Councillors here are concerned about illegal drug use in the community and are seeking information and assurances that local police are dealing with the problem proactively.
Councillor Ron Elliott raised the issue at the Aug. 7 meeting, referencing a fatal July 11 accident in Mapleton allegedly caused by drug impairment.
The accident claimed the life of Darren James More, 43, of Palmerston.
Ethan Robert Noble, 21, of Harriston faces nine charges in relation to the crash, including driving while impaired by drug causing death.
“A couple weeks ago we had a young fellow die in a car accident, apparently killed by an impaired drug (user),” said Elliott.
“He left behind three kids and a wife. (He was a) wonderful man. Unfortunately drugs in our community led to this.
“The concern I have is we do have drugs in our community and people have since came to me and talked to me about what’s happening, how we’re dealing with that, and whether our Wellington County OPP are dealing with that.
“And I reassured them that certainly knowing our OPP and what they have and what they do, they are trying to deal with it.”
Elliott continued, “I have a motion. It’s heartfelt.”
The motion, seconded by councillor Dave Turton, requested, “the Wellington OPP provide information about their illegal drug policies and reassure the Town of Minto they are being proactive with these drug policies and (ask) in what way the Town of Minto could assist.”
Elliott said the intent of the motion is to ask the OPP to “reassure our people in some sense, without revealing anything that they shouldn’t, that they are moving forward to try and eliminate use of meth and other illegal drugs in our community.”
Elliott called illegal drug use “a disease” that particularly affects young people and leads to theft, unemployment and other social issues.
“I’m hoping that by bringing this motion forward, that will help reassure our people in the Town of Minto that our police, our people, are trying to do what they can to solve this problem – at least put a dent in it,” he stated.
Councillor Jean Anderson said the police face limitations in dealing with illegal drug users and suggested the solution to the problem lies with legislators.
“It’s truly tragic what happened,” Anderson stated. “More disconcerting yet though is that he (Noble) was arrested two weeks prior to that for the same thing. But I think the police, their hands are tied. So the motion needs to go higher.”
Anderson continued, “And we’re going to run into this when cannabis is legalized, because we do not have the testing facilities honed down yet. And what constitutes inability to operate a motorized vehicle when under the influence of marijuana? I don’t know that anyone has the answer to that yet. So the police do the best that they can and the problem is deep-seated and has been going on.”
Anderson explained she sat on a committee 20 years ago looking at meth use, “and they couldn’t understand why it was so high here. It’s so high here because we have Co-ops. And Co-ops carry everything that you need to make it, which city people can’t get hold of.”
Anderson continued, “Our local police can only do so much. They arrest them, they bring them in and there’s nothing to hold them with and away they go, they do it again.”
Elliott stressed his intent was not to suggest the police aren’t doing a good job.
“I’m asking what the Town of Minto can do to assist,” he said, noting police may suggest council could lobby for changes to legislation.
Councillor Mary Lou Colwell suggested it was not necessary to pass a motion and council could simply ask the OPP to attend a meeting and provide information.
Mayor George Bridge pointed out Wellington OPP detachment commander Inspector Scott Lawson has offered in the past to come and discuss issues with council if desired.
“This isn’t just us. They’ve got it in Erin, they’ve got it everywhere,” said Bridge.
“They (the OPP) have strategies that they’re doing that we can’t see and they can’t get into … but I think it is a county issue as well as local issue.”
The mayor offered to ask Lawson to attend an upcoming town council meeting.
“I still think we need to pass this (motion),” said Elliott.
“I think it’s generic enough,” said deputy mayor Ron Faulkner, who pointed out the motion is essentially a request for information.
“It’s a statement to the public,” he added.
“You don’t want to make it look like they’re not trying,” said Bridge. “Jean has a point. Some of it is, their hands are tied.”
Elliott replied, “People are saying, ‘What are the OPP doing?’ And they can say, ‘We are working very diligently.’ I assume they are, but do we have anything on that? We don’t.”
Bridge said, “I know they’re upset about this as much as anyone else.
“They can put them away, they go to jail for a while and then they get back out again and they’re doing it again – and it’s pretty scary stuff.”
At the suggestion of councillor Judy Dirksen, council agreed to remove the word “their” from the motion, making it a request for information about illegal drug policies, rather than information specific to Wellington OPP policies.
Council approved the motion and directed the OPP be invited to a future meeting to address the issue.
