DON'T HELP DRUG-ADDICTED PANHANDLERS, OFFICIALS PLEAD

They Probably Won't Buy A Coffee With That $1

John Mason is just $3 away from his next hit.

Two $1 coins sit inside his black toque, lying open on the pavement
outside the Shepherds of Good Hope on Murray Street. He sits, wrapped
in a large green jacket, on top of a cardboard box, waiting for
passersby to drop their change.

Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink.

Mr. Mason is waiting for his next hit of crack cocaine -- much
cheaper than its cousin, cocaine, but as it's smoked, with many of
the same effects.

Community groups, backed by police, are concerned with increasingly
aggressive panhandling. And more problematic, they say, is the fact
panhandlers are using the money people drop off to buy more crack.

"I used to be into booze," says Mr. Mason. "but it's all about the
crack now. It's cheaper. It's hard to explain how good it feels."

Drugs are life at the shelter. Across the street in the small
courtyard framed with a wrought-iron fence, about 20 or so people
gather. They talk, they laugh, they deal drugs. It is like any
afternoon as the panhandlers dot the pavement, some weaving in and
out of traffic, looking for loose change.

Community groups want the public to stop handing out money, because
it's not helping the problem.

"When people give to panhandlers, they are hoping and thinking that
the money they give the person is going to assist the person in going
to buy food, or accommodation, or bus tickets, whatever the case may
be," says Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bedard. "But in reality,
they are often feeding these people's drug habit."

"There are estimates that a good panhandler can easily earn about $60
in an hour," says Mr. Bedard. "So in 15 minutes, maybe you can get
$15 or so that assures you to have a couple of hits."

"You get your money, you go and get your drugs, you go do it up, and
you're off for maybe 20 or so minutes and then you return and do some
more panhandling."

That's Mr. Mason's method. He usually tries for $10 -- enough for at
least two hits of crack, maybe three. Sometimes, the patience wears
thin, he admits, and he goes and buys a hit of crack after making
between $3 and $5. It's about the size of a crumb. He says a good day
means he gets about 10 hits.

There is always someone to buy from in the Byward Market area where
almost all the homeless shelters are located. The dealers themselves
know the shelters well, with some even using messengers -- people who
stay at the shelter -- to set up deals between dealers and the
homeless who use the shelters.

Even more cruel are the folks who start selling the crack for
next-to-nothing, or even give it away. Once someone is addicted, that
price skyrockets.

"That's what you call a loss leader," says Mr. Bedard. "It's very common."

Kim Chadsey, executive director of Operation Go Home -- an
organization that works with street children in the city -- is
particularly concerned about increasingly aggressive panhandling.

"They're either verbally aggressive, or physically get in your face.
They are the ones that get into traffic. They're the ones we need to address."

Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Paul Johnston said the large majority of
aggressive panhandlers use the cash to feed their drug addictions,
especially crack.

Instead of giving money to an aggressive panhandler, Staff Sgt.
Johnston recommends making a donation to a homeless shelter or
treatment program.

"Give to a social service agency, because 100 per cent of the time
the money goes to help them," says Staff Sgt. Johnston, who oversees
the Central East neighbourhood unit that patrols the Byward Market
and Rideau Street.

Crack has been prevalent in Ottawa for about the past three years,
but in the past year there has been an explosion, according to
community groups and police.

The question is what to do about the situation and whether the push
to stop people giving money to panhandlers will help the crack problem.

Mr. Bedard says several things, in addition to encouraging people not
to give panhandlers money, will have an impact on the crack issue. He
says there needs to be a push to shut Ottawa's crack houses, as well
as adding a dedicated police group to work in the downtown area where
most of Ottawa's crack houses are located.

"There are a lot of things that can be done, but unfortunately we, as
a municipality, certainly don't have the necessary resources to
implement all of these things," he says. "We need more money from the
provincial and federal government."

But Ms. Chadsey says people need to take a step back and look at the
bigger picture.

"This is a systemic societal issue. We need as a society to find out
why, and keep going backwards in our questions until we come to our
very first why. Why did they start taking drugs? What led them to
that point? And then throw money at that."