B.C. DECLARES DEFEAT IN ITS WAR ON DRUGS

Police and coroner urge province to focus on prevention, treatment for addicts

VANCOUVER (CP) -- British Columbia's top coroner and the city's police chief
are declaring defeat in the war on drugs and urging the province to kick an
extra $6 million into addiction treatment.

The call, delivered yesterday at a packed news conference, was part of a
blunt report from the province's top health officer on HIV, hepatitis and
injection drug use in B.C. called Pay Now or Pay Later.

Vancouver police Chief Bruce Chambers said new tactics are required.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what we are doing now no longer works," Chambers said.

"Filling prisons or hospital beds with substance abusers does not make any
public policy sense," said Chambers, endorsing "a very heavy investment" in
treatment for drug abusers.

Chambers even offered cautious support for a program that would help treat
heroin addicts by prescribing them free heroin.

Chief coroner Larry Campbell was equally blunt.

"It's time somebody steps forward and says the war on drugs is lost," said
Campbell. "We cannot even pretend to be winning the war."

The document suggests $6 million in new spending now could generate $36
million in annual savings, sliced off the $209 million illicit drug use is
costing the B.C. government.

It costs $20,000 a year for full treatment of an injection drug user,
including detoxification, residential care and counselling.

"Pay now or pay later implies an investment now will save costs later," said
deputy health officer Shaun Peck.

The money could treat an additional 1,500 heroin addicts -- mostly by
providing the heroin substitute methadone in Vancouver.

"We can make money by helping these people get better," Campbell said.

The report says treatment for injection drug users costs the B.C. government
about $100 million every year.

The appeal comes as health officials warn of record levels of overdose
deaths in British Columbia.

As of last Friday, 224 British Columbia residents had died from overdoses in
1998. Campbell warned of 400 deaths for the year - a record - if the rate
continues.

"(It) has to be some sort of a signal of society that we have to start doing
things differently," Campbell said.

In unusually blunt terms, the former Mountie spoke of a procession of
overdose dead who are streaming through his morgue after being struck down
by the "completely preventable disease" of drug addiction.

"This is coming to a neighbourhood near you, believe me. The people I have
seen die from this are your neighbours, your brothers, your sisters, your
fathers and your mothers."

Within hours of the report's release yesterday, British Columbia's attorney
general said any move to offer heroin to drug addicts would have to be part
of an Ottawa-driven initiative.

"It has to be part of a national strategy, otherwise you will have people
travelling all over from Canada to Vancouver," Ujjal Dosanjh said.

"That's not desirable."

Health Minister Penny Priddy said she wants to discuss the report with its
author, especially the recommendation for more money.

Priddy said she would need more details to decide how to proceed. Her
department spends more than $23 million on drug-treatment programs, but
other funding is spread widely through other B.C. ministries.

There are about 15,000 injection drug users in B.C. Heroin is at the base of
the problem, but many addicts are also shooting up on cocaine.

One-quarter of the addicts are thought to have HIV, the virus that leads to
AIDS, largely due to the exchange of dirty syringes, frequent injection and
cocaine use. About 90 per cent of the addicts have hepatitis C.

Of the province's estimated 15,000 users, 4,000 are enrolled in methadone
therapy. About 400 B.C. doctors have been prescribing methadone.

Officials yesterday conceded that calls for decriminalization have hijacked
the debate of dealing with the legion of injection drug users.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett