LOCAL MERCHANT SEES DRUGS WHERE OTHERS SEE GANGS

Last week, Edgar "Rock" Hagens turned 49. On his birthday, he went to prison.

It was a different kind of celebration from when Hagens was younger.
That's what landed him in prison four times for drug-related crimes.

Last week, he said, it felt good to go back and talk to the inmates.

"I'm here trying to let you all know there is a better way of living,
a better lifestyle," Hagens recalls telling the men behind bars.

A couple of days after Hagens' trip to prison, Springfield law
enforcement officials held a news conference in the alley behind his
store, Rock's Hip Hop Dress Out Fashions.

Violent crime is up, and police have learned of several individuals
claiming affiliation with local and international gangs.

Hagens doesn't know much about gangs. It surprised him to hear the
crime statistics that the chief of police shared at the news
conference. From his perspective, the problem isn't gangs. It's drugs
and people trying to live a lifestyle they can't afford.

If there were a gang problem in Springfield, Hagens said, there would
be a lot more news stories about gang violence and unrest at malls
and convenience stores and fast-food joints.

Of course, police are trying to suppress gang activity before it gets
to that point.

When Hagens was growing up in St. Louis, they didn't even really have
gangs, he said. Drugs are a different story.

He's not involved in that scene anymore, but he's involved in a group
called Victory Circle that helps ex-offenders. He's heard that drugs
are far more expensive in Springfield than in Kansas City or St. Louis.

A crack rock that costs $20 in St. Louis can cost $50 in Springfield.

Simple math says it's more expensive to be an addict here than
somewhere else. But, as Hagens knows, the cost of addiction is always high.

He first got high on heroin when he was 16. He spent more years of
his life than he'd like to think about addicted to drugs.

Now, he's glad he has the opportunity to be a mentor and talk to
people about overcoming the disease. There's a Narcotics Anonymous
flier on the counter in his store.

"I get more people coming in here talking about addiction than
customers," said Hagens, whose store has been open for more than four years.

For many of us, drug addiction is a foreign topic. I asked Hagens why
someone doesn't quit drugs after the first time they go to prison.

"The pain hasn't gotten great enough," he said. "For most of us, it's
a way of life. It's not that easy."

The pain wasn't great enough for Hagens until the fourth time he went
to prison.

"This time around I was on a journey of trying something different," he said.

In one of the orientation sessions in prison, he heard a man say, "We
have to change our way of thinking."

He'd always approached things negatively, he said.

"The world was out to get me," he said. "I was a poor black person
from the ghetto."

All the negativity had to come to an end. "I was sick and tired of
living that lifestyle," Hagens said.

Now, he's got a business in downtown Springfield. He sells hip-hop
clothing, but he's also pushing a message about attitude.

There's a red sticker on the wall behind the cash register with a
quote from television preacher Joyce Meyer: "Making God first is the
key to experiencing his best."

It makes you wonder what the community would be like if all addicts
got clean. What if they never started at all? The market for trouble
would be diminished.

Yet, like Hagens said, getting clean and staying that way isn't easy.

"The disease is like the devil; it's got a lot of power," he said.
"My job is for me not to let the disease take over my life again."