CRACK CRISIS AT ENOCH

Chief Ron Morin Wants Advance On New Casino Profits To Treat Drug And
Alcohol Addicts

EDMONTON - The Enoch First Nation on Edmonton's outskirts is being
overrun by crack cocaine and methamphetamine addiction, just months
before its $150-million casino and resort opens, the band chief says.

"We have a crisis here in our community -- eight deaths, drug and
alcohol related, in six months," Chief Ron Morin said Thursday. "One
suicide, one attempted suicide. Capital Health region told us there
were 22 crack babies born ... in less than two years."

A frustrated Morin said the band wants to get a bank loan to start
treating as many as 100 drug and alcohol addicts, but has been
stymied by foot-dragging by the Alberta Gaming and Alcohol
Commission. The band needs a letter of permission from the commission
before it can get the loan. Morin said $20 million of the loan would
be paid back through casino profits made in the first year.

He also wants the commission to loosen the rules that govern what
charities can spend casino profits on, so the band can use the money
for a wide range of programs.

"Crystal meth and crack are such destructive drugs," he said. "I'm
just heartsick with the number of people in our community that the
police have done their arrests on."

What Enoch wants to do, Morin said, is help fund a large treatment
centre on the O'Chiese First Nation near Rocky Mountain House. If
treatment could happen quickly, Morin hopes some band members could
kick their addictions and qualify for jobs in the casino.

The River Cree Resort and Casino is due to open in the fall and is
expected to employ 800 to 1,000 people.

"If we wait till September when the casino opens (to get the money),
many of our people will not have had the intervention programming
that they need," Morin said.

Money is also needed to set up the Enoch charity that will handle the
casino proceeds, he said.

Commission spokeswoman Marilyn Carlyle-Helms said the Enoch letter
requesting rule changes was only received a week ago and considering
any changes will take some time. She had no information about the
band's desire to borrow against future casino profits.

Morin said the Enoch have committed not to use their casino profits
to pay for construction costs, to pay casino workers or to distribute
money to band members.

Housing, infrastructure, programs for kids and programs for drug
users, totalling upwards of $50 million, are all necessary, he said.

The Enoch casino will be Alberta's first casino on a reserve. The
band has about 2,000 registered members plus nearly 400
non-registered residents.

Morin spoke at a news conference held during a break in the winter
meeting of the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs of Alberta at the Fantasyland Hotel.

The chiefs passed a resolution calling for 10-year mandatory
sentences for doctors or pharmacists convicted of knowingly
over-prescribing addictive drugs.

They also denounced the Alberta government's proposed "third way"
changes to health care, saying more privatization will hurt aboriginal people.