USE OF CRACK INCREASES TO RECORD LEVEL

RECORD AMOUNTS of crack cocaine, the highly addictive drug, are
available on the streets of Britain, the Home Office and
criminologists have discovered.

While crime surveys have found that 1 per cent of 16 to 29- year-olds
have taken crack - about the same number as heroin - experts believe
the problem is underestimated because users of the drug tend to lie
about their habit.

Cocaine seizures by customs and excise have risen sharply in the past
three years, from 940kg in 1995 to 2,074kg last year.

New Home Office research has found that more than a quarter of people
arrested in a study in London and Manchester were taking crack
cocaine, and that one in 10 arrested in Nottingham had used it.

More women tested positively than men. Prostitutes are among the most
frequent users of crack.

But the drug, which costs as little as UKP10 a hit, is not confined to
the stereotype of drug users. A vicar, a 14-year-old girl and a group
of pensioners are among the growing number of people who have become
hooked on crack, inquiries by The Independent have found. The police
are particularly concerned about any rise in the substance's
popularity because crack users are among the most risk-taking and
volatile drug takers and likely to turn to crime to pay for their habits.

Research and reports from drug agencies show that crack - usually tiny
"rocks" created by baking cocaine powder - is available in most cities
in Britain and is being used by people from a wider range of age
groups and social backgrounds than in the past. It is also becoming
more widely used in the club scene.

Among the clients being helped by one drug agency in London are a
vicar who is stealing up to UKP200 a week from the church collection
plate to pay for his habit, stockbrokers, lawyers, and teenage girls
who have been forced into prostitution after being given crack.

Tim Bottomley, who is carrying out research on crack for the Home
Office, said: "You could walk up to a punter in the street and buy it
in most cities in Britain."

Previous co-research by Mr Bottomley, leader of the Piper Project, a
drugs unit in south Manchester, in 1996 found that crack cocaine
addicts in north-west England were typically spending about UKP20,000
a year on drugs and were particularly involved in offences of
burglary, theft and assault.

A Home Office official confirmed the trend yesterday: "There is more
available than ever before."

Crack is usually smoked in a pipe and produces an intense high that
lasts for about two minutes, followed by about 20 minutes of low-level
euphoria before the effect wears off, leaving a craving for further
hits.

Among the side-effects is a long low period that follows the short
high. This can cause mental health problems ranging from mild
depression to cocaine psychosis with symptoms similar to
schizophrenia.

Warnings from drugs experts in the late 1980s that Britain was about
to experience a crack epidemic similar to that raging in American
inner cities were not borne out.

But it appears that crack - mainly from cocaine from South America -
is entering the UK in record amounts.

'Easier than ordering a pizza'

Sophie SPENT UKP250 a day to feed her addiction to crack cocaine. "I
didn't look like a drug addict. I was losing weight, but I still took
care of my looks and how I dressed.

"The drugs were so easy to get. I would buy UKP50 worth and someone
used to come around to my house to deliver them.

"I once smoked UKP1,000 of crack in a day. After I had finished, the
buzz just disappeared - it only lasts about 5-10 minutes, although
it's a very powerful hit."

Sophie has been drug-free for five months since getting help from the
493 Crack Awareness Programme, run by the drugs agency Addaction in
Hackney, east London.

Fashionably dressed, attractive and articulate, with a lively
three-year-old son, Sophie does not look like a stereotypical former
junkie.

She started on drugs while living in the United States, but had been
off "crack" for seven years when she arrived in Britain. "Things
became difficult for me and I just relapsed." A year ago she was
arrested for cheque fraud. She was referred to 493 Project and since
then her life has changed. "It was such a relief to tell my partner,
and I've got a nice home and a little job now," she said.

But could she still get crack if she wanted it? "I could have it
delivered here in four or five minutes - it's easier than ordering a
pizza."

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady