Nunavut Pays Highest Price For Policing, Health Care Related To Substance Abuse A national study of the cost of unchecked tobacco, booze and drug abuse has found that Nunavut pays the highest price per capita when substance abuse is left unchecked. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found that the total cost per person of substance abuse in Nunavut is $2,184 per year. That's not just the cost of buying booze, drugs and cigarettes. In fact, that's not included in the study at all. [continues 518 words]
"The Demand Is Out There, That's For Sure" Crack, a highly addictive drug made from cocaine, is now sold at $50 for a rock about one-fifth the size of a Smartie, on the streets of Pangnirtung. A long-term resident of the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that cocaine is not new to the community, and neither is crack, which people have made before by freebasing coke. What is new, she said, is that crack is being brought in for sale, not just for personal use. [continues 536 words]
Marijuana Party Sticks With DeVries; Greens Still Undecided Iqaluit's Amanda Ford-Rogers will represent the New Democratic Party in the Jan. 23 federal election. "People have been asking me to run for two years," Ford-Rogers said Wednesday. "This time I finally caved in." Originally from Whale Cove, Ford-Rogers moved to Iqaluit in 1999. She now lives in Apex with her husband and three sons, who are now, at ages 12, 10 and 6, old enough for her to campaign, Ford-Rogers said. [continues 485 words]
Funding Problems Plague Programs In Other Communities Kicking booze and drug habits just got easier for several Cambridge Bay men signed up for a three-week counselling program starting Monday at the Community Wellness Centre, but people in other communities in the region aren't nearly so lucky. "We try to run something every month," said Alice Isnor, the hamlet's wellness coordinator, who alternates male and female counselling sessions. That makes Cambridge Bay unique in the Kitikmeot. Not only can people get treatment and counselling, but they can sign up when they're ready for it -- and not just when it's available. [continues 763 words]
