To curb youth crime in Brockville, public health officials are speaking out in support of a municipal drug strategy. A multi-agency task force identified drug and alcohol use as one of the contributing issues behind the rise in youth crime, with the others being location, environment and family background. Jennifer Adams, an RN and harm reduction co-ordinator for the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, spoke to Brockville council’s finance and administration committee in May about how drug strategies are founded on prevention, harm reduction, treatment and public safety. “It is rooted in science. It is based in compassion,” says Adams, adding that these strategies bring together different partners to address the causes of drug use. Jennifer Labelle, a public health nurse at the same health unit, says South Grenville (a county in Brockville) implemented a drug strategy in April 2017. It has improved youth crisis response times, and also provides students with awareness sessions. (Brockville Recorder & Times, May 22)