Crusading Mayor Aims to Change Vancouver

Vancouver Mayor-elect Larry Campbell, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police drug squad officer and British Columbia's chief coroner, won the weekend election in a landslide and said he will move swiftly to make good on a promise to help Vancouver's drug addicts. Campbell said his number one priority is to set up the country's first supervised injection site, where intravenous drug users can shoot up in a clean setting. Campbell said his election showed that Vancouverites care deeply about the poor and addicted in Downtown Eastside, where drugs are bought and used openly and hundreds die each year of overdoses. A reluctant candidate, Campbell said he was persuaded to run because he feared the city was poised to retreat from a bold strategy aimed at treating addiction as a health concern, not a crime. Campbell said his first job as mayor will be to convene a meeting with the chief of police and health officials, with a goal to set up a site by Jan. 1.

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