POLITICIANS PUSH FOR DRUG PLANS

Vancouver's opposition councillors want Mayor Sam Sullivan to lay his
cards on the table.

Vision Vancouver councillors will present a motion to council tomorrow
asking Sullivan to outline his controversial plans for an expanded
heroin-maintenance program.

Politically, it's more of a dare than anything concrete; Sullivan's
centre-right NPA holds a one-vote majority and can shoot down
opposition motions.

But after Sullivan told reporters last month he wanted to push forward
with heroin maintenance even as current programs were still under
trial, opposition councillors were left scratching their heads.

"I think that [the mayor's] idea of harm reduction is out of sync with
most other people," Stevenson said in a previous interview. "Obviously
harm reduction is one of the key pillars in the four-pillar strategy.
But to say that one will just hand out free drugs willy nilly is a bit
extreme."

That's not what the mayor has suggested, but he hasn't offered
specifics either. The city's drug policy co-coordinator said
Sullivan's already asked him to gather information.

"I think primarily what he has in mind is he wants to spark the debate
and pull the discussion forward," Donald MacPherson said in an
interview with 24 hours during a harm-reduction conference.