Source: Calgary Herald
Contact: letters@theherald.southam.ca
Page: City News B1

Heroin is making fatal mark on Calgary

By: Sean Gordon, Calgary Herald

Outreach workers and police officers working on the front lines of the
inner city are concerned that the heroin trade is slowly moving inland
to Calgary from its traditional West Coast base.

``Whether it's convenient to be here for geography, or whether they
feel there's less attention to them here, (traffickers) are coming in
here more frequently because they're not known,'' said Staff Sgt. Mike
Cullen, head of the Calgary Police Service drug squad.

The magnitude of Calgary's heroin scene hasn't reached crisis
proportions, says Cullen cocaine and marijuana remain the drugs of
choice but there's cause for concern.

Last week, a ``significant seizure'' of 85 grams of heroin was made in
a bust on the TransCanada Highway, near Canmore. Earlier this year,
Mounties intercepted a 14kilogram heroin shipment that was headed for
Calgary.

``We've noticed increases in the numbers of transshipments though
Calgary, that's to say importers are trying to use obscure routes to
ship their drugs into the major consumption centres, like Vancouver,''
said Staff Sgt. Birnie Smith of the RCMP's Calgary drug unit.

``Every time we arrest and charge (traffickers), they get a little
smarter. They know packages moving to Vancouver will be looked at
closely, so they're using Calgary as a transfer point.''

Smith said the supply of heroin on Calgary streets is ``steady, and is
certainly a lawenforcement priority.''

So much so in fact, that Alberta's heroin trade rated mention in the
annual organized crime report issued by the Criminal Intelligence
Service of Canada, a thinktank made up of RCMP and other police from
across the country.

``In Alberta, drug trafficking continues to be a major criminal
enterprise. An increase in heroin has been noted,'' reads the report.
``It is anticipated that while Asianbased criminals and gangs will
expand their involvement in cocaine trafficking, they will also
continue to control the heroin market in this province.''

The CISC report and the observations of the drug squads working in the
city raise a spectre that is all too familiar to workers who are
involved in the city's needleexchange program.

As the outreach van crawls along the curbs of the inner city each
night, the number of people who shamble forward to trade their used
needles for clean ones is steadily rising.

``I wouldn't be able to quote any statistics, but the staff are saying
they're busier than ever,'' said Carlene Donnelly, a Calgary Urban
Project Society employee who works closely with the needle exchange
program which is operated jointly with AIDS Calgary and Calgary
Health Services.

``The word from the street is that there have been more shipments this
year alone than in the past couple of years,'' added Donnelly.

``Our problem hasn't decreased, and it's definitely a worry, we all
feel it.''

Last year, Calgary's medical examiner noted a sharp increase in heroin
and opiaterelated deaths, sounding the alarm on a perceived upward
trend.

``We haven't done a lot of work on the numbers in the past year, but
my impression is that it's still ticking along at the same old rate,''
said Dr. Lloyd Denmark.

Among the conclusions from Denmark's report last year: aging baby
boomers fill the ranks of Calgary heroin addicts and they pay kings'
ransoms to support their often lethal habits.

The average age of the Calgary area's 24 fatal overdose victims in
1996 was 38, a mathematical understatement. A lone teenager dragged
the average down, said Denmark.

His records show local heroin abusers are often in their 40s or 50s,
most are white, and they come from all rungs of the economic ladder.

About half buy their drugs in illegal ``street'' form from
traffickers, and half take heroin that originated as prescription
drugs obtained by theft or fraud against pharmacies and doctors.

``We're certainly buying it on the street, so it's here and increased
purity is a concern . . . we don't have the user population here that
they do in Vancouver, so you won't necessarily see it in terms of the
number of deaths,'' said Cullen. ``But it's here and we're doing what
we can.''

The issue: Illicit drug use in Calgary.

What's new: Concern growing that heroin trade moving into the city.

What's next: Professionals in the battle against drugs will continue
to fight the scourge.