WINNIPEG'S ADDICTION TO CRACK COCAINE AN 'EPIDEMIC'

Use of crack cocaine, the most sought-after drug on Winnipeg streets,
is reaching epidemic proportions in the city, a veteran city police
officer said yesterday while revealing details about a substantial
bust.

Sgt. Rod Hourd of the organized crime unit knows how widespread crack
cocaine use is because his team consistently busts mid-to high-level
dealers and seizes hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit
drugs annually.

"I would say we have an epidemic. It's everywhere," Hourd said. "Crack
cocaine is very available on the streets of Winnipeg right now."

In this latest bust the organized crime unit seized 72 ounces of
crack, valued at $108,000, and two one-kilogram bricks of powder
cocaine -- which have an estimated value of $110,000 -- from a bigger
fish in Winnipeg's drug trade.

"Any time you get this amount, it will probably be tied to the gangs
somewhere," said police spokesman Const. Blair Good. "Somebody
somewhere along the way was supposed to get the drugs. It's going to
affect somebody down the line."

Hourd said the drugs were found in an apartment suite -- a "stash
house" -- in the 1000-block of Andrews Street in the North End on April 22.

Police arrested a 33-year-old man Thursday. He is facing charges of
possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and production of
cocaine.

The one-ounce chunks of crack, a highly-addictive drug, would have
been sold to dealers at a lower level and broken down into hundreds of
thousands of quarter-gram rocks, which sell for $20 apiece, Hourd said.

The bust prevents those rocks from falling into the hands of users,
Hourd said. But police know there are plenty of other dealers out there.

"We're trying to stay ahead of them. This helps," Hourd
said.

The powder cocaine also would have been sold to other dealers and
broken down, Hourd said.

One-kilogram bricks are often peddled by dealers at a higher level,
police say.

"Any time we get a brick like this it's always a significant haul for
us," Hourd said.

Police have long said crack cocaine is a serious blight in Winnipeg
and is not confined to the city's poorest areas.

The drug is often linked to other crimes. People break the law while
high on it, or they commit crimes to get it, like robbing gas bars for
drug money or breaking into homes to trade or pawn items for drugs.