Carrboro crack use exceeds marijuana

Missing front teeth, burn marks on lips and fingers — the Carrboro narcotics investigator knows it when he sees it.

Crack cocaine is the most frequently used drug in Carrboro, more than marijuana, Cpl. Jason Peloquin said.

“We enforce everything equally,” he said. “It’s just that crack cocaine is so much more frequent.”

Despite police efforts to cut down on cocaine use in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, arrests in recent years have stayed constant.

Because it’s easily accessible, cocaine — in both crack and powder forms — is also one of the top two drugs in Chapel Hill, said Sgt. Jabe Hunter, Chapel Hill police narcotics investigator.

“There’s demand,” he said.

Of about 95 people who came into the crisis unit at the Freedom House Recovery Center off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in September, 35 were treated for cocaine, program director Bob Carmines said.

Of those 35, about 10 were from Chapel Hill or Carrboro. The center, located in Chapel Hill, serves 18 counties, mostly Orange, Person and Chatham, Carmines said.

Carmines estimated that 175 to 200 people come to the crisis unit from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area for cocaine each year.

“It’s a drug that’s very, very popular, very available and a hard habit to kick,” he said. “Like any other drug it can destroy lives, families.”

A need for constant enforcement

Chapel Hill police have ramped up enforcement of drug laws in recent years, Hunter said.

Strengthened by following up on every tip and arrest, enforcement has led to a decrease in open-air drug markets, he said.

Sometimes a routine follow-up turns into a big bust. Chapel Hill police’s mid-September find of 197.6 grams of cocaine led to the arrest of seven current or former UNC students.

“We follow up wherever leads take us,” Hunter said, “Not all of the time are these cases successful.”

Police find cocaine mostly in 1-gram bags — enough for a few highs, he said.

Finding a gram means there’s more out there. The gram usually will have been chipped off of one kilogram someone brought to the region, Hunter said.

After an arrest, police attempt to move higher up the chain of sale.

“You can’t make any generalizations that any one type of person or gender will be a supplier,” Hunter said.

But increased enforcement hasn’t changed the number of cocaine users who end up at the recovery center crisis unit, Carmines said.

While drugs like heroin and prescription drugs trend in fads, cocaine is almost always popular, he said.

Cocaine withdrawal is psychological — not physical — but Carmines said he sees many repeat offenders.

“All we can do is get them off the streets,” he said. “But it’s easy access everywhere.”

Sales become less obvious

Peloquin said residents buy cocaine from dealers on the street, from sellers’ apartments or by delivery.

Jennifer Watson, 23, lives in a recovery house and has met many former cocaine users on her path to sobriety. She and others at recovery houses said a trip off Rosemary Street can yield crack cocaine in a few minutes.

“For every dealer they take down, there’s another one springing up,” she said.

Still, it’s not as bad as it used to be, Hunter said. Ten to 12 years ago, there were five or six corners on Rosemary Street and Merritt Mill Road where drugs were regularly sold, he said.

“These days you don’t see as much of the open air market,” Hunter said, attributing the decline to strict police enforcement.

Peloquin said he knew of about 30 cocaine dealers two years ago, but now he knows of fewer.

“We’ve got quite a few that are on our radar,” Hunter said, and police track them throughout the region.

In spite of declining numbers of known dealers and open drug trade, Hunter said the number of arrests has stayed about constant.

“There’s really no way to truly know how much is out there,” Hunter said.

Neither investigator was able to release the number of open cocaine cases. Both said investigations last long after an arrest.


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