TOP COP WANTS STRICTER PUNISHMENTS FOR DRUGS

Stronger punishment is what's needed in the battle against illicit
drug crime in Ontario, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino told Osprey
News yesterday.

"We need to have stiff sentences, certain and meaningful sanctions.
That in itself will be a deterrent," Fantino said after a graduation
ceremony for freshly minted auxiliary officers in Orillia.

Ontario's courts must make sure sentences "truly reflect victimization
that is inherent to drug trafficking," he said, noting dealers "profit
from the misery of others."

Fantino said he doesn't buy into arguments contending that jail time
doesn't do much to cut down drug offences.

"Well, you know what? While some of these recidivist career criminals
are doing jail time, they're not committing more crime," he said.

Orillia has suffered from a string of knife robberies committed by
desperate crack-cocaine addicts, a Crown attorney said this week in
Barrie court.

Carol Trivett said she was aware of about 50 cases of robbery with a
weapon by crack or cocaine addicts in the past year in Orillia.

Fantino linked communities' drug woes to organized
crime.

"We're doing what we can to interdict on an international level," he
said. "A lot of the drugs that are hitting communities . . . are the
food chain to organized crime."