Subj: UK: Use of crack increases to record level 



Date: Monday. 21 September 1998



Source:    The Independent (UK)





Use of crack increases to record level

By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent 



RECORD AMOUNTS of crack cocaine, the

highly addictive drug, are available on the streets

of Britain, the Home Office and criminologists

have discovered. 



While crime surveys have found that 1 per cent of

16 to 29- year-olds have taken crack - about the

same number as heroin - experts believe the

problem is underestimated because users of the

drug tend to lie about their habit. 



Cocaine seizures by customs and excise have

risen sharply in the past three years, from 940kg

in 1995 to 2,074kg last year. 



New Home Office research has found that more

than a quarter of people arrested in a study in

London and Manchester were taking crack

cocaine, and that one in 10 arrested in

Nottingham had used it. 



More women tested positively than men.

Prostitutes are among the most frequent users of

crack. 



But the drug, which costs as little as UKP10 a hit, is

not confined to the stereotype of drug users. A

vicar, a 14-year-old girl and a group of

pensioners are among the growing number of

people who have become hooked on crack,

inquiries by The Independent have found. The

police are particularly concerned about any rise in

the substance's popularity because crack users

are among the most risk-taking and volatile drug

takers and likely to turn to crime to pay for their

habits. 



Research and reports from drug agencies show

that crack - usually tiny "rocks" created by baking

cocaine powder - is available in most cities in

Britain and is being used by people from a wider

range of age groups and social backgrounds than

in the past. It is also becoming more widely used

in the club scene. 



Among the clients being helped by one drug

agency in London are a vicar who is stealing up to

UKP200 a week from the church collection plate to

pay for his habit, stockbrokers, lawyers, and

teenage girls who have been forced into

prostitution after being given crack. 



Tim Bottomley, who is carrying out research on

crack for the Home Office, said: "You could walk

up to a punter in the street and buy it in most

cities in Britain." 



Previous co-research by Mr Bottomley, leader of

the Piper Project, a drugs unit in south

Manchester, in 1996 found that crack cocaine

addicts in north- west England were typically

spending about UKP20,000 a year on drugs and

were particularly involved in offences of burglary,

theft and assault. 



A Home Office official confirmed the trend

yesterday: "There is more available than ever

before." 



Crack is usually smoked in a pipe and produces

an intense high that lasts for about two minutes,

followed by about 20 minutes of low-level

euphoria before the effect wears off, leaving a

craving for further hits. 



Among the side-effects is a long low period that

follows the short high. This can cause mental

health problems ranging from mild depression to

cocaine psychosis with symptoms similar to

schizophrenia. 



Warnings from drugs experts in the late 1980s

that Britain was about to experience a crack

epidemic similar to that raging in American inner

cities were not borne out. 



But it appears that crack - mainly from cocaine

from South America - is entering the UK in

record amounts. 



'Easier than ordering a pizza' 



Sophie SPENT UKP250 a day to feed her addiction

to crack cocaine. "I didn't look like a drug addict.

I was losing weight, but I still took care of my

looks and how I dressed. 



"The drugs were so easy to get. I would buy UKP50

worth and someone used to come around to my

house to deliver them. 



"I once smoked UKP1,000 of crack in a day. After I

had finished, the buzz just disappeared - it only

lasts about 5-10 minutes, although it's a very

powerful hit." 



Sophie has been drug-free for five months since

getting help from the 493 Crack Awareness

Programme, run by the drugs agency Addaction

in Hackney, east London. 



Fashionably dressed, attractive and articulate,

with a lively three-year-old son, Sophie does not

look like a stereotypical former junkie. 



She started on drugs while living in the United

States, but had been off "crack" for seven years

when she arrived in Britain. "Things became

difficult for me and I just relapsed." A year ago

she was arrested for cheque fraud. She was

referred to 493 Project and since then her life has

changed. "It was such a relief to tell my partner,

and I've got a nice home and a little job now," she

said. 



But could she still get crack if she wanted it? "I

could have it delivered here in four or five minutes

- it's easier than ordering a pizza."