This is one instance where “not in my backyard” is totally understandable and supportable.
The Citizen has received frustrated calls from neighbours of at least four different drug houses in the last 12 months, and we can more than understand the anger these folks express.
In looking into these cases, it’s no wonder these people are fed up. After all, we haven’t been able to find a good answer for their most urgent question: How can we get these drug houses shut down and out of our neighbourhood?
That’s because there doesn’t seem to be a good answer, not legally, not municipally, not provincially and not federally.
Which is not to say that we blame any of the above entities for the persistence of this problem.
The RCMP must follow the laws, laws that are there to protect the rights and freedoms we all enjoy. The erosion of these rights would not be a desirable thing. We do not live in a country where police can just enter your home, search and arrest on a whim. This is a good thing.
And yet, in this circumstance, the laws almost seem to be working against those who just want to be able to go outside without encountering needles and other drug paraphernalia, who want their homes not to be broken into by junkies looking for anything they can turn into cash for their next fix, who want their children to be able to play in the yard, on the sidewalk and in the street without fear.
Some of it is also lack of police resources to be able to use the laws we do have. So neighbours are the ones being asked to essentially stake out these house and pass information along to the RCMP, in hopes that it will eventually lead to the eradication of the scourge in their neighbourhood.
Municipalities can only intervene if premises, often rented, become unsightly or dangerous. And they have to weigh the costs of such actions — especially in an atmosphere where residents are vigilant about not wanting their taxes to go up.
Even landlords can have a long road when trying to evict unwanted tenants, and some landlords are absentee and just don’t seem to care as long as the rent gets paid.
The bottom line is that the system is failing our communities. It takes too long to shut down these operations, and when their doors are closed in one place, they often just move to another.
Long term, addressing addiction is important. But there needs to be better short-term recourse, because what we have right now isn’t working.