CHASING LIFE-SHATTERING CRACK

A Crack Cocaine Investigation Revealed A Much Bigger Problem Than Police
Imagined.

London police knew there was a crack cocaine problem in the area around
Dundas and Ontario streets, an otherwise quiet neighbourhood just east of
downtown. But the problem was much bigger than they thought.

What started out as a short-term investigation targeting known dealers
ballooned into Project Impact, an intensive five-month undercover operation
that led to charges against 52 persons in the area over the last week.

At stake is the future of the neighbourhood, because crack, one of the most
addictive drugs available on the street, destroys families and contributes
to prostitution, burglary and petty theft, police say.

Police came across one user during the investigation whose crack addiction
cost him his $200,000 west London home. By the time police found him, he
was living in a Dundas Street hotel.

"A $200,000-plus home all gone -- all for crack," said one officer.

What's more, during Project Impact, three shootings were linked to drug
trafficking in the area, one only steps from where London police blitzed
dealers last week.

In a rare interview, an undercover London police officer agreed to speak to
The Free Press on the condition his identity be protected.

"Initially, we certainly knew there was a problem," says the officer who
headed up Project Impact. "Although we had intelligence, spending time in
the area we learned the problem was larger than we originally thought."

The crackdown will mean drastic changes for residents in the area.

Many of the prostitutes dealing crack to supplement their income are now in
custody. The users, from the homeless to highly paid professionals who lost
their jobs and families because of their addiction, have moved elsewhere.

On the stretch of Dundas Street near Western Fair, crack cocaine has been
the scourge of residents who live in historic homes on the otherwise quiet
and leafy streets nearby.

"In a situation like Dundas and Ontario, the vast majority of people who
live in the neighbourhood are not drug users, are not traffickers and have
a right to live there in peace," said the detective.

Fred Tranquilli, the Ward 3 council member who represents the area, agrees.

"The people who live in the community are certainly hard-working upstanding
families," he says. "If people from other parts of the city decide they're
going to take up a spot to do business in your neighbourhood, there's not a
whole lot you can do about it besides ask police for help."

Area residents are often witnesses to the crime that happens in a
neighbourhood ridden with mercenary crack dealers, desperate prostitutes
and hyped-up users.

During the recent raids, London police, with help from the OPP and RCMP,
searched six homes and businesses on Dundas between Ontario and Quebec streets.

So far, 57 people have been charged, most with trafficking offences.
Another 29 are still wanted by police.

Most area businesses declined to talk about the raids and the impact
they've had on the neighbourhood.

But police say the situation has greatly improved.

"We're not naive to think there's not still crack in the city to be
purchased, but for the people at Dundas and Ontario, they can go outside
and know they're not going to encounter the same situation as they did in
the past," the detective said.

Tranquilli said he fears the one-time sweep won't change anything unless a
long-term strategy is in place.

But the raids last week are a step in the right direction, said Paul
Whitehead, a University of Western sociology professor.

"One of the things that's going to be very important is the extent to which
the prosecutions are successful," said Whitehead, referring to the dealers
who have been charged.

It wasn't long ago, he noted, that police raided body-rub parlours,
charging 38 people, only to see those charges withdrawn earlier this year
because prosecuting attorneys said they didn't have enough evidence to convict.

Tranquilli thinks surveillance cameras should be considered.

"That type of activity -- drug dealing and prostitution -- I think would be
impacted if people knew there were surveillance cameras and they were
monitoring licence plates and activities," he said.

Addicts who have lost everything -- sometimes spending as much as $2,000 a
day feeding their addiction -- often turn to prostitution, robbery and
petty theft to score a "slice of pie," a common phrase used for crack
because of the way it's manufactured.

"With that kind of expense, it doesn't take long for people to lose their
homes, cars, and certainly when you lose those things you lose your
family," said the undercover London detective.

A high from crack lasts an hour at most, police say.

Addicts come out of the high feeling paranoid and a strong urge for more drugs.

"The addicts themselves will tell you they call it 'chasing the high.' They
will chase the high for days on end and they'll do nothing except go from
one piece of crack to another," the detective said.

"We estimate that when people are on a crack run, they would administer the
drug three times an hour," said Linda Sibley, executive director of Alcohol
and Drug Services of Thames Valley.

"When they (addicts) are on a run . . . it can be a full-time
preoccupation. It can consume a lot of your day getting the money to do the
drug, getting the drug and going somewhere to use it."

Crack is so highly addictive in part because it's smoked, meaning it gets
into an addict's system quickly, starting with the lungs and spreading to
the brain.

"The faster you get high the faster you also lose your high, so the need to
use again happens more quickly," Sibley said.

Police say next to methamphetamine, crack is the hardest drug addiction to
break.

Crack started showing up on the streets of New York City in the late 1980s
and early 1990s.

There was no crack in London in 1990 until the latter part of the year,
police say.

Since then it has become prevalent, spreading to every corner of the city.

It is now one of the most common illegal drugs in the province.

But police say the crack problem in the city is not out of control.

"It's certainly not a situation where people need to be running for the
hills because we have a huge crack problem," the London detective said.

Last year, police seized more than $180,000 worth of crack, about 900 grams.

Area addiction counsellors say crack cocaine is in the top five addictions
reported.

It used to be in the top three, behind alcohol and marijuana, before
gambling took its place two years ago.

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A HIGH FROM CRACK COCAINE IS DIFFERENT FROM MARIJUANA

- - For about $40, addicts can get one quarter grams of crack.

- - The high lasts an hour at most.

- - Users come out of the high feeling paranoid and a strong urge to use again.

- - For $10, users can get one gram of marijuana.

- - Depending on its potency, the high lasts between two and five hours.

- - Users come out of the high feeling mellow and tired.

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FACTS ABOUT CRACK

- - It's one of the most addictive drugs available on the street.

- - Crack cocaine comes from powder cocaine.

- - It's made using a mixture of cocaine, baking soda and water.

- - The solution is boiled and a solid substance separates from the boiling
mixture.

- - The solid substance, crack cocaine, is removed and dried.

- - It's then broken or cut into "rocks," each weighing between one-tenth and
one-half a gram.

- - Users put a piece of crack in a pipe, most of which are homemade, light
it and smoke it.

- - Crack got its name because when you smoke it, it makes a cracking sound.

- - Smoking crack is what makes it so addictive since the high is instantaneous.