:00:03. > :00:13.This week we report on an epidemic of drug abuse that is affecting
:00:13. > :00:31.
:00:32. > :00:41.I don't have anything to do. would steal from the store. I would
:00:42. > :00:42.
:00:42. > :00:45.still so my could -- I would steal so my kids could eat. Canada's
:00:45. > :00:47.First Nations people are in crisis. Addiction to painkillers is rife
:00:48. > :00:57.and it is devastating the communities. We had homicides,
:00:57. > :01:04.prescription drug abuse. Oxycontin is widely abused in Canada. But on
:01:04. > :01:14.isolated reserves, people talk of an epidemic. If they do not get a
:01:14. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:54.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds
:01:54. > :01:59.handle on this, they could be wiped As the sun rises, we are heading to
:01:59. > :02:03.one of the most isolated communities. Fort Hope is home to
:02:03. > :02:13.around 1,200 people. We have been told that 80% of the adult
:02:13. > :02:19.
:02:19. > :02:29.population there are addicted to From Toronto, with travel north.
:02:29. > :02:30.
:02:30. > :02:37.The regional gateway to northern Ontario. We there you take a small
:02:37. > :02:40.commuter plane. -- from. For most of the year, it is the only way to
:02:40. > :02:43.get there, apart from a six-week window in winter when you can drive
:02:43. > :02:47.across the frozen lakes. There are 49 Aboriginal reserves in this part
:02:47. > :02:50.of Canada. It is home to people who knew this land long before the
:02:50. > :02:56.arrival of Europeans. The serenity and beauty of this place in winter
:02:56. > :03:03.conceals the crisis within. This native community has been one of
:03:03. > :03:05.the worst hit by the surge in prescription drug abuse. This woman
:03:05. > :03:14.has become more interested in her native heritage since she stopped
:03:14. > :03:21.taking the drug. At a ceremony, herbs are burned to cleanse the
:03:21. > :03:31.spirit. With the community overwhelmed by
:03:31. > :03:38.
:03:38. > :03:41.addiction, traditional rituals and social gatherings are much rarer.
:03:41. > :03:48.Doris Slipperjack was hooked on the drug for four years. She spent
:03:48. > :03:52.thousands of dollars on getting high. All of her welfare benefits.
:03:52. > :03:58.Sometimes I would pitch in for a $20 line, just enough to get a shot.
:03:58. > :04:05.If not up to $50 or $100. And in the next few days I would blow it
:04:05. > :04:15.all. How did you live? I would steal from the store, just
:04:15. > :04:16.
:04:16. > :04:21.something for my children to eat. She has been to re-hab and is now
:04:21. > :04:31.on treatment. But getting clean has been a hard road. Not just for her
:04:31. > :04:32.
:04:32. > :04:37.but her children as well. I am still dealing with it. It is
:04:37. > :04:47.actually difficult for me to face them every day. I hurt them so much.
:04:47. > :04:49.
:04:49. > :04:59.I don't even know where to begin. The cost of an 80 milligram tablet
:04:59. > :05:03.
:05:03. > :05:07.can be as high as $600. One of the biggest challenges is stemming the
:05:07. > :05:10.flow of this highly addictive drug. Airport searches are infrequent.
:05:10. > :05:18.Reserve rules state they can only be conducted by one of the
:05:18. > :05:26.community's council members. The chief is in charge of today's
:05:26. > :05:29.search. When we visit, officers from the
:05:29. > :05:39.Native Mission Police Service are on hand with a sniffer dog. This is
:05:39. > :05:40.
:05:40. > :05:44.the only canine on the force and is trained to find the drug.
:05:44. > :05:53.When we get a tip from out of town, police notified us, sometimes we do
:05:53. > :06:02.successful searches and sometimes not. That is our goal do get the
:06:02. > :06:08.drug off the street. This time, nothing is found. The police
:06:08. > :06:13.attachment is small - one sergeant and four constables on rotation.
:06:13. > :06:19.With so many communities, the visits are rare. Today, he has
:06:19. > :06:25.flown in for a briefing. Good morning. Now they are hiding the
:06:25. > :06:31.stuff in their bodies. And now the winter roads are open so they are
:06:31. > :06:35.coming up through vehicles. It is harder for us. Harder to get
:06:35. > :06:45.information from the community. There are many who do not want to
:06:45. > :06:59.
