LEGAL COSTS KILL CHALLENGE TO ADDICT CENTRE

The price tag for fighting the city's approval of a development permit for
the centre rose after intervenors were allowed to take part in the legal
battle.

A lawsuit against the city's new contact centre for drug addicts is dead,
says the lawyer representing the group that launched the action.

"As far as I know, it's not going anywhere," Jonathan Baker said late last
week.

He said the group, the GSC Community Alliance Society, doesn't want to go
ahead now that groups supporting the combination clinic and drop-in centre
have become involved in the case.

The Community Alliance Society filed a lawsuit last fall, claiming that the
city violated its own zoning by giving a development permit to the
Vancouver/Richmond health board to establish the contact centre on the
ground floor of the Roosevelt Hotel on Hastings Street near Main Street. It
said the city's zoning stipulated retail use only in that area of Hastings
Street and the centre clearly wasn't retail.

But Baker said the cost of fighting the case rose significantly once
intervenors were allowed to take part.

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users was granted intervenor status by a
Supreme Court judge last month, after it argued that the closure of the
centre would have a serious impact on the drug addicts who used it. The
Carnegie Community Centre Association subsequently requested intervenor
status, as did a private individual, said Baker.

"Their quarrel was essentially a political one, not a legal one.

"When the costs get high, it's better to look for another way to make your
point," said Baker.

The centre opened Dec. 21 and, with the exception of a three-week closure,
has been open since then.

It is meant to be one part of a constellation of health services in the
Downtown Eastside dealing with health problems caused by drug addiction:
overdose deaths, epidemic-level HIV infections and the highest rate of
hepatitis C in North America. It is also a component of the city's drug
strategy which is aimed at tackling social and health problems in the area.

A coalition of Gastown, Chinatown and Strathcona business operators and
residents called the Community Alliance have criticized the centre and the
plan for "enabling" drug addicts to continue with their addiction.

Richard Lee, the president and spokesman of the Community Alliance, said he
is not allowed to speak for the society that filed the lawsuit because it
is a separate legal entity.

Lee said he also could not provide the name of anyone who could speak for
the society because they don't want the publicity.

Lee said the Alliance will continue to lobby in its own way for change,
including participating in a conference coming to Vancouver May 1-3 that
will advocate against the kinds of "harm reduction" strategies being
proposed in Vancouver.