DRUG SCENE STABLE OVER LAST DECADE

Whitehorse's drug trade hasn't grown over the last decade, though it's gone
through highs and lows, according to a study due out this fall.

"It didn't appear to have grown," RCMP Cpl. Pete Greenlaw said about
Whitehorse's illegal drug market. "It appears to be fairly stable. You have
peaks and valleys, but there's no dramatic increase."

Greenlaw, the Yukon RCMP's drug awareness officer and a career drug cop, is
part of the SASSY committee (Substance Abuse Strategy and Solutions for
Yukon) conducting a study of the city's drug scene. It's set for completion
by November.

Currently, a local researcher is reviewing information from police, the
coroner, justice department, first nations, medical personnel and treatment
providers. Fourteen similar studies will be done in other Canadian cities
over the next two years.

The study comes as some downtown residents are tackling the topics of
drugs, their dealers and the kaleidoscope of problems that come with both.
A public meeting organized by downtown riding MLA Todd Hardy is set for
7:00 this evening.

Libby Davies, the NDP Member of Parliament for Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside, which is riddled with drugs as one of the country's poorest
postal codes, will speak about her experiences at the public forum. It will
be held at the Whitehorse Public Library.

Community involvement is exactly what's needed if the drug situation is to
get any better, indicated Greenlaw.

"We're just one cog in the wheel," the corporal said of the RCMP's role.
"The community must get involved."

Part of the SASSY study's mandate is to provide participants and various
levels of governments with options -- various tasks that can realistically
be tackled.

A common public misconception is that the police always know what's going
on, said Greenlaw. People often don't make reports of drug activity to the
RCMP for that reason, he noted.

"Sometimes the police are the last to know," he said.

"But the public has been quite helpful in identifying who's doing what,"
said Greenlaw. "There have been investigations downtown, there've been
arrests, there've been seizures, people have gone to court and have gone to
jail."

Since mid-March, police have laid unrelated charges of cocaine trafficking
or possession for the purpose of trafficking on at least seven individuals.
Those cases are currently winding through the courts.

Last summer, the RCMP brought in a pair of Outside undercover drug cops in
an effort to root cocaine dealers out of downtown bars. Seven individuals
were arrested; all were convicted.

In the summer of 2002, police broke up what they called a high-level
cocaine ring for the Yukon, arresting six people. The stiffest sentence in
that case was a 4 1/2-year penitentiary stint for the ringleader.

Investigating drug crimes doesn't simply involve taking down witness
statements, bagging the evidence and handing it to a prosecutor. A drug
squad officer will take a tip about trafficking and try to corroborate that
information through other sources, informants and surveillance, said Greenlaw.

Though he declined to give a number of suspected houses drugs are being
sold out of -- "the less the bad guys know how much we know, the better" --
Greenlaw said drug investigations take time.

"I think you'll find the drug squad has been in those drug houses on
numerous occasions and they have made numerous arrests and charges, and
these people have gone to court several times already."

Where a drug investigation can take months of unseen effort, there's always
another dealer willing to fill the void left when another supplier is put
behind bars, far quicker than the justice process works.

"As long as there's demand, there'll be somebody step up to supply it,"
Greenlaw said. "It will likely happen in the next day or two (after an
arrest)."

Drug cops learn they can only affect a small piece of the world at any one
time, said Greenlaw, who spent years as a long-haired undercover officer in
Toronto and southern Ontario's cities after becoming a Mountie in 1975.

"Basically, it comes down to substance abuse and drug trafficking is a
community problem. It's just not a problem for the police."

Prevention is another aspect. So is changing the lifestyles of drug abusers
through treatment, education and training, providing them with a safe place
to stay until they're on their feet.

That's where it becomes far more than an enforcement issue, but a social,
economic and cultural problem as well, he said.

And for the small group of people who will always be hooked on drugs
regardless of efforts to get them unhooked, harm reduction is needed to
minimize the risks of a hugely dangerous lifestyle.

Even for those who have a hope of escaping drugs, the process to health is
long and messy.

"You're not going to put somebody in a treatment program for 10 days and
wave a magic wand and they're going to be cured. Once you've got them dried
out and their systems cleaned, you still have to provide them with
education, support, housing, employment ... a lot of steps," said Greenlaw.

"And as expensive as that sounds, think of the cost of the police, the
courts and health care."

It's cheaper to fix the problem than apply Band-aids, he said.

A downtown resident took her concern about new drug houses opening for
business to her MLA, sparking the NDP leader's community forum this evening.

In an interview earlier this month, that resident said she was concerned
largely about the constant traffic, noise and used drug needles that
cropped up alongside the drug houses.

But, she said then, violence is a problem too, noting she's witnessed the
brutality involved with peddling an illegal high.

Violence is inherent in drug trafficking, Greenlaw said.

"A drug trafficker is after one thing, and that's your money, and if they
think they can rip you off, they will rip you off -- they will steal your
money or sell you something that isn't drugs."

Violence spills over when dealers retaliate against those they think have
wronged them, and when drug users run up debts.

"Then the trafficker has to collect the money, and they'll use violence and
intimidation."

The most significant change between drug enforcement in the 1970s and now
is the realization just how dangerous some of these drugs are, said Greenlaw.

"Fire departments find more labs than the police do," said Greenlaw.

The chemicals used to create synthetic drugs in illegal labs are highly
explosive and flammable, and the people mixing up a batch of speed
(methamphetamine) aren't rocket scientists, he added.

"Back in the '70s, we'd seize a speed lab ... and we never thought anything
of wearing any protective gear ourselves. When we took the people out of
the house, we never thought of their health either."

It's since been discovered that people who live and work in speed labs have
extremely high concentrations of methamphetamine in their bodies, even if
they're not drug users.

"High to the point where they should be in the hospital," said Greenlaw.

After being arrested, an escorted trip to the doctor is now routine, and
police officers are garbed head to toe in protective suits.

Illegal labs for synthetic drugs haven't been an issue here yet, said
Greenlaw, but it's only a matter of time.

After alcohol, the most used and abused intoxicants in Whitehorse are
marijuana and cocaine, said Greenlaw. Heroin, though only used by a small
group, has long been around, as has speed. There have been a handful of
deaths attributed to speed over the years, he said.

Synthetic drugs like Ecstasy are making a bit of an increase, but that's
part of a national trend. Whitehorse tends to be slightly behind on
national trends, Greenlaw said.

Nationally, only 18 per cent of pills sold as Ecstasy are actually the
synthetic stimulant. In the Yukon, Greenlaw said he'd be surprised if more
than 10 per cent of pills sold as Ecstasy were the psychedelic amphetamine
variant.

Speed, like cocaine and Ecstasy, is a stimulant, but speed is known as a
"dark drug" even among users because it's so dangerous, said Greenlaw.
Speed's effects are similar to those of cocaine, but far stronger.

"There's no such thing as an old speed freak."