REGIONAL POLICE SAYS DRUGS CAUSING INCREASE IN CRIMES

Grieving Families Not Targets

Although crime in Canada in general has gone down, the Cape Breton
Regional Municipality has seen an increase in some types of crime,
including shoplifting, break-and-enters and robberies during the last
two years.

Cape Breton Regional Police attribute the increase in crime directly
to street drugs.

Police also dispute the statement that addicts in Cape Breton are
specifically targeting grieving families to support their drug habits.

A story in the June 8 edition of the Sunday Herald, under the heading
?C.B. addicts prey on mourners,' cited "several" incidents of thieves
breaking into homes in search of the drug OxyContin after reading
obituaries that included requests for donations to the Canadian Cancer
Society.

Const. Greg Gouthro, the officer quoted in the article, told the Cape
Breton Post this week he knows of only two cases over a period of five
years where this has happened.

OxyContin is frequently prescribed to cancer patients as a
painkiller.

"Druggies use the barter system; a dealer will take a chainsaw, a
circular saw or meat from a grocery store (to trade for drugs)," said
Gouthro, a member of the regional police's drug enforcement section.

People are also selling marijuana from home grow operations to feed
their own habits for OxyContin, he said.

David Muise, a board member with the Cape Breton branch of the
Canadian Cancer Society, hopes families won't stop requesting
donations to the society when a loved one dies.

He said it is a sad commentary that people would prey on the weak or
sick and noted that memorials account for a substantial amount of the
money received by the society.

"We stand to lose a good chunk of our resources if people stop
donating; I would encourage people not to stop doing it."

A 29-year veteran of the police service, Sgt. Paul Doyle is in charge
of operations support services for major crime, street crime, drugs
and traffic.

"The marked increase in crime is directly related to street drugs,"
Doyle said.

"People are committing these types of offences (shoplifting,
break-and-enters and robberies) as a way to obtain drugs and the drug
of choice is the pain killer OxyContin, a narcotic similar to heroin."

Police are also seeing more incidents of violence.

"The addict gets into debt to the drug dealer and he or she gets
beaten up or injured. We can't prove it, but Joe Blow on the street is
telling us somebody got beat up because they didn't pay their drug
bill."

OxyContin is also the type of drug that leads people to domestic
violence, Gouthro said.

"Druggies we deal with tell us it is harder to kick Oxy than it is to
get off cocaine," he said.

Police say the abuse of OxyContin is most prevalent in Sydney Mines
and Glace Bay.

Doyle, a Sydney Mines native, said these areas have been known as hot
spots for pill abuse for as long as he can remember.

"It has destroyed a lot of lives, people have spent their bank
accounts to support a habit."