PANDORA DRUG BUSTS SPELL RELIEF

Our Place Executive Director Says Arrests Of 8 Give Hope To Desperate

The executive director of Our Place is calling the arrests of eight
suspected Pandora Avenue drug dealers a relief, saying it might offer
hope for desperate people the centre had run out of ways to help.

"The people they put in jail, I felt, really, really needed some
help. And I didn't know what to do for them," Rev. Al Tysick said yesterday.

The arrests came after a two-day undercover drug investigation
carried out by the Victoria police strike force unit during the last
week of August. Dubbed Operation Ground Hog, it involved officers
buying drugs -- mostly crack cocaine -- from people along the
900-block of Pandora Avenue, an area notorious for drug use and related crime.

Ten charges were laid against nine people -- six men and three women
between the ages of 20 and 51. Eight have been arrested and one, a
30-year-old man, is at large.

Simon Fraser University criminologist Benedikt Fischer questioned the
operation, saying addicted people will simply look elsewhere for a
fix, often moving the markets into residential areas.

"So, you may have replaced a rock with a hard place," he said.

Victoria police Sgt. Grant Hamilton said the force had no illusions
about stemming the drug trade, but hoped the campaign would reduce
the access dealers have to people seeking services at Our Place, a
drop-in centre that offers free meals and other services to the poor.

"There are some [on Pandora Avenue] that are preying on those that
are drug-addicted," Hamilton said.

"We want to make sure that we are targeting those individuals," he said.

Tysick warned against an easy division between "addict" and "dealer,"
saying the success of undercover officers points to just how ill some
of the suspected dealers were.

"These police that are out there, anybody with a half brain would
know that they're cops," Tysick said. "But [those arrested] don't,
and they buy and sell to them."

He points to one of the arrested, Jonah Maghee, in particular.
Maghee, 20, was barred from Our Place for using drugs there but still
frequented the area.

Tysick said he'd watched Maghee lose weight and develop sores on his
arms and face. Getting arrested, Tysick said, might just save the young man.

"There's a point where we don't know what to do," Tysick said. "Today
I know that he's inside and that he's sleeping in a bed."

Tysick said he's seen many instances where a few months in jail has
helped people clean up their lives, but that the real test comes when
they're released. He said that without support outside the prison
walls, many fall back into old habits. "If somebody comes out and
they're looking healthy, they want to be healthy -- and there's
nowhere to live. They're on the corner again."

Pandora Avenue's 900-block is home to the provincial Ministry of
Housing and Social Development -- which delivers income assistance --
and a pharmacy dispensing methadone.

The block's boulevard has been a popular place for street people to
camp since the B.C. Supreme Court struck down the city's prohibition
on camping in parks in 2008.

Last week, city council moved to prevent people from camping on
boulevards and medians, citing a marked increase in traffic accidents
involving pedestrians. Police say there have been three pedestrian
fatalities in the past 18 months.

A public hearing on the proposed bylaw will be held Sept. 23.