Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2008 Source: Morning Star, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 The Morning Star Contact: http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1352 EASTSIDE OFFICERS TALK DRUGS Walking the beat in the rough neighbourhoods of the infamous Vancouver downtown eastside has shown Sgt. Mark Steinkampf and Sgt. Toby Hinton of the Vancouver police some disturbing realities of hard drugs. Their stories are shocking, and on Monday they will be telling them at a free public presentation at the Vernon Recreation Complex with the mission to educate the public about drug-related issues. "It's all reality-based, it's what we see on a daily basis," said Steinkampf. "We want to share our experiences to hopefully steer people away from a life of drugs, especially young people." Steinkampf and Hinton are part of the Vancouver-based Odd Squad founded by seven downtown officers that make multi-media presentations about issues facing their community. In the beginning they pooled their own money together to buy a video camera with the goal of making a short 30-minute film that could educate Vancouver kids about drugs. "We needed to inform young people what it was like in the downtown eastside," said Steinkampf. "They weren't drawing the link in addiction from smoking or shooting to getting addicted." Steinkampf said some youth show up on the hard streets looking to try some drugs for recreational purposes, and end up getting trapped there. In their presentations they want to show the reality of the end results from using drugs, and how devastating it can be, but also that people who make bad choices and become addicts are still real people. They will be showing a series of photos and video to help them. One of those real people is Randy Miller, an addict for many years, who is now clean. He will be at the presentation to tell his personal struggle. Miller was part of the Odd Squad's first documentary called Through the Blue Lens, where they followed around six drug addicts through the downtown eastside that is now internationally known. The drug-education trio will also be heading to five schools thanks to School District 22 substance and abuse prevention counsellor Doug Rogers, who was instrumental in getting them to come and share their message in Vernon. "We are going to talk about policing the downtown eastside and how it relates to Vernon," said Steinkampf. "No one woke up thinking they would be alcoholic or drug addict. We just want to shed light on healthy decisions." The public presentation is from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Vernon Recreation Complex on Monday, and is free. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek