How Doo I Get Database Connection From SSIS Script Task?

When I try this code in an SSIS "Script Task":

Dim dbConnectionManager As ConnectionManager = Dts.Connections(0)
Dim dbConnectionRaw As Object = dbConnectionManager.AcquireConnection(Nothing)
Dim dbConnection As OdbcConnection = CType(dbConnectionRaw, OdbcConnection)

I get this error:

Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to class type 'System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection'. Instances of types that represent COM components cannot be cast to types that do not represent COM components; however they can be cast to interfaces as long as the underlying COM component supports QueryInterface calls for the IID of the interface.



I'm just trying to get a basic database connection from the DTS package in my
script task. Is there a better way to do this? Preferably, I would use ADO.NET
rather than the old COM stuff. However, if SSIS still requires the use of COM,
that's fine as well, as long as I can fix the above code.

Thanks in advance!