AROUSED CITIZENRY CAN CONFRONT DRUGS

In spite of seeming the alarmist, I must tell you that we are in
crisis. The use of drugs and dangerous pharmaceuticals in the local
area, especially in the schools, is increasingly alarming. Such usage
is said to be doubling every year.

My recent association with those who have the statistics and personal
experience, such as former U.S. Attorney Jay McCloskey, head of the
local Drug Enforcement Agency, Lt. Peter Arno, and Bangor Police
Chief Don Winslow, leaves no doubt of the emergency nature of our
local situation. Further verification can be had by asking any
doctor, pharmacist or policeman.

Such arguments and reinforcing statistics presented on March 13 to
the committee acting on LD 0997, which authorizes 10 more drug agents
in this area, resulted in a unanimous ought to pass resolution in
spite of present budget difficulties and the realization that only
emergency measures should be funded for a while.

Frighteningly, our children are at risk even in the public schools
that have always seemed safe and secure. When your child goes to
school, though, he or she frequently rubs elbows with, and sometimes
sits next to, the inexorable drug pusher. And the likelihood of such
encounters is increasingly alarming.

Think. If your loving child or grandchild is having a bad hair day,
or is unhappy that the world isn't perfect and he or she just happens
to be next to 'a friend' who just happens to have 'something to make
him or her feel better,' that loving child is in great danger. Just a
few trials of OxyContin, heroin or a host of similarly dreadful
concoctions are almost guaranteed, in just a short time, to make one
an addict for life. We who are paying attention have experienced
stories that would tear at your heart.

Do you think that your influence and guidance, or that of the
teachers, can protect your child? Wrong. The greatest influence that
your child experiences is peer pressure and that pressure is
increasingly to try drugs.

Do you think the police can protect your child from the drug peddler?
Wrong. There are only five funded drug agents serving all of
Penobscot, Hancock, Piscataquis and Somerset counties. Realize that
it takes five people to man one 24-hour tollbooth on the turnpike. It
takes five soldiers to man one 24-hour sentry post. Our five drug
agents, even with heroic efforts, are hopelessly pressured.

What can you do?

Realize that the situation is frightening.

Try your darndest to convince your child to never take anything
consumable from anyone other than family members.

Learn more: what to look for, what to do.

Copy this commentary and send it to your friends.

Call and write to your representative and senator, and demand that
they vote for LD 0997 when it comes up for vote, which could be soon

LD 0997 provides additional protection your child needs. We need more
agents, desperately. Demand them.

We cannot stop the drug trade, it's too lucrative, but an aroused
citizenry can do wonders. We angry parents and grandparents can help
make our area at least unproductive for the drug pusher. This request
is not for nameless, faceless strangers, it is to help protect your
kids and mine.