Drug dealer earned stiff sentence

There are two things to be said about the 11-year-prison sentence handed out last week to Kitchener fentanyl dealer Erin Vezina.

First, it is as hard as nails; indeed it’s the most severe punishment involving a fentanyl-related crime ever handed out in Waterloo Region. Second, this is what real justice looks like. Bravo, Justice Melanie Sopinka, for your wise decision. In only a few years, the abuse of illicit opioids, especially fentanyl, has exploded into a national crisis that is believed to have claimed 2,458 lives across Canada in 2016 alone.

In that same year, 38 people died of opioid overdoses in Waterloo Region, and 24 of those deaths involved fentanyl. The situation has only worsened in 2017 with the region on track to having the highest number of opioid deaths ever.

By the end of September and with three months left in the year, 45 deaths had been blamed on opioids in this region — more than one a week. Paramedics had responded to 556 overdoses by late October — far more than in all of 2016.

And always remember, we’re talking about human lives, not just numbers.

One of those lives belonged to 14-year-old Kitchener high school student Zion Williams-Farrell, who died this spring after taking drugs with friends, not knowing the drugs contained fentanyl.

His grieving mother, Jaimie Lee Farrell, is trying to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl, and she’s right to do so.

Fentanyl is the most dangerous opioid of all, at least 50 times more powerful than heroin. Even a tiny amount, the size of two grains of salt, can kill.

Yet people often don’t even realize they’re taking it because it’s been added to other drugs.

It’s fair to debate how our society should confront this drug epidemic.

Those who categorize it as a health problem make a point, and one the authorities recognize.

Just last week, the Ontario government awarded $1.3 million to four Waterloo Region agencies that help opioid users.

That much-needed money will be used to open rapid action addiction clinics, provide more crisis support on university and college campuses, and offer better withdrawal assistance at a hospital.

But let’s face reality: We need a multi-pronged attack against opioid abuse, and this offensive should include getting tough with unscrupulous, despicable traffickers.

Waterloo Regional Police are doing their part and, in late October, made the largest seizure of fentanyl in the region’s history, bringing charges against seven people as they did.

Then, last week in a Kitchener court, Justice Sopinka did her part in sentencing Vezina to 11 years.

Not only does her decision set a precedent that can guide other judges, it strongly denounces a serious, life-threatening crime and might, just might, deter others from selling fentanyl. Vezina got what he deserved. And the region is a safer place with this criminal off its streets for the foreseeable future.

We are not helpless in the face of this opioid scourge, and Justice Sopinka has showed how we can fight back.