PRESCOTT AND RUSSELL ANTI-DRUG TASK FORCE

Following a first information session last week in Embrun, Russell
Mayor Ken Hill announced that the Prescott and Russell Anti-Drug Task
Force "would be set up very soon".

When he was sworn in last December as Warden of the United Counties
of Prescott and Russell, Hill said he intended to fight drug-related
criminal activity.

Some 70 community leaders responded to his invitation to a first
meeting towards an Anti-Drug Task Force for the region. Of that
number, 20 influential citizens expressed interest in being part of
the solution.

Presentations by the Mayor of Stratford, Dan Mathieson, as well as
representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Ontario
Provincial Police didn't take long to convince participants that
drugs production and distribution is a huge problem.

Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Officer of Health for the Eastern
Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), presented shocking findings, including
one that shows that one third of all youth surveyed as part of an
EOHU study had smoked a joint already once in their lives.

The EOHU study also showed that 8.3% of grade 7 to 12 students in
Prescott County admitted having taken amphetamines.

The dangers linked to this criminal activity are present in our very
own backyard, Hill said. "My goal is to set up the Anti-Drug Task
Force so that we may eradicate the grow operations and drugs that are
ruining the lives of some of our children."

Hill believes the community is aware of the dangers caused by these
drugs and that citizens are prepared to work together to fight them.
"Drugs, those who produce them and those who sell them are not
welcome here," Hilll said.