COCAINE STILL THE DRUG OF CHOICE

Crystal meth may be the new drug buzzword but cocaine is still the
dominant high in town, a Kamloops narcotics cop said Sunday.

Const. Dan Thorne said cocaine and crack cocaine are still the No. 1
choice among drug users in our city, with meth running a close second.

"Cocaine is substantially more of a problem," he said. "It's been the
drug of choice since I got here seven years ago.

"Meth has never really taken over. We are seeing more of it but
cocaine and crack cocaine are still the popular choice. The majority
of (intelligence) we're dealing with right now is cocaine related."

Like crystal meth, cocaine and crack cocaine are highly addictive
drugs that attack the central nervous system creating a feeling of
euphoria in the user.

While meth imparts a longer-lasting high, the euphoric sensation
cocaine creates wears off quickly. Once the high is gone, the urge for
another hit becomes overpowering, he said.

"Once you take crack, you're chasing the high all the time. You're
always looking for the euphoria. It's an endless search."

The city's drug section has yet to come across a meth lab in Kamloops,
but police know of several cocaine manufacturers and at least 20
"pound-level dealers," Thorne said.

These dealers purchase a pound of cocaine at a time, selling it by the
"20 rock."

"A 20 rock is two-tenths of a gram and you get five 20 rocks per gram
that go for $20 a piece. There are 454 grams in a pound. That's a lot
of money."

The quickest way to a cocaine high comes from smoking, with the
chemicals hitting the brain in five to 10 seconds. The sense of
euphoria lasts about 15 minutes.

"It takes longer to get to the brain if your snort it or inject it.
Smoking it causes more internal damage, though. This is an extremely
destructive and powerful drug," he said.

Thorne has come across all kinds of addicts during his
career.

"I met a soccer mom once who was addicted. She told me she wanted to
quit but couldn't. She said it was too hard and too powerful a drug to
stop."

More resources and a focused enforcement campaign are the best way to
stop the spread of cocaine in the city, said Thorne.

"Taking out ground level dealers is like plugging a bunch of holes in
a dam," he said.

"Things have been slowing down in some areas (of the city) a bit
lately because we have been hitting people who sell in bigger
quantities. More people are going to jail for longer periods of time
because we're catching them with bigger quantities of crack cocaine."