'THEY DON'T SEE THE MEDICAL PROBLEM. THEY JUST SEE MY DRUG USE.'

Lance may not realize it, but there are volumes of studies and reports
written about people just like him.

He's schizophrenic, a drug addict and homeless. He is part of a
Downtown Eastside population governments and agencies struggle to care
for.

More often than not, guys like Lance just get by -- getting high,
sleeping on the street and eating food handed out by well-meaning
groups -- and when their health turns for the worse, they'll wind up
in a hospital bed.

In an interview late last year, Lance, a well-spoken 31-year-old
originally from Winnipeg, spoke to The Province about his life.

"I used to have a normal life a long time ago. I was married, I had a
job, I had kids," he said from an emergency shelter where he was
staying temporarily.

He hadn't had contact with any of his family for years.

"They wrote me off. It's an embarrassment to them, right? Or so they
tell me," he said. "They don't see the medical problem. They just see
my drug use. I can't seem to quit doing drugs, right? No matter what
kind of threats they hang over me."

He is frank when asked if he wants to quit drugs. He shoots cocaine
almost every day.

"When I'm homeless? No place to live and that? No, [drugs are] the
only source of f---ing pleasure I get. Sometimes it feels like just a
big miserable existence and drugs are a reprieve from it all, eh?

"And it gives you a sense of something to do, too, right? When you
have nothing to do, just the getting, the acquiring, is almost like it
gives you a purpose. It keeps me busy.

"It even gives me some self-esteem. It gives you a sense of feeling
like you've accomplished something. You don't feel like such a loser."

Lance has been kicked out of housing for using drugs in the past, and
was in a dispute with his income-assistance worker over losing too
many damage deposits.

After many years of not taking medication for the schizophrenia he was
diagnosed with in 1996, he has had it dispensed daily from a Downtown
Eastside pharmacy for the last year.

His thoughts largely depend on sleep. If he doesn't get enough, the
medication doesn't seem to work.

He is on disability income assistance and receives $700 a month, not
including the portion for rent.

He doesn't mind his life, he says. He manages.

"It has its up and its downs. I have good days," he said.