SPREAD SERVICES OUT, SAYS COP

Future harm reduction initiatives must be spread throughout the city,
not just restricted to the troubled Downtown Eastside, says one of
Vancouver's top cops.

Insp. Scott Thompson, who is second-in-command of the city's
southeast quadrant, said the region's drug users had become "cordoned
off" in one specific area, since their support networks - like needle
exchanges, for example - were limited to the DTES.

"Every community has to have a piece of this. I know it's not going
to make me popular," Thompson said yesterday. "But some communities
clearly do not want to have these facilities nearby."

It's estimated one third of the DTES's 16,000 residents use drugs.