About 50 concerned Whitehorse citizens came together last night at the Yukon Substance Abuse Summit's public forum.

Professional cameraman Tookie Mercredi said he is tired of seeing so many young children smoking both cigarettes and marijuana around school property. He said not cracking down on this behaviour is setting children up to be addicts.

Veteran physician Tony De La Mare said he is tired of having to stitch people back together again. He wanted to know what citizens can do to keep politicians on track when it comes to dealing with Whitehorse's drug problem.

Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower asked what could be done to help people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

NDP Leader Todd Hardy recalled how he watched children who grew up in a local drug house become drug dealers themselves.

He said young people get conflicting messages when they see that it's acceptable for someone to drink heavily but also see other people getting arrested for marijuana.

Former NDP MLA Norma Kassi, who was sent to residential school at the age of six, said the territory needs more trauma counselling.

She said society, as a whole, should come up with collective solutions rather than leaving it up to communities to find piecemeal answers.

There were no cut-and-dry answers to be had from a panel of addiction experts. Instead, they shared their experience about some of the things that had been tried in their community.

Panelists Marge Storey-Abrahamson and Mitzi Bob spoke about the work they were doing Tsow-Tun Le Lum, a first nations addictions treatment program in Lantzville, B.C. that supports survivors of trauma and residential schools.

Participants are encouraged to come to terms with their past pain by learning about traditional teachings and partaking in cleansing ceremonies.

The program is only six weeks long, just a snap shot in a person's life, said Storey-Abrahamson.

'We're just a blink in their recovery,' she said.

People who attend the program must already have good, solid sobriety so they can learn the life skills that residentential school didn't provide them with.

A lot of people at Tsow-Tun Le Lum are really quiet when they first arrive, the audience was told.

'They are terrified,' Bob said about how people react to Tsow-Tun Le Lum's environment.

It isn't until the end of the program that they get comfortable and start to work. That's why many have to come back again for another six weeks to pick up where they left off.

She recalled how one man came into the centre emitting a very black and angry energy. Bob said people didn't even want to be near him.

The man was a sex offender who had beaten up his wife.

'He had anger. He had rage. He had addictions,' said Bob. 'They want to get rid of this stuff and they have no idea how to get rid of it.'

The man was healed after he took a traditional cold water bath.

Bob said the man could see the blackness coming up and rising up through his body into the sky.

It wasn't just the cold water bath that had healed him, said Bob. It was the programming of Tsow-Tun Le Lum.

Bob said after the man had undergone healing, he was so happy he seemed to be vibrating. He had a sparkle in his eye.

'My dad went to residential school,' said Bob. 'My dad had no clue what his role was as a father.'

Bob said her father didn't like to hug her so she never wanted to hug her father, not even when she was told to do so by her mother.

'My mom had to teach dad how to be a father,' said Bob.

'In residential school, it wasn't OK to hug or have a relationship with your brother or sister,' said Bob.

Her one aunt took to drinking and became a prostitute. The aunt later had five children, all of them taken away by social services officials.

The children who were put into residential schools found that when they were released, they didn't fit in with native communities, nor do they fit in with non-native communities.

On an entirely different note, panelist Donald Macpherson spoke about the work he was doing in Vancouver as the drug policy co-ordinator for the city.

Macpherson said when it came to Vancouver's drug problem, people looked to Europe to find solutions.

Vancouver has since gone on to copy some of Europe's initiatives like safe injection sites.

He said the community has to keep on task when it comes to developing drug strategies.

'Citizens get really frustrated. They want simple answers. The politicians get really frustrated. They want simple answers. But what we all know is there are no simple answers,' said Macpherson, adding that communities need to see movement.

He suggested Yukoners talk to drug users and get their input. He also said youth should become more involved.

'Try new things, experiment,' said Macpherson.

Panelist Sherri Torjman talked about a vibrant communities initiative where community representatives share ideas on how to reduce poverty.

Torjman is the vice-president of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy in Ottawa.

She said that when it comes to creating healthy communities, everybody has to be involved.

Torjman told a story of how a small community in Nunavut was able to deal with its high crime rate once it realized that everybody was affected by substance abuse.

A men's group was able to start the community's healing process by taking young people out and teaching them how to hunt and developing relationships with the youth.

'Every community will build in its own unique way. What's important is that relationships are built,' said Torjman.

The Yukon Substance Abuse Summit has been happening in Whitehorse Monday and today. With the exception of last night's meeting, most of it has been closed to the public.

The media have also been shut out from attending most of the summit. Delegates have looked at how the Yukon approaches substance abuse prevention and education, therapeutic justice and the challenges of integrating services and local programs in the Yukon.

The media have only been invited to attend the last session by Gerald Thomas, from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. He will be speaking on Guiding Principles for Substance Abuse Policy.

Media have also been invited to hear the summit summary and closing comments by Dennis Cooley, the territory's deputy minister of Justice.

Premier Dennis Fentie said the summit shows his government is fulfilling its commitment to bringing governments and community organizations together to examine how they can address drug and alcohol abuse in the territory.

'Drug and alcohol abuse is a serious matter,' Fentie said in a news release. 'This summit is an important step down a path that will help individuals heal from alcohol and drug abuse and lead to healthier and stronger communities.'

That being said, Fentie did not attend the summit. He was in Watson Lake today.

Health Minister Peter Jenkins has been in and out of the summit's meetings. He was at last night's session, and said people brought forward some excellent points of view.

The minister said the Yukon already offered a number of programs that deal with substance abuse.

'But I guess we have to do a better job of getting the information out there,' he said.

The summit will enable the government to identify the problems related to substance abuse before they put together an action plan on what needs to be done about the drug problem.

Jenkins said he didn't want to put any timelines on when the public might expect to see some of the tangible solutions that might arise from the summit.