Pubdate: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Joanne Ahern Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n210/a06.html SQUEALING ON DEALERS IS CRIME-FIGHTING Re: Squealing on the dealers, Feb. 23. The steps that Ottawa Police Chief Vern White is planning for drug dealers are in the right direction. Reporting welfare fraud is the right thing to do and his new strategy is not two-faced as one critic said. Here's why: People's tax dollars that they work hard to make, go towards making social assistance programs equitable for everyone who needs them. Allowing those to profit from drug sales while they are on any type of social assistance program makes a mockery of the system. It is very unfair to the honest person collecting social assistance who might have fallen on bad luck or who is a person with a disability who needs every penny from the program to survive. Mark Ertel, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa, uses a weak politically correct argument that cutting off welfare to drug users and dealers will only make the problem worse. Turning a blind eye to this issue will only create a larger societal problem. If squealing on the double-dippers causes more crime on the streets and places drug users in jeopardy, so be it. Maybe the dollars saved from stopping welfare fraud could go toward a much needed drug detox centre to help users kick the habit. It makes sense to me. Any other approach only encourages a drug user to continue on a path of destruction. Joanne Ahern, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Derek