DRUGS TAKE FINANCIAL TOLL

Passing through Vancouver's infamous Downtown Eastside is an experience
that very clearly showcases some of the horrors of illegal drug use.

What may not be clear to most people though is the burden illegal
drug use puts on the public health care system.

"Lots of things come to people's minds when they think about
Vancouver's drug problem," said Dr. Evan Wood, of the B.C. Centre for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS in St. Paul's Hospital. "People don't really
think about the medical costs because it's not on the surface, but it
is a real threat."

Wood has been researching public health issues revolving around drug
use in Vancouver for years and says taxpayers are getting stuck with
the bill.

"Thirty per cent of DTES users are HIV positive and it costs at least
$250,000 for the government to treat someone with AIDS. These things
take a huge toll," said Wood. "Hepatitis C has an even bigger effect.
We're talking about thousands of drug users at the margins of society
that are really sick."

The problem is that many drug users in the city don't see doctors or
get help for medical conditions when they need to.

"They don't see a family doctor. The emergency room becomes their
primary source of care," said Wood, who says it has caused a
revolving-door culture at hospitals.

Ann Livingstone, co-ordinator of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug
Users (VANDU) calls them "million-dollar patients."

Livingstone said that at $800 for every ambulance pick-up and $1,500
for a night in a hospital bed, this "health care by ambulance" approach
to treating many drug users is sucking public health-care dollars dry.

"If you look at everything that's associated with illegal drug use -
like policing, courts, shelter - you'll see that health-care costs
are the big one," she said. "We're talking about hundreds of millions."

Wood says with the introduction of new drugs and users on the scene,
those costs continue to rise.

"With crystal meth now, we're seeing an increase of needle sharing
and hospitalizations," he said. "It's definitely a harmful situation."

Both Wood and Livingstone agree that drug treatment has been costly
and ineffective.

"People are being taken to hospitals, take up a bed until they come
back down and are released in the morning," said Livingstone, "only
to come back later."

Wood said the lack of long-term treatment programs, and participants,
and a flawed approach to tackling drug use has left the problem at
the door of hospitals and police.

"We're guilty of trying some of the same things over and over again,"
he said. "Ninety-four per cent of money that goes into dealing with
illegal drug use goes to supply reduction, which has proven to be
ineffective."

There is a lot of scientific support for initiatives such as the
Insite safe injection site and a newly announced $8-million fund for
treating crystal meth youth addiction, but Wood said only recently
have scientific-backed programs been put in place.

"Drug prevention programs like D.A.R.E. have proven to have little
success but they get most of the money because society has acted
through knee-jerk and moralistic ways," he said.

"We're definitely playing catch-up," said Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne
Mayencourt, who supports the idea of scientific-based addiction
services. "Doctors and nurses are just exhausted because everything
goes through them. What we need are more addiction services and
medical research facilities right within the DTES."

Mayencourt said he wants to see a Centre for Excellence in Addiction
Services be set up and allow the world's best addiction doctors to
practice in Vancouver.