UPSCALE CRACK

Oil Workers And Bankers Are Its New Victims, Not The Down-And-Out

While working as an engineer in Alberta's oil and gas fields, Brent,
34 (he requested that his last name not be used), started smoking
crack. Like most of those who try the drug, he had already
experimented with other drugs -- alcohol and marijuana. But after
just a few short puffs of the white drug-laced smoke, he had a very
expensive and destructive habit.

Crack is made by adding cocaine to baking soda and water, cooking and
cooling the mixture until rocks develop. Although it has a reputation
for being a cheap high for the down-and-out, the reality is
increasingly different, say drug counsellors across the country. The
illicit substance is becoming the drug of choice across social
milieus, says Jodi Dahlgren, a substance abuse therapist at Serenity
House Drug & Alcohol Treatment Centre in Calgary. Dahlgren has
treated bankers, oil workers and CEOs with crack addiction problems.
"I used to work at Main and Hastings in Vancouver, but I've never
seen anything this bad. I never thought I'd be treating millionaires
with crack addictions."

Brent is typical of this new class of addict. Like many users, he
burned through a lot of money on crack. Although the exact amount is
hard to estimate -- he still hasn't tallied how much he spent on
hotel rooms alone to host drug-fuelled parties -- the figure is at
least $250,000, which includes the remortgaging of his home and
several thousand dollars in RSPs. "I feel terrible for the girls we
were partying with," he says remorsefully. "They were good girls from
middle-class homes. Some of them were still going to high school."

The latest statistics, while they don't distinguish between crack and
cocaine in its powder form, suggest the drug is the second-most
popular single illicit substance after cannabis. More than 14 per
cent of males reported having tried it; and 10.6 per cent of the
total population, according to the Canadian Addiction Survey
published in March 2005. In Alberta, 12.3 per cent of those surveyed
had tried it.

Brent never found it hard to get hold of the drug. Indeed, for
upscale addicts, door-to-door delivery is more common than scoring at
a crack house, he says. Part of its growing popularity is this
accessibility, says Melanie Alsager, an administrator at Sunshine
Coast Health Centre, a private facility in Powell River, 120 km north
of Vancouver that treats drug addicts and alcoholics from across
North America. In most Canadian cities, buying crack is almost as
easy as purchasing a loaf of bread, she says. "If you know what to
look for, you can go into the downtown of any city in Canada, and
find the crack house within 10 minutes."

Price is the other reason for crack's popularity, says Ruth
Weinberger, addictions counsellor and group facilitator at Project
Pride, a drug crisis centre in Montreal. "Crack has gone from $140
ten years ago to $15 to $20 a rock today. It costs about the same as
smoking a joint. We are seeing a glut of it on the market. We don't know why."

One neighbourhood that has begun to bear the brunt of this glut is
Toronto's Kensington Market. It's home to artisans and hipsters such
as CBC Radio host Sook-Yin Lee, but a recent rise in crack use has
hurt residents, crime rates and businesses. The problem surfaced in
the spring, worsened throughout the summer, and is still pretty bad,
says Eric Yule, chair of the Kensington Market Emergency Safety Task
Force, which was set up in September to respond to the issue. Some
local shops and businesses saw their sales fall between 40 and 50 per
cent. Petty crime increased -- breaking and enterings have spiked 16
per cent since the previous year. Like most neighbourhoods struggling
with the consequences of cheap and plentiful crack, it's difficult
for residents to know how exactly to eliminate the problem. After the
spike in burglaries, and several assaults, some were afraid of openly
taking action against the dealers in case they were targeted, says
James Maskalyk, an emergency doctor who lives in the area.

Neal Berger is the executive director of Cedars at Cobble Hill, on
Vancouver Island north of Victoria, which treated Brent's addiction
and helped him return to work in the oil and gas industry. Berger
says that while "there is so much energy and political capital
looking at the business of crystal meth, crack is a much bigger
issue. When you think of the problems it causes families, businesses
and industry, it doesn't get nearly the exposure it deserves."
Addiction specialist Dr. Graeme Cunningham agrees. "It's available
and cheap," says Cunningham, regional medical director for Homewood
Health Centre in Guelph and professor of psychiatry at McMaster
University. "If you go to Toronto's downtown core, you can score it
in five minutes. The problem is that it's very much in fashion at the
moment. It's become popular among the younger crowd."