Pubdate: Thu, 17 May 2007
Source: Advance-Leader (Ligonier, IN)
Copyright: 2007 KPC Media Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.fwdailynews.com/advance_-_leader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4509
Author: Bob Buttgen, Editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

HEROIN IS KILLING KIDS IN OUR COMMUNITY

There are times when I think our nation is heading to continued
greatness, prosperity and happiness. But there are times when I get
so darn discouraged I feel like dropping out of society and moving
the family to a dental floss farm in Montana.

Did you know, for example, that in our community more than 15 young
people have died in the past year from taking a new, low-cost form of
heroin? On the street it is called "cheese" and combines heroin with
over-the-counter pain medications.

In our community, teenagers are dying from this sick, twisted drug
which is being sold and marketed like candy. And some of this drug
actually is being coated with candy. The average price for a dose of
this new, cheap form of heroin is something like $2.

In our community, more than 120 teenagers -- the average age is 14 --
have been arrested or expelled from school for having this drug in
their possession.

The drug dealers (killers would be a better term for them but that
wouldn't be doing justice for killers) who sell this poison are so
evil and heartless that they deserve nothing less than the death penalty.

In our community, too many parents have lost control of their
families. Boys and girls as young as 11, 12 and 13 are out on the
streets buying and taking this "cheese."

I hate to be judgmental, especially when it comes to parenting, but I
just can't imagine what kind of moms and dads would be so callous, so
ignorant, so uncaring, that they would care so little for their
children. How can they allow their children to roam the streets of
our community, buying this drug, taking it and dying from it?

Now you're probably thinking: "Gee, Bob. This is the first I've heard
of this particular drug problem in our community. Is this more of your B.S.?"

Well, yes and no.

When I speak of "in our community" I don't necessarily mean Ligonier
or Cromwell or the West Noble area or even Indiana. This deadly drug
epidemic is happening in the United States which, I believe, is part
of "our community."

The statistics cited above happen to be from Dallas, Texas. But these
kinds of deadly drugs are being sold in dozens of big cities, and if
you don't think it's eventually going to hit Wawaka and Kimmell and
Ligonier and Cromwell, then you're not being realistic.

Do you think 15 years ago that people in the West Noble area could
have predicted the spread of methamphetamine in our towns and cities?

I can't understand how a community can allow these types of drug
epidemics to take place. What's the matter with Dallas? Don't they
have a Drug-Free Dallas just like we have Drug-Free Noble County?
Aren't there churches and after-school programs in Dallas? Sure there are.

This is why it all falls back to parents. We can't blame cops or
teachers or preachers for fostering an environment where a
15-year-old has nothing better to do than go out and buy candy-coated
heroin for $2 and then end up in the emergency room or the morgue.

Nope. It's bad parenting. Plain and simple.

I can hear the arguments from the apologists already. "Well, she's a
single mom or he's a single father and has to work second shift and
can't be home to watch the kids . . . "

Horse hockey! No job is so damn important that a parent has to turn
his or her back on their child in order to make ends meet. You can't
find a job that lets you be home with your children when they need
you? Then go on welfare. The cost to society will be lower in the long run.

For the life of me, I can't understand why people continue to live in
crime-infested ghettos. Pack a suitcase, bounce a check or two if you
have to, and get out of town. Move to a small town and put the
welfare of your children at the top of your list of priorities.

Well I'm sorry to be on such a negative rant, but the news about
these heroin deaths in Dallas struck a sensitive chord with me. It
just really baffles me that a part of American society has become so
jaded and love-less, that people would go out and sell this heroin to
children just to make a buck.

I don't know . . . when you hear about the situation in Dallas and
translate it to other big cities in the United States . . . it makes
you think that maybe, just maybe, the terrorists have won.

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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman