POLICE SAY THREAT OF ARRESTS WORKING

A police crackdown on injection drug users in the Downtown Eastside
that began Nov. 28 hasn't resulted in one arrest, says the police
commander in charge of the district.

Insp. Bob Rolls said Thursday that police have been diligent in
cracking down on drug users openly injecting in public, but so far
haven't had to arrest anybody.

"The information we're getting back is that drug users think we're
going to charge them, so they're not doing it," Rolls said.

Police are focusing on the area that runs from Columbia Street to Gore
Street, and from Cordova Street to Pender Street. Insite, the city's
supervised injection site, is located in the middle of that area at
139 East Hastings.

The police action was prompted by complaints from businesses and
residents fed up with people injecting drugs on the streets and in the
alleys.

Since Insite opened in September 2003, Rolls said, police have
encouraged drug users to use the facility. Until police announced the
crackdown, they were not arresting users for possession of drugs.

Ten days before the crackdown, police said they notified various
agencies in the Downtown Eastside, including staff at Insite and the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

Although Rolls admits people may not believe police haven't arrested
anyone for shooting up in public, he credits the warnings and media
attention for curbing the problem.

"Anybody who has spent time in the Downtown Eastside has seen people
shooting up, and I'm going to say that that has dropped dramatically
and that these people who are IV drug users are being more cautious
and more selective in the places they choose."

Critics of the police action predicted there would be mass lineups to
get into Insite because of the crackdown. So far, that hasn't
happened, said Clay Adams, a spokesman for the Vancouver Coastal
Health Authority, which oversees the injection site.

"Keep in mind, it's always been busy, but no, the steady stream
continues but there hasn't been this huge spike in people coming to
the site," Adams said. "It has increased [Insite staff] tell me, but
not in the sense where there's people stretched around the block."

Added Adams: "Am I surprised by it? If the amount of visible drug traffic
on the street is as high as what some people are claiming then yes, it is
surprising because we know the police haven't made any arrests."

The site is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m. Since Insite
opened in September 2003, an average of 600 injections per day occur
at the facility.

Ann Livingston, executive program director of VANDU, found it hard to
believe no drug users had been arrested. She pointed out that at least
5,000 injection drug users live or frequent the Downtown Eastside.
Though the cold weather has kept some inside, she said the area police
targeted is still active with users injecting drugs.

"It's extremely easy to shoot fish in a barrel and kind of crack off a
few drug users," she said. "But when we met with the police on
Tuesday, they in fact said they hadn't seen anyone injecting drugs and
that their great campaign was working."

Livingston said information from drug users is there appears to be
more plainclothes police on the streets posing as drug users. She
claimed some of them were visiting Insite, but admitted she had no
evidence of that.

Previous police crackdowns have forced drug users off the streets and
caused them to inject by themselves in hotels, said Livingston, adding
that it's not safe to inject alone.

"We have some of the highest overdose death statistics in the world.
And when it was at its highest, people were found alone in their hotel
rooms. Is that what you want to do? We've spent a lot of money and a
lot of time telling people 'don't shoot alone in your room."