EASTSIDE OFFICERS TALK DRUGS

May 23, 2008

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 7pm to 8:30pm at the Vernon Recreation Complex on Monday, and is free.

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Odd Squad dishes sane advice

June 02, 2008

It is a powerful image to see someone who has picked off pieces of their arm until it becomes an infested crater because the hard drugs they took made them believe there was a bug on them.

This was just one of the images that made the Grade 9 students of Pleasant Valley Secondary School recoil in horror as two members of the Vancouver-based Odd Squad showed them the harsh reality at the end of the road for drug addicts of the Vancouver’s downtown eastside.

“If anyone has had experiences with drugs, or alcohol, or has a family member, anyone that they know, or is affected themselves, please talk to your teachers or counsellors and share that with someone,” said Sgt. Toby Hinton as he wrapped up their presentation, “We don’t want to see anyone go through the problems of a drug addict.”

Hinton, along with Sgt. Mark Steinkampf, were in Vernon last week touring schools, and held a free public lecture, to make their message clear that a life of drugs is preventable.

They are members of the Vancouver police that walk the beat of the infamous downtown eastside, but are also two of the seven founding members of the Odd Squad, a multimedia production company whose soul purpose is to educate people on drugs.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” said Hinton. “It’s as simple as that.... We can bring the end of the line, which is where the worst cases end up, where the biggest drug problem in North America exists, where the greatest tragedy and most horror stories exist and tell young kids...and they can learn from it.”

Hinton said they talked to the RCMP, and drug counsellor Doug Rogers from School District 22, about what kind of drugs were affecting the Vernon area so they could cater their presentation to this region.

“We know that the most prevalent drugs in smaller towns in British Columbia are going to be alcohol and marijuana,” said Hinton, “but we were also advised there is a crack problem developing. Not so much crystal methamphetamine, although it is around, and eventually communities will have to deal with it in a big way.”

In their presentation the Odd Squad discussed different types of drugs, their street names, their side-effects and the audience could see how it affected real people in Vancouver with pictures and videos.

The highlight of the presentation came when they introduced Randy Miller, and showed how he lived when he was a heroin and cocaine addict.

Miller was a rising hockey star before he became trapped in a life of drugs, and now Miller has been clean for eight years. He started lecturing kids and young hockey players two short years after he got back on his feet.

“After I got clean I found out that I had three nephews in my family,” said Miller. “I didn’t want them to follow in my footsteps. I have had kids phone me and tell me I have changed their life by talking to them, and it’s been good therapy.”

His message after the Odd Squad presentation really hit home for the Grade 9 audience, there were hands flying up throughout the crowd with questions on how Miller dealt with his addiction and why he wanted to change.

“I think this is a reality-based bit of information,” said PVSS principal Glenn Borthistle. “Having the officers and Randy here gives the kids a huge opportunity to see the impact of drugs”

Hinton said that they have travelled the country, and their local presentations were the best groups they have talked to so far. Every school had watched the internationally acclaimed Through the Blue Lens documentary made by the Odd Squad before they spoke to students.

“The students were familiar with what we were going to talk about,” said Hinton. “We did presentations for some assemblies of over a thousand students, and for 90 minutes they sat on those hard bleachers and paid attention to what we were saying.”

After their presentation the two members of the Odd Squad returned to Vancouver to get back to the streets, and Miller returned to his home in New Westminster and his six-day-a-week job that at one point he never thought possible.

Vernon Morning Star Newspaper