MARIJUANA IS A PROBLEM IN OUR COMMUNITY

Lucrative, Violent Business Wrecking Our Quality of Life

Our open world - the one exposed to sunlight and washed by the rain
and the place where we work and pay taxes and care for our children -
co-exists with another well-populated place we generally ignore until
it pokes through whatever security, real or unreal, we wrap ourselves
in.

Sometimes a bullet fired on a street pierces its way through our
protective blanket, or a call from the emergency room after midnight
from a friend or child brings the other world home. This time, it was
a couple of kids at an elementary school.

Last week, two boys, one only 10 and the other only 7 years old, were
found with small amounts of marijuana. It is upsetting, perhaps
because the ages where we hoped innocence was overabundant, clearly
has been infected with another world known to feed off poverty,
violence and a lack of hope.

Most of the time, those of us in the open world ignore it.

But, for instance, we can't ignore Montez Jones, 29, 1508 W. 11th St.
As of Friday he still was wanted on preliminary charges of resisting
law enforcement, theft of a vehicle and possession of cocaine. Police
reported Jones fled in a stolen vehicle at 10th Street and Western
Avenue.

Jones is wanted on several arrest warrants in connection with the
discovery of more than 200 grams of cocaine, half a pound of
marijuana, three Glock handguns, three shotguns and a bulletproof vest
at his home.

Part of the marijuana seized could have eventually wound up in the
pocket of a 7-year-old at Allen elementary or Lincoln elementary, or
even Lakeview schools or schools in Matthews, Upland, Sweetser or Fairmount.

The bullets could have wound up inside a man, woman, child, you or
me.

It is scary to think that the world two little kids came in touch
with, and apparently carried to school with them, might be so big as
to eclipse the one most of us operate in.

Looking through back issues of the Chronicle-Tribune during the first
couple of weeks of October, one finds nearly daily arrests on
marijuana charges

October the arrests included but aren't limited to:

*15-year-old boy arrested at Marion High School, possession of
marijuana. He was taken to the Community Justice Center.

*20-year-old man arrested on warrant, failure to appear, possession of
marijuana.

*24-year-old man arrested, dealing marijuana, resisting law
enforcement.

*28-year-old man arrested, possession of marijuana, resisting law
enforcement.

*36-year-old man, arrested, possession of marijuana.

*19-year-old woman, arrested, possession of marijuana.

*29-year-old man arrested, possession of marijuana and a controlled
substance.

*19-year-old man, arrested, possession of marijuana.

*18-year-old man, arrested, possession of marijuana.

*29-year-old man, arrested, possession of marijuana and a controlled
substance.

*19-year-old woman, arrested, possession of marijuana, illegal
possession of alcohol, possession of paraphernalia.

*19-year-old man, arrested, possession of marijuana, illegal
possession of alcohol, possession of paraphernalia.

*18-year-old man arrested, possession of paraphernalia, possession of
marijuana, illegal possession of alcohol and false reporting.

*38-year-old man, arrested, possession of paraphernalia, resisting law
enforcement, possession of marijuana and false reporting.

*34-year-old woman arrested, possession of marijuana.

*15-year-old girl arrested, possession of paraphernalia, possession of
marijuana and illegal possession of alcohol. She was taken to the
Community Justice Center.

Earlier this month, Marion police arrested two city residents on drug
charges after marijuana was discovered in their home in the presence
of a 6-year-old child - a child that should be in elementary school,
perhaps first grade.

Many baby boomers have drug use in their past and they feel somewhat
hypocritical about fighting what they see as recreational drug use by
others.

Forget that. A loopy guy in a college dorm is not what the drug trade
is about.

It is a violent, lucrative business. You just hear about the drug
deals that go bad. The ones that go well outnumber them and they are
wrecking the quality of life of this community.

As prosperity continues to flow back into Grant County, we must direct
more resources to stop the trade - which never seems to enter a
recession. That means everyday citizens being aware of and working
against that other world.