DRUGS CUT DEEPER INTO REGION

Crack Cocaine Filters Into Fall River

FALL RIVER -- As SouthCoast cities battle an influx of cheap heroin,
Fall River police say crack cocaine has emerged as another threat in
Spindle City.

"We hit three different crack houses in the last month," said Lt. John
R. Chepren.

"It's a devastating drug because it's so addictive and comes with so
much violence. To me, crack users are the most violent drug users so
far. They're wired for sound. This is all they think about."

The numbers show a city menaced by both cocaine and
heroin.

Both the number of cocaine seizures in Fall River and the total weight
increased dramatically between 1995 and 1998, according to the
Department of Public Health's Bureau of Laboratory Sciences.

Cocaine submissions ballooned from 61 seizures and 75 grams in total
weight in 1995 to 231 seizures weighing a total of 780 grams in 1998,
according to the drug lab, which tests all drugs seized by state and
local police.

While the number of heroin seizures fell from 239 to 158, the total
weight increased from 75 grams to 90 grams.

Some 2,018 city residents receiving treatment for different addictions
in 1998 said they had used heroin, more than in New Bedford, according
to the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, and a 43 percent increase
over the previous year in Fall River.

The state tracks admissions, not individuals, so some people could be
counted more than once. The bureau estimates only a third of people
suffering from addictions seek treatment.

Another 1,056 admissions had used cocaine and 225 cited crack use.
Cocaine admissions increased 20 percent from the previous year. Some
406 admissions for substance abuse treatment were under the age of 21,
more than double the previous year.

A Feb. 5 raid of a crack house was typical of the city's drug
scene.

Police went to 125 Wade St. where they found lookout guards watching
from the windows for customers and cops. Police arrested Jasmine
Rogers, 19, and charged her with possession of cocaine and marijuana.
They also arrested another man on outstanding warrants.

An even more peculiar arrest came last year when police charged
60-year-old Alberta Black with allegedly using her apartment in the
Watuppa Heights housing complex to run a crack delivery service.

"She was using children to make deliveries on bicycles," Lt. Chepren
said.

Ms. Black formerly had lived in the Boston area and brought Boston
drug connections with her when she moved to Fall River, police said.

A large migration of people from Boston, Brockton and New York to fill
low-cost vacant housing in the city has complicated police work in
recent years.

"We had just started to understand the drug linkages to Providence,"
Lt. Chepren said. "Some of these people brought new contacts from out
of town. It changes our outlook on how we approach
investigations."

The city is home to two methadone clinics serving about 700 clients.
Stanley Street Treatment and Resource also runs a residential
detoxification center in Fall River.

Staff at the clinics and SSTAR say the average age of drug addicts
seeking treatment has dropped and detoxification has become more
challenging as the drugs, particularly, heroin have become stronger.

"We're right in the heroin corridor," says SSTAR Executive Director
Nancy Paull.

Teen-agers often start out running drugs for dealers, become dealers
themselves and eventually become addicts, she said.

"What's the point of getting a job at McDonalds when you can make so
much selling drugs in just one day," she says.

One 20-year-old heroin addict and former dealer who spent several
detoxing at SSTAR recently said he started shooting up when he was 15
and dealing drugs by the time he turned 16. The young man, who calls
himself K-9, points out the window to a cluster of white-clapboard
homes.

"I can go right over there and cop drugs for you," he says. "I can
walk down any street in this city and make a phone call. I'll show you
400 houses where I can go and cop drugs."

Thin and wiry, with a small mustache and the shadow of a beard in his
pointed chin, he says he would go to Providence and buy perhaps 50
bags of heroin for $200, come back and sell it for $10 a bag in Fall
River.

"When I was 16 I was making $4,000-$5,000 a week selling heroin," he
says. "If you don't get high and you're dealing in Fall River, you can
make a lot of money."

K-9, who has been in and out of prison five times and in and out of
detox another three times, says his father was a drug dealer, as well.

"When you're a teenager in this city, there's not much else to do," he
says.