DRUG HOUSES' PRESENCE IRKS RESIDENTS

Some residents' anger about downtown drug houses bubbled over at a meeting
on the topic Tuesday evening.

NDP Leader and Whitehorse Centre MLA Todd Hardy hosted his third meeting
about downtown and the drug problem in the area.

During the gathering, at the Grace Church at the corner of Eighth Avenue
and Wheeler Street, a nearby resident expressed his displeasure with the
lack of action in getting rid of a known drug house.

Mike Smith (not the Kwanlin Dun First Nation chief of the same name) told
the audience of about 50, how much it bothered him living near an alleged
drug house on Wheeler Street.

Smith said he's lived in the area, near the church, for the past three or
four years. He said the drug houses run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"And they can't stop it," he said, referring to the RCMP.

"Why can't you close it down? I'll bloody close it down."

He said he's heard of a woman who moved in near the alleged house and when
she complained about it, the RCMP said if she has a problem, she can move.

Hardy and some of the other people at the meeting noted that more needs to
be done than just send the police after the drug dealers. They said that
other root problems, such as poverty and lack of education about drugs,
also need to be addressed.

A very upset Smith said he just needs the problem taken care of because it
isn't right that he has to see the dealing going down near his home.

He then stormed out of the meeting.

Someone else asked if the representatives from the RCMP could say what is
happening when dealing with places such as the alleged drug house on
Wheeler Street.

Staff Sgt. Tim Walton, the new RCMP detachment commander for Whitehorse,
testily said he could not and would not respond to what was being raised at
the meeting.

Hardy cautioned that just hiring more police isn't going to solve the
problem since if that's all it took, it would have been done a long time ago.

"It is far bigger," he said.

Another person pointed out that if something is not done, there could be a
problem of a vigilante group rising up to deal with these problems.

"There's enough hotheads around," the man said.

Hardy himself acknowledged the problem when talking about the location of
the meeting.

"Frankly, (we're) right across the street from drug houses," he said.

One man at the meeting, Jason Leonard, 29, told his story of dealing with
addiction in explaining what can lead someone into such a situation.

Leonard noted that when he was 16, he still couldn't read or write so he
ended up quitting school and going to work full-time. From the time he was
16 until he was 21, Leonard did drugs and/or alcohol everyday. He also
abused people because of his addiction.

He said he turned to drugs and alcohol because he didn't believe in himself
and nobody else thought he could amount to anything.

Leonard said what needs to be done is to help those people who are addicted
by telling them that someone believes in them and help them realize they
are not worthless.

Leonard and Rob Young, who was also at the meeting, have started a group
called the Straight Arrow Serenity Club, which operates out of the basement
of the Salvation Army building.

The group tries to offer support, guidance and encouragement to those
suffering from addiction.

Also during the session, people heard that while cocaine is still a major
problem in the city, crystal meth is coming and some people are already
using it.

Hardy talked about the fact that at the last meeting last fall, it was
agreed there would be a drug summit held by the Yukon government to bring
everybody involved in these matters to discuss the various issues.

The NDP leader said the matter was left in the hands of the government.

However, he was becoming frustrated because nothing had been done to start
the meeting.

He said it's been three months and it appears nothing has been done on the
issue.

"Every month that goes by, we are losing people to drugs," he said. "I'm
extremely frustrated."

He accused the Yukon Party government of "dragging its heels" on the summit.