B.C. DRUG DEATHS HIT A LOW NOT SEEN IN YEARS

Number Of Fatalities Could Drop By 80 Per Cent From 10 Years Ago
Provincewide As Vancouver Prepares For 2010 Olympic Games

VANCOUVER -- The number of drug deaths in British Columbia has dipped
to levels not seen in years 14 months before Vancouver welcomes the
world to the 2010 Olympics. In a startling turnaround, the number of
deaths in Vancouver as a result of a heroin overdose or the use of
other illegal drugs could drop by as much as 80 per cent from the peak
10 years ago, according to preliminary statistics compiled for The
Globe and Mail by the B.C. Coroners Service.

Provincewide, based on the number of drug fatalities so far this year,
the total could be one-third of the rate in 1998 if nothing unexpected
happens in the next few weeks.

However, researchers and community activists were divided yesterday on
why fewer drug addicts are dying.

Fluctuations in the supply and quality of heroin, a significant
increase in the number of addicts on methadone, and the impact of a
supervised injection site were some of the explanations offered.

Dr. Thomas Kerr cautioned that researchers do not have definitive
answers for why the level of drug deaths fluctuates.

"It's very, very hard to make attribution about what it all means.
It's very frustrating for researchers," said Dr. Kerr, of the urban
health research initiative at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/Aids. "It goes up and down a lot, and we really do not know why."

Researchers in Australia analyzed a drop in drug deaths in their
country in 2002. They linked it to a decline in availability of heroin
from Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dr. Kerr
said.

But he dismissed the suggestion that enforcement alone could account
for the dip. A research study after a significant drug bust in Canada
found no change in the number of drug deaths in the following months,
he said.

Dr. Kerr minimized the impact of Insite, the controversial
safe-injection site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Although dealing
with more than 100 overdoses a year, the facility is only a pilot
project with 12 booths in one neighbourhood, he said. The impact would
be more evident if more facilities were opened, he added.

However, Judy Graves, who has worked in the Downtown Eastside since
1979, said the supervised-injection site has an impact beyond dealing
with overdoses. The facility offers advice and education that may have
saved lives, said Ms. Graves, who is co-ordinator of the city's
tenant-assistance program.

Poet Bud Osborn, who has lived in the Downtown Eastside for more than
20 years, attributed the decline in drug deaths to the activities of a
community advocacy group, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users,
that he helped establish, as well as the safe-injection site.

VANDU encourages addicts to speak about their lives and go after what
would help them be well, he said. "VANDU showed that addicts can come
together for something other than to buy and sell drugs," he said.

Community activist Ann Livingston said addicts see Insite as an agency
that recognizes their human dignity, which helps change their
behaviour. The addicts feel that someone cares if they stay alive, she
said.

The declining death rate may also reflect an increase in the number of
addicts in methadone programs, a shift in the strength of drugs sold
on the street, or better medical care, Ms. Livingston said.

The West Coast and particularly Vancouver's drug-infested Downtown
Eastside neighbourhood drew international attention in the early 1990s
for its open-air drug markets, addicts shooting up in back alleys and
almost daily overdose deaths. The number of drug deaths in the
province rose to 356 in 1993 from 82 three years earlier.

By the late 1990s, the Downtown Eastside had one of the world's
highest rates of HIV transmission, largely due to drug addicts sharing
contaminated needles. The province had 396 drug deaths in 1998, with
191 in Vancouver.

But the number of drug deaths in B.C. has now dropped significantly.
The B.C. Coroners Service has recorded 133 deaths across the province
so far this year. The decline in Vancouver is even more dramatic.
Vancouver so far had 30 drug deaths this year, the B.C. Coroners
Service report stated.

Dying for a fix

Far fewer people are dying because of taking illegal drugs
province-wide, even in Vancouver, but experts can't agree on the reason.

B.C.

'02 170
'03 190
'04 194
'05 218
'06 228
'07 200
'08 133

VANCOUVER

'02 49
'03 51
'04 67
'05 55
'06 54
'07 56
'08 30

THE GLOBE AND MAIL; SOURCE: BC CORONORS SERVICE