Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Time For State Leadership on the Drug Issue

Six people arrested in Keyser. A 19 year old dies of a drug overdose in Jackson County. Drug gangs from Detroit own Huntington.

It is time to see aggressive leadership from Charleston on the drug issue. Hard drugs such as meth, crack, heroin and almost anything else flood not only the streets of West Virginia's major cities, but also the small towns and hollows. The Legislature must enact stricter laws, and not against college students with an ounce of pot. We need to hit back at the gangs now controlling the drug trade.

State, county, and local police must not only share information on known gang members, but also work with prosecutors to make sure that gang affiliates get arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent possible for every violation. Gangs must be made as uncomfortable as possible in West Virginia. A unified effort from the Governor down to the town police officer can make that happen.

The alternative, if we continue to do as we do now, is frightening. Like the inner cities, kids coming up want material rewards. Do they get them the easy way or the hard way? In a state with as few opportunities as West Virginia, kids will be more likely to take that easy path and perpetuate the blight of hard drugs.

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