A CITY ON CRACK

About this series

Everyone should spend some time at the courthouse - preferably on the
right side of the law. It's free, open to the public and offers unique
insights into the Ottawa community. This series came out of three
months I spent covering the Ottawa courthouse. At the time, a
manslaughter trial and dozens of other cases were directly or
indirectly linked to crack. Crack cocaine is not a problem confined to
any marginalized group or a single area of the city. As this series
will show, its tentacles reach deep.

- - Chris Cobb

Find the series, watch the video, join the conversation:
www.ottawacitizen.com/ottawadrugs

OTTAWA - It is estimated that 5,000 people in this city are addicted
to crack cocaine.

It's a health problem, it's a crime problem, and -- directly or
indirectly -- we are all its victims Hannah Cowen has seen too many
lives ravaged by crack cocaine to dare claim she's seen it all.

"My jaw drops at least once a week," says Cowen, staff nurse at the
Oasis clinic and harm reduction centre at the Sandy Hill Community
Centre. "People are eternally surprising."

There's always something new out of that place in hell where crack,
the irresistible seducer, leads its victims.

There was the woman in her mid-40s whose efforts to shed pounds took
her from the suburbs of Ottawa to the downtown streets. A friend had
suggested crack might curb her appetite. It wasn't a lie; just a
minute portion of the truth. Yes, she lost weight, but also her
husband, her children, her health and her home and her
self-respect.

And then there was the teacher who tried crack. Within months, she was
selling her body to feed the habit. She insisted on seeing Nurse Cowen
after hours. "I have no idea whether she is alive or dead," says
Cowen. "She just disappeared."

One man burned through $35,000 in three months. Others have sent
inheritances up in smoke, lottery winnings through holes in their veins.

There are many ways to get hooked. Some addicts are fed drugs
deliberately, Cowen says, "by people who want to hook them into the
sex trade."

During the 14 years that Oasis has been open, Cowen has watched
Ottawa's drug of choice shift from injected cocaine -- the pure stuff
- -- to its cheaper, more sinister, diluted cousin: Crack.

The first signs that crack had creeped into Ottawa were increasing
cases of

hep C and HIV, lip sores, asthma, pneumonia and other respiratory
problems. There was increasing chaos at the drop-in clinic.

"We thought it was crystal meth, but police weren't finding crystal
meth," says Cowen. "About five years ago, it grew to serious levels.
We finally realized we were dealing with a crack problem."

Crack is Ottawa's dirty little secret -- or at the very least Ottawa's
grand delusion. It's estimated there are 5,000 addicts in the city.
While the epicentre of the problem is the ByWard Market and the Rideau
Centre, that's just its most obvious manifestation.

There are addicts in Orleans and Kanata and Barrhaven and many other
middle-class enclaves.

Users may start with well-paying jobs and a cushion in the bank, but
once they're hooked, they end up with every other addict -- thieving,
begging and doing anything necessary to secure their next hit.

"Crack causes chaos," says Cowen. "Addicts have to be in a constant
search for money. When they don't have it, they feel threatened in a
very basic way, even though the side-effects are devastating: Losing
houses, relationships, prostitution and jail."

Although no one is immune to the reach of crack -- "there are people
I've seen who are associated with families you would know," Cowen says
- -- the bulk of Oasis clients are addicts from the street, or else
they're "couch surfers" in a battle with mental illness and addiction.

Many are second-or third-generation users -- born to parents who
inherited their addictions from grandparents whose drug of choice was
most likely alcohol.

"We are dealing with some people whose world has shrunk to just the
drug and themselves," she says, Those are the ones who worry her most.

In rare instances, users find a way to pull themselves up after years
on the streets. "It takes a lot of courage to come in and meet a nurse
and doctor," she says. "On the third or fourth visit they might say,
'I'm sick and tired of this life. I want to make some changes.' Then
we can help."

Medical staff at the half-day clinic see up to eight people a day.
There are 1,400 patients on the books, roughly the same number as a
busy family practice. The oldest user is in his 60s and has been
addicted for 40 years, more or less. The youngest is 16.

Along with medical problems similar to those presented to any family
doctor, the clinic treats the aftermath of prolonged crack use: Mouth
sores, needle abscesses, lung infections, rashes and any other
afflictions suffered by bodies poisoned by contaminated drugs, poor
nutrition, lack of sleep, HIV and hepatitis C.