Cocaine, pot used by Winnipeg kids at younger ages

When Jessica was 12 years old she was an A student who played sports at a school in Winnipeg's south end, but by the time she was in Grade 8 she was getting high every day at school. On her 14th birthday she bought her first hit of cocaine at her school. "I was sent to school with money to go shopping. Kids were starting to get into coke so I bought it off someone," she said. "After the first time I snorted it I didn't care who [saw] me do it, or where I did it. I even got into snorting meth right by the cafeteria in my school." 'Just recently my friend walked into the washroom to some girls snorting cocaine. They just packed up the cocaine and left.' - Grade 12 student CBC News can't legally identify Jessica or her school because her addictions forced her parents to put her in the care of Child and Family Services to get the help she needed. She's now 16 and living in a treatment centre, but students from schools all over Winnipeg tell CBC Jessica's story doesn't shock them. "Just recently my friend walked into the washroom to some girls snorting cocaine," said a Grade 12 student from another school. "They just packed the cocaine up and left."