:06:59. > :07:02.sign up and start ratting on people. Sometimes we find them on searchers.
:07:02. > :07:06.They can put the pills inside storage containers and that is how
:07:06. > :07:14.they can smuggle it. Sometimes we find things like this on winter
:07:14. > :07:17.roads as well. What is that? This is a medical sterile cup. They will
:07:17. > :07:20.crush the pills, place it inside the cup in powder form, seal it
:07:20. > :07:27.with a lighter, fill it with a cotton swab, then fill up the
:07:27. > :07:33.needle and inject it. Injecting is the number one way that people use
:07:33. > :07:42.the drug in the communities, versus just taking the pills. The effects
:07:42. > :07:45.are much quicker. We are shown the impact of the drug. It is shocking.
:07:45. > :07:51.How much crime do you have in the community that is a direct result
:07:51. > :08:00.of OxyContin? A lot of property crime - break and enters, property
:08:00. > :08:03.theft. People use the stuff to buy their drugs. At some point, you had
:08:03. > :08:12.some pretty serious criminal activity here, didn't you? We had
:08:12. > :08:20.two homicides in 2010. It was out of control. And 49 arsons.
:08:20. > :08:25.arsons? Yes. We are at the Health Centre. We had
:08:25. > :08:32.a couple of break-ins here in the last three or four weeks. Last time,
:08:32. > :08:38.they did some damage. Over $5,000 of damage was done inside. You can
:08:38. > :08:41.see the corner with the black marks on the side. That is where they
:08:41. > :08:45.tried to burn the building down. it also about trying to get drugs
:08:45. > :08:54.out of the building? It is more about stealing stuff to sell to buy
:08:54. > :09:04.the drugs. That house was burnt down. They tear down the buildings
:09:04. > :09:04.
:09:04. > :09:10.afterwards. That house was built on top. Where the people are standing,
:09:10. > :09:17.that was burned. There is not much left to burn, really. I am not sure
:09:17. > :09:22.what they will burn this year. you look outside, you can see some
:09:22. > :09:29.of the houses that are almost like Third World living conditions.
:09:29. > :09:34.have people who do not go to school or stay in school. Social problems
:09:34. > :09:38.are high. People are bored. They have nothing to do, most of them.
:09:38. > :09:43.They look at drugs as a way to kill that pain or emptiness that they
:09:43. > :09:53.have. And this place is not alone. Canada's native communities are
:09:53. > :09:56.vulnerable. Poverty and a lack of opportunity are endemic.
:09:56. > :10:06.There is little recreation here but the Constable doubles as a DJ at
:10:06. > :10:09.weekend dances. Alcohol and drugs are banned from the reserve. The
:10:09. > :10:19.result of the community's troubled history. So these evenings are
:10:19. > :10:19.
:10:20. > :10:24.attempts to create diversions, especially for young people.
:10:24. > :10:28.After a lot of encouragement, the chief takes to the floor. It is a
:10:28. > :10:32.moment of lightness for a community struggling to confront its demons.
:10:32. > :10:38.Harry was elected chief last year. Just before he took over, the
:10:38. > :10:48.council resorted to desperate measures. We had arson, homicides,
:10:48. > :10:56.prescription drug abuses. We said, hey, enough is enough. We decided
:10:56. > :11:04.to call a state of emergency. is still a real threat. This police
:11:04. > :11:07.truck was torched in November. Fort Hope was the first native reserve
:11:07. > :11:14.in Ontario to declare a state of emergency as a result of the threat
:11:14. > :11:24.posed by OxyContin. There are empty homes, you could say. No furniture,
:11:24. > :11:27.
:11:27. > :11:31.no television in some cases. The children are going hungry as well.
:11:31. > :11:39.We want to see the parents care for the children but they cannot do
:11:39. > :11:42.that because they are hooked on the stuff.
:11:42. > :11:50.When they called a state of emergency, they got back up from
:11:50. > :11:59.the Ontario police. Typically, they will be distributed up in the north
:11:59. > :12:06.from that location. According to this Sergeant, you can buy the
:12:06. > :12:11.pills in cities like Toronto for $40 a tablet. You can purchase it
:12:11. > :12:21.for $40. Get it up to a community like this, or others like it, and
:12:21. > :12:24.
:12:24. > :12:34.sell it for up to $600. The profit margin is ridiculous. Criminals and
:12:34. > :12:36.
