Pubdate: Sun, 20 Mar 2005
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498

TIME TO GET TOUGH ON DRUGS

We think this is an important day in the history of the Sentinel &
Enterprise, because it marks the launch of our 10-part special report
"Decades of Addiction-Drugs in North Central Mass."

The series focuses on the region's decades-long fight against illegal
drug trafficking and drug use, which has hurt virtually every aspect
of life in North Central Massachusetts, from public safety to housing,
education, and of course, public health.

Please let us know what you think of the series, by e-mailing Editor
Jeff McMenemy at The first part of the series focuses on how illegal drug use and
trafficking have changed once-quiet city neighborhoods, and how
difficult it is to get drugs out of a neighborhood once they get in.

In today's installment, Michael F. Martin of Fitchburg, a Vietnam
veteran, recounts how he accidentally shot a suspected drug dealer
outside his Fitchburg home in November 2003.

"When I first got here, it was a relatively typical neighborhood,"
Martin told the Sentinel & Enterprise. "Only in the last couple of
years has drugs become a problem in those neighborhoods."

Countless people shared stories with the Sentinel   & Enterprise about
how drugs have disrupted their daily lives and prevented them from
enjoying the homes they worked so hard to purchase.

And despite what some might have you believe, illegal drug trafficking
and use does not just happen in Fitchburg -- it's a regional problem.
The arrest last week of two Leominster men, who federal and local
prosecutors say were running an international cocaine and marijuana
trafficking ring, proves that.

In what might have been the biggest drug raid in North Central
Massachusetts history, federal, state and local police seized more
than one ton of marijuana, $500,000 in cash and several firearms.

We're hoping that this series will galvanize area residents,
politicians and business owners to treat this situation like the
emergency it is. For too long, people have turned a blind eye toward
drug use and trafficking, hoping if they ignored it the problem might
just go away on its own. Or   if they were careful, at least it would
stay out of their neighborhood. This series demonstrates that drugs
can hit in virtually any neighborhood, and no one is safe from its
impact.

Of course, there's no way to wave a magic wand and eliminate all drug
use and drug trafficking in North Central Massachusetts.

But certainly it's long past time for all of us who live and work here
to stop accepting what is an unacceptably high-level of drug use and
trafficking in our cities.

That means making the hard decisions necessary to pay for more police
on the streets,   more after-school problems for at-risk teens and
more drug rehabilitation beds.

If that means cutting less crucial programs to make it happen, then
that's what must be done.
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