Cocaine, marijuana major drugs
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 13/00) - Anyone in the North who wants to get their hands on illegal drugs, can. And then there's the booze.
"The drug situation, it doesn't really change. It's the same as ever," said Cpl. Dan Nowlan of the RCMP Drug Enforcement Unit -- and that's bad.
Fact File The most readily available illegal drugs in the North are marijuana and cocaine. Here are some recent cases: - In May 1999 Yellowknife RCMP concluded a five-month undercover drug investigation with 11 arrests. Another undercover operation the following month resulted in 15 more. - On Nov. 30, 1999 RCMP found 10 grams of cocaine (street value of $1,400) during a routine motor vehicle inspection and charged the driver with possession for the purpose of trafficking. - On Dec. 15, 1999 RCMP seized 10 kg. of marijuana and 125 grams of hashish from a truck near Yellowknife. The drugs had an estimated value of $250,000. - In January $12,000 worth of drugs and drug paraphernalia was seized from a Kugluktuk residence. - In May $12,000 worth of cocaine was seized from an Iqaluit residence. - Also in May, marijuana with an estimated value of $300,000 was seized in Churchill, Man. The drugs were en route to Arviat. - $300,000 worth of cocaine was seized in May at the Yellowknife Airport on a flight arriving from Hay River.
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There are more aboriginal users between the ages of 15 and 24 than in any other category across the country.
The key to getting the illegal drug scene under control here in the North, said Nowlan, is education and prevention.
"We can do enforcement until we're blue in the face ... but you'll never stop it.
"The prevention is what we should be putting our efforts into," he said, citing the DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) program as a prime example.
"I can say we are not in a crisis situation, but it's there and it's available and we are never going to stop.
Alcohol epidemic
RCMP Staff Sgt. Terry Scott says the alcohol problem is an epidemic.
He says nine out of 10 crimes committed are directly related to alcohol use.
"If the alcohol wasn't such a problem here in this community our workloads would be a lot less," said Scott.
Those who can't get booze turn to products like Lysol, Listerine and hairspray when they need alcohol.
He believes attitudes toward alcohol have to change.
"The community has come to accept this kind of behaviour I believe, and until there is a concerted effort by the community to get into partnerships to provide counselling, treatment, or whatever it's going to take and use us as part of that, I don't think you can see any change," said Scott.
Yellowknife Salvation Army Capt. Karen Hoeft said there also has to be a realization that alcohol abuse spans society.
"We treat (drunks) as though they are the idiots of our society and they are not idiots," she said.
"Most people don't see them as humans who have a right to choose, most people see them as charity cases that we need to help."
In the case of so-called middle- and upper-class families, she said, they drink in their homes where nobody can see.
"Our bars are more full in the summer when university students are here, but we don't talk about that, and our addictions on university campuses and how many of them drink all their money from the summer and then want the government to pay for their tuition," she said.
Binge boozers
Statistics reported in EpiNorth, a newsletter published by the NWT department of Health and Social Services show how bad the problem is.
Using information from a 1996 survey, the publication reported that almost three times the proportion of NWT residents compared to the rest of Canada, reported drinking five or more drinks on at least one occasion. That's considered "heavy or binge drinking."
"The highest consumption was by young men age 15-24 in both Canada and the NWT.
As well, pregnant women across the North continue to consume dangerous quantities of alcohol.
"Nearly 25 per cent of women surveyed reported drinking while they were pregnant," said EpiNorth using information from a 1993 HSS breastfeeding survey.
