CHIEF CORONER MYSTIFIED AS DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS DROP

Across B.C., 184 people have died of drug overdoses so far this year
compared to 285 in the same period last year. Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun
Chief coroner Larry Campbell was puzzling over the good news: Overdose drug
deaths are way down this year.

"It's actually great news," he told me. "I just wish I knew why."

Across the province to date, Campbell says, 184 people have died of drug
overdoses this year compared to 285 in the same period last year.

In Vancouver, 91 have died to date compared with 145 last year.

"The only place it went up is in Kelowna," he added, "from five to eight.
Again, I don't know why."

Together with the growing number of addicts smoking crack and injecting
drugs on the streets of the Downtown Eastside, the mounting death toll drew
global media attention to the city.

The shameful reality of men and women dying in the gutters and alleys of one
of the most beautiful and affluent Canadian provinces was the stuff of
front-page headlines, magazine covers and international television programs.

And the squalor and pandemic of diseases within sight of tourist-laden
cruise ships spurred action, particularly from the city, the Vancouver/

Richmond health board and the senior governments. But these hopeful OD
figures are the first indication that something may be working.

"It's an extremely good sign, but it may be a little bit early for
conclusions about why this specifically is happening," said Judy McGuire,
who runs the needle exchange for the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society.

"One of the things is that since the city passed the bylaw that closed the
24-hour stores from 2 a.m. till 6 a.m. we've noticed a real decrease in the
number of people who are staying out in the streets all night long. I've got
an overnight van that's out there at that time and they've really commented
to me about the change in the street action."

The Vancouver police department also has flooded the neighbourhood with
officers on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as in the early morning.

More than 162 extra officers are being deployed at night on weekends and 192
extra are on the dawn patrol.

From May 21 to July 18, police stopped 1,344 people in the area and checked
them, making 203 arrests [largely for drugs and outstanding warrants] and
issuing 346 tickets. Mainly, they seized drugs.

Shutting the all-night stores that were selling illicit drugs, and
increasing police checks of the bars and lounges in the area, may indirectly
help reduce overdose deaths, McGuire thinks.

"Part of what we suspect may be happening is that if there's no place for
people to go after 2 a.m. some people simply go home," she explained, citing
"a very high correlation between alcohol and drug use in terms of ODs; the
combination of drugs and alcohol, which can be particularly lethal. If the
stores and some of the sources for drugs are drying up at the same time the
bars are closing, people are less likely to be using drugs after they've
been drinking."

Ann Livingston, who coordinates programs for the roughly 400-member
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, was equally happy to hear the number
of deaths is declining, and similarly puzzled.

She said that many addicts believe it isn't the cocaine or heroin they
inject that kills, it is the substances dealers use to adulterate and dilute
their product.

"There's always suspicions among drug users that there are contaminants in
the drugs and that increases the deaths," Livingston said.

"The coroner's staff check for A, B and C, they don't check for Z."

So the coroner finds cocaine or heroin in the body, but not Drano.

"Know what I mean?" she said. "But that's very interesting, I'll have to
have a discussion with the user group to get an understanding of what's
going on."

Campbell said he just doesn't know for sure: "I think some of it is
education. I think some of it is the money that's gone into the Downtown
Eastside. Every little bit helps. And some of it might be enforcement."

Regardless, Campbell emphasized: "On one hand, I'm extremely happy there's
100 people alive who would not have been alive last year, but even saying
that: One hundred and eighty-four deaths is outrageous!"