SLAVES OF THE ROCK

Crack Cocaine Users Tell How A High Took Over Their Lives

Crack cocaine -- it's devastating communities, wrecking families and
as easy to get as a $2 slice of pizza at a mall food court. "All they
have to do is walk into Portage Place and you will find someone
selling it," said Jeff, a recovering crack addict.

"It's very easy to get. I know a lot of dealers and they are
everywhere. I'd say in at least one house on every block there is
someone smoking crack."

Jeff, not his real name, is in a treatment program at the Behavioural
Health Foundation and hasn't smoked crack in four months.

Jeff was working two full-time jobs when he started selling crack more
than two years ago. Back then, he had never smoked crack and laughed
at junkies as he took their money.

"I thought it was easy money," said the North End resident. "It wasn't
easy money once I started smoking it."

A couple of months after he started dealing Jeff started sampling his
own wares when he got tired of his crack partner smoking into their
profits.

"I got mad that I was paying for it out of my pocket. Finally I said
if you're smoking it I'm smoking it, too."

Jeff says he can't even remember enjoying crack, but from his second
or third rock he was hooked and the life he knew was spinning out of
control.

"I was staying up five days straight. I was passing out while I was
driving. I lost a lot of weight. I lost my jobs," he recalled.

Jeff pawned anything of value and stole thousands of dollars from his
family and girlfriend to pay for crack.

"I don't know one person that smokes that doesn't steal from their
family. If they say they don't they are lying."

Jeff was hospitalized twice after he was beaten up by people he owed
money to, or had stolen from.

Five years after smoking his last rock, Kevin -- not his real name --
has few material things to call his own, but life is sweeter than it's
ever been.

"I'm not cocaine's bitch anymore," he said bluntly. "I can make proper
decisions today. Cocaine is not making my decisions for me."

Kevin, a 43-year-old truck driver, started snorting coke 20 years ago
"on special occasions." Before long, every day was a special occasion
and he eventually graduated to crack.

Kevin started dealing to support his habit. At his lowest point he was
spending more than $1,000 a day on coke and crack.

"All Day, Every Day"

"It was all day, every day at my worst," he said.

Kevin stayed up weeks at a time, he didn't eat. He would scratch his
body incessantly, imagining spiders were crawling under his skin. He
lost his job, but continued to work evenings driving a cab, a job that
gave him easy access to crack dealers.

"I don't think I could ever go back to driving a cab," he said. "There
is too much (crack) on the street. It's running so rampant right now
probably every second person who gets into a cab either has cocaine or
is looking for cocaine."

Homeless and with little will to live but even less will to kill
himself, Kevin checked himself into rehab five years ago. He stays
clean with the help of regular 12-step program meetings.