WILL IT WORK?

No community, no matter how small, is immune from the impacts of illegal
drugs and their spin-off effects.

They are seen most often by the people who work the front lines of social
organizations and agencies. That typically means the police but more often
than not, it also means educators who work with young people.

So it would seem that the proposal to create Drug Free Zones around Peter
Skene Ogden Senior Secondary and 100 Mile Junior Secondary would be an easy
sell. After all, who wouldn't agree with the idea of making children and
schools safer?

The proposal calls for tougher sentences for those convicted of drug
offenses within a two-kilometre radius of the two secondary schools.

But tougher sentences aren't guaranteed if the zones are declared by School
District No. 27. The plan needs the backing of the justice system, which is
not held in a great deal of esteem by many Canadians because of the
perception that the courts are too often imposing lenient sentences that do
not mete out punishment and do little to deter crime.

The Criminal Code of Canada sentencing guidelines already include factoring
in such things as proximity to areas where children gather, so the impact
of a Drug Free Zone declaration comes from the message it conveys to the
general public about the residents not turning a blind eye and not
accepting that illegal activities are an inevitable facet of modern society.

It never hurts for a community to send the message that dangerous and
illegal activities are unwelcome around schools.

But in the end, the gesture is pointless unless the courts step up to the
plate and issue stronger sentences that truly reflect society's repugnance
about drug crime.