ANTI-DRUG TASK FORCE TO HOST MAJOR SPRING SUMMIT ON DRUG CRIME

EMBRUN - This spring, Prescott-Russell could be home to Eastern
Ontario's first major summit tackling drugs.

The Prescott-Russell Anti-Drug Task Force (ADTF) met last Wednesday
morning at the Russell Township town hall (the group's third official
meeting) to discuss the terms of reference and organize several
sub-committees.

During discussions, the ADTF also began the first stages of planning a
massive summit that would see citizens of not just Prescott-Russell
but all of Eastern Ontario addressed by experts about drugs and drug
abuse.

"We're going to open the door to all of Eastern Ontario," ADTF
co-chair and Russell Township Mayor Ken Hill said. "Nobody is safe
from [drugs]. It's everywhere."

While it is everywhere, however, Hill acknowledged there is little
knowledge of the problem among the region's population. Hill said when
the ADTF was first announced he received multiple calls asking him,
"What problem?"

While no statistics about drug abuse are readily or easily available
to the public, an agent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),
Patrice Poitevin, gave a sobering account of drug use in Ontario, a
presentation ADTF co-chair Sue Wilson called "emotional".

Hill, meanwhile, commented that the OPP has said the number of drug
charges and grow operations is increasing.

The Prescott-Russell summit seems like it could be modeled after a
two-day Methamphetamine Summit held in Stratford, Ontario in October
at which doctors, police officers and community leaders addressed the
issue of drug laboratories, the psychosis of drug abuse and treatment.

The only difference, Hill said, is that while the Perth County Task
Force on Crystal Meth was around for about five years before
organizing its summit, the Prescott-Russell ADTF has been in existence
for only one year.

Where Prescott-Russell is now getting its help is the
RCMP.

"These guys have a mandate to fight drugs at the federal level and now
they're bringing it back to us, the taxpayers," Hill said.

The RCMP is set to participate in the summit and has given the
Prescott-Russell group "a mandate," Hill said.

The ADTF encompasses many sectors, with representatives from school
boards, youth groups, municipal councils, the OPP and more making up
much of its board. But it isn't enough.

Hill said he hopes farmers and agriculture-sector businesspeople will
be brought "into the fray".

"The foot print of the drug trade encompasses [farm chemical
suppliers]," he said. "It is a crime of greed and everyone is victim
to it."

He said farmers are getting their crops and supplies stolen, suppliers
are being duped into selling chemicals to drug growers and parents are
seeing their children get addicted to drugs.

Hill said hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars are wasted each
year dealing with drugs - from processing criminal trials to busting
grow operations. It's time for a new approach, he said.

Southern Ontario communities involved in the Perth region anti-drug
organization, meanwhile, have been in contact with the
Prescott-Russell group, sharing information.

"This is how we fight the war on drugs," Hill said, referring to the
ADTF. "We have to stick together on this."