DRUG TREATMENT PROPOSED FOR ENTIRE LOWER MAINLAND

The Vancouver/Richmond health board has endorsed a proposal that every
community in the Lower Mainland should offer a full range of drug and HIV
treatment services -- from detoxification centres to needle exchanges.

"If we have to fight this battle in the Downtown Eastside alone, we will
lose the battle," board medical health officer Dr. John Blatherwick said
Friday.

Drug users are dying of overdoses in increasing numbers across the Lower
Mainland, but their communities are still relying on Vancouver to deal with
the problem, Blatherwick, the author of the proposal, said.

He added that the suburbs need to wake up to the fact that they harbour
full-fledged drug scenes -- in fact, miniature Downtown Eastsides.

"The drug scene is not just in the Downtown Eastside, it's coming to a
neighbourhood near you," he said in an interview. "The suburbs are in the
position that we were in in the early '90s. It's on their doorstep. Any
major high school in the Lower Mainland can identify the drug dealers in
their community."

To back up his point, Blatherwick cited coroner's office drug death
statistics from various parts of the province.

In Abbotsford, 19 people have died of overdoses in the first 9 months of
this year, up from 16 in the same period last year.

New Westminster had 41 deaths, the same as last year. North Vancouver had
seven drug deaths last year, but figures for this year are not available.

Figures for other cities included Kamloops: 19 this year, up from 16 last
year; Kelowna, four, up from three; Nanaimo, 20, up from 18; and Victoria,
15, up from 13.

Vancouver is far and away the leader with 153 deaths so far this year, up
from 109 last year. Most of the deaths are in the Downtown Eastside.

Blatherwick has enlisted the support of the medical health officers of the
other three Lower Mainland health boards in urging that services be
integrated and apportioned out to each community.

A joint research study by the four health officers points to the lack of
services aimed at prevention.

For instance, there are an estimated 300 homeless youth in Vancouver alone,
but only 11 youth detox beds in the entire region, with waits of weeks or
even months for service.

"We are currently spending four times as much on law enforcement against
illicit drugs as we spend on treatment," Blatherwick said.

The three other boards will be meeting to consider the proposal and to map
out a strategy to wring more money for treatment programs out of the
provincial government.

Blatherwick acknowledged it will be a tough fight to convince some
communities to accept services like 24-hour needle exchanges.

He said needle exchanges can't solve all the problems themselves, but they
are needed as part of a broad-based attack on the spread of HIV.

The three other boards are the North Shore Health Board, serving West and
North Vancouver; the Simon Fraser Health Board, covering the north side of
the river from Burnaby to Maple Ridge; and the Fraser South Health Board, on
the south side of the river as far as Langley.

New Westminster acting mayor Bob Osterman welcomed the proposal Friday,
saying it would take some pressure off New West, which already has a needle
exchange that draws users from Burnaby and Coquitlam.

"Every addict on methadone should be able to go to their local drug store,
no matter where they live," Osterman said. "All the services should be in
their home communities."

He said at least one school in New West has to scour its grounds every
morning at 6:30 a.m. to clear away the used needles and condoms dropped
there overnight.

Checked-by: Don Beck