EIGHT-YEAR-OLDS USING DRUGS, EXPERT CLAIMS

CALGARY -- Children are getting drawn to hard drugs like cocaine at a
younger age, a drug expert told a conference Saturday.

Steve Walton, a 25-year retired veteran with the Calgary police force,
said children as young as 10 are now being pulled into drug use.

In the most extreme cases, children are usually getting their drugs
from home, he said. Walton, who has worked as an undercover drug
officer, claimed he has encountered drug users as young as eight.

He told the conference of emergency personnel, including police,
paramedics and medical workers, that criminals are targeting kids now
more than ever.

"There was a time when they used to leave kids alone," said Walton.
"Now, they cut down the doses of drugs like crack cocaine to make them
more affordable, he said.

In addition, Walton said that children are reacting to education that
denounces smoking and injection drugs by increasingly snorting drugs
or applying them topically.

"Education has led to a transition in this regard," Walton said,
adding that most young people have been warned about the dangers of
smoking and injecting and so believe that other methods of taking
drugs are safer.

He added that alcohol and inhalants remain are the most common drugs
for youths between the ages of 11 and 18.