July 14, 2006
Cops bust suspected
Iqaluit crack dealer
"Every time you
find strong drugs, it starts to get worrisome."
ARTHUR
JOHNSON
Crack, a highly addictive,
fairly cheap form of cocaine, has found its way to Iqaluit, RCMP report.
When members of the RCMP's
drug enforcement unit and Iqaluit detachment executed a search warrant and combed
through a house last Friday, they discovered and seized 36.6 grams of cocaine
and 4.8 grams of crack. They also seized $11,680 in cash.
Constable Peter Lambros
said it's the first time he's encountered crack in Iqaluit during a search.
"Every time you find strong drugs, it starts to get worrisome," he
said.
Crack is made by combining
cocaine with other chemicals to produce, hard, rock-like pellets, which are
burned and inhaled as smoke.
Smoking crack produces
an intense, but short-lived high, which tends to make it very addictive. Addicts
often smoke crack numerous times daily.
This form of cocaine has
devastated inner city neighbourhoods in the south, causing crime rates to soar
as addicts break into homes and vehicles and rob businesses to pay for crack.
In recent years, though,
crack use has started to decline in the south as other drugs, including methamphetamines
and oxycontin, a prescription pain killer known on the street as "hillbilly
heroin" because of its widespread use among the poor in the U.S. south,
gained in popularity.
Lodi Barnes of Iqaluit
has been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession
of the proceeds of crime, and breaching undertakings on previous trafficking
and possession charges.
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