Pubdate: Fri, 23 Dec 2016
Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.pentictonherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664
Author: Heather Yeats
Page: A11

THE LAW NEEDS TO GET TOUGH ON THE DEALERS

Dear Editor:

The time has come for Canadians to stand up and deal with street drugs
in a different way. No matter how much money, time and heartache goes
into trying to cope with the current plague of overdoses, there will
never be an end to it.

When a drug dealer/manufacturer is caught, the repercussions do not
fit the crime. A slap on the wrist, confiscation of property, fines or
even short prison terms do not stop these entitled criminals.

They are dealing death. They know what they are doing. They plan their
actions and they make huge sums of money on the pain and suffering
(and possible death) of their customers - not to mention the grief and
loss inflicted on the victims families.

With such meticulous planning required to obtain supplies and cut the
product, there can be no excuse. Dealers are knowingly dealing death
and there should be mandatory jail sentences to reflect the country's
determination to deal with the problem from the source of the problem
rather than having to spend millions of dollars trying to cope with
the devastating fallout.

Mandatory long-term sentences (and confiscation of property) will
impact dealers. We need to make sure that there is enough of a
deterrent. It needs to happen quickly as the plague of death dealing
drugs is spreading so very rapidly.

Heather Yeats

West Kelowna
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MAP posted-by: Matt