Iqaluit teens tell substance abuse experts how it is

SARA MINOGUE

If you want to find out how drugs and alcohol affects people in Iqaluit, a good place to start is the local high school.

Not just because drugs and alcohol are undoubtedly a topic of conversation, but because for better or for worse teenagers – almost adults but still subject to parents and teachers – have a unique view of how drugs and alcohol affect their classmates, their friends, their parents, other people in their community, and sometimes, their grades.

At the Frobisher Inn this past Monday, that perspective was the focus of an hour-long lunchtime discussion between the board of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and a group of students from Inuksuk High School.

Thirteen members of the CCSA’s board spent four days in Nunavut hoping to combine their regular business with a real life northern experience.

“Once I tried [marijuana] I just got hooked,” said one boy who led the group in describing how drugs and alcohol had affected him. His grades dropped and he quit playing sports.

“This town is miserable because of [alcohol and drugs],” Samantha Barnes, 21, told the CCSA’s rapt board of directors. “Kids aren’t going to school, parents are drunk or high… kids are taking care of their parents.”

“I think drugs and alcohol are a problem here because they’re so expensive,” said 17-year-old Sandi Vincent, who graduated last weekend. “On the radio in Igloolik, you hear people selling a TV for $30 just to get a gram [of marijuana]. Houses have nothing because they sell everything to buy drugs.”

“Even though you don’t want to drink, you just do it anyway,” said one young girl. “From this weekend, I have 23 bruises on my body from doing it… I feel guilty afterwards.”

All of the kids knew that a bottle costs $160, and that a gram of marijuana is $30.

Bootleggers can be a problem, one girl said. “The bootlegger wants to know where the party is… then he’ll come crash it.”

More emotional descriptions – of drunk or high parents, the stress of taking care of hungry younger siblings, and personal drug and alcohol addiction – brought students, and several board members, to tears.

The board spent the morning hearing presentations from local people, including the Qimaavik women’s shelter, Jack Hicks who is leading a study on suicide in Nunavut, the RCMP, and the warden of the Baffin Correctional Centre.

For many, including chair Barry King, it was the first time in Iqaluit. King felt the experience was invaluable, giving the example of a recent board meeting held in Vancouver two years ago.

That meeting included a tour of Vancouver’s drug-addled downtown east side. Until then, King said, several board members were opposed to some of the more radical solutions being proposed – such as a needle exchange program and safe injection sites.

After the trip, the board passed a resolution in favour of the moves, which they now viewed as being right in line with the CCSA’s goals. The group now hold two out of three annual meetings in places where there are “issues,” though King declined to say specifically what issues they were looking at in Nunavut.

The CCSA does not administer or run drug and alcohol programs. Rather, as Canada’s national addictions agency, the CCSA acts as a resource and guide for groups working to reduce the harm of substance abuse.

The organization is now at work on a “national framework,” a strategy that aims to focus the efforts of myriad organizations across the country.

At the lunchtime session, the students also had positive messages to share.

Thor Simonsen, 17, described a friend of his who spends time with young kids in Apex, acting as a role model for people who may not have positive adult figures in their life. This, Simonsen suggested, was a cheap and effective way to get kids on the right track.

Vincent suggested peer-to-peer counseling as a way to keep younger kids out of trouble.

By the end of the session, the kids had all but scheduled a similar pizza lunch – this time for themselves and the Grade 6 classes in town, where everyone could speak openly about the experiences with drugs and alcohol.

“This is a new generation,” said Samantha Barnes, 21. “They’re not hurting from the residential schools or the dog slaughter. This is a new beginning for the people now and this is a critical time to be saying ‘this is bad.’

“Right now, what we need to do is forgive a lot,” Barnes said. “People do a lot of things when they’re drunk.”