What I learned about alcohol in the arctic part 1 of 2

Good morning Steemit users! Today I'm gonna write up a short story about the time I spent in the Canadian Arctic
Hope you enjoy, feel free to up-vote or follow thanks :)



During the months of April to October I spent 6 months in a small community of Rankin Inlet Nunavut Canada
and than again January to May further north in a smaller community Cambridge Bay Nunavut.
Before I get into this in both community's at the time Alcohol was and still in a huge issue. For this part I will only talk about my time in Rankin Inlet. In order to receive alcohol one must apply for a permit directly from the Hamlet and than order your alcohol from a shop somewhere in the south usually from Manitoba or Alberta. Not all community's are like this, some places have more forced alcohol laws than other community's. Flying over Nunavut is quite breath taking the tundra landscape, snow covered mountain, and, heard's of caribou running through the tundra. I've never seen anything like this, once I reached the community I was greeted by an Elder in the community. He was a really nice man, he told me about life in the north and proceeded to tell me about how alcohol has ruined his way of life as well as others in the community. He told me about how his youngest son who went drinking and didn't come home and later found out he had fell asleep in a snow bank behind his home. As he was telling me this I couldn't help but feel sorry for the elder,  his youngest boy at 15 had passed away from hypothermia he got sick and took off his clothes to cool off in the snow which unfortunately led to his passing. I felt as if I was punched in my stomach hearing information like this was very upsetting. I gave the elder my condolences and trekked on to my destination. As I was walking I noticed a few empty 40 ounce bottles of rye I thought to myself "hmm is it really that bad" boy was I wrong
shortly after and I mean literally within the hour the cops were racing down the road later to find a mother had been killed. Turns out, she was beaten to death by her drunk husband. I haven't even been in town for 24 hours and was already told about the alcohol problem but to see how quick it could escalate was mind boggling.  The price of alcohol in the north is high to get a permit and to get a 40 ounce of alcohol shipped costs about $120 where normally it would only cost anywhere from $40-$60 depending on the brand. For some people ordering alcohol is quite challenging due to the laws so people will often take the black market approach which is quite hefty in the cost anywhere from $150-$300 for a 40 ounce bottle. Yeah, that's what people will pay for it. I've seen people blow over $1000 in an evening just on alcohol and have no money left for food and other housing items. Honestly I love the north but when you arrive you can easily tell that alcohol has such a huge influence and for a semi-dry community alcohol is as easy to obtain illegally than legally in bigger community's in Canada. I spoke with a local gentleman who was a recovering alcoholic he told me how it made him forget his traditional ways, how it led to the death of his parents and his self destruction. With no kids of his own he stand 6 ft tall in his early 30's telling me about his first time drinking he stole a bottle from his parents at the age of 16 and claims hes drank everyday since. 3 months later his body was found in his home unfortunately he passed away from an alcohol related death....Thats all for now I will do a part 2 later on if you guys would like a part 2 please let me know! Remember to always drink in moderation addiction services are available for those who need it http://www.canadadrugrehab.ca/
Kind regards|
turtlechopz