POLICE HEAT DOES LITTLE TO CHANGE DRUG PICTURE

Pressure Just Shifts Trade To Other Locales In Vancouver, Downtown Study Finds

VANCOUVER -- Police drug crackdowns may end up doing more harm than good, a
study published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests.

Researchers from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
examined the impact of increased law enforcement in the Downtown Eastside
last year, when the Vancouver Police Department tackled an open drug market
where heroin, cocaine and other substances were sold.

While the crackdown led to trafficking charges against 162 people, and
disrupted the open selling of drugs at the corner of Main and Hastings
streets, it did nothing to reduce drug sales or drug use, the study found.

Evan Wood, a clinical epidemiologist and one of the lead researchers, said
the drug market simply shifted location as police pressure increased.

"Enforcement, employed as an isolated event, doesn't work," Dr. Wood said
yesterday.

The Vancouver Police Department rejects that conclusion, arguing that the
enforcement succeeded in shutting down an open drug market that was making
the area unlivable.

"Our objective was to give the community back to the people," said
Constable Sarah Bloor, media spokeswoman for the Vancouver police. "We went
after drug traffickers. . . . If you go into the community, you will have
people thankful that we are down there."

Dr. Wood said that while the police action was aimed at dealers, not users,
it didn't alter the drug picture and perhaps made it worse by pushing users
and dealers into new neighbourhoods, creating public-health problems.

"We confirmed there were some public-order benefits at the corner of Main
and Hastings, from the increased enforcement, but you have to look deeper
than that," he said. "If you look away from the corner . . . there was a
major decline in public order."

Dr. Wood said he didn't want to be critical of the Vancouver Police
Department, which has been supportive of a needle-exchange program and a
safe-injection site for heroin users in the Downtown Eastside.

But he feels the study supports the argument that drug abuse is a health
problem, not a law-enforcement problem.

"From a scientific perspective, no market has ever been controlled from the
supply side. The most effective way is to deal with the demand side," he said.

Police departments around the world use supply-side strategies to limit the
supply of illegal drugs by arresting dealers and users. Demand-side
strategies, on the other hand, try to reduce the demand for drugs through
health-awareness campaigns and treatment.