the area and
doesn't take into consideration the concerns of the law-abiding people
who live and work there.

"[This] adds to the already saturated and unsuccessful social programs
that plague our neighbourhoods," he said.

"Nothing substantive is offered to the residents of Strathcona who are
afraid to let their children out on the street, and who are too
intimidated to speak out. Nothing substantive is offered to the
senior in Chinatown who feels like she is living a war zone, or the
person operating a business in Gastown who finds that the rest of
Vancouver is fearful of coming down here."

"Alliance member and downtown eastside resident Lynn Bryson said she
moved into the area in 1991 and has seen the area go steadily downhill
ever since.

"I've noticed a decline that I would never have believed would happen.
Before 1991, people weren't shooting up in your doorways. It was a
slice of life, a little edgy, but things didn't infringe on your life.
Now it's out of control and it's affecting the city big time. We're
becoming a disgrace to the world."

When the Vancouver Agreement was reached earlier this year,
councillors heard presentations from representatives of several
European cities that have developed comprehensive plans, including
treatment facilities, safe-injection sites, prescription heroin,
incresed enforcement, public education, housing and job training.