law targets parents who expose kids to drugs (topic-related spam only)
Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:09 pm
Alta. law targets parents who expose kids to drugs
Emma Poole, CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
CALGARY - Police in Alberta will be able today to charge unfit parents with exposing their children to drugs under a new law that is the first of its kind in Canada.
Under the Drug Endangered Children Act, officers can seize and hold for two days children found living where drugs are being produced, such as methamphetamine labs and indoor marijuana grow operations, or sold. Police also have the power to charge the family members who put the children in harm's way.
''It gives us another tool in our belt to penalize people,'' said Staff Sgt. Monty Sparrow of the Calgary police drug unit.
In an interview Tuesday, Children's Services Minister Heather Forsyth, who spearheaded the law, said officers across the province are seizing children every day from homes where adults are cooking, growing and producing illegal drugs.
''The law is clear and concise and makes it clear that children who are involved in these situations are abused,'' said Forsyth. ''It recognizes that these children are victims and need protection.''
Last Wednesday, three Calgary children two of whom were in school at the time were found to be living in a marijuana grow-op.
Police said the basement of the home had been converted into a 157-plant grow-op with toxic fumes being vented through the closet of the upstairs master bedroom into the attic.
A crib where the youngest slept was less than a metre from the closet, said Sparrow. Several chemicals were also found in the home.
The discovery, he added, is a ''perfect example'' of why the new legislation is necessary.
Sparrow said the service's biggest concern is in homes with grow-ops, where cocaine is being cooked to make crack-cocaine, and where weed oil is being produced.
Children exposed to toxins from these processes are found to suffer from medical problems such as chronic respiratory illnesses, neurological damage and cancer.
Others dangers, such as the inhalation, absorption, or ingestion of toxic chemicals, fires and explosions, and abuse and neglect are also connected to the production of drugs.
Staff Sgt. Jim Rorison of the service's child abuse unit said officers in Calgary have already received training on enacting the new law.
The charge willfully causing a child to be a drug-endangered child carries a maximum fine of $25,000 or 24 months in jail.
Forsyth modelled the new legislation after several similar laws in the U.S.
She expects the legislation will result in an increased numbers of people who report this type of abuse to police.
epoole@theherald.canwest.com
Calgary Herald
On the surface of it.. this does not seem like a bad thing. Clearly, kids should not be existing in homes that are effectively meth labs or similar... I shudder to think what the effects of that would be on any child..
But.. legislation like this also makes me somewhat uncomfortable, and I see it as a potential slippery slope. It really was not so long ago that First Nations people here were deemed unfit for parenthood and their children were taken away to residential schools... Later, other so-called "undesirables" had their children placed into the care of the state. Equally, in the same province (Alberta), enforced sterilization was not actually struck off the books until the early 1970s....
As I said, children obviously need to be protected, I would never argue with that. However...I'm uneasy at the potential implications of something like this. Historical precedent has already shown the more extreme side of this type of legislation. What is to say it cannot happen again?
Thoughts?
Emma Poole, CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
CALGARY - Police in Alberta will be able today to charge unfit parents with exposing their children to drugs under a new law that is the first of its kind in Canada.
Under the Drug Endangered Children Act, officers can seize and hold for two days children found living where drugs are being produced, such as methamphetamine labs and indoor marijuana grow operations, or sold. Police also have the power to charge the family members who put the children in harm's way.
''It gives us another tool in our belt to penalize people,'' said Staff Sgt. Monty Sparrow of the Calgary police drug unit.
In an interview Tuesday, Children's Services Minister Heather Forsyth, who spearheaded the law, said officers across the province are seizing children every day from homes where adults are cooking, growing and producing illegal drugs.
''The law is clear and concise and makes it clear that children who are involved in these situations are abused,'' said Forsyth. ''It recognizes that these children are victims and need protection.''
Last Wednesday, three Calgary children two of whom were in school at the time were found to be living in a marijuana grow-op.
Police said the basement of the home had been converted into a 157-plant grow-op with toxic fumes being vented through the closet of the upstairs master bedroom into the attic.
A crib where the youngest slept was less than a metre from the closet, said Sparrow. Several chemicals were also found in the home.
The discovery, he added, is a ''perfect example'' of why the new legislation is necessary.
Sparrow said the service's biggest concern is in homes with grow-ops, where cocaine is being cooked to make crack-cocaine, and where weed oil is being produced.
Children exposed to toxins from these processes are found to suffer from medical problems such as chronic respiratory illnesses, neurological damage and cancer.
Others dangers, such as the inhalation, absorption, or ingestion of toxic chemicals, fires and explosions, and abuse and neglect are also connected to the production of drugs.
Staff Sgt. Jim Rorison of the service's child abuse unit said officers in Calgary have already received training on enacting the new law.
The charge willfully causing a child to be a drug-endangered child carries a maximum fine of $25,000 or 24 months in jail.
Forsyth modelled the new legislation after several similar laws in the U.S.
She expects the legislation will result in an increased numbers of people who report this type of abuse to police.
epoole@theherald.canwest.com
Calgary Herald
On the surface of it.. this does not seem like a bad thing. Clearly, kids should not be existing in homes that are effectively meth labs or similar... I shudder to think what the effects of that would be on any child..
But.. legislation like this also makes me somewhat uncomfortable, and I see it as a potential slippery slope. It really was not so long ago that First Nations people here were deemed unfit for parenthood and their children were taken away to residential schools... Later, other so-called "undesirables" had their children placed into the care of the state. Equally, in the same province (Alberta), enforced sterilization was not actually struck off the books until the early 1970s....
As I said, children obviously need to be protected, I would never argue with that. However...I'm uneasy at the potential implications of something like this. Historical precedent has already shown the more extreme side of this type of legislation. What is to say it cannot happen again?
Thoughts?