:12:36. > :12:42.A morning rendition of the Canadian national anthem in the native
:12:42. > :12:45.language. The children here are from
:12:46. > :12:50.communities like Fort Hope. They come here to finish their high-
:12:50. > :12:54.school education and stay with local families while they are here.
:12:54. > :13:02.In 2010, the staff at the school realised some of the students were
:13:02. > :13:05.in trouble. They came and said they had a problem. They tried something
:13:05. > :13:11.new and then were addicted. They spoke up and said, we need some
:13:11. > :13:19.assistance and we want to try and clean ourselves up and get healthy.
:13:19. > :13:22.I am just going to take your pulse today. Today's dose will be four
:13:22. > :13:25.milligrams, OK? The answer - a pioneering programme using a drug
:13:26. > :13:32.used to wean addicts off, in the same way methadone is prescribed to
:13:32. > :13:38.heroin users. This woman is one of those leading the treatment for
:13:38. > :13:43.addicts, including teenagers. you are without the drug, you go
:13:43. > :13:45.into withdrawal. They come in with pain, joint pain, they have lots of
:13:45. > :13:54.stomach upsets. They offer them a treatment with a replacement
:13:54. > :13:58.therapy. We wean them down over a period of 30 days from a higher
:13:58. > :14:08.dose while the drug is coming out of their system and then leave them
:14:08. > :14:10.
:14:10. > :14:18.on maintenance. OK, see you Today I am going to hand you a
:14:18. > :14:25.piece of paper. We are educating them on triggers. We are trying to
:14:25. > :14:32.make them stronger emotionally to say no to the drug. I do not know
:14:32. > :14:42.how to deal with my emotions at all. I turned to the drug to deal with
:14:42. > :14:47.
:14:48. > :14:53.the pain and the emotions. This lady has flown down to speak at a
:14:53. > :15:01.conference a few miles from the high school. Young people from all
:15:02. > :15:10.over Canada are here. We want to talk about prescription drugs. We
:15:10. > :15:13.want to go right into the life of a drug addict. James Morris run this
:15:13. > :15:23.organisation which funded a film about Doris and her struggles with
:15:23. > :15:32.
:15:32. > :15:40.addiction. I would like to ask Doris to come up. I feel like I
:15:40. > :15:48.have been set free. But I am still working on it. It is a never-ending
:15:48. > :15:54.battle. I will battle until my time is up. I know I am never going to
:15:54. > :16:00.be normal. I do not know what normal is. People from the reserves
:16:00. > :16:10.from Northern Ontario have gravitated here. Historically, it
:16:10. > :16:10.
:16:10. > :16:15.was a watch tower for the Sioux warriors. Now it is home to a brand
:16:15. > :16:18.new hospital. Meno Ya Win Health Centre is unlike any other. In
:16:18. > :16:25.keeping with the aboriginal sensibilities of the population,
:16:25. > :16:33.there is a traditional healing room. There is even moose on the menu.
:16:33. > :16:37.OxyContin is leaving its mark. has become the drug of choice. We
:16:37. > :16:44.have seen it to the point that has had a huge impact on the northern
:16:45. > :16:54.communities. It is more accessible to young people. They come, often,
:16:55. > :16:56.
:16:56. > :16:59.as you are aware, as new mothers. We have a lot of work to do.
:16:59. > :17:09.started seeing women admitting to using the drug and babies were
:17:09. > :17:10.
:17:10. > :17:14.badly affected. They were affected by withdrawal. In a 2010 study, Dr
:17:14. > :17:21.Dooley found that over 17% of the babies born at the hospital had
:17:21. > :17:31.been exposed to the drug in the womb. So the amount the women are
:17:31. > :17:33.
:17:33. > :17:37.prescribed to is slowly taken down. They can either stop completely or
:17:37. > :17:44.have it on such a small dose that the actual likelihood of withdrawal
:17:44. > :17:48.in the baby is absent. For the first half of her pregnancy,
:17:48. > :17:55.Jennifer, who did not want to be identified, was injecting the drug.
:17:55. > :18:05.The doctor said that I should not withdraw. I would be sick or just
:18:05. > :18:12.
:18:12. > :18:15.feeling unwell. I would be nauseous if I came off just before she was
:18:15. > :18:25.born. They do suffer with the treatment. What is the long-term
:18:25. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:37.effect? That is not really known. Jennifer knows of babies who were
:18:37. > :18:38.
