POLICE SHUT DOWN CARNEGIE DRUG MARKET

The area in front of the Carnegie Centre at the corner of Main and Hastings
is abnormally quiet these days. That's because city police are keeping a
24-hour-hour, seven days a week vigil in a so-far successful bid to shut
down the chronic open-air drug market.

Sgt. Scott Thompson of Vancouver Police Department District Two said the
vigil started Nov. 6, with the first one-hour shift manned by inspectors
Bob Rich and Dan Dureau.

Thompson said the impact of the experiment still has to be evaluated, but
the response so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

"It's busier inside the centre because people are going there that have
never been before, but outside, it's a ghost town."

The bustling drug market outside the community centre emerged in the early
1990s, when crack cocaine became a drug of choice for addicts.

Crack addicts have to use the drug several times a day to maintain a high,
so purchase volumes are much higher than for heroin.

It's not known why the dealers and users congregated outside the community
centre, given that most of the centre's clients are not addicts.

To address the problem, last November, the city announced a series of
design changes that were supposed to stamp out the scene.

Now completed, the renovations include additional outside lighting,
renovation of the outside washrooms and creation of an outdoor patio area
on the Main Street side of the building.

However, according to Carnegie Centre director Michael Clague, it wasn't
until the police crackdown began last week that the market dispersed. "It's
early days yet, but anecdotally, I can say we don't have a drug market
outside anymore and it feels very good," said Clague, adding the Carnegie
Centre approached police several weeks ago to ask if they would step up
their presence at the corner.

"We were going to wait until after all the promised treatment services had
been established, but the market had reached a level we couldn't tolerate
anymore."

On a visit to the centre in late October, a Courier reporter was offered
crack cocaine three times as he walked alongside the building and up the
stairs to the front door. Several men were molesting a woman in a
drug-induced stupor as she stood alongside one of the centre's front pillars.

Since the crackdown began, dealers and users have moved west and east along
Hastings Street and to Oppenheimer Park-where police are conducting a
similar but less intense vigil-and Pigeon Park.

Thompson said the experiment has been even more successful than police had
hoped. "If we leave because of call load, the officers are returning after
an hour or so and people haven't moved back."

Clague hopes police become a permanent fixture at the corner. A decision
about whether to continue the effort is expected when District Two staff
numbers drop over the traditional Christmas and spring break holidays.

Thompson said the vigil began in early November because District Two staff
numbers are at their highest in early winter, when fewer officers are on
holidays.