THE NORTH'S #1 PROBLEM

The two drug busts in the South Slave over the holidays show the North
has a problem with illegal substances.

And the problem doesn't just lie with the addicts themselves.

Drug busts mean drug users, and drug users use up government cash like
no other group.

From the police that chase the traffickers, to the doctors that treat
the overdoses, to the treatment centres and counselors who
rehabilitate addicts, drug abuse is harrowingly expensive.

This territory can use all the money it can get.

Schools can't afford to hire enough assistants to make inclusive
schooling a success; small communities can't offer health care workers
enough money o recruit and retain them; the local library had to work
to convince Town Council for an extra $24,000 this year.

The NWT can't even afford to hire masters-level drug and alcohol
councillors, according to Nats'Ejee K'Eh's director; Melvin Larocque.

Eliminating the flow of drugs into Hay River and the NWT should be at
the top of the RCMP's to-do list.

This is not just for the addicts and their families, but for everyone
who wants an education, a chance to be healthy, and an active town.

Then, of course, there's that deadly, but legal, drug, alcohol.
Alcohol abuse is, bar none, the territory's largest single problem. It
can make even nice people into complete idiots, as experienced by Josh
Angiers and Adam Rosendahl (see page 3.) Wiping out the drug problem
would make the North richer; safer and immeasurably a better place to
live.