:18:38. > :18:46.born withdrawn. The babies may be going through problems later on in
:18:46. > :18:49.life. Some kids are older and have problems eating and sleeping. While
:18:50. > :18:57.she is waiting to deliver, Jennifer is staying in the purpose-built
:18:57. > :19:07.hospital attached to the main hospital. James Morris has been
:19:07. > :19:08.
:19:08. > :19:14.involved in this area of work for decades. His organisation runs a
:19:14. > :19:19.hostel and it has recently been turned into a youth conference.
:19:19. > :19:29.When it comes to addiction he has seen it all. People have problems
:19:29. > :19:35.
:19:35. > :19:40.with all kinds of things. In the 50s it was alcohol. In the late 80s
:19:40. > :19:47.and 90s it was gasoline sniffing. The environment these people live
:19:47. > :19:54.in, the reserve, is what causes all of these problems. But OxyContin is
:19:54. > :19:58.particularly nasty? Very nasty. It is insidious and non-stop. The
:19:58. > :20:08.amount of people who are addicted to alcohol... You can sober up
:20:08. > :20:18.until your next drink but with this drug the addiction is constant.
:20:18. > :20:19.
:20:19. > :20:23.Back in Fort Hope, Dave Waswa knows the problem all too well. I am just
:20:23. > :20:33.wondering where my next fix will come from. It has taken a lot away
:20:33. > :20:41.
:20:41. > :20:45.from me. I have hurt a lot of people. My children. My parents. My
:20:45. > :20:55.girlfriend, friends, a lot of people. Just because of my
:20:55. > :20:56.
:20:56. > :21:06.addiction. I just want to see what it is like being clean. This is
:21:06. > :21:16.
:21:16. > :21:23.some art you have been making? You are using the money from this
:21:23. > :21:33.to finance your habit? Yes. many pills will this beautiful
:21:33. > :21:35.
:21:35. > :21:45.eagle get you? Six. How long will those six pills last and keep you
:21:45. > :21:55.
:21:55. > :21:58.going? One day, one day and a half. The more I have the more I take.
:21:58. > :22:03.Fort Hope has used its own resources to start a treatment
:22:03. > :22:13.programme. Dave Waswa is hoping to get on it but 29 people are on the
:22:13. > :22:23.
:22:23. > :22:27.waiting list. Chief Papah has other plans for his community. This is
:22:27. > :22:37.the most efficient way of getting around here. We are going to a
:22:37. > :22:37.
:22:38. > :22:41.place that is underdeveloped. His vision is to create somewhere
:22:41. > :22:48.recovering addicts and their families can go to hunt, fish and
:22:48. > :22:50.heal. This is a model of what you want to create? A kind of
:22:50. > :22:57.traditional centre for people who are trying to overcome their
:22:57. > :23:07.addictions? Yes, correct. It is our belief that you find your true self
:23:07. > :23:18.
:23:18. > :23:21.by fishing, trapping and hunting. That is who we are. In order for us
:23:21. > :23:31.to move on, we have to look at forgiveness for whatever has
:23:31. > :23:38.
:23:38. > :23:47.happened. We have to be open with the issues. I think it is the worst
:23:47. > :23:55.have not addressed the root causes for addiction. Much of that is how
:23:55. > :23:59.poor they are, the overcrowded housing, the lack of the economy.
:23:59. > :24:04.We do not have jobs, we do not have the manufacturing, it is very
:24:04. > :24:11.difficult to live in the north. But that is their home. That is where
:24:11. > :24:15.they live and that is traditionally where they have always lived.
:24:15. > :24:19.they do not get a handle on this, communities will be worked out in
:24:19. > :24:22.five years. The number of people who are going to be addicted is
:24:22. > :24:32.going to be so high that communities will cease to function
:24:32. > :24:33.
:24:34. > :24:37.altogether. I am hopeful. I am seeing change. There has been more
:24:37. > :24:41.people that are signing up for detox and treatment and doing
:24:41. > :24:44.whatever they can to stop but there has been a lot of people that are
:24:44. > :24:50.talking about it. That is always the first step. I noticed the
:24:50. > :24:57.change in myself. I have become more honest and open. I just have
:24:57. > :25:01.to get more in touch with myself and my family and children. I
:25:01. > :25:09.cannot wait to go back to school and hopefully get my high-school
:25:09. > :25:13.diploma and college maybe, university. But now I have grown up