AIDS ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSED TO MORE POLICE IN DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

Community AIDS organizations have joined together to oppose police plans to
put more officers in the drug-infested Downtown Eastside.

In a letter sent March 20 to Mayor Larry Campbell and the Vancouver police
board, the coalition cited fears about increased transmission of HIV if
addicts are scared away from needle exchanges, adding enforcement is
unlikely to have any effect on the drug problem.

"According to both the available research and the experiences of our
membership, there is no evidence that law enforcement is an effective
strategy to deal with the problems of addictions," said the letter from the
coalition, which includes the B.C. Persons with AIDS Society, AIDS
Vancouver and the YouthCO AIDS Society.

As of Friday morning, Campbell hadn't received the letter and refused to
comment until he receives it. Campbell, however, has told the Courier he
won't support the police's request for 44 more cops to work in the Downtown
Eastside.

While council won't make a final decision on its operating budget until
next month, the police have already pulled more than 40 cops from community
policing centres and other departments to form a city-wide enforcement team
to tackle the drug problem in the city, specifically the Downtown Eastside.

Since last fall, uniformed police have been standing on the corner of Main
and Hastings to prevent drug dealing.

The police have also been parking their cruisers in the area, which has
simply moved the drug trade a few blocks west along Hastings Street.

In a news release announcing the letter to the mayor, the acting chair of
the B.C. Persons with AIDS Society said the Downtown Eastside campaign is a
prime example of the limited and often negative impacts of enforcement.

"All they've done is displace drug dealers two blocks closer to the tourist
area of Gastown, and scared addicts in desperate need of sterile syringes
away from the needle exchange," said Malsah, who only goes by one name.

The Courier reported last week that the city's biggest needle exchange, run
by the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society, saw a 700,000 drop in
the distribution of needles from 2000 to 2002.