SUPPORT GROUP SETS UP SHOP

Cocaine Anonymous Tackles Addiction

A chapter of Cocaine Anonymous is being established in St. Albert in
response to the growing drug use in this city, a former addict says.

"I couldn't tell you what percentage of the population uses cocaine but
users are in St. Albert and there are already four or five people who
attend meetings, even though Cocaine Anonymous was just started there a
month ago," he said.

"The disease of addiction does not care who you are and you don't have to
be a down-and-out person with alcohol in a paper bag to have a problem."

John (not his real name) is 42 and first tried cocaine at a party when he
was 16.

"I came from an unstable family life with a lot of violence and drinking
and abuse. I went from experimenting with cigarettes, to beer, to marijuana
to a party where I was offered cocaine and accepted," he recalled.

"But I have known cocaine users who started in their 50s. The common
denominator is most people start by drinking and like the effects of
mind-altering drugs. The disease kicks in and it becomes an obsession of
the mind and you experience the phenomenon of craving."

Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission statistics from 2002, suggest
that 5.1 per cent of Alberta students in Grades 10 to 12 have experimented
with cocaine. That compares to 75.4 per cent of the same age group who
admit to having tried alcohol, 41.9 per cent, who say they used cannabis
and 7.6 per cent who used ecstasy or crystal meth.

An AADAC survey of its own clients showed that provincewide, between April
2002 and March 2003, a total of 33 per cent reported use of cocaine in the
past year and 25 per cent said they were concerned about their use of the drug.

"Remember, the statistics are of AADAC clients only and do not reflect the
prevalence or frequency of cocaine use in Alberta," stressed Korey
Cherneski, of AADAC.

St. Albert RCMP Corp. Doug Stapleton, the officer in charge of the city's
drug squad, would not guess at the prevalence of cocaine use in the city,
but confirmed the drug is used by all age groups.

"There are dealers here and they are all ages. And I do mean all ages from
15 up to 50," Stapleton said, adding he has seen how people who used coke
lost everything, including one addict in his 50s who sold his kitchen
cupboards to get cocaine.

John admitted he could always find cocaine no matter what town he worked in
or what bar he crashed in.

"For some strange reason I could always find the zoos - a name for the
scungy bars - and I could sit on a barstool and within a very short time
figure who dealers were. When I was using, I'd start out in the corner of
the bar, because I was lonely, then I'd go to becoming Mr. Sociable and
then back to lonely and desperate by myself."

John eventually served two terms in jail because of an assault and an
impaired charge he received after causing a car accident when he was on
cocaine. But he could not give up his addiction. It was not until his
girlfriend asked him to leave and refused to let him see his baby daughter
that he finally got help.

"I experienced a spiritual deadness. I missed another shift of work, I
spent my rent money on cocaine and I got dropped off in a back alley in
Edmonton. I realized that if I didn't stop, I was going to die. For the
first time in my life I phoned a hospital and asked for help," said John,
who was clean for 20 months before relapsing.

"This time I have been clean for over a year," he said, adding he could not
have done it without the support of Cocaine Anonymous.

"Cocaine Anonymous is a new group, organized in 1982 but now has 30,000
members. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using
cocaine and all mind-altering substances."

Cocaine Anonymous St. Albert meets Mondays at 8 p.m. at the Salvation Army
Church at 165 Liberton Drive. For more information phone 907-3316.