JUNKIES SAY IT ONLY TAKES ONE TIME TO GET HOOKED

For IV drug users Bob and Sandy, one time was all it took to get hooked.

"Once you try it, it doesn't matter how much willpower you have," said
Sandy, who's been shooting drugs since 1986. "You're always chasing that
first buzz. It's good at first, but then you lose everything. And it
doesn't matter how strong a person you are, it takes years to get it out of
your system."

For years, Sandy and her friend Bob (not their real names) have been slaves
to their drug of choice, a combination of talwin and ritalin that -- once
injected -- produces a high similar to that of heroin mixed with cocaine.

"It's called poor man's heroin," said Bob. "But I don't know any poor man
who can afford it."

Over the years, Bob and Sandy have both lost almost everything -- jobs,
friends, and a staggering amount of money -- to their addictions.

"Five or six years ago, I was spending maybe $30,000 a month on drugs,"
said Bob, who eventually started selling drugs to support his habit. "I
couldn't afford anything else, because whatever money I'd get would go to
that."

For Sandy, it was a similar story.

"I had a job, and I lost it a couple times, because I'd stay up all night
doing drugs," she said. "You sell everything you own ... and you don't
associate that much with other people, so you become isolated."

Today, both Bob and Sandy are trying to kick their habits, with help from
in-patient programs at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and the Main
Street Project.

Both are also advocates of the needle-exchange services provided by Street
Connections.

"You could go there and talk to a counsellor," Bob said. "Or if you had to
go to the hospital, the doctor would refer you to someone who would treat
you like a human being."

Neither are familiar with any safe injection sites operating above-ground
in Winnipeg, but Bob said the idea definitely has legs.

"It'll take a while to catch on, but I believe it would work," he said.
"Especially on the coke users, because they get very paranoid when they
inject."

'TIRED OF LIFESTYLE'

Bob says he wants to get clean so he can be a better example for his kids,
while Sandy says she's just "tired of the lifestyle."

And both say they're only too aware of the health risks involved with their
habits.

"You can get dirt in your system, and there's a lot of chalk in the pills,"
he said. "A lot of people have heart attacks and strokes from using, and
you get chalk-lung, where you're coughing all the time ... Also, we know a
lot of people who've died from contracting AIDS on the street."