DRUG COURT TO REMAIN IN SESSION

The city's drug court in the Downtown Eastside has graduated 68
recovering drug addicts since the program began in December 2001.

And on Monday, B.C. Solicitor General John Les announced that
provincial and federal governments will extend the program for four
more years at a cost of $6.3 million.

That will be a $12.6 million investment over the program's eight years.

But is that a good investment when considering more than 400 people
have been referred to the program in its first four years?

Many participants drop out, but the court is providing an option
unavailable before 2001, said David MacIntyre, the director of the
treatment program. "The drug court is onerous," he said, pointing out
68 addicts are in the program. "It's a difficult option to choose.
And given the population we're working with, we're really happy that
so many people have graduated...the fact that any graduate is seen as
a success."

MacIntyre said some addicts who drop out eventually return to the
program for help and are referred to another treatment agency in the community.

Participants are longtime addicts, many of whom started using drugs
in their teens. Many are infected with Hepatitis C and HIV and have
criminal histories tied to smalltime drug dealing and petty theft.
Some have up to 80 criminal convictions and others have worked in the
sex trade.

A person graduates when they are clean of cocaine, heroin or crystal
methamphetamine for the last three months of what is usually a year
to an 18-month treatment program.

A graduate must also have stable housing and either be working or
attending a job training program. Many end up working in construction
and retail, MacIntyre said.

Though 68 people graduated, MacIntyre said some addicts have gotten
close to being clean for three months, only to relapse. But they did
find a job, he added.

The program, which is run out of an undisclosed downtown building,
includes counselling, random urine tests, methadone therapy, weekly
reports to a court once a week and a curfew.

Women attend court on Tuesday and men on Thursdays. Women and men are
also separated at the treatment centre. "We found that people in the
program have had a history with each other. So it's safer for the
women. We find the women are more open and honest in court and
there's less posturing from the men."

Graduates are monitored by a government-commissioned evaluation team
to determine if they fall back into a life of drug addiction and or crime.

Some graduates leave Vancouver and have reconnected with families
from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia. Program staff encourages
graduates to reconnect with family, if appropriate. "We find that
people who move away and reconnect with their family tend to do
better," MacIntyre said.

Over the next four years, people who have served a jail sentence and
on probation will be eligible for the program. So will people
arrested for a non-drug offence, such as burglary, which was
committed to feed a habit.

A few years ago, then-Vancouver police Insp. Jim Chu-now a deputy
chief-complained about a case involving a notorious drug-addicted
burglar who was not eligible for drug court because of the nature of
his charges.

Another change will see the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority take
over management of the treatment centre from the private Stroh
Healthcare. MacIntyre said the change is not a knock against Stroh,
but simply to open up services for clients within the health
authority's agencies.

The only other drug court in Canada is in Toronto, which opened in
December 1998.