THIS DRUG CAN KILL USERS

While police work to get crack cocaine off the streets, other
organizations in the community are trying to reduce the harmful side
effects drug users face.

Aside from being bad for your health, it can also expose users to
deadly viruses such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

Monique Beneteau, Peterborough County-City Health Unit health
promoter, explained crack is made by mixing cocaine with baking soda
and water and heating it.

It then becomes a crystal form that can be smoked.

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, smoking
crack gives more of a "rush" than snorting it. The high lasts between
five and 10 minutes.

The agency says people use crack to alter their mood. It can numb bad
feelings and make people feel better. The more often people use
crack, the more they crave it. It isn't just smoked, however.

"Some people will take the crack and reduce it down to a liquid again
so that they can inject it," Beneteau said.

Injection can spread viruses. Some users also mix the crack with
vinegar or lemon juice so it can be injected. "What that can do is
cause abscesses," Beneteau said.

The health unit along with other agencies such as the Peterborough
AIDS Resource Network and Four Counties Addiction Services Team are
part of the Four Counties Needle Exchange Coalition.

The organization provides clean needles to users to prevent the
spread of disease.

In early fall, the organization also started providing users with
other equipment such as ties, filters, vitamin C powder and sterile water.

The vitamin C powder and sterile water is a healthier alternative to
using vinegar or lemon juice when injecting the drug.

City police Deputy Chief Ken Jackman said needle exchange programs
and handing out vitamin C to use with crack cocaine helps reduce harm
to addicts, but it's "a bit of a fine line."

The programs have some merit because you want people to be as safe as
possible, he said, but in some ways it's giving the wrong message.

Some think these kinds of programs are "almost aiding and abetting"
illegal drug use, Jackman said.

"It's a difficult one," he said.

Beneteau was reluctant to speak to the public about the needle
exchange program.

"People have difficulty with the whole concept of harm reduction," she said.

"A lot of people think that if we're giving out drug equipment, we're
actually encouraging people to be drug addicts and that's not the case.

"It is the only line of defence against protecting people from
getting hepatitis C and HIV," Beneteau said.

"We're trying to help them do it ... in the healthiest way they can
and in a way that will help other people as well."

Supplies such as vitamin C and sterile water are provided to the
needle exchange coalition by the Ministry of Health through the
Hepatitis C Secretariat, she said.

A.G. Klei, spokesman for the ministry, said the initiative is part of
the Ontario Harm Reduction Program.

"The goal of the program is to provide harm reduction materials.
Those are distributed to 33 needle exchange programs across the
province," he said.

The materials include sterile water, swabs, vitamin C and stericups, Klei said.

Stericups are small, sterilized disposable cups used to prepare the
drug for use.

The $1 million program started in February, he said.

Beneteau said the Hepatitis C Secretariat would be doing an extensive
evaluation process across the province to determine how the program is working.

In 2003 about 100,000 needles were exchanged in the area.

The needles are not only used for crack however.

They are used for other drugs such as heroin.

The Four Counties Needle Exchange Coalition serves Peterborough,
Northumberland and Haliburton counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes.

CRACK COCAINE

Crack Cocaine Is Often Sold In Plastic Baggies. It Resembles A
Crystalline White Substance, Often Powdery.

Brain damage

Side effects of using crack:

- - Can lead to stroke, heart attack or seizures, even in healthy people.

- - Can make people paranoid, angry and aggressive.

- - Some users hallucinate or become delusional.

- - Causes brain cells to die, the longer you use the drug the more
damage it does to the brain.

Source: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health