KIDDIE CRACK: CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS EIGHT IN ON DRUGS

As they burst through the door of the crack house, Surrey RCMP Cpl. John
Furac and his partner saw a young drug dealer go for his gun.

"We open the door, and he's standing there and he lifts the weapon up." It
was over in a matter of seconds. The suspect dropped his gun as ordered. An
angry Furac told the suspect how close he came to getting killed, but "he
just seemed not to get it."

The boy was 13 years old.

His weapon, a pellet gun that looked like the real thing, was seized for
evidence, along with rock cocaine and marijuana the boy and his partners, a
15-year-old and an 18-year-old, were selling out of the Whalley crack
house. The underage suspects had toys and school books and homework
scattered throughout the house, along with cell phone, pagers, machetes and
hammers. It was 11 a.m. on a school day.

Where most crack users used to be in their late teens and early 20s, many
are now in their early teens and some even pre-teen, police say, citing
parents and drug counsellors who report a disturbing trend toward
ever-younger crack users in Surrey.

Cpl. Furac says the people he busts get younger every year.

"We're seeing much more of these kids in these crack houses that are
selling, or being used as mules (couriers) or spotters," Furac said.

In the first three months of 2001, RCMP raided seven crack houses in Surrey
and arrested 44 adults and six under-aged youth, including the gun-wielding
13-year-old and a 14-year-old at another location.

Some start as young as eight, says Josie Kane, a drug rehab counsellor who
works with addicted teens.

"I know of at least one case (involving a child that young)," Kane said.
She says the crack-addicted youth at her Fraser Valley rehab facility are
getting younger and younger.

"Grade 5 and Grade 6 is when it starts to show up," Kane said.

"One would be very hard-pressed to find a school where it isn't available."
That's no surprise to Lisa Petersen, a Surrey mother of five and campaigner
against crack houses in her Cedar Hills area.

Petersen has seen as many as four crack houses operating within walking
distance of a Surrey school.

"Sometimes you see 12- or 13-year-old kids running in and out of these houses."

A survey conducted by Nisha Family and Children's Services Society shows
one in four teens in South Fraser region used crack or knew someone who
used the drug at least once in the last 30 days.

About 79 per cent of the 215 youngsters surveyed believed they could get
crack within 24 hours if they had the money-"as easy as ordering pizza"
according to one respondent.

The study found higher youth drug use in Surrey, North Delta and New
Westminster, compared to areas like Aldergrove and Langley.

Most Surrey youth interviewed for the 1999 study lived in areas near Surrey
Central Skytrain station, Surrey Place and Guildford malls.

The user population is getting younger partly because older teens, usually
boys, are preying upon younger children, usually females, counsellor Kane says.

"Young girls, 13 and 14, are drinking at night, getting into crack, and
there are slightly older teenagers happy to supply them."

Activist Petersen said girls as young as 12 are targeted by older teens.

"That 18-year-old boy has no interest in your 12-year-old daughter other
than to either sexually use her or use her for drugs - and the story is not
uncommon," Petersen said.

"It happens every day."

Cpl. Furac said young crack users aren't the people profiting from the drug
trade.

"Its other older people making the money," Furac said.

"These kids don't have enough savvy at that age."

The older dealers like to use under-age accomplices because the youngsters
can count on relatively lenient sentences because of their age, and are
thus less likely to cut a deal with police, Furac said.

What is crack?

Crack is a smokeable form of cocaine that got its name from the crackling
sound the drug makes when smoked, usually with a heated pipe or even a
spoon or butter knife.

It looks like coagulated soap powder, and is relatively cheap -a single
rock of crack sells for $20 or less, depending on the dealer and purity of
the cocaine.

The drug produces a much more intense high than snorting cocaine powder.

The high, however, is short-lived-five to 10 minutes-and coming down can be
severe, including extreme fatigue, irritability and even paranoia.

Regular users of crack cocaine often go on binges, where they consume as
many as 50 rocks of cocaine a day in a bid to maintain the high.

Police say dealers will often give free samples of crack away at parties,
then start charging newly addicted crack heads.

CRACK ADDICTION: Warning signs

For parents, teachers and friends, the warning signs of crack addiction are
easy to spot.

They include:

* weight loss, due to declining appetite. Users can literally go weeks
without eating; * a chronic cough, or asthma-like symptoms; * enlarged
pupils; * money and valuables going missing; * long hours way from home
without explanation. Sometimes girls are absent as they prostitute to get
drug money. The sudden appearance of a pager or cell phone can be an
indication.

For parents, communication is key to prevent drug problems.

Know where your children go and who they hang out with.

Parents usually say they want honesty from their children, but if
youngsters feel parents are not sincere, they will not tell the truth.

A survey of Grade 12 students in the U.S. last year found more than half
reported trying an illegal drug while less than a third listed their
parents as a source of information on drugs.