EX COKE ADDICT DETAILS COUNTRY DEALING

If you think drugs are tough to score in rural Alberta, just ask "Jim."

He bought coke in Donnelly, population 375.

"It's not too hard," said the 27-year-old former cocaine addict who now
runs a Narcotics Anonymous chapter in Jasper.

"You'd be surprised - all you do is find a person who shares your
indulgences. Even if a supply is two towns away, someone is always willing
to go get it."

And small-town dealers are nothing more than users with a few extra dollars
burning a hole in their pockets.

"You don't start out saying, 'I'm going to be a dealer,'" Jim said. "Every
dealer started out by selling an ounce and keeping a gram for themselves."

Jim, who asked to remain anonymous in accordance with Narcotics Anonymous
policy, was addicted for years as he wandered through Saskatchewan, Alberta
and Five stoned months were spent in the village of Donnelly, 422 km
northwest of Edmonton.

Jim's twice-weekly Narcotics Anonymous meetings, held every Wednesday and
Saturday in Jasper's provincial building, regularly attract as many as 14
people.

That's hardly surprising. RCMP Staff Sgt. Doug Carruthers said Wednesday
that cops are as likely to find cocaine, crack and heroin in small towns as
they are in Edmonton's inner city.

Jim said junkies who like their freedom will like living in the sticks.

"It's easier to get caught in a big centre," he said.

"There's more of a broad base of taxpayers and they want the drug supply
cut off and they want to read about it in the newspapers. But in Jasper,
people don't want to hear about it. It's a small town."

The 16 beds for addicts looking to clean up in the Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission's Grande Prairie clinic are constantly 85% to 90% full,
said AADAC spokesman Keith Hughes.

Since the clinic's two-month cocaine withdrawal program opened in
September, 33 well-heeled addicts have spent $150 a day to clean up,
detoxify and undergo family therapy.

The only cocaine-specific program of its kind in Alberta, the program often
has a three-week waiting list.