NEW ALARM RAISED OVER DRUG-ABUSE COMMUNITY

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- The man who first opened eyes to gas-sniffing
Innu teenagers is again sounding alarms over increased crime and drug abuse.

Simeon Tshakapesh, a former band chief, said youth in the northern
Labrador community of Natuashish are out of control.

"I'm very concerned, especially [about] the drugs -- illegal drugs
are being sold to young people -- and the bootlegging that's been
happening in Natuashish," Tshakapesh said.

After seeing damage to the school, graffiti on buildings, and burned
homes and cars, Tshakapesh said the situation in Natuashish is again
out of hand.

Hard drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, are compounding alcohol
addictions and other social problems, Tshakapesh said.

"I think the agencies have got to get together and iron out what
they're going to do about this problem and we need to get the people
to set up [a] program for the problems we have here," he said.

Parents of some of the kids involved are drinking and have no control
over them, and the band council is also limited in what it can do,
added Tshakapesh.

"We are powerless as a community -- all we can do is watch kids
commit the vandalism . . . they are out late at night and break into
people's property."

In the early 1990s, Tshakapesh's videotapes of gas-sniffing children
screaming they wanted to die sparked a $160-million relocation of
about 700 Davis Inlet residents to the new mainland community of Natuashish.

Tshakapesh had hoped that the move would help the Innu of northern
Labrador, but the problems have become worse.