Drugs anyone?

Today, while strolling leisurely under a shaded underpass of the city (near Rideau and Sussex), I saw a drug deal go down, complete from the initial recognition of the buyer to the seller, the eye contact, the exchange of money for drugs, and then the cautious look around by the buyer to see if anyone (like the cops) saw the transaction.

This all happened in under 30 seconds, leaving two satisfied parties. There was not a cop insight, but there was one pissed off citizen.... ya, that's right, it was ME.

Honestly... I don't have to much to say about street bums, punks, and gangs. Mainly I like to mind my own business while walking the streets of Ottawa, as you just never know who is willing to do what in this day and age.

In downtown Ottawa, you are likely to see various types of people. You have the Hill peeps, bopping around in three piece suits, right down to the edgy youth groups, just dying for someone to give them a dirty look so they can yell some obscenities at you.

While I am out on my coffee break, I usually like to give a friendly smile to those who are deserving, whether it be a street bum or an MP, but what I don't appreciate is watching some young punk work the streets of Ottawa, dealing drugs in BROAD DAYLIGHT.

I mean, seriously. Take it somewhere else, somewhere else where I don't have to see the transaction, where there isn't a high traffic area, and where I don't have to wonder why our city police can't be around to monitor these individuals.

I know this whole street drugs topic has been widely discussed in this city (and many others), but there never seems to be a solution that works, that doesn't require us hiring two city cops for every one child on the street.

I think the thing that gets me most riled up is that this open transaction involved kids that were probably 15 or 16, and both parties acted like the whole thing was clock work. They had obviously both done it before, and they knew the ropes well. I hate that.

I know I didn't grow up in the city, or anything close to that (the most I had to worry about the was a small group of teens hanging on the stairs of Thessalon's main street - so scary I know!!! ...), but its discouraging to know that street drugs are so accessible to today's youth... in the middle of the week, in the busy downtown core, of the nation's capital.

Something has got to be done to get this under control...