CRACK ALARM BELL

'Drug probably available in any Calgary high school'

Crack cocaine is probably available in any high school in Calgary -- a city
where use of the drug is greater than in Edmonton, says a substance abuse
expert and RCMP witness.

Dr. Louis Pagliaro, who's been tracking drug use for more than 30 years,
said it would be difficult to find a high school in Edmonton where crack
cocaine isn't smoked daily.

"It would be a good, safe bet and extrapolation it would be the same in
Calgary," said Pagliaro, associate director of the University of Alberta's
substance abuse research unit.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all ... if you go to a party, you'll find
alcohol and marijuana and you'll also find cocaine."

Moreover, said Pagliaro, Calgarians traditionally consume more crack cocaine
than their Edmonton counterparts, due largely to the southern city's
proximity to the U.S. and the Trans-Canada Hwy.

TIP OF THE ICEBERG

"For the past 20 years ... you'll see this documented by the arrests and
seizures and it's just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"Calgary is on the direct route of shipment from Montreal and Vancouver."

Earlier this year, Calgary Police Service drug unit members said cocaine is
being sold in the city's junior high schools.

Reports from treatment centres also paint an alarming picture of what
Pagliaro calls a crack epidemic.

"We've got reports from treatment centres that crack cocaine is the illegal
drug of number one concern," he said.

Part of the problem stems from widespread crack abuse on Native reserves, he
said.

"It's just epidemic on reserves," he said.

As a result, crack cocaine is more likely to be found at schools with a
larger Native population, he said, or those with connections to Asian drug
dealers.

"Some of these (Asian-Canadian dealers) might not attend the schools but
you'll find them selling it at school," he said.

Users can buy crack cocaine rocks for $5 apiece and for as low as $2.

WANTS REPORT ON DRUG

"It's well within the realm of affordability," he said.

Edmonton's public school board chairman said Pagliaro could be right and
plans to ask for a report into crack use in his schools.

But a spokesman for the Calgary Board of Education said the public district
hasn't heard of any major crack cocaine concerns.

"We've worked pretty closely with the city police and they have not been
coming to us saying it's a major problem," said Murray Ball.