Filth and drugs go hand-in-hand Dunbar

New Glasgow - As rain pounded down, Sgt. Howie Dunbar watched as one desperate druggie went from house to house one night, making a stop at every known dealer between New Glasgow and Stellarton, looking for a single pill.
"He was like a rabid dog," Dunbar said.
Sadly, it's not an uncommon sight for the members of the Pictou County Integrated Street Crime Unit. These seven officers have seen it all - and many things most regular citizens couldn't even conceive of, Dunbar says.
Filth and drugs tend to go hand in hand, he explains. He's executed a search warrant where there have been literally hundreds of used needles just tossed on the floors.
"There are nights when I've burned my clothing when I come home - just taken it all off in the driveway and it's never come back in the house," he says, adding that it's quite common in these drug houses that dogs have defecated all over the floor and every insect you could dream up would be swarming through during the hot summer months.
"There have been searches where even the dog won't give into the room because of the smell," he added. "And these are highly trained dogs."
In most of these drug houses, dealers are sleeping in a mattress on the floor, with a big screen TV attached to their wall and thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in their pockets, Dunbar said.
The average age of the drug dealer isn't the troubled teen many might assume.
"They're in their fifties and sixties," he said, and not just because they've worked up the chain of command. Like the 1977 song Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll warned, it's all connected - local users will trade sex for hits.
Intravenous drug use is a major problem in the county that's growing all the time, Dunbar said, and brings with it a host of other health risks.
There's no one area in the county where drugs are confined to, he added.
"Unlike municipalities, drug dealers and the poison they spew have no boundaries," he said. "There are hot spots at times - and we go in and clean them out. We've driven the price up, made shortages. We're always vigilant on who's doing."
Addiction to drugs changes a person, Dunbar explains. They're willing to do anything, go anywhere, to fill that ache. And they do - just to afford that little pill.
It's a pricey habit. A gram of cocaine can cost between $80 and $100 on Pictou County streets. An 18-weight hydromorphone pill can cost $50.
"Drug addiction is all consuming…they're living in total absolute tragedy."