DILEMMA FOR STORES

Sale Of Legal Products Help Fuel Drug Problem

West End convenience stores and gas bars are working around the clock to
police a growing problem with addicts who want to buy baking soda to make
crack cocaine.

"It is impossible for them to buy baking soda here if they look like a
crack addict," said Sam Sekhon, owner of Mohawk Ellice on the corner of
Ellice Avenue and Arlington Street. "We make sure that we do not sell it to
people who might mix it with drugs."

Sekhon said he is just one of many area store owners forced to deal with
crack addicts daily.

"I had to spend between $17,000 and $18,000 this year to clear this problem
from here," he said. "We hired a security guard, got new lighting, cameras."

Sekhon said he also refuses to sell addicts gasoline antifreeze, a product
used to clean crack pipes.

"We have to keep our baking soda on the counter and our gasoline
anti-freeze behind the counter. You can't buy the anti-freeze unless you
drive here," he said. "I couldn't live with myself if I sold to someone who
was going to do drugs."

LEGAL PRODUCTS

Crack is made by mixing the powdered form of cocaine with baking soda and
water, said Staff Sgt. Doug Lofto of Vice Division. The mixture is heated,
dried and broken into "rocks," he said.

Lofto said crack is a growing problem in Winnipeg.

"It's become the drug of choice all over the city."

Police know addicts buy baking soda to make crack cocaine but can't
regulate the sale of legal products, he said.

"They're free to sell to who they want to," he said. "Maybe it is a
problem, but vice doesn't have the resources to police that."

But Rev. Harry Lehotsky, a community activist, said just the fact that West
End stores are selling the products is a concern.

"There are different ways a business like this can be part of the problem,"
Lehotsky said. "They can claim there's a lot of stinky fridges in the West
End. But when the problem is such common knowledge, you've got to have a clue."

The manager at one Ellice Avenue store said she can't stock enough baking
soda to satisfy local addicts.

"We sell a lot," said the woman, who asked not to be identified because she
fears losing her job. "It's not against the law."

Her store has taken precautions to reduce the sale of other commonly abused
products, she said.