PREVENTION CRUCIAL: DRUG COP

More focus must be placed on drug-use prevention, says the Vancouver
police department's drug policy coordinator.

Insp. Scott Thompson notes there is no drug strategy at the national
or provincial levels.

"We can't do it alone," Thompson said. "When you look at the amount
of money being spent [on other harm-reduction programs], there's not
a lot being spent on drug prevention."

Thompson is the author of the department's new drug policy, which
will likely be approved in September. The policy embraces the city's
at-times controversial Four Pillars drug strategy, which has seen
efforts like needle exchanges, a supervised heroin injection site
and a heroin maintenance program set up in recent years.

Since June, the police have followed a policy of not attending most
emergency drug overdose calls, after research suggested overdose
deaths decreased if police didn't lay charges for drug possession.