Is there a faster way of getting a char* from a _variant_t than (const char*)(_bstr_t)

_variant_t var = pRs->Fields->GetItem(i)->GetValue();

                if (V_VT(&var) == VT_BSTR)
                {
                    char* p = (const char*) (_bstr_t) var;

USES_CONVERSION;
char *p=W2A(var.bstrVal);

char *p=CW2AEX<>(var.bstrVal);

USES_CONVERSION;
char* p = strdup(OLE2A(var.bstrVal));

// ...

free(p);

_variant_t var = pRs->Fields->GetItem(i)->GetValue();

_variant_t vara = pRs->Collect[i]->Value;