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ABC NEWS 20/20 Downtown CHRIS CUOMO, ABCNEWS Here in Vancouver,
they’re trying new weapons in the war on
drugs—cameras instead of handcuffs. A group of
veteran cops walking the beat in alleys just like this is
putting addicts on film instead of in jail in the belief that
the best way to fight drugs is by showing kids the despair
of addiction stopping the problem before it starts.
Tonight, you will see the very human face of addiction,
through the eyes of some remarkable officers. 1ST POLICE OFFICER (From “Through A Blue Lens”) When did you shoot up? How long ago? MAN (From “Through a Blue Lens”) About 10 minutes ago. 1ST POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) About 10 minutes ago? MAN (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Yeah. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) As we walk, I watch addicts roam the alleys like zombies, moving from fix to fix. In the old days, officers came in waves looking for arrests. It was good guys vs. bad guys with no common ground. DAVID KOLB, VANCOUVER POLICE There was no way at that time I would have ever thought I could have identified with them or sympathized or empathized with them. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) But policy changed in Vancouver. Only dealers were targeted for arrest. Addicts were no longer perps, just people living and dying on the streets. DAVID KOLB You just started seeing them not like trash. You started seeing them as people and as humans. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) The human tragedy of addiction hit home for the officers and they decided to fight it. TOBY HINTON, VANCOUVER POLICE You stand back after looking at it for a few years and you go, ‘Why am I doing this? And is it, in fact, working?’ And if it isn’t working, let’s make some type of a change or approach that is gonna help a little bit. MARK STEINKAMPF, VANCOUVER POLICE (From “Through a Blue Lens”) You think you can stop? CHRIS CUOMO (VO) For years cops have known that putting junkies in jail didn’t work, and that the only real solution was prevention. The problem was, how do you get the message across to the next generation? WALTER MCKAY, VANCOUVER POLICE So we thought, ‘Well, why don’t we just show them what we see through our eyes?’ Even journalists can’t come down here and see what we see because we live through it. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) A new strategy was born. The Odd Squad still carried guns and handcuffs, but their weapon of choice was now a video camera. On their own time they began documenting what they knew all too well. Life and death on the skids. MARK STEINKAMPF (From “Through a Blue
Lens”) He was in an overdose of heroin and possibly
with some cocaine. He stopped breathing just as the
ambulance showed up. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Addicts who ordinarily would
shun cameras, were eager to take part in the Odd
Squad’s documentary, to warn those who dared to try
drugs. MARK STEINKAMPF You know what, that’s one common quality that all the addicts share. They don’t want to see anybody else following in their footsteps. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) They got to know some desperate hard-core addicts. First, there was Nicola. NICOLA, RECOVERING ADDICT (From “Through a Blue Lens”) This idiot said I took his cigarettes. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Nicola was 40 when squad members met her. A harsh reminder of what happens to someone who has been addicted to heroin and cocaine since she was 15. AL ARSENAULT, VANCOUVER POLICE Everybody knows her. Everybody on the street knows her. All the police know her because she was kind of like epitomized as the worst female drug addict. 2ND POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Hey Nicola, we bump into you from time to time. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Do we? CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Despite her appearance, the cops quickly found she was articulate, witty, and in her own way, strong. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Perfect for you. 2ND POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) “I call the shots.” CHRIS CUOMO Did your opinion of Nicola change as you got to know her through the course of the documentary? LEN HOLLINGSWORTH, VANCOUVER POLICE Definitely. I saw her for more than just a street person, more than just an addict. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Like part of me wants to quit, wants to stop. Even when I get up in the morning, I don’t want to do drugs. Part of me does. And that part overtakes the part that doesn’t. DAVID KOLB They have powerful stories. I mean, that’s clear from the documentary and they allowed us and the world to have a glimpse into their lives. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Squad members met Carlee the night she called 911. CARLEE (From “Through a Blue Lens”) John shot himself in the face tonight. Right in front of me. I don’t know if he’s going to live or die. