Ref: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n000/a416.html

WE MUST EXAMINE OURSELVES AFTER BUST OF COCAINE RING

The phone rang. The national editor of a newspaper asked me, "So are they
going to rename the town Pensa-cocaine? I see we're not the only place
getting snowed under."

Call it what you will. The righteous wing of the community: shameful, an
indication of society's decadence, proof the cultural war is being won by
the wrong side; the liberal latitudes and attitudes wing of the community:
boomer-generation recreational drug use, poor personal choices, predictable
dysfunctional living manifested by out- of-control controlling behavior.

Either way, using the street name of snow for cocaine, the Great Social
Register Snowstorm Bust of 2003 deserves a serious look at ourselves for a
number of reasons.

First, it should tell us our law enforcement officials are honest. When you
investigate people living way up the local food chain, someone usually
fixes the problem. This time, they got their business fixed instead.

Second, to keep that confidence in local law enforcement, Curtis Golden,
the local state attorney, will have to ask Gov. Bush to appoint a special
prosecutor from way far away from here, to go along with a way far away
judge from another circuit. The same goes for the federal cases.

Sorry, but there is too much social influence at the defendants' table to
make anyone believe anything less than prosecution to the fullest extent of
the law presided over by a judge from 400 or 500 miles from here will
produce a fair trial. Eyebrows rose immediately when a federal judge sent
one arrestee to a rehab program for 30 days instead of jail.

The most common comment I've heard is, "They'll all get off." If they do,
then let them be able to hold their heads up as innocent people, rather
than allow a lingering cloud of influence-peddling doubt to hang over their
lives.

Third, as I found out when I chaired the Pensacola City Council Citizens
Task Force on Adult Entertainment Issues, there is a widespread acceptance
- - and a practicing lifestyle - of libertine values by a significant segment
of community leaders. To put it in a phrase that sums this concept up: They
vote dry and drink wet. The so- called most conservative congressional
district in America is schizophrenic.

Next, it tells me things really aren't as good economically as the chamber
of commerce touts - the lack of money while trying to look rich often
produces drug- associated escapist behavior.

From my personal experience of being a 13-year recovered alcoholic, people
who are so-called recreational users are people in psychological pain. They
are self-medicating to anesthetize the emotional torture brought on by
being unable to reconcile their image against their reality.

Besides producing gossip, this event is already producing another national
black eye for our community. Abortion doctor murders, beach drownings, law
enforcement officers behaving badly - and now more than three dozen
accusations of widespread cocaine use by some of the best and the brightest
at the top of the ladder.

Let's keep this in perspective. We are talking about a minuscule sliver of
society. As I read the list of arrestees, I see one name after another
followed by some community achievement or leadership position. That's what
makes this a Big Story compared to your typical drug-sweep story.

For the sake of all of us, something good can come from these arrests: What
users rationalize as being social is really suicidal. Those with licenses
to practice their profession, or the need for no criminal record, or just
the respect of others at their level in the community, kill themselves with
this type of bust.

A couple of years ago, a jury convicted another prominent person for
killing someone while driving drunk. At least this time there was no one's
body smashing into a windshield, lying lifeless out in the street.

But in both cases, a common thread makes these incidents common cloth. It
is the need to tell people that it is better to be open about your pain
than it is to inflict pain on those who love you and perhaps on those you
don't even know. If those involved in both incidents were able to do that,
there would be no tragedy to report.

My personal experience taught me the toughest part of getting sober is
admitting to yourself you aren't. I remember my first AA meeting: I told
one female longtime member, "The toughest part