ESKASONI RESIDENTS MARCH TO SHOW FRUSTRATION WITH DRUG PROBLEM

ESKASONI - They're fed up and they're not gonna take it anymore.

Parents, grandparents, educators and police officers walked alongside
children in an eight-kilometre long march through this First Nation
community to show their continuing frustration with local drug
pushers who get many kids hooked on drugs like valium, percocet and
ecstasy as preteens.

The abuse doesn't begin with so-called "soft drugs" such as marijuana
anymore, said one mother who attended the rally.

The woman, who did not want to be named in order to protect her grown
child's privacy as they currently undergo treatment for drug abuse,
said kids are starting to use prescription drugs before moving on to
something more hardcore such as cocaine.

"The culture has changed from soft drugs to hard drugs. Kids aren't
even going to the soft drugs, they're hitting the pills first," she
said in a telephone interview.

"People are going around selling drugs to young kids for greed and
hurting them. They don't care about our children. They only care
about their pockets and the money they get from selling the drugs.
"We're trying to show the drug dealers that we're tired of it. We're
tired of having people die."

Some participants in the march were as young as six months old, being
rolled along in strollers by their parents.

Recent drug deaths have angered the community and Sunday's marched
acted as both a protest against prescription drug abuse, and also a
day to remember the young people who have died due to drug abuse.

One 14-year-old boy walked with his classmates from Eskasoni
Elementary and Middle School. He had an uncle die of a drug overdose Friday.

"It makes me very sad," said Justis Stevens. "I just want to stand up
for all this and make it stop.

"A lot of my friends do drugs, (but) I try to say, 'Don't do it.'"

He said the drug problem in Eskasoni is "real bad."

"There's a lot of crime here. One time during the Terry Fox Run there
was people drinking and getting high and some guy almost died. He got
jumped by a lot of people."

Most marchers wore T-shirts that read 'Parents Against Drugs.'

An RCMP police cruiser led the rally through the community. Using its
loud speaker, a community elder recited prayers and songs in both
English and Mi'kmaq. There were also chants stating the obvious:
"We're against drugs."

One of the march organizers, RCMP Const. Duma Bernard, said there was
intense public interest in getting a strong anti-drug message out
into the community by saying: "We're all here now and we're doing
something about it."

Bernard, who also acts as the Eskasoni Elementary and Middle School
resource police officer, said Sunday's rally is only the beginning.
He said more initiatives are being planned.

He said there is talk of setting up a program that would operate in a
similar fashion to a neighbourhood watch.

"We're tired of the alcohol and drugs," Bernard said.

"We'll have people just walking around and maybe people who are
selling will stop selling (drugs) because if they know people don't
like it, and people are watching the areas where it's being sold,
they won't sell it to young people."

He'd only describe the drug problem on the First Nation as a "problem
that we don't want to get any worse."

That's exactly the concern of the mother whose child is off reserve
and currently in drug rehab.

She said a number of candidates campaigning for this Saturday's band
council election have long histories in drug dealing and she's afraid
some of them may be elected.

"There are convicted drug dealers running for council and it's a
known fact that they do sell drugs," she said, without providing
names of those candidates who allegedly deal in drugs.

"That's freaky, that's scary. We're trying to tell these people to
stop selling drugs and we're going to have leaders that might be
selling drugs or that are selling drugs."