DEALERS HAVE CRACKHEADS OVER A BARREL, IT SEEMS, OFFERING
WATERED-DOWN DRUGS AT INFLATED PRICES

Pity the poor crackhead. He just can't catch a break.

These days, crack-cocaine users in Edmonton are paying inflated
prices for a product that's vastly inferior to what they could get a year ago.

"You probably don't even get high," said a disillusioned source close
to the drug trade.

"But crackheads don't care ... they'll smoke anything you sell them."

In the, uh, good old days, a piece of crack was made up of 85%
cocaine. The rest was filler -- typically baking soda -- and perhaps
a little "bonus," like traces of amphetamines.

But nowadays, the source said, it's the opposite. Crack being sold in
Edmonton is only 10% to 15% coke, with most of the remaining 85% a
mixture of talc and baking soda. A little novacaine or procaine
(local anesthetics) is mixed in to make the users' gums go numb, just
like they would if they were using stronger coke.

"There's usually a bit of crystal meth in there, too," said the
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "That way they get a
little buzz and think they're smoking better s--t."

Adding insult to addiction, the price of crack on the street has
jumped more than 60%.

DESPERATE CUSTOMERS

Ever the clever marketers, drug dealers use a bate-and-switch
technique to pull the wool over the bloodshot eyes of their twitchy,
desperate customers.

A $40 half-gram of crack, sometimes called a spitball, used to weigh
0.5 grams. Now a "half" typically weighs 0.3 grams, but the price has
remained the same.

It's all a matter of supply, demand and greed.

The vicious gang warfare in Mexico that has claimed 9,000 lives and
the year-long shooting spree between rival groups in Vancouver has
caused serious damage to supply lines for local drug dealers.

Before the blood began flowing two years ago, a kilogram of pure
cocaine would cost a local dealer $30,000. Processed into crack, cut
with 15% filler and sold by the half-gram, that same amount could
bring in $80,000 to $100,000.

But these days, the wholesale price can be as high as $55,000 per
kilogram. Big players in the local drug trade are keeping up their
profit margins -- and even improving them -- by "stepping on" their
product with cheap adulterants.

"It's not like they're going to poison people," explained Staff Sgt.
Darren Derko of the Metro Edmonton Gang Unit. "It's just that addicts
aren't getting what they paid for."

The source lamented the fact that not only did he have to pay more
for pure cocaine, but it also took a lot more time to process into crack.

VANISHED

Meanwhile, some of the most notorious names in the local drug trade
have vanished, said the source.

"The Crazy Dragons (gang) are gone," he said. "They don't exist anymore. "

Local members of the Indian Posse, a multinational native gang
operating across the Prairies and the U.S. Midwest, have broken with
the organization and are working on their own now, the source said.

Derko said while the names might change, many of the players are
still the same. They're just trying to fly under the radar.

"In the past, especially in Edmonton, they used to put names on
themselves all the time," he said. "Now with (laws targeting
organized crime) they're not identifying themselves so much anymore.
They're not your gangs that are flying colours, that sort of thing."

Derko said the local I.P. chapter could be going through changes
because one of its most prominent and powerful leaders was just
released from prison.