Zero Tolerance for Drug Dealers...

Dennis Fentie has announced "Zero Tolerance for Drug Dealers" - ie, a stick - along with a carrot: " a Focus on treatment and treatment facilities for their victims."

Drug houses will be shut down by using the enforcement provisions of the Substance Abuse Action Plan. Citizens' information and complaints will be focussed by a Community Enforcement/ Information Campaign. The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, passed by the YP government, is a key part of this plan.

Given an 80% recidivism rate in our current Corrections Process, Fentie said, one of the most important parts of this plan is a Yukon Community Court, led by a partnership of government, RCMP, Judiciary, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Society of Yukon, the Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools, Legal Aid, and the Council for Yukon First Nations. The idea is to avoid turning our correctional facilities into a warehouse of alcoholics and drug addicts.

With Fentie, as he described this proposal, was Vicki Durrant, the Candidate for McIntyre/Takhini. (Scroll down to the bottom of the linked page.) Vicki has had years of volunteer experience in working with young people in our city. As Mr Fentie noted, the YP's approach is to involve all parts of the community in this effort, government, professional and volunteer.