THE SURPRISING FACES OF CRACK ADDICTION

Louise is a handsome suburban mom from Scarborough. She has short
hair, her skin is healthy and unlined, her eyes are big and
expressive. "I've been using for 35 years," she said. She is a crack
addict.

She fooled me.

And then there is Curley, who looks like the kind of guy you'd sit
down with to watch the hockey game. He's quick and good-natured under
his toque. "I used 25 years," he said.

I'd never have guessed.

Because one summer a girl appeared on the street a few short blocks
from my place. I'd see her on my way to catch the Queen car. Her hair
was the colour of sunlight. She worked the curb until the weather
turned. I lost track of her.

When I saw her again in the spring she no longer looked 18. Her hair
was dirty. Her skin was grey. There were sores on her mouth. She'd
aged 20 years. Stir in a little mental illness, and add a dash of
malnutrition, and that's what I thought a crack addict looked like.

You can't tell by looking.

But you can learn a lot if you listen. Louise and Curley participated in a
new study called, "Toronto Crack Users Perspectives: Inside, Outside,
Upside Down." The study was released at the Queen West Community Health
Centre late last week. Afterwards, they came forward to make some comments
and to answer questions.

Curley said, "I'm hard-core from the street. I used crack a long time.
There are no sores on my mouth, and that's because of harm reduction."

He said, "There's no access to detox when you want it. There's a
waiting list."

He finished by saying, "The police, instead of breaking your pipe,
they just send you to jail."

He meant that safe crack-use kits have kept him healthy ever since
they've been on offer. He meant that if we were really serious about
helping addicts, we'd make detox available on demand, or as close to
that as possible. And he finally meant that jail is never an answer
for a user.

Louise said, sheepishly, "I'm from Scarborough. I'm still sharing
pipes. To get new pipes you have to come downtown. That's a bus
ticket. I haven't got that."

She said, "The other day I had to share a pipe with four other people.
You don't want to share, but you do."

She finished by saying, "I'm not sharing as many needles. There's a
van comes around, but we're slow to get supplies in the east end. I
think downtown is better served."

I guess no matter who you are, if you live in the suburbs you're up
the creek if you don't have a car.

Curley said, "Crack used to be an older person's drug. It's a young
person's drug now. Kids 15 to 20 years old are right into it. Someone
should get to them."

That ought to be a call to arms. Crack is easier to find here than
marijuana, and pushers are only too happy to offer kids free "cookie"
in order to create new customers.

Let me rephrase.

Kids are not customers. They are our children, and they get hooked in
an instant, and they turn into living husks in a matter of months.

Louise said, "In some cases, if marijuana were decriminalized, some
people would turn to that, not crack."

An argument for decriminalization?

After the question-and-answer period, I spent some time talking
quietly with Curley and Louise.

She said, "I'm a single mother. My son doesn't know I use. I almost
lost my home a few times. My son never knew. He still doesn't know. I
don't like to lie, I'm 52; screw all that."

Curley said, "I used a long time. I never been popped." He meant
arrested. He said, "I snorted before I learned to cook and smoke. This
was years ago in Vancouver. The first time I used? An old pimp named
Breezy showed me how."

Thanks a million, Breezy.

Most crack addicts support their habits by stealing, dealing, or by
working in the sex trade. Curley said, "I lived off the avails for
years. I decided morally I couldn't do that any more, so I started
stealing."

Louise? "I'm a middleman. I know a lot of dealers. I'll buy for
someone. I get a cut at both ends." She said, "I feel like I'm leading
a double life. I'm a mother. I couldn't put my kid in hockey. When he
was in school, I was trying to score. When he was sleeping at night, I
was out getting high." She's trying to quit. "I'm so tired of that
world. But I can't just stop. My body gets too sick."

Curley is clean at the moment. He said, "I smoked a lot of years. I
stopped enjoying it. The paranoia. I smoked hardcore, 24/7, $200 a
day, up to $1,000 a day."

Yikes.

We just can't stop the flood of crack. Our kids are drowning in the
stuff. We don't know how to help.

Call the Queen West Community Health Centre and get a get a copy of
the study. Read it yourself, then give it to your city councillor, or
drop it off at your neighbourhood police station.

Because we're all in this together.