Mouthwash, cleaning products, hair spray...
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 01/00) - The bars aren't the only places to get a 'buzz on" in Yellowknife.
The RCMP say they are keeping an eye on corner stores throughout the city hoping to crack down on those involved in "purposely" selling household intoxicants to addicts.
Window cleaner, shoe polish, hairspray, mouthwash, after shave ... the list goes on and on in what police claim are items serving as the drink of last resort for many addicts on Yellowknife's skid row.
Staff Sgt. Terry Scott said police are very concerned with stores they believe may be selling household intoxicants to people in the city, and doing it on purpose.
"There certainly seems to be more abuse of alcohol in the area but on Sundays hairspray and Listerine is being openly sold," he said. On Sundays substance abusers are cut off from bars and other liquor selling establishments except restaurants.
Those with serious addictions then feel forced to find other dangerous substances as intoxicants.
Scott said there are indications that some stores are knowingly bringing in extra stocks of mouthwash, hairspray, after shave, cleaning products, cough syrup or inhalants specifically for that purpose.
"They better watch it because we are watching them," he warned.
Dave Harder, the director of programs at the Salvation Army, helps abusers on a regular basis.
Harder said there are fewer people in Yellowknife with actual addictions than many people realize.
People with chronic alcoholism go through several stages; social use, abuse, dependency and finally actual addiction.
"Those are the people I'd see at risk of using hairspray and the others," he said. "There are very few people around that fit that category."
Regardless, those that do and use items sold in convenience stores are at a higher risk of developing serious physical problems than those using only alcohol.
The negative effects you get from alcohol can take years," he said.
"With this the negative effects show up in a very short period of time."
The physical side effects these chemicals can bring include nerve and brain damage.
"People who I know in the community using chemicals seem to develop the more serious effects you would notice in brain damage from alcohol," Harder said, adding, he once dealt with an individual who used Windex.
"It was almost like he was schizophrenic," he said. "He would come across very good and the next moment he would seem extremely mentally challenged."
Harder said Yellowknife is a small enough centre that store employees should be aware of who the addicts are.
"If they are bringing in extra stock then in my view that is the same as pushing it," he said. "If people want to use Lysol then I guess they have the right to do it ... but if I was in business and knew I was contributing to a person's condition? Well, there is something wrong with that picture."
Sherry Stride is the assistant manager of Reddi Mart Village on Byrne Road in Yellowknife. She said initially her and other employees simply wouldn't sell those types of products to people they felt had a problem.
"But we had a guy buying hairspray, about a half dozen (small) bottles at a time and so we took it off the shelves," she said.
"We don't carry Listerine any more, we carry Scope because apparently it has no alcohol in it. They don't buy it."
Stride admitted she doesn't think there is very much she, as a convenience store employee, can do about the problem as a social issue.
"We just don't carry things like that any more," she said, simply.
Scott, however, believes there are several stores in the city that do and do it on purpose.
When stores are caught they are in danger of losing their licenses or facing charges.
