MORE BATTLES COMING IN WAR ON DRUGS

It has not been a good year for the war on drugs in the region.

As 2006 drew to a close, Amesbury police arrested a local man, Joseph
Funchion, 20, for carrying a stolen, loaded pistol and $45,000 worth
of crystal meth.

Some might argue that this, along with another major bust in Salisbury
and Seabrook, N.H., and a huge marijuana seizure in New Hampshire
about a month earlier, is evidence that law enforcement is winning the
war. And it is true that such cases do indeed show that law
enforcement is doing its job to the best of its ability.

But the sad reality is that those arrests and others throughout the
year show the extent of the penetration of the drug trade in local
communities. It is not just the urban centers that have a drug
problem. It is everywhere. Amesbury police said they doubted Funchion
had made the meth himself, but the fact that he had such a quantity
meant the upper-level dealers are organized.

These are not isolated cases. There were huge marijuana shipments
confiscated in Newton, N.H., and in Newburyport. Heroin-related crimes
are also on the rise.

The percentage of area high school seniors who admit to using illegal
drugs has risen from 44 percent to 54 percent in the past decade.
Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins said in the fall that there were
1,230 drug users in the county prison population - 140 more than two
years ago.

In December, police raided 12 homes - five in Derry, Londonderry and
Chester, N.H. - and seized marijuana plants worth $30 million. Police
say it was the biggest marijuana bust in state history. Investigators
say those arrested had purchased the homes - worth between $400,000
and $450,000 each - and converted their basements into greenhouses for
growing the plants.

Police say the trend of using ordinary suburban homes for large-scale
marijuana growing began in Canada and is moving southward.

And in October, a 20-year-old Maine man was charged with robbing
multiple banks, from Haverhill to Newburyport to Plaistow, N.H., all
to feed a heroin addiction.

All of this should remind parents, teachers, coaches and all who work
with young people that the police can't do it all. Those who live in
the suburbs must recognize that drugs are here and are available. If
the war on drugs is to be won, adults in significant relationships
with local youth must resolve to help stop a problem many kids view as
harmless recreation before it becomes a criminal problem or worse.