DBD::PG question

In a perl script using DBI and DBD:Pg, I need to drop/create a table:
$dbp->{RaiseError} = 0;
$dbp->do( "DROP TABLE $table" );
$dbp->{RaiseError} = 1;
$dbp->do( "CREATE TABLE $table ..." );

If the table does not exist, the "DROP TABLE" produces an error message;
but script doesn't die because RaiseError was set to zero. Is there a way
to suppress this error message and then reset the change so an error in
create *is* seen?

Frank