Iqaluit (Aug 07/06) - Nunavut's new top cop has seen the ravages of crystal methamphetamine in western Canada and rues the day it arrives in the territory.

Supt. Marty Cheliak has 28 years behind the badge in B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta and the Yukon. And with the exception of his time in Ottawa, said he's always worked in the Northern reaches of the country.

"I've always been attracted to the North," Cheliak said, seated behind his desk in a downtown Iqaluit office. "I'm very outdoors oriented, I love the fishing and hunting and just being outdoors."

Cheliak, who started at his new post July 25, takes over a police division the size of western Europe with a young population and plenty of growing pains, as evidenced by the recent concerns voiced about crack cocaine use in Iqaluit.

But with four seizures of crack and powder cocaine last year, and one so far this year, Cheliak said the issue hasn't yet reached crisis proportions.

Clamping down on imports of hard drugs is easier for police since there are no roads into Nunavut which gives the territory a unique opportunity to stamp out abuse through enforcement and education, he said.

"(Cocaine) is really a drug that's in use when it's available," he said. "When it's not available it's really difficult to get."

What worries Cheliak is the possibility of crystal methamphetamine arriving in Nunavut.

The cheap drug provides a quick high and can be manufactured from products easily acquired at drug and hardware stores.

It has hit the streets hard in western Canada, something Cheliak knows well from his time in northwestern Alberta.

"You can set up a methamphetamine lab in the trunk of a vehicle," he said.

Houses that are used as meth labs often become so contaminated they're condemned, and busts involve not only police, but firefighters and hazardous materials teams.

"They're very dangerous," Cheliak said. "Up here we'd ... likely have to go to Montreal or Ottawa to get a team to come up and dismantle them."

Cpl. Rob Leger of the RCMP drug section in Iqaluit said while police have received tips that crystal meth has arrived in Nunavut, they haven't been able to confirm its presence, and haven't made any seizures. He fears the situation won't last.

"It's just a matter of time," he said. "From what we've seen on the news down south it's like a rolling tide."