CRACK'S IN THE SYSTEM

Edmonton High Schools Overrun: Expert

Crack - once a poor man's drug linked to U.S. slums and drughouse
babies - has overrun Edmonton with one expert charging school kids are
smoking the drug every day.

Dr. Louis Pagliaro, associate director of the University of Alberta's
substance abusology research unit, has been in the game 30 years and
was the RCMP's key expert witness during a landmark crack trial in
1995.

"You would be hard pressed to find a high school in Edmonton right now
where crack wasn't being used every day," Pagliaro said. "Crack use is
near epidemic proportions."

He says crack users smoke the drug in a pipe. "One in 10 (users) will
be addicted after their first puff."

George Nicholson, who chairs the public school board, concedes things
may be as bad as Pagliaro says. He plans to ask for a report into
crack use in schools.

"When I was a principal seven years ago we knew of pot and hash being
smoked at school. But crack, that's not a progression we want to see.

"I hope Dr. Pagliaro is not right, but he may indeed
be."

The crisis has not gone unnoticed by cops or drug agencies.

RCMP drug squad boss Staff Sgt. Doug Carruthers said crack hit
Edmonton streets in the early 1990s.

"Ten years ago we didn't have crack on the streets. You rarely saw it.
Now what we've got is use of other drugs dwindling and crack use is
soaring," Carruthers said.

"People are buying cocaine just to turn it into crack."

Cocaine is heated and mixed with baking soda to become crack. The
white rocks are then smoked and the high is quick and more intense
than coke.

It's also more addictive because users can smoke greater quantities
than a coke addict can snort.

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission doesn't differentiate
between crack and coke use. But figures show the number of Alberta
coke addicts almost doubled in the past four years. It jumped to 4,087
last year from 2,219 in 1996.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Keith Hughes, a consultant for AADAC's cocaine addiction clinic in
Grande Prairie, says there are dozens of Albertan addicts who aren't
treated for every one who is.

"Maybe they aren't at the end of their rope yet or won't admit the
problem," Hughes said.

"But there's no doubt we're seeing an increase in coke
addiction."

Carruthers said Alberta RCMP made a huge cocaine linked bust in
Edmonton last September and charged 35 people. "They won't go to trial
until next November (but) as soon as you take people out of the
system, there is always someone there to replace them."