CRACK ON CALL AS POLICE CLEAR DEALERS OFF STREETS

Crack cocaine addicts are turning to 'pizza-style' telephone ordered home
deliveries as police operations drive dealers off city streets.

New Home Office research says that crack has not taken hold in Britain in
the same way as it has dominated the drug markets of America's urban
ghettoes, but it does pose problems in a few English cities. The study,
based on in-depth interviews with 79 new and long-term crack addicts in
north-west England, shows that the drug is still being actively marketed by
dealers.

"Given crack's negative image, it is often sold as 'rock' or 'stone',
particulary to new, younger users. Established users receive a home
delivery service," say the researchers. They add that in the last two years
this has particularly been a feature of the drugs scene in the Greater
Manchester area, where street sales have largely disappeared due to police
activity.

The researchers traced the habits of one group of crack users over three
years with the first interviews taking place in 1995. By 1997, a quarter
had given up crack, another quarter had cut down their consumption, but up
to half were 'resolute rockheads' who used crack daily alongside
'considerable quantities' of other drugs, most notably heroin, methadone
and cannabis. The researchers call this expensive kind of multi-drug habit
a 'rock repertoire'. More than two-thirds said they never injected crack,
but smoked it, either on foil, or more commonly, in a pipe.

The study also confirms strong links between drug-taking, crime and the
black economy, and says the long-term addicts spent an average of UKP20,000
a year on their addictions. Crack prices had remained fairly stable over
the three years.

Most raised the necessary funds through crime such as theft, shoplifting,
fraud and burglary, with women engaging in prostitution and men in
drug-dealing.

In-depth interviews with 29 new crack users showed that despite the drug's
high cost and only brief 'buzz', its use is slowly spreading. Most new
users tended to be slightly younger, in their early 20s, and overwhelmingly
white and male. The Home Office researchers say that crack use in England
has, until now, mainly appealed to those with a history of heroin abuse,
and who are unemployed and live in the poorest communities.

"The most worrying development in this study was the discovery that there
were some 'recreational' users, without any experience of heroin, or other
opiates, who smoked crack as 'stone' and who felt they could manage and
control its use as they had other drugs, such as amphetamines and ecstasy,"
say the researchers.

They add that crack's high price and ambivalent image has limited this
spread, but they warn that if there is a significant drop in its street
price then it will accelerate.

Evolving crack cocaine careers; Kevin Brain, Howard Parker and Tim
Bottomley; Home Office Research Findings No 85

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski