Parents worried their kids are trying drugs, families that want healthy activities to participate in and those curious to hear more about the issue of decriminalizing marijuana have a week all their own.

Officially starting early this afternoon with the opening ceremonies at the Elijah Smith Building, National Addictions Awareness Week runs until Saturday evening with a wide variety of events throughout the city.

This afternoon was to involve a March for Sobriety at the Kwanlin Dun potlatch house from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Kwanlin Dun Wellness Centre is hosting a three-hour open house starting at noon Tuesday.

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There were 200 sexual assaults reported in the territory last year, and it looks like the rising violence against women over the past summer will make this a "banner year," says a territorial victim services worker.

Some of the victims report they believe they were drugged, Bonnie Ross told the audience during Monday's annual crime prevention conference in Whitehorse.

One victim, Ross said, said she was conscious for the entire assault, but was unable to do anything.

"She could not move, but knew what was happening," said Ross. "She could not move because she was paralyzed, and she was raped."

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Empty-handed except for the clothes he was wearing, Matthew Cardinal received a priceless gift two days before Christmas 2001 - the desire to kick the cocaine habit that had him in its grip for the last eight years. Sitting alone in a barren, dingy apartment, he looked around at nothing. All he had was clothing and his own body. He'd spent four of the last eight years in jail for property crimes - smoking crack cost money he didn't have. But other people had things he could take and sell.

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When a user smokes a rock of crack cocaine, it's the large number of blood vessels in the lungs that absorb the drug so quickly, transporting it to the brain and nerves.

The body's response is to produce high amounts of dopamine, the naturally occuring "feel-good" neurotransmitter that creates the euphoric rush drug users crave.

Beyond the many health risks associated with cocaine, chronic use can lead to paranoia and even hallucinations. Toxicologists say long-term use can eventually alter the brain's chemistry.

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Sixteen new full-time positions will be created from the $700,000 the territorial government's Drug and Alcohol Secretariat has received.

The announcement from Health and Social Services Minister Sue Edelman came early Wednesday afternoon in the main foyer of the government's main administration building.

That's also where people were registering for the huge Prairie Northern Pacific Conference on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effects. The event, involving several hundred people, is taking place in Whitehorse but is closed to the media so people can freely give personal testimonials, a department official said.

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Whitehorse RCMP seized alcohol and drugs from young people heading out to a bush party outside Whitehorse on Saturday afternoon.

Const. Shawn Lemay said today about 800 people attended the event, known as the annual "hen party", off the Mayo Road near the Alaska Highway.

They started three bonfires that grew to at least 3.6 metres high. By midnight, more than 300 youth remained, he said.

One officer checked 45 party-bound vehicles and seized alcohol from 12 of them.

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The territory's addictions treatment centre has written up a wish-list of alcohol and drug services needed in the Yukon - now it's up to government to find the money.

Earlier this week, the Alcohol and Drug Secretariat's executive director unveiled the results of nearly two years' planning and consultation. The plan entails a huge increase in addictions programs equaling $2.1 million per year and 16 new jobs added to the secretariat's current 26.4 positions. While some newly-planned residential treatment will come out of ADS' current budget, the secretariat is looking to the federal and territorial governments to help out with the added costs.

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The Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) could be asking its big brother to look into the impacts of the illegal drug trade across the country.

Last Monday evening, city council voted to bring forward a motion for the AYC to petition the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to commission a study on the trend and scope of illegal drug industries across the country. The study would also examine the cost and long-term impacts of the industry on health care and the educational, social and legal systems in Canada.

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The slightly more than $51,000 in drug money seized last November from a teenaged girl before her flight to Vancouver was able to leave the territory has been forfeited to the Crown.

Acting on a tip, the local RCMP's drug section seized the $51,070 in cash from the female youth at the Whitehorse airport Nov. 7.

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie was in court last month to make an application to detain a number of items seized from the young woman, who isn't being charged with anything. Nor does he expect her to be charged, he said.

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A territorial judge lamented the lack of services for addicts and alcoholics Tuesday while he sentenced a troubled young man for assaulting a visiting musician last September.

Judge Heino Lilles said getting programs in place always seems to be too expensive or they're just not a political priority.

Both he and defence lawyer Gord Coffin noted the problem of lack of services after reading probation officer Andrew Hyde's pre-sentence report for Byron Shane Charlie, 20.

Lilles found Charlie guilty of assault causing bodily harm after a trial last November.

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The biggest drug and alcohol education program in North America aimed at youngsters may be coming to the Yukon.

Both the Education department and the RCMP are looking at whether the DARE program - Drug Abuse Resistance Education - would be appropriate for the territory's elementary schools.

The project is very much still in the beginning stages. Currently, Education curriculum staff are researching whether the substance abuse program would fill any gaps in what's currently being taught. Watson Lake's Johnson Elementary principal, whose previous school had the program, asked the department to look into DARE.

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A residential treatment program for Yukoners with drug and alcohol addictions will be available early in the new year - but it won't be permanent.

The territorial government's new alcohol and drug secretariat is creating a residential program where addicts would spend a month to get help for their problems.

Larry Whitfield, the secretariat's coordinator, said last Wednesday this would be the first treatment offered in months where patients would check into a government facility and stay there to be treated.

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Growing marijuana doesn't solve economic difficulties, a justice of the peace has told a man convicted of cultivating the plants in his home.

Justice of the Peace Dean Cameron handed 40-year-old Grover Taggart 45 days in jail, to be served on weekends, in court Wednesday afternoon.

Last June 22, the RCMP drug squad searched Taggart's home and found 14 marijuana plants along with grow equipment, scales and bags in a rear bedroom. They found 92.5 grams of cannabis in another room, 88 grams of cannabis in a camper on the property and more marijuana plants in the garage.

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Walking into the annual Crime Prevention Conference at Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre this morning, delegates were treated to a sampling of techno music often heard at raves.

Generally, raves are all night dance parties booming techno or industrial music.

Although not all are "saturated" with drugs, as the stereotype ensues, drugs (such as ecstasy) that were born as part of the rave culture have found their way into the mainstream.

Cpl. Scott Rintoul of the Vancouver RCMP has an extensive background in drug enforcement. This morning, he gave a presentation on numerous street drugs. "More and more people are using and abusing drugs," he said.

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A young man from Old Crow asked his lawyer to get him sentenced to a federal prison Monday because the help he wants to kick his crack cocaine habit isn't as good in Yukon jails.

In court yesterday afternoon, territorial Judge John Faulkner handed 19-year-old Richard Linklater 30 months in a federal prison, along with a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order to provide a DNA sample for the national registry.

Linklater pleaded guilty to robbery, break and enter and escaping lawful custody. He jumped the Whitehorse Correctional Centre's fence Sept. 7 and was loose for a little more than a day.

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A made-in-the-Yukon program is being held up across the nation as a model for other communities to follow.

The Substance Abuse Strategy and Solutions for the Yukon (SASSY) is a unique partnership among the RCMP, the Alcohol and Drug Secretariat and the Department of Education. The goal is to combat substance abuse both in the schools and throughout the territory.

Health Canada has chosen to house the program in its resource library in Ottawa. =46rom there, it'll be available to communities across the nation that are looking for guidance in developing their own substance abuse plan.

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A made-in-the-Yukon program is being held up across the nation as a model for other communities to follow.

The Substance Abuse Strategy and Solutions for the Yukon (SASSY) is a unique partnership among the RCMP, the Alcohol and Drug Secretariat and the Department of Education. The goal is to combat substance abuse both in the schools and throughout the territory.

Health Canada has chosen to house the program in its resource library in Ottawa. From there, it'll be available to communities across the nation that are looking for guidance in developing their own substance abuse plan.

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Random drug testing has arrived in the Yukon.

No, not on the playing fields but in the workplace.

Dakwakada Forest Products Inc., which is owned by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, began to randomly test its employees for controlled substances, like cocaine and marijuana and heroin, earlier this summer.

The names of all the employees go into a hat and one lucky soul is picked every two weeks to provide a urine sample for testing.

So far, everybody has passed, which is most admirable.

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Dakwakada Forest Products Inc. has declared war on drugs.

The Haines Junction sawmill, owned by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation, has initiated random drug testing among its 18 full-time employees.

And no one is above the tests. If you refuse to take the tests, you are suspended without pay until you do.

Thursday, Paul Birckel, the company's president and a former chief of the First Nation, had to provide a urine sample.

He was the third employee to be singled out for the twice-monthly tests, which cost the company $50 apiece.

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Less than a day after Health Minister Alan Rock announced that there would be a government sponsored investigation into the possible health use of marijuana, pranksters hit the RCMP detachment in Dawson City.

The Front Street lawn of the detachment has a nice lawn with a small garden and the words "Dawson City - RCMP - GRC" laid out in stone. This afternoon it was noted that the letters "R" and "C" had been rearranged to become "H" and "E", turning the word into "HEMP".

Officers in the station had not yet noticed the change when this reporter stopped off their after receiving a tip from a reader. They were amused and felt there would be no shortage of possible suspects.

[end]