Western Nunavut RCMP arrest man carrying coke, crack

Here’s what crack cocaine looks like in its “rock” form. Crack users smoke the drug by heating a piece of the rock on a thin piece of tin foil, in a dented pop can, or off a broken light bulb, until it “crackles” and smokes. You can read more about crack cocaine in a 2006 story by Nunatsiaq News called “What is crack cocaine?” which you can find online at bit.ly/2ke9men. (PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS)

A Feb. 8 bust in Cambridge Bay reveals there’s a market in Nunavut for the highly addictive drug, crack cocaine.

That’s when members of the Cambridge Bay RCMP received a tip about a passenger from British Columbia aboard a commercial flight headed to the Kitikmeot community of about 1,700 people.

This passenger, a 22-year-old man, was under a court undertaking to remain in B.C., a Feb. 10 RCMP release said.

The RCMP confirmed these conditions, the release said, and once the man landed in Cambridge Bay, he was arrested for breaching the undertaking that prohibited him from travelling outside B.C.

And on him, officers found an ounce of crack cocaine and one ounce of regular cocaine, police said.

An ounce of crack would be equal to about 28 grams, with each gram selling for $100 or more in southern Canada, while a gram of cocaine would have a street value that’s slightly less—but both these drugs likely sell for much more in Cambridge Bay.

The man, a resident of Lake Country, B.C., now faces charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

“The Cambridge Bay RCMP remains committed to preventing the trade of illicit substances in an effort to reduce crime in the community,” the RCMP said about the latest trafficking arrest in the release.

While crack has long been used in parts of southern Canada‚ crack has been used Nunavut since at least 2006, when a rock about the fifth of the size of a smarty could be bought in Pangnirtung for $50 (the term “crack” refers to the crackling sound the rock makes when it is heated.)

And in 2007, police stopped a crack cocaine operation that was run out of two apartments in the eight-storey apartment complex in Iqaluit.

The last reported arrest for crack in Cambridge Bay dates to 2012.

Crack is related to cocaine, made from coca plants, but it’s much more addictive, with hard-core crack users buying the drug many times a day to stay high.

Studies have shown also that crack use is closely associated with crime. People addicted to crack are much more likely to engage in shoplifting, break-ins, and robbery than people hooked on other drugs.

That’s likely because crack is highly addictive, and the need to buy more crack begins shortly after the first crash.