COCAINE EASIER THAN EVER FOR YOUTHS TO GET: COUNSELLOR

Amy McClelland says at one time it was hard to find a local kid who had
tried cocaine before reaching Grade 11.

But the addictions counsellor says the drug scene appears to be changing as
hardcore narcotics such as cocaine and ecstasy are not only becoming more
popular, but apparently easier to get.

"Now I'm not shocked when I hear someone in Grade 9 or 10 say they've tried
(cocaine)," says McClelland, who works for Algoma Family Services.

She deals with teens and young adults between the ages of 14 and 25, many
of whom are using drugs on a daily basis.

She says that for the most part, kids who are getting high every day are
smoking marijuana, but an increasing number have developed a taste for
harder drugs.

"When they want to have a real party on the weekend they use ecstasy or
cocaine," says McClelland.

Police say it's impossible to know just how many people in Sault Ste. Marie
are using cocaine, but its availability seems to have skyrocketed in the
last five years.

Ten years ago, marijuana and hash oil made up 90 per cent of all drug
searches, but around half of those searches now involve cocaine, says Det.
Sgt. Tom Kovacs, commander of the Sault unit of the OPP Drug Enforcement
Section.

More dealers are choosing to sell the addictive white powder for a simple
reason -- "it's more lucrative," says Kovacs. He says a dealer might pick
up an ounce of cocaine, but will then use cutting agents to double his
stock and his profit.

While morphine and prescription drugs have also become popular in the
Sault, cocaine seems to be the growth area in the local drug trade, Kovacs
says. The unit recently seized a small amount of methamphetamine -- a
highly addictive and harmful drug popular in western provinces and
reportedly making its way into Ontario -- but Kovacs says it is not yet
believed to be manufactured or heavily used in the city.

McClelland says youth are telling her cocaine is starting to be seen as
easier to get and easier to conceal even than alcohol, at least for those
who are underage.

"To find somebody who's 19 to buy (alcohol) for you is harder than finding
the guy (selling cocaine) in the schoolyard or the guy at the bus stop or
down the street," she says.

More 'Drugs' -- A2

Without the hassle of bulky bottles of booze or the pungent aroma of pot,
cocaine can also be easier to keep secret from parents, who most often
don't know the signs of cocaine use, she says.

"Parents know what alcohol smells like (and) a lot of them know what
marijuana smells like," says McClelland.

Addiction is nothing new for teens and young adults -- McClelland says
those who grow up surrounded by drug and alcohol abuse commonly start
themselves when they're in Grade 7 -- but the view that it's a harmless
part of the "party scene" can be dangerous.

"Most of the people we work with believed they could quit," she says.

Like smokers, who congregate outdoors in groups, party-goers can be fooled
into thinking their addiction is relatively mild because they've surrounded
themselves with others with "similar interests," she says.

"Often you hang out with people who use just as much as you," said McClelland.

Kids tend not to realize they're the exception to the rule, that an
overwhelming majority of the community is leading healthy, productive
lives, says McClelland.

"It's alarming for our clients when they realize they're in the one per
cent of the population who uses (drugs) daily," she says.

But McClelland says it's a common misconception. Her young clients often
think it's "laughable" that the government puts the limit at two drinks a
night and no more than 14 a week before your health and wellbeing is affected.

Don Burditt says more than 1,000 people passed through the Detox Centre on
Queen Street last year, but few of them were young.

Burditt, who manages the centre, says he doesn't usually see addicts until
they've reached their 30s and 40s.

A lot of times, people in their 20s still think they're holding it
together, he said.

"A person who started drinking or drugging at 17 might not get to the point
where they're ready to seek help until they're in their 30s," said Burditt.

Not that they haven't gone through turmoil in the meantime, he says.

"It usually takes some type of crisis for someone to actually get to the
stage of looking for help," says Burditt.

Those who are seeking help after their 30s or 40s are few and far between,
he says.

By that age, "Either people have got to the point where they've gotten help
or, unfortunately, they're dying off," Burditt said.