Crack increase in Saskatoon not affecting Prince Albert: police

Prince Albert seems to be safe from the sudden rise in crack cocaine use seen in Saskatoon over the last six months.

"(The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit) have not seen any increase in (crack) into the city. It is here ... but it's not, for lack of a better term, the drug of choice," said Staff Sgt Bill Chow of the Prince Albert City Police.

Sometimes the drug trends that hit Saskatoon also come to Prince Albert, but other times Prince Albert doesn't see the same situations, said Chow.

"There's nothing to really say that what happens in Saskatoon is going to happen in Prince Albert. They have some different lifestyles down there than we have here."

Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Regina have always had different drug profiles, said Dr. Leo Lanoie, a doctor who works in addiction medicine.

Lanoie's work as a medical addictionist with the methadone program means he has an idea of what drugs are currently in the city. Cocaine started showing up on drug screens for methadone program clients a number of years ago.

"Over the last five or six years we've seen a lot of cocaine," Lanoie said.

Crack, which is cocaine that is crystallized, is more pure than straight cocaine as crack has had the impurities cooked out of it. It is also more volatile, which means instead of injecting crack, users smoke it.

"In a sense it makes (crack) safer but in a sense because you are absorbing it through your lungs you get so much more of a rush out of it, so it's much more addictive," Lanoie said, comparing crack and cocaine.

Cocaine is a much more dangerous drug compared to others, he said.

Unless someone overdoses on morphine, it doesn't do him or her much harm, it's the needle and the lifestyle that gets the user.

"Mess with crack cocaine, or any kind of cocaine, for 10 or 15 years, you're dead because you don't have any blood vessels left and your heart's shot," Lanoie said.

Cocaine gives a rush similar to adrenalin, which causes the blood vessels to contract. When the vessels are hard all the time the vessels and heart eventually stop working.

Cocaine users who seek help through Prince Albert Parkland Health Region's addictions services primarily are crack smokers, said Chuck McCann, director of addictions services.

However, alcohol makes up a majority of the drug addictions counselling they do - this is followed by marijuana and then cocaine. Clients frequently come in for help with several addiction issues.

"We rarely see anybody who is simply using alcohol. It's mostly a combination of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine or something," McCann said.

ahill@paherald.sk.ca