NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The RCMP's battle against drug and alcohol abuse in the North may not be showing any clear signs of improvement, but then again, the problem isn't getting worse, said Cpl. Shawn King of the RCMP.

"I think by the mere fact that things are not drastically different for the last couple of years, that things are kind of holding, it shows some measure of success," said King, the RCMP's drug awareness co-ordinator for the NWT.

Regardless, the numbers are staggering. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, King said about 180 drug possession and trafficking incidents in Yellowknife and 350 incidents NWT-wide were investigated by the RCMP. Also, during this same period, about 2,100 incidents of public intoxication in Yellowknife and about 5,000 across the NWT were reported by the RCMP.

The RCMP's strategy for dealing with these issues is a combination of education and enforcement - to reduce both the demand for and supply of illegal substances, he said. In terms of education, the main focus is to educate kids through programs such as DARE. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), a U.S.-based program, and Aboriginal Shield. These are designed to provide kids with "a better decision-making model" when they are confronted with alcohol and drug use.

King said with respect to enforcement of illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, crack-cocaine and more recently ecstasy, the offences largely involve drug possession and trafficking.

But alcohol poses different challenges since it is a legal substance. Still, especially in smaller communities in the NWT, King estimates between 60 and 80 per cent of calls to the RCMP have drugs or alcohol as an element in the offence.

Lydia Bardak, a city councillor and executive director of the John Howard Society of the NWT, sees education as only one factor in dealing with the problem. More importantly, what needs to be looked at are the underlying social factors or "common threads" of substance abuse and crime, she said.

Bardak said one common thread is the number of people that are "disconnected" from their families and communities when they come to Yellowknife. Another common thread in the North is the pain families deal with from tragic experiences such as those within the residential school system.

The result is young people increasingly "self-medicating" with drugs and alcohol, she said. What follows is that substance abuse removes the inhibitions that normally prevent people from committing crimes they otherwise wouldn't do in a "sober frame of mind," she said.

One area of police enforcement Bardak is concerned with dealing with public intoxication in terms of throwing offenders in the "drunk tank." She questions whether this is the most effective way of dealing with the issue.

"Leave the violent (crimes) to the RCMP. If somebody is engaged in violence or crime, the RCMP are certainly equipped to deal with that. But if somebody is simply intoxicated - why are the RCMP dealing with that?" she said.

Bardak sees alternate places such as the day shelter as better solutions where people can go while intoxicated and be supervised. She acknowledges that placing people in cells for being intoxicated can provide emergency safety and shelter for intoxicated persons. But as a long-term service, she sees the practice as a waste of RCMP resources.

King said the RCMP doesn't take every intoxicated person to a police cell. Officers do take intoxicated persons that are not a danger to themselves or others to the city's day shelter and the Salvation Army. In cases where the person may require medical attention, officers will take the person to the hospital.

King said the RCMP would rather spend more of its resources on crime, but in cases of public intoxication, officers have an obligation to ensure the safety of both an intoxicated person and the general public.

"We have to deal in the realities that we deal in, so we try to do the best we can," he said.

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