COPS: USE OF COCAINE ON THE RISE

PAWTUCKET -- Heroin is still hard at work in the Blackstone Valley, but
cocaine is making a comeback.

Police report they are seeing cocaine in big and small packages -- all of
them with greater frequency than they have seen in recent years.

There also has been a noticeable upswing in crimes like carjacking and
robbery -- crimes that are often committed by people under the influence of
a stimulant like cocaine.

"Heroin is still the bread and butter here, but cocaine is definitely on
the rise," said Detective Lt. Thomas Campbell, the head of the police
Special Squad that investigates vice and drug crime.

"We are starting to see it more frequently again."

None of that is new to anyone but the rookies on the police force.

Cocaine was the drug of choice in the Blackstone Valley for nearly a
generation after the 1960s infatuation with heroin ran out of steam in the
middle 1970s. For years local drug users went to Providence for heroin and
to Pawtucket and Central Falls for cocaine.

That changed in the early 1990s. People who imported illegal drugs began
carrying heroin grown and produced in Latin America --- a powerful heroin
known as Mexican brown.

The drug was so pure and cheap that users could snort heroin rather than
inject it.

That drug fueled a renewed interest in heroin that helped lead to an
increase, both nationally and locally, in heroin addiction. Locally, police
began to see heroin replace cocaine as the drug sold from apartments and
street corners.

National experts say heroin use has clearly begun to taper off. Cocaine is
coming in to fill the void.

There are local signs of the shift. The seizure by a DEA taskforce of 22
kilograms of pure cocaine this month in Pawtucket is more evidence that the
market for illegal drugs is shifting once again in the area.

Another small sign was a raid Monday by detectives with the Special Squad
in which they seized several small bags of crack cocaine from an apartment
at 27 Dexter Court.

Detectives raided two apartments on Dexter Court at 8 p.m., leaving the
neighborhood with several people in custody. They also seized more than
$1,000 in cash and 2.6 grams of cocaine divided into eight packets, police
allege.

Alvin DeJesus, 23, and Demetrio Matos, 31, both of 27 Dexter Court, were
arrested at home and charged with possession of cocaine and maintaining a
common nuisance.

Brian Stanley, 21, of Holland Avenue, was arrested in a neighboring
apartment. He was charged with possession of marijuana after police allege
they found two small bags of the drugs in his pocket. Police reportedly
seized slightly less than $300 from him -- including marked money used by
an undercover officer to buy drugs.

"We ran into a reinforced door, so it delayed our entry," Campbell said.
"When we got into the apartment, the toilet was flushing."

All three men arrested were held overnight and will face drug charges in
court. DeJesus and Matos will face felony charges in Superior Court.
Stanley currently faces misdemeanor charges in District Court.

Though the drug sold is changing, the methods of chasing the activity does
not, Campbell said.

"We've been working with Councilor David Clemente," Campbell said. "We've
been getting calls on these apartments, but he has been getting more calls
from neighborhood residents and is forwarding them to us.

"With either heroin or cocaine, we are dealing with street level dealing,
neighborhood nuisances," Campbell said. "I'm sure we'll be back in the
Dexter Court area again."