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Carlee’s addicted boyfriend died that night. At first blush, Carlee was just another junkie in a bad way. 3RD POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Who is this? CARLEE (From “Through a Blue Lens”) That’s me there. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) But when she showed some of the officers a family photo album the line between officer and addict disappeared. MARK STEINKAMPF This is when I’m eight and sitting in the mall. This is my Santa Claus picture. Well, I’ve got those pictures and this is when my family—I mean, we went to the lake. Well, I’ve got those pictures. I don’t know anybody down here who wanted to be a drug addict. I don’t care who you are, how strong and powerful you are, these drugs are gonna take you down to your knees and they’re gonna win every time. CHRIS CUOMO Then there was Randy. 4TH POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Your leg’s bugging you. Is it, Randy? RANDY, RECOVERING ADDICT (From “Through a Blue Lens”) That’s why I’m moving around like this. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Randy was the epitome of the drug-addicted derelict. He hadn’t ventured out of the skids in 13 years. It’s a wonder he managed to stay alive. His signature drug-induced fits made him a freakish novelty on the skids. 5TH POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Are you OK, Randy? RANDY (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Pardon me? 5TH POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Are you OK? CHRIS CUOMO (VO) But after a while, the squad learned even Randy had a history, a dignity, with passions and abilities. Randy had been a star athlete in school, a National Hockey League prospect. The officers got to know him and tried to help. In a few months, miraculously, Randy went clean. CHRIS CUOMO Tell me about meeting the Odd Squad. RANDY I met those guys downtown, like, I couldn’t believe it. It was like they were being nice and friendly to me. And usually the cops, some of them, they whack you in the head to smarten you up or something. Right? And these guys were, like, they were different. They were being nice and if you show them respect, they show you respect. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) With help from the squad and his own family, Randy moved into a recovery house. He’s on methadone now and has been clean for a year. How about when you look back at the documentary and you see what you were looking like? RANDY I was totally disgusted. I couldn’t believe it. That’s me. I couldn’t believe it. I always thought when I was flipping down on the road like that, I thought I was singing and having a good time. That’s the way—that’s the way I thought. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) After months of filming, the squad sensed they were on to something special. They brought some footage to the National Film Board of Canada. And the board signed on. “Through a Blue Lens” was on its way to becoming a real film. MARK STEINKAMPF OK. There’s this young lady. Her name is Shannon. Is she a drug addict? GROUP (In unison) No. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Throughout the filming, the Odd Squad brought their dose of reality to hundreds of classrooms around British Columbia, introducing teen-agers to Randy, Nicola, Carlee and Shannon. When they met Shannon, she was clean, with an appetite for partying—a kid not unlike the students in this classroom. MARK STEINKAMPF And this is her six months later. What do you think is going on with her now? Yeah. She’s on the needle now. Now she’s a drug addict. I wish I could have gotten you off the street before that happened to you. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Shannon has provided a tough lesson for kids and the squad—a painful example of how consuming addiction can be. She has a son but lives without him in this welfare hotel. Her heart is damaged from drug use and could literally explode. She pays for rent and drugs by selling her sole valuable possession—her body. Recently she got badly beaten by a john. TOBY HINTON You’re still putting yourself in an incredibly dangerous situation by working the streets to fuel your drug habit. Right? SHANNON, ADDICT Yeah. TOBY HINTON Which means you’re still trapped in this world since the filming, and you know that some of the subjects have managed to get themselves off the street? SHANNON Yeah. CHRIS CUOMO Why don’t you let the officers help you and try and start getting clean tonight or tomorrow morning? SHANNON Well, that’s what I’d like to do, you know? I wish it was that easy, you know? CHRIS CUOMO Why isn’t it that easy ?SHANNON But even if I keep putting it off, it will never happen. CHRIS CUOMO So why are you putting it off? Why don’t you go tonight? Why don’t you let them help you tonight? SHANNON Well, it’s not that. Nobody could help me but myself. