INC NEWS - Beating Illegal Drugs (N&O letter)

[Deb Christie]

I submit that Durham's illegal drug problem is not a local problem - it is a national problem, and its primary cause is the irrational separation of some drugs as "illegal" from the "legal" ones.  When our country starts regulating all drugs in the same, rational manner, requiring some drugs to have a physician's prescription and supervision, letting others be "user's choice/risk" (over-the-counter), then we will start to see major improvements in the terrible drug addiction/incarceration scourge of our country.  

Until we adopt a sane, harm-reduction national policy regarding all drugs, there is very little local officials can do except resist the temptation to put small-time illegal drug users and dealers in prison - overcrowding our jails - and concentrate instead on the crimes of violence which are encouraged by the illegal drugs scheme.

Deb Christie
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Caleb Southern 
  To: inc-list at DurhamINC.org 
  Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2005 5:22 AM
  Subject: INC NEWS - Beating Illegal Drugs (N&O letter)


  Beating illegal drugs
  Letter: News & Observer (Oct 29, 2005)


  Durham has had a great run with our "City of Medicine" motto. But it may be time for a new slogan. My suggestion: "City of Drugs."

  This would present a much more accurate picture of the Bull City, considering:

  . Our history as the world's leader in tobacco manufacturing.

  . Our prominence in the global pharmaceutical industry.

         
       
  . Duke Medical Center and RTP

  . Our dominance as a center of crack and other illegal drugs.

  Durham is a major stop on the Interstate 85 drug trafficking corridor. Apparently we also have a very successful local retail presence in this industry. Many thousands of dollars worth of drugs are sold every day in Durham, according to Capt. Paul Martin of the Durham County Sheriff's Department. Kudos to the police for their announcement of a year-long operation that netted $211,000 of crack (news story, Oct. 25), but unfortunately this is just a drop in the bucket.

  Our drug problem fuels every aspect of crime, from gangs and murder all the way down to car, home and business break-ins and crackhead panhandlers -- issues that plague and demoralize the overwhelming majority of people I know in Durham every day.

  Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was able to reverse 40 years of blight there in just a few short years. I challenge Mayor Bill Bell to prove he still has the goods to lead us here in Durham. If re-elected, what exactly is Bell's plan to turn our great city around?

  Caleb Southern

  Durham

   



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