Vancouver: 'Drug Central' of North America

[Don]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8505061.stm

As Vancouver prepares to host the Winter Olympics, the city continues to struggle with a vicious drugs war. Dozens have been killed in escalating turf battles that have spread far beyond the city limits. But it is a war that has its roots even further away, in Mexico.

It rains a lot in Vancouver, but this city's ambition will not be dampened. Olympic organizers have spent nearly $2bn (US$1.87bn) to showcase a confident, modern metropolis to the world.

But barely a mile from the gleaming stadium that will host the opening ceremony, there is another Vancouver no-one is proud of.

The Downtown Eastside is a clump of rundown hotels and liquor stores. It is teeming with pushers, pimps and prostitutes, and home to one of the worst drug problems in North America.

"Heroin, crack, pot… every type of drug you want, you can get it here," a man tells me.

"Do you have any pills?" a young woman asks, her red hair starting to drip in the rain. She is looking to buy a $1 valium tablet, because she does not have $10 for heroin.

"Pretty much everything is $10," I am told. "This is Drug Central."

In a dingy alleyway, I met Shirley, smoking crack behind a dumpster.

She told me she was 40 and had been doing drugs since she was 14. She used to sell her body. Now she "shuffles" - ferries around small amounts of drugs for dealers in exchange for money.

She starts to prepare something called a speedball, heroin mixed with cocaine. She tells me she wants me to see the reality of addiction, but it is difficult to watch.

There are many like Shirley in the Downtown Eastside. They are the lowest rung of a vicious food chain.

Dozens have been killed in Vancouver's drug wars. Police say more than 100 gangs carve up a lucrative trade. And it is a problem that extends far beyond the city limits.

An hour to the east, in the lush Fraser Valley, lies Abbotsford, a town that once offered quiet, middle-class suburbia.

Seventeen-year-old Mathea Sturm walks me past her school gates. Five of her schoolmates died in as many months last year, and the town saw a spate of drug-related killings.

"It's still pretty hard to deal with the fact that we've lost a lot of people," she says. "It was a peaceful town, you could walk around at 11 at night… Then, all of a sudden, all this… it was sort of a big pandemic."

Abbotsford's comfortable homes and neat lawns have spawned a peculiarly middle-class breed of gangster.

The police know who and where they are, they just wait for evidence and the right opportunity.

As I drive along with Pc Marcus Senft, he points out a sizeable house in an upscale cul-de-sac, the home of a notorious crime family.

There are bars on the front door and he tells me the SUV in the driveway sports bullet-proof windows.

"Yeah, there's definitely some fear in this neighborhood," he says.

On the outskirts of town, we drive to Zero Avenue, the US border.

"There's no fence," Pc Senft says, "just a big field."

Canada and the US share one of the longest land borders in the world. Here, it consists of a ditch, a few feet separating two countries. It looks easy to jump across.

Within minutes of our arrival, a US border guard drives up.

He said he had spotted us on hidden cameras, but admitted it was impossible to stop everyone - or everything - coming over illegally.

Locally-grown marijuana - called "BC bud" - is smuggled south to the US and Mexico. Cocaine and weapons come north.

Mostly it is hidden in lorries, but it also comes across the fields around Abbotsford and other border towns. This porous frontier has become a frontline.

But the war started far away: the escalation in Canada's violence is a result of a crackdown by Mexican authorities on drug gangs there.

"Everything is global now," says Supt Pat Fogarty, of British Columbia's Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, which tackles organized crime in the region.

"When the war started, the cartels were too busy fighting the Mexican government... which caused a breakdown in the distribution lines, so people weren't getting their drugs," he says.

"There would be territorial takeovers, rip-offs, a variety of things that caused tension… If you look at the time in which this disruption occurred in Mexico and the disruption that occurred here, you can see the correlation between the two," he adds.

Against this backdrop, Vancouver is sprucing up and preparing to host the world.

The Olympic Games have brought some regeneration funds to the Downtown Eastside, but Mayor Gregor Robertson insists the city authorities are not glossing over their problems.

"We need to solve them," he told me. "And I think that kind of scrutiny actually puts more pressure on us to fix these problems sooner rather than later."

The mayor supports a controversial project in the Downtown Eastside called InSite, the only place in North America where it is legal to inject heroin.

InSite won a legal exemption, allowing the project to operate. On the ground floor they offer free syringes and a nurse to monitor against overdoses; upstairs, a rehab center for those who want to quit.

Those running it claim a higher quit-rate than any official program, and a lower rate of HIV infection through shared needles.

Opponents, and there are many, say it condones drugs use.

It is a highly unusual project in a city known for being progressive. But it is not enough to clean up the Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver's problems will last long after the Olympic spirit has left.

[RedWingFan]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

[Triple S]

You guys have no idea. (But hey, it's OK - our responsible government is making sure they shove as many druggies and street people as they can into homeless shelters, during the Olympics, so the rest of the world won't see them) . Any other time - there's no room for them.

[Saint John]

I'd take drugs too if I lived in fucking Canada!

[SherriBerry]

Vancouver was a beautiful, safe city until a few years ago when the drug gangs started openly battling over territory. If they just killed each other, they could shoot until there weren't any dealers left as far as I'm concerned, but innocent people get caught in the crossfire. It isn't as bad as major US cities, but it's growing and our justice system treats criminals like naughty schoolchildren.

Because of the relatively mild climate and drug culture, the homeless and addicts (even from several provinces away) tend to end up there, and the Downtown Eastside is a focal point. Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in the world for real estate, so it isn't difficult to end up homeless there.

[Triple S]

Hi Sherri! You in SA now, all settled in? If so, welcome!

