Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 26/00) - Yellowknife is not exempt from the growing and thriving cocaine trade that has rooted itself in several Canadian cities.

Sgt. Dave Grundy exhibits cocaine police seized in a 1996 drug bust.

"Cocaine is available here to anyone who's into that culture," says Sgt. Dave Grundy. The district commander for the central region of the NWT has been involved with the RCMP plain-clothes unit, which includes drug enforcement, for 20 years in Yellowknife.

"It causes many problems in society and Yellowknife is no exception."

Grundy added that during his 20 years here the "problem has definitely gotten worse."

"It continues to become a major problem," he said, adding that he is aware of many dealers in the city.

"Any type of drug use is a huge problem. We make arrests every day trying to stop the drug flow into Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories.

"But it's hard to do. We're bound by certain laws and we need grounds to do things. If we don't have those grounds we could never get it through court."

The latest statistics available from the NWT Bureau of Statistics is from 1996 and states the percentage of cocaine, LSD, speed and heroin usage in that year for people over 15 years of age was 1.8 per cent higher than in the rest of Canada. Although the numbers here are higher, the demographics are similar.

There are more aboriginal male users between the ages of 15 and 24 than any other category across the country.

"I don't think there's anything significant about where we live," said Grundy. "The supply might vary a bit based on where we live but it is available here the same as it is anywhere else in the country."

In May 1999 Yellowknife RCMP concluded a five-month undercover drug investigation.

On the morning of May 28, with arrest and search warrants, members of the drug section, with support from the Yellowknife RCMP and other support service units, started making arrests of individuals involved in the illicit drug trade in this city. Although other drugs were found the operation was targeted on the cocaine trade.

At that point 11 arrests were made and another three-week undercover operation the following month resulted in 15 more.

"A total of 28 drug purchases were made from 15 different subjects," stated the June 21 RCMP press release. "The drugs purchased were cocaine, marijuana, percocet, atavin and hashish all at the gram level or multi-gram level."

Then on November 30, after conducting a routine motor vehicle inspection, RCMP found 10 grams of cocaine and charged the driver with possession for the purpose of trafficking. The street value of the drug found was $1,400.

Although the RCMP continue to investigate, arrest and charge individuals involved in the cocaine trade in the North, the number 1 problem continues to be alcohol, Grundy said.