NO MAN'S LAND OF DRUGS

Endless Stream of Users and Pushers

RESIDENTS SHUDDER at the notion of using the drug-riddled pathway at
night.

Business owners are reluctant to talk about it, or even acknowledge
the crackheads loitering outside.

In the pockets of a seven-year-old boy, cops find chunks of rock
cocaine held for a man accused of dealing to the never-ending stream
of crack fiends who lurk here day and night, every day and night.

Welcome folks, to the world-famous banks of the Bow
River.

Esteemed once for its trout fishing and scenery, the stretch of Bow
River pathway along Riverfront Ave. from 1 St. S.W. east beyond the
Memorial Dr. flyover has been transformed into a no man's land of
drugs and violence, addicts and hustlers, pain and despair.

It's frustrating to police, who are keenly aware of the problem but
cite emaciated resources to solve it.

It's Saturday morning, and myriad bikers, joggers and in-line skaters
are coasting along the pathway, just a block from the eastern edge of
Chinatown. A man with greying hair and mustache is riding a bicycle
back and forth along the path. Three times he stops to exchange
something with other men, some looking so haggard it appears they may
fall over any second.

During one encounter, which took place not 30 paces from where this
reporter was seated, two men scramble down the river bank, and the
noise of metal scraping against flint can be heard. They reappear 10
minutes later and split up.

Dana Smith, a local resident, said that's not uncommon.

"You can hear them all night in the bushes -- flick, flick, flick,
flick with their lighters," said Smith, whose name has been changed
for this story.

Smith's friend Jim Moffatt suggested police patrol the area every
night and flush out the fiends and dealers.

"If (police) only come once in awhile, (dealers and users) become
comfortable here," he said.

Insp. Rene Bailly of the Calgary Police Service said that's easier
said than done.

"The problem with that kind of policing is that for the 30 seconds
bike cops ride by, you won't have any crime, but it comes right back
when (police) are out of sight," Bailly said, adding limited resources
a play a role in their techniques.

"What do you do? Spend your time going after the street-level guys, or
the dealer supplying them?"

But cops are watching, and working on cleaning the
pathway.

"I think you'll see some real efforts to eradicate the drugs," Bailly
said. "I won't go into detail, though."

Last week, a seven-year-old and his younger siblings, a brother and
sister aged six and four, were seized from a Chinatown apartment after
a downtown drug bust.

The cops charged an adult male who was allegedly using the boy to hold
about $300 worth of rock cocaine.

Smith and Moffatt said while the drug use is rampant, seeing little
kids wheeling and dealing dope is not.

"That's pretty uncommon, I've never seen anyone that young," said
Smith. Moffatt agreed, although he said he's seen girls as young as 12
loitering on the path at night.

The owner of a Chinese diner a block away declined to speak, saying,
"no drugs here, don't know anything about drugs."

Other businesses also declined to comment.

"People are frightened. They think people in the neighbourhood might
identify them and they fear revenge," said Jacob Au, executive
director of the Calgary Chinese Community Services
Association.

Brandi Demers, 21, lives across the street at the Waterfront building.
She said she won't even walk the path at night, and her friends don't
like the fact she even lives here.

"If you step outside the apartment long enough, they'll come up and
ask if you're interested.

"I don't talk to them long enough to find out what they
mean."

About 20 minutes later, a large man with a crooked nose approaches
looking for a lighter.

"You want pieces?" he asks, as I juggle my notebook and cellphone and
dig in my pockets for a lighter.

"Uh, no thanks," I replied.

"You sure?" he asks, extending his palm to reveal four chunks of crack
the size of my pinky nail.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied.

Insp. Bailly wasn't surprised. Neither was Smith or
Moffat.

"All the time, they're out there, asking you 'you holding? You
lookin'? Got a pipe?' I had somebody offer me $5 for a lighter,"
explains Smith.

"I've only been here since December, and I've never seen so many
screwed up things in my life -- women getting beaten up in parking
lots, crackheads with no shoes on, sores all over their face, shaking
... all kinds of stuff."

"It's like hell, I swear."