MAYOR GETS SECOND SUBSTANTIAL OFFER

A second man has contacted Mayor Sam Sullivan's office with an offer
of money to establish a harm reduction program for female sex trade
workers.

Sullivan told the Courier Monday that a man who works in the mining
industry sent an email to him Saturday with an offer of $10,000. The
offer comes two weeks after another unnamed person said he would
donate $500,000.

"I've been surprised so far about the offers already so maybe there
will be more people willing to help," Sullivan said. "I know that a
lot of people feel strongly about this. I do too. We all feel
powerless."

Sullivan wants the money directed to a credible group to prescribe
drugs or substitutes to sex trade workers to help reduce the need for
women to sell their bodies to obtain money for drugs.

The mayor's plan to prescribe drugs to addicts is nothing new. Prior
to his run for mayor last fall, he told the Courier the federal
government should ditch the city's heroin trials and simply start
prescribing drugs to addicts.

Sullivan argues the crime rate would fall because-as police will
confirm-the majority of burglaries, car thefts and bank robberies are
committed by addicts.

Sullivan wouldn't release the names of the two potential donors. He
has yet to reply to both men but made it clear that the money
wouldn't be used by the mayor's office.

"I don't want anything to do with the money," he said. "I have been
promoting my ideas and I would be very happy if a respected research
organization took on an initiative. But I'm just going to wait until
that kind of thing might happen."

Sullivan spoke to the Courier from Ottawa where he was scheduled to
meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper today, when he planned to
talk about drug addiction with Harper.

"I'm going to confirm with the prime minister his commitment to me
that although he would not be interested in supporting or
facilitating the use of drugs, he would also not stand in the way of
local or provincial innovations."

Sullivan said a drug maintenance program should first be available
for sex trade workers before other addicts could be eligible. Sex
trade workers, he said, are the most vulnerable addicts in the city.

He said a drug maintenance program would kick in only after social
service agencies attempted to get a sex trade worker treatment,
counselling, housing or job training.

"I have been so disappointed that over the last number of years
nothing has been done for these women," said Sullivan. "I've asked
myself that for a lot a years, and here I am the mayor and I want to
do something. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do, but I'm going
to support anything that has good qualified research behind it and
scientifically has a good chance of changing the situation."

Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie said Sullivan is "off base" in
pushing for such a harm reduction model for sex trade workers. Louie
called Sullivan's plan "dangerous" and "reckless" and would reverse
the progress the city has made on drug addiction in the last six years.

Louie was aware Sullivan made comments to the Courier last year about
ditching the heroin trials and prescribing drugs to addicts, but now
that Sullivan is mayor he should be more responsible with his words,
he said.

"It's one thing when you're saying it and you're not the mayor, and
you're just a councillor seeking the position of mayor. I don't think
the mayor should take his [close] election to the office of the mayor
as a sign that people are supportive of this."

Louie said he's worried that Sullivan hasn't devised a specific plan.

"He's merely said that he wants to hand out drugs to drug addicts.
Without him providing that clarity, he's leaving this uncertainty
hanging over our citizens in terms of what he wants to do to our city."

Despite the criticism, Sullivan remains committed to pushing ahead
with a plan to help sex trade workers reduce their need for drugs.
His goal is to have the problems of crime and social disorder caused
by drug addiction ended by the 2010 Winter Olympics.

If he chooses to run for a second term for mayor, Sullivan would
first need to be re-elected in November 2008. But getting re-elected
is not something he's worried about, he said.

"As I have told people, my number one priority is the city, my number
two priority is my political career. So I'm pretty committed to this
and I will do what I can within the limits of my office to move this
agenda forward."