DRUGS INFILTRATE NORTH

Traffickers Plague Northwest Territories

HAY RIVER, N.W.T. - RCMP Cpl. Eric Irani always keeps an eye out for
the extras when he pulls over a car speeding toward the Northwest Territories.

In one five-day stretch in June, a team of officers from Alberta,
B.C. and the Northwest Territories found 1.25 kilograms of powder
cocaine, as well as magic mushrooms, marijuana and crack cocaine
heading north. They also found a loaded 9-mm handgun and a bundle
containing $20,000 cash.

"The Northwest Territories is booming right now. It's kind of an
untapped market for drug traffickers," said Irani, who heads the unit
that patrols Alberta's highways.

"A lot is slipping through. It's getting into our communities,
harming our families and our kids. That's what's scary."

The community most on Irani's mind is his hometown of Hay River,
N.W.T., where his colleague, Const. Christopher Worden, was shot to
death Oct. 6.

The small shipping and transportation hub instantly became notorious,
and town residents -- who all know the rundown, government-subsidized
house across the street from where Worden lay that morning -- point
their fingers straight at the drug traffickers.

"Ten years ago most of the drugs were brought up by locals," said
Robert Halifax, Irani's stepfather and retired chief judge of the
Northwest Territories. "Now you're finding a lot more of the southern
guys coming in. That puts a different perspective on it and it brings
a lot more violence. And the reality is, they're better armed."

Halifax saw the first wave of marijuana-related charges come through
court in 1970s. Cocaine became popular among young professionals 15
years ago, and crack -- "the poor man's cocaine" -- followed about
five years later, Halifax said.

Now, "there's just about every kid in town has tried something here.
Kids tell me it's easier to get drugs than alcohol," he said.

The situation is much the same in nearby Fort Smith as well as in Yellowknife.

"It's time the public didn't put its head in the sand and play
ostrich any more," Halifax said.

In 2006, Statistics Canada listed the rate of violent crime as almost
seven times higher in the Northwest Territories than the rest of
Canada. The rate of drug offences was 2.6 times higher.

Hay River Mayor John Pollard called a community meeting one week ago
and about 300 people filled the community hall. Residents called for
a curfew, for parents to keep a closer eye on their teenagers, and
for the whole community to watch out for drug use and strange Alberta
or B.C. licence plates. They called for the housing corporation to
quit letting people convicted of drug trafficking stay in subsidized
houses, and asked how they could help police. "Whatever anyone wants
to do to get our town back, I'm part of it," said one resident, Donna O'Brien.

Down the road from the community hall, the Hay River Community Youth
Centre is falling to pieces.

"It's pretty ghetto, eh?" said Shayne Beck, 17, called over to look
at the mess. Four years ago, the place would have been packed, he
said. "That was actually a half-pipe over there and a bunch of dirt
jumps. We had skateboard competitions. Now nobody hangs around here anymore."

TREATMENT CENTRE

On the Hay River Reserve across the river, Melvin Larocque runs a
treatment centre for drug and alcohol addictions and welcomes up to
30 new clients every five weeks. The first thing he would do to
reclaim the town from the drug traffickers is fix up the youth centre.

"If you have a busy child, you have a child who's not on drugs," he said.

Quitting is emotionally painful, said Amanda Edgi, 29, who is raising
two boys in one of the small homes near where Worden was shot.

She said she used to smoke marijuana but stopped several years ago to
make a safe home for her kids. Getting rid of the drugs in Hay River
will be more difficult than people think.

"This is an issue that has been going on for years.

"(To fight the addiction), a person has to be willing to look deep
inside them to find all the problems that they pushed away. It's
painful," she said.