Reporter Jennifer Pritchett spent the last seven months investigating parts of Yellowknife's cocaine underworld, its affect on the city and some of the people who live here. Relatively new to the North compared to other Canadian jurisdictions, the intoxicating white powder is no less destructive here, which could quite possibly be cocaine's last frontier.

NNSL (June 06/97) - Three long-time Yellowknifers say they've seen too many lives ruined by cocaine. Now they've taken matters into their own hands. They're lobbying for a way to help those who hang out downtown with nothing to do and nowhere to turn for help. Many of those people are cocaine addicts. "Yellowknife can destroy -- there's enough here to destroy kids," says Conrad Dow, who works at a downtown bar. Together with bouncer Ernie Glowach and Bill Poirier, a drug and alcohol counsellor from Rae, Dow is trying to open a drop-in centre for those in need. As they discuss their plan in a downtown diner, their concern is evident. All three have lived through drug and alcohol abuse of some kind and still have close connections to the street. They see the worst side of Yellowknife and know first-hand what problems exist. They were planning to use the old pawn shop on 50th Street owned by Sam Yurkiw, but they were unable to get the funding for the project. The trio is now looking at the possibility of using the old fire hall on Franklin Avenue. Meanwhile, they are putting together a proposal to get government funding to run a volunteer-run centre. City life can ruin lives Dow says he's seen many people come to Yellowknife from communities across the NWT and ruin their lives because they can't deal with city life. "They call it the Big Apple of the North -- that's what they call it," he says. "They come here and then you see the end result after about three weeks. Yellowknife is a promise for many that doesn't deliver." Glowach, who's had more than 20 young people -- from youths in their mid-teens to people in their 30s -- stay with him over the years because they have nowhere else to go, sees things only getting worse if there aren't enough resources to help these people. "I've had as many as three at a time," he says. "A lot of people come for help, but I can't really help them. I try to get them going in the right direction." Girls sell sex for drugs He's seen girls as young as 13 or 14 selling themselves to support their drug habit. Glowach gets emotional when remembering one girl who stayed with him a couple of years back. Sixteen-year-old Bessie Black froze to death on a downtown bench. "It had something to do with alcohol," is all he'll say. While this is the worse he's ever seen, Glowach says that once-rare occurrences are growing more common. He maintains the problem has been compounded over the last five years by an increased amount of cocaine use in the city. "It wasn't like this before," he says. Drug abuse is turning into violence. Ernie says a gang called the Rat Pack wait outside bars for people to come out so they can beat and rob them. Poirier agrees that these kinds of things are becoming more and more common. "They're packing up and beating people up -- they're even picking on drunks," he says. "A good part of them are anywhere from 10 to 25 years old. It's becoming a way of life for them and that's disturbing." Many of them, he says, are turning to dealing drugs because they see it as a way to make some fast cash. "They have seen how easy it is to get a good buck with a little bit of white powder," he says. "I'm afraid the cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg have moved to Yellowknife."