Pubdate: Wed, 27 Apr 2005
Source: High Point Enterprise (NC)
Copyright: 2005 High Point Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.hpe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/576

THESE VICTORIES KEEP DRUGS OFF STREETS

News of the last few days provides ample reason for why Piedmont Triad law 
enforcement agencies must continually be on the alert for evidence of 
illegal drug activity - there's plenty of it here.

Early last week, authorities in the Randolph County Sheriff's Office 
confiscated more than $1 million in marijuana and cocaine after a routine 
traffic stop. Then, late last week, Randolph sheriff's officers confiscated 
another $1.2 million in cocaine and marijuana after raiding an Asheboro 
residence.

The drug busting wasn't over, however.

On Friday, Thomasville Police raided a Liberty Drive residence and other 
locations and found more than 250 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated 
street value of more than $400,000. Then on Tuesday, the Randolph Sheriff's 
Office confiscated about 1,100 pounds of marijuana in a raid near Asheboro. 
In recent months, law enforcement agencies have made a number of 
methamphetamine busts in the region, too.

This area, particularly Randolph County, has seen a rise in illegal drug 
activity in the last few years. The area's location in the center of the 
state and midway along the Eastern Seaboard makes it a convenient stop in 
the drug trafficking network.

The area law enforcement agencies are correct in devoting time and money to 
reducing the flow of drugs to and through this area despite the voices of 
advocates for legalizing them. Those who advocate legalization of drugs 
cite the cost of law enforcement and what they say is a failure of drug 
interdiction efforts. It seems there have been some successes here, not 
failures.

Advocates of legalization like to cite the failed alcohol Prohibition era 
in the U.S. as a reason to legalize drugs. But that argument is offset by 
the extremely harmful and addictive nature of these illegal drugs and, 
particularly, the rise of methamphetamine use among teenagers.

Yes, funding law enforcement's fight against illegal drugs is expensive. 
But the cost to cut off the supplies of these drugs that would be sold and 
used on our streets is a price worth paying.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman