CHASING THE DRAGON'S TAIL

Police warn heroin use is on the rise

It's botanical name, Papaver Somniferum, is pretty and exotic. In its
processed form, it has been nicknamed smack, junk, horse or skag. These
days, when it surfaces in Calgary's back streets or on suburban coffee
tables, it is known simply as `down' or H.

`I'm predicting heroin is going to be the up-and-coming drug, and we're
going to have a major problem here with it within the next three to five
years.' says Staff Sgt. Nick Bok, head of Edmonton police drug unit.

`And if it's going to happen in Edmonton, I suspect the same thing is going
to happen in Calgary.'

Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance
extracted from the seed pod of certain varieties of poppy plants cultivated
in southeast Asia.

It begins as an innocuous young plant in a field in a country like Laos,
Cambodia or Afghanistan.

By the time it's processed and packed, smuggled overseas into Vancouver and
spirited into Calgary, cut or `kicked' with a baby laxative by a drug
dealer, wrapped tightly in a fold of plastic or capsule and sold for $50
for a `point' or 10th of a gram, heroin's metamorphosis from anything
botanical is truly complete.

Police say the heroin available in both Calgary and Edmonton is remarkably
pure at about 80 or 90 per cent, before it is cut to 10 to 20 per cent
potency by substances like glucose or mannitol, a baby laxative.

It costs around $400 a gram, compared to about half that price in
Vancouver. Generally, users buy `points' or 10th of a gram units which are
already cut.

The heroin then is `cooked' or diluted in water then heated up to blood
temperature prior to injection.

Calgary police drug detective Steve Walton says a new trend among
experimenting youths is to cook the heroin into a smokable substance.

The powdered drug is placed on a piece of tinfoil, heated from underneath
by a candle or lighter, and the smoke inhaled through a straw or pen cylinder.

`They smoke it because they think they won't become addicted to it', says
Walton, citing studies showing 97 per cent of people who try the drug
become dependent on it.

`But this is not a recreational drug'

Another form of the drug popular on Calgary's streets is MS Contin, a
sustained release morphine sulphate pill commonly prescribed for pain.

The morphine prescription pills-known as 'peelers' because addicts peel off
the coating designed for the medication's slow release - are crushed, mixed
with water, heated on a spoon and then injected . A 200 milligram morphine
pill can be bought for about $80.

Walton has been a cop for more than 21 years, and has led the seven-member
anti-drug DUST squad on missions to shut down several local `shooting
galleries', mostly run-down inner-city homes where heroin is regularly
injected. He hates the toll of the heroin, a pinprick on the drug
statistics but still a deadly game. `It is a horribly destructive drug,' he
says.

According to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin crosses the
blood-brain barrier soon after injection, resulting in a pleasurable
sensation or a rush.

It's usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a
heavy feeling in the extremities which may be accompanied by nausea,
vomiting and severe itching.

Cardiac functions slow, as does breathing. After the initial rush, users
can become calm or drowsy for several hours, hence the `down', or
depressant effect.

If heroin is smoked or snorted - called `chasing the dragon's tail' by some
users - the peak is usually reached in 10 to 15 minutes.

And then comes the down in the `down'.

For addicts, withdrawal can begin within a few hours after the last hit,
and includes restlessness, muscle and bone pain, diarrhea, vomiting,
insomnia and goose bumps.

Medical complications of chronic abuse can range from collapsed veins,
liver and kidney disease and even arthritis - not to mention the blood
borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis. Then there's always the risk of a
`hot load', or a lethal injection by a junkie who has underestimated the
potency of the hit.

Police in Calgary and Edmonton estimate the number of regular hard-core
heroin addicts in their respective cities between 100 and 300.

Nancy Snowball, spokesperson for the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Commission's youth treatment centre in Calgary, says 420 Calgary
adolescents aged 13 to 17 sought treatment for their multiple drug problems
at the centre last year.

Of those who entered the three-month intensive day program, about four per
cent said they had abused heroin and other opiates, compared to 92 per cent
for cannabis and 77 per cent for alcohol.

`I don't even bother paying attention to demographics anymore. I see
everything, young kids using it,' says Dr. Bill Campbell, a Calgary
physician with a special interest in addictions who is the 24-hour on-call
doctor at AADAC's Renfrew Recovery House in Calgary.

`We aren't giving people in Calgary appropriate treatment for their
narcotic dependence, that's my bottom line,' says Campbell. `they aren't
given the options that are available.'

Those seeking help for opiate addiction at Renfrew can be given clonidine,
an antihypertensive drug which decreases the symptoms of withdrawal.

`It's the only drug we can use,' says Campbell, adding any withdrawal
attempts without proper accompanying therapy is likely to fail.

Thirty Calgarians are currently being treated through Edmonton's west-end
methadone clinic run by AADAC. Another 20 are from Medicine Hat, and a
handful more come from Lethbridge and Red Deer.

The Edmonton program has been operating since 1972 and serves about 250
people a year.

Counsellor James Klassen believes a Calgary clinic would help addicts from
Southern Alberta who must move to Edmonton for several weeks at their own
expense to take part in the program.

`Coming here is certainly a hardship for most of these people from
Calgary,' he adds.

Once stabilized in the program, most clients can move back to their home
cities and towns and obtain methadone through a pharmacy.

While it's difficult to accurately count the number of Calgarians using
heroin and other opiates, it's painfully easier to count those dying.

Calgary Medical Examiner Dr. Lloyd Denmark says statistics show about 20
Calgarians died last year using heroin and other opiates.

`I support the need for a methadone clinic here,' he says, 'but it isn't
going to be a free ride. It will bring its problems with it.'

Those problems would likely include an increased number of deaths both from
heroin and methadone, he notes, because of the greater number of addicts
staying in Calgary.

`But I personally don't think that's something we should run away from,' he
adds.

`At the moment, we are exporting our problem away by not providing a
service....I don't think that's facing up to our responsibilities as a
large city.'

There have been troubles with methadone programs in other cities.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ontario recently confirmed that
out of 25 different methadone practices studied between April and July, 17
were found to have serious deficiencies - including failure to examine the
patient, poor insight into addiction, and dangerous dosing.

About 190 doctors in that province are authorized to prescribe methadone,
but only about 90 are licensed to do so as an opiate-addiction treatment.

Dr. Dale Guenter, who prepared a study for the Calgary Regional Health
Authority on the need for a methadone program in Calgary, believes city
health authorities have a golden opportunity to set up a program tailored
to this city's addictions problem.

He personally believes treatment within the community by family doctors
would help make addiction programs accessible and remove their stigma.

`We can start fresh, and go with the evidence supporting the best style of
program,' he argues. `We are in such a good position to learn from all the
other programs that have gone on.'

Checked-by: Pat Dolan