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Later, Shannon told me she was almost ready to accept the recovery room the squad lined up for her, but it’s tough to believe. If you were listening to somebody say the same thing that you’re saying... SHANNON I wouldn’t believe them. CHRIS CUOMO Right. SHANNON Just like I know you probably don’t believe me. CHRIS CUOMO It’s not about me believing it. It’s about you believing it. SHANNON No, no, it’s—that’s right. That’s what’s important and I believe it. CHRIS CUOMO But if you were listening to yourself, you would. SHANNON Of course not. CHRIS CUOMO Why not? SHANNON Because it’s—it’s the same story with most addicts. You always say tomorrow, tomorrow, you know? And a lot of times tomorrow doesn’t happen. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Nicola, too, would say she was ready for rehab and the Odd Squad was ready to make it happen. 6TH POLICE OFFICER Do you want to go down with us? We can take you down? NICOLA Well, I have a couple of things to do first. 6TH POLICE OFFICER It’s been like a year now since we’ve been following her and that’s the worst I’ve seen her right now. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Nicola had reached rock bottom. But nobody, not her family, not the cops, would have guessed what was about to happen. 6TH POLICE OFFICER (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Well, this is the end of our shooting here. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Good. Ha, ha. I hope you got something good. When do you think this movie is going to come out? Is there going to be a premiere and everything like that? CHRIS CUOMO (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Yeah. You’ll be invited. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) Well, I would certainly hope so. Because I want to get my teeth done. And I want to get a nice dress. Now, do you think they would spring for a dress? CHRIS CUOMO (VO) Maybe it was the idea of a new dress or a film premiere. Maybe it was that her family and the Odd Squad never gave up on her. Whatever it was, Nicola went clean. As the final credits rolled at the premiere of “Through a Blue Lens,” Nicola stood in her new dress—a stunning reminder of what could be. NICOLA It was awesome. It was very—it was moving. It was quite moving. CHRIS CUOMO What was the most difficult thing for you emotionally to deal with when you saw the documentary? NICOLA I realized that drugs had robbed me of probably 26 years of my life, robbed me. CHRIS CUOMO You ever think to yourself—you know, wow, these—of all people, the police changed my life? NICOLA Yeah. I would be—I wouldn’t have believed it if you had told me that 10 years ago. I wouldn’t have believed it. CHRIS CUOMO What about today? NICOLA Well, I believe it because I’m here. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) For Nicola, the skids seem far away now—the images, bleak and desperate. But she warmly remembers one Christmas when her bond with the officers became one of friendship and trust. NICOLA (From “Through a Blue Lens”) You don’t look like Santa Claus. When they came up, I was almost in tears because it was such a sentimental thing, I mean, it was just so great to be remembered by somebody and get a Christmas gift. I was really, really happy. (From “Through a Blue Lens”) You know what, you are going to get a hug. Merry Christmas. And you’re getting one, too. I don’t care. CHRIS CUOMO You must have, when you look back at that, said, “Wow, this was—this was new. This was something that’s not supposed to happen.” TOBY HINTON That’s a culmination of a relationship that we’ve sort of all gone through and it’s been built up over a period of time of dealing with them. Good job. CHRIS CUOMO (VO) It was a relationship that few police officers would ever have—one that would give Nicola, Randy and Carlee and perhaps the whole Vancouver police department, a new sense of hope. DAVE KOLB We had a lot of our peers come up after the documentary and they go, you know, ‘I just don’t see hope down there, but Randy. Who would have thought Randy would have, like, ever been able to be clean for a year. And they go, you know, he has given me hope.’ CHRIS CUOMO (VO) The officers of the Odd Squad are thankful that they’ve been able to help some drug users, but their primary goal and passion is prevention. They’ve begun a follow-up film in the hopes that kids everywhere can see and understand what they see every day—the horror of drug addiction. WALTER MCKAY I want to tell the children out there that if you’re gonna make a career choice to be a drug addict, well, here’s gonna be your companions and workmates down here. Here’s where your room and board is. Nothing, because you’re on the street. And your boss is great because he’s always with you. You’re gonna pump him in your arm. You’re not going to get away from him. And he’s going to be with you for the rest of your life. |
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