Pubdate: Tue, 11 May 2004 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Page: A14 Copyright: 2004, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Mark Hume Cited: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/10/1551 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom