CRACK EPIDEMIC FEARS AS ARRESTS RISE BY 200 PC

Trafficking and possession of crack cocaine in Britain have risen by more
than 200 per cent over the past three years, raising fears of an epidemic.
Police figures to be presented at a government-convened 'crack summit'
tomorrow will reveal rapid increases in the use of the drug in major cities.

As police demand new powers to detain suspected dealers indefinitely, Bob
Ainsworth, the Home Office Minister with responsibility for drugs, will
admit that the problem could engulf some communities.

Two police forces with big problems with the drug - the Metropolitan, which
covers London, and Avon and Somerset, which covers Bristol, have been
invited to the conference in Birmingham.

The Met will present figures showing that recorded offences for trafficking
crack have risen from 493 in the year to March 2000 to 1,117 in the year to
March 2002. At the same time the number of recorded offences of possession
has risen from 713 to 829.

Avon and Somerset Police will say the total weight of seizures of crack
cocaine between 1999 and 2002 rose from 761 kilos to 2,212 kilos.

Michael Fuller, deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, and head of the
force's drugs directorate, said: 'Crack cocaine has had a negative impact
on the lives of many Londoners, causes most harm to the capital's
communities and is behind much of the gun-related violence.'

The National Treatment Agency, the Government body charged with
implementing policies to help people off drugs, admitted crack was a
growing problem, par ticularly in London, Liverpool and Manchester.

The agency plans to launch a new treatment programme for addicts this year.

Chief Superintendent Brian Moore, acting borough commander of Lambeth, says
the police must be able to detain suspects who are believed to have
swallowed crack cocaine.

Dealers carry rocks of crack in their mouths - up to 30 at a time. Under
existing regulations, the police are unable to charge people because they
cannot produce the drugs.

Officers are often left grappling with suspected dealers to try to stop
them swallowing the drug.

'When you walk through an airport you don't see customs officers rolling
around on the floor struggling with people, yet they deal with people who
swallow drugs every day,' Moore said.

'That's because they have the power to detain people until the drugs pass
through their systems.'