Tina Kennedy High Prairie Times Drugs are a very real part of High Prairie and its surrounding communities’ every day life and a man who says he’s no longer a part of that life wants people to sit up and take a look at what’s going on around them. Tony’s motivation for the interview is an unknown. He just opens up as much as he can without giving names and places. It’s more the lifestyle and subculture that he wants people to understand, says Tony. “It’s extreme, extreme…Here’s getting f*&$in’ wild. I remember five years ago...that’s because there’s too many dealers and shit and always ratting, trying to do whatever they do. They’re trying to rat people out, trying to hire people to go take them out or whatever the hell they’re doing. There’s a lot of wars going on now. It is screwed up!” It’s a reality people need to face and need to do so quickly, says Tony You can watch all the Hollywood movies you want about drugs and the lifestyle and it doesn’t convey just how real and crude it is, he adds. People will sell their belongings, those of their children and other family members, to get the next hit. “If you wanted to do that, you can have all the leather furniture, everything...buddy’s house for like seven pieces, like an eightball, everything in his house. People like sell their cars and f*&$in’ everything man.” Tony says his conscience gets to him sometimes. Watching people sell everything they own, and taking from their children, to get the next hit, is too much. That’s when he and his crew buy something for their children; pay an outstanding electrical bill, or give them $400 for groceries. Admittedly, he’s also worried about the level of violence. It was the reason he left his Edmonton home and came north. Those reasons are long since gone, says Tony. Firearms and other weapons are a way of life here now. Rarely do people who know what’s out there leave their houses without them, he adds. The isolated events that people hear rumours about are nothing compared to what’s going on. He doesn’t give names but talks of another crack dealer. She’s been threatened by her supplier because she can’t pay the money she owes. The supplier has told her and her family members that they’ll drive here, kill all the children and no one will ever catch them. It drove that woman to Tony’s door to ask for help. Tony and his crew gave her the money to cover the tab, he says. More than that, there are well organized groups who want the business up north. There are two groups who want the business on reserves. Alberta Warriors and Redd Alert have been warring with each other in other parts of Alberta. In Hobbema, drive-by shootings have become a regular event. Those deaths will be a reality here in the very near future, says Tony. Driving around in cars, walking up and down High Prairie’s streets with a couple of large and vicious dogs, to do their deals at the ends of peoples’ driveways—looking like nothing more than a couple of guys coming back from the bar. It happens every day and night, says Tony. His face reacts when asked about the crack-heads—the addicts. It’s not a sight he enjoys. The hardships their families and children endure because of it, get to him, he adds. But they make choices and they come looking for the drug. People might be deceived by the north being more remote than places like Edmonton and other Alberta cities. Don’t be, advises Tony. It’s perhaps even more common here because people underestimate it. They don’t think their children are capable of doing something ‘so stupid’ or putting themselves in such a dangerous position. Everyone from school-aged children to those nearing retirement are exposed to it every day. When they get hooked, they become part of the industry to continue paying for their habit. It’s a vicious cycle and one that isn’t to be overlooked. Tony made a choice, like so many others. He saw the money and took the chance. At 13, he was beginning to believe the adage about leaving a young corpse. He was already adapting to the craziness that comes with the lifestyle and much of who he became was learned and reactionary. When asked if he did have children what he would do to make sure they didn’t take part in the industry or consume drugs, Tony says there is no way he would do what he has if he had children. “I’d do whatever I had to do to get them out of it,” he adds. Now on his way out, he’s received death threats and has been confronted several times as a result of the Interview with a Crack dealer, published in the Oct. 23 issue of The Times. It comes down to some simple facts, says Tony. People have to pay attention to what’s going on. And as a hole appears in the industry, it will be filled by someone else, someone wanting what he did, money. The best way to combat something like this is to be realistic about it and recognize it for what it is, he adds. Not everyone in the drug industry is bad and gang-like. Many of them are normal every day people that you meet at the grocery or video store. Some wear suits and carry briefcases or notebook computers. There is no typical dealer. That in itself should scare everyone, he adds.