LIFE INSIDE DRUG HOUSE DESPERATE, OBSESSIVE

Life In A Crack House Is A Constant Struggle To Stay High.

A recent Red Deer court case gave a glimpse of a life where nothing else
matters.

Days and nights blur into one, dulled by the loss of memory, appetite, will
to work or even care for yourself.

Crackheads stay up for as many as nine consecutive days hunting for a
"hoot" or devising ways to obtain money or goods for their next score.

Several people come and go from the house with no one, not even the person
holding the lease, paying rent.

In the case of a townhouse in Terrace Park, the renters were four or five
months behind in payments.

Everything is spent on the highly addictive crack cocaine.

The tenants were eventually evicted.

Food was seldom bought and even cigarettes were ignored because they cost
precious money that could be spent on crack.

Daniel Wade Kazakoff, who was a witness at the robbery trial of Wessam Ziab
Haimour, testified for more than an hour.

His testimony was virtually useless for the Crown because he claimed he
couldn't remember anything.

Kazakoff said he and his common-law wife Vanessa Aubichon took Haimour in
because he "needed help."

"I was staying up for seven to nine days straight," Kazakoff testified.

He said he was "mainly into crack" but did marijuana and crystal meth
(methamphetamine).

"I don't really remember anything about last year," Kazakoff told court.

"I don't honestly remember much. When you get into (heavy, constant drug
use), you lose all sight of days," Kazakoff said.

"I damaged a lot of brain cells. I was probably high when I gave the
statement," he added.

Haimour, 31, was acquitted of the armed robbery that occurred last May 4.

Tobias Tilson, who also stayed in the house, testified that no one worked
and everyone was hooked on crack.

"We were all desperate for money."

He said people would break into vehicles to steal stereos or anything that
had a quick resale value.

Cigarette thefts are also common because of their quick resale.

Red Deer RCMP say the dramatic increase the last two years in property
offences - including house and business break-ins, vehicle break-ins and
car thefts - is directly related to the huge increase in drug use.

A member of the city police commission said recently that there are at
least nine drug houses under observation.

The Terrace Park occupants testified that they dealt drugs in small quantities.

Aubichon testified, during a video conference call from British Columbia,
that she stopped cooking and virtually stopped eating during the five-month
crack binge. Crack and crystal meth addicts are known to lose great amounts
of weight through appetite loss.

Aubichon said she left Red Deer with virtually nothing in order to get away
from the drugs.

"We were a come-and-go place for drug users," Aubichon said.

"People selling drugs through my home was our only source of income at
times," she said.

"When you're up for nine days it seems like just one long day," she testified.

Tilson testified he got off drugs with the help of Const. Ian Shardlow, who
gave him some bus and food money to get out of Red Deer.

"He pretty well saved me," testified Tilson, who also said the money wasn't
offered as a reward.

Kazakoff and Aubichon also testified they are off drugs and back together
in British Columbia.