CHILDREN AND DRUG OPERATIONS DON'T MIX

Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop is introducing a private member's
bill that would make it a crime to expose children to illegal drugs
and their manufacture.

Right now, Children's Aid Societies can step in and provide care for
children who police find while conducting drug investigations and raids.

But this proposed legislation would give the justice system further
ammunition to deal with parents and caregivers who are putting
children in danger. Judges could fine an offender or sentence them to
extra jail time if it were made a crime for children to live in the
toxic atmosphere of a home where drugs are being produced.

Police say that the presence of children can add legitimacy to a drug
house, because nothing says family home like the presence of children
frolicking on the lawn or walking back and forth to school every day.

For the average law-abiding citizen, it is inconceiveable that anyone
would put a child at the sort of risk found in a drug house.
Chemicals in the air and atmosphere, along with the risk of fire are
obvious physical dangers. The people who are coming in and out of the
home are likely not the type to have the best interest of children at heart.

In addition though, when a child grows up and sees all around them
that the creation and use of illegal drugs is the norm, their concept
of the world is skewed. It would be difficult for a child to overcome
the ethical lapses ingrained in them by their guardians.

While statistics for our area are not available, York police say
there were 113 cases of children living in illegal grow-operations
there in the past year alone. That shows the problem is a large one
and needs more judicial attention than it is getting now.

It is unproven that stiffer penalties deter criminals, but providing
the judicial system a heavier stick to wield to protect children can
do no harm.

When children are found in drug houses, the whole family structure
comes into question and both the parents and the children need
extensive help in order to give the kids a chance at a successful
future in the world.