[RedWingFan]

I'd take drugs too if I lived in fucking Canada!

Good one Dan!

[Triple S]

I'd take drugs too if I lived in fucking Canada!

Good one Dan!

So would we

[Rockindeano]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

[Maui Tom]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

Surf City...

two girls for every boy.....

[Ehwmatt]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

I've heard Toronto's great, what's Vancouver's draw? Never been to either. Only been to Niagara Falls and Windsor

[RedWingFan]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

Never been there dude so I can't speak to it. Just yankin' your chain!

[treetopovskaya]

i love canada!

we drove up to washington to visit a friend. drove up to vancouver for a weekend... drove to whistler (omg! such a beautiful place!)... good memories... good coffee! }=C)

[Rockindeano]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

I've heard Toronto's great, what's Vancouver's draw? Never been to either. Only been to Niagara Falls and Windsor

Vancouver's draw? The only place where you can fish at noon and snow ski at 3PM. The sheer beauty of th eplace is astounding. Watch the Olympics and check the views of this fucking place. The city literally shines. Public transit is awesome and lightning fast. The people are great. Blows Toronto away in all respects.

[Triple S]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

I've heard Toronto's great, what's Vancouver's draw? Never been to either. Only been to Niagara Falls and Windsor

Vancouver's draw? The only place where you can fish at noon and snow ski at 3PM. The sheer beauty of th eplace is astounding. Watch the Olympics and check the views of this fucking place. The city literally shines. Public transit is awesome and lightning fast. The people are great. Blows Toronto away in all respects.

Not this year (but you're right - it does indeed blow Toronto away).

[Rockindeano]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

I've heard Toronto's great, what's Vancouver's draw? Never been to either. Only been to Niagara Falls and Windsor

Vancouver's draw? The only place where you can fish at noon and snow ski at 3PM. The sheer beauty of th eplace is astounding. Watch the Olympics and check the views of this fucking place. The city literally shines. Public transit is awesome and lightning fast. The people are great. Blows Toronto away in all respects.

Not this year (but you're right - it does indeed blow Toronto away).

LOL, you can still get up to Grouse Mt and do some skiing. There is always a couple centimeters up there. If not, go to the restaurant and slam Molson Canadians all day while watching the city 2 thousand meters below. Such an awesome sight.

[Ehwmatt]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

I've heard Toronto's great, what's Vancouver's draw? Never been to either. Only been to Niagara Falls and Windsor

Vancouver's draw? The only place where you can fish at noon and snow ski at 3PM. The sheer beauty of th eplace is astounding. Watch the Olympics and check the views of this fucking place. The city literally shines. Public transit is awesome and lightning fast. The people are great. Blows Toronto away in all respects.

Not this year (but you're right - it does indeed blow Toronto away).

LOL, you can still get up to Grouse Mt and do some skiing. There is always a couple centimeters up there. If not, go to the restaurant and slam Molson Canadians all day while watching the city 2 thousand meters below. Such an awesome sight.

God Molson Canadian is GOOD in Canada. So different from the stuff we get here (which is still pretty good).

[Triple S]

Vancouver's draw? The only place where you can fish at noon and snow ski at 3PM. The sheer beauty of th eplace is astounding. Watch the Olympics and check the views of this fucking place. The city literally shines. Public transit is awesome and lightning fast. The people are great. Blows Toronto away in all respects.

Not this year (but you're right - it does indeed blow Toronto away).

LOL, you can still get up to Grosse Mt and do some skiing. There is always a couple centimeters up there. If not, go to the restaurant and slam Molson Canadians all day while watching the city 2 thousand meters below. Such an awesome sight.

They've actually had to bring snow in by the truckload from other parts of BC to Cypress Mountain (where the freestyle and snowboard events will be held). Whistler's got lots of snow for the alpine events. But apparently there are 'flurries' in the forecast before opening, so I hope it works out for them. We had a similar situation in Calgary in '88 with a Chinook - it was 18 degress celsius for a few days during Olympic week, and windy! They had to postpone a few of the ski events, and I ended up missing stuff I had tickets for .

[Triple S]

The view from Grouse Mountain - like Dean said - spectacular!

[SherriBerry]

Hi Sherri! You in SA now, all settled in? If so, welcome!

Thanks! I'm in SA, but still climbing over boxes and need a map to navigate these residential areas. Within 24 hours we needed a plumber, so it hasn't been smooth, but it's a nice neighbourhood and my aunt and uncle arrived after driving through our old town where it is indeed snowing. I have to e-mail some people back home to gloat just a little bit!

[Frontiers65]

I live in Seattle so Vancouver is just 150 miles away. I have been there many times and it is my fav city! Sad to hear about the drug gangs. Last time I was there was in 01. Such a beautiful city. I saw U2 in concert there too back in 92,great show!

[Rockindeano]

Frontiers, ordinarily, I would bitch about the huge avatar size which fucks up the entire page, but in your case, please just leave it be. I don't care if Andrew says something or not. Leave it be.

I just want to bite those fuckin buttons off her sweater, stick my puss in there and shake back and forth violently.

[Frontiers65]

Frontiers, ordinarily, I would bitch about the huge avatar size which fucks up the entire page, but in your case, please just leave it be. I don't care if Andrew says something or not. Leave it be.

I just want to bite those fuckin buttons off her sweater, stick my puss in there and shake back and forth violently.

Yea,I did not intend it to be this big but it was the only size I could find. She is so hot!

[Red13JoePa]

Dean, Isn't Vancouver your favorite city?

Finest city in the world. Name one better city. You simply can't.

Never been there dude so I can't speak to it. Just yankin' your chain!

It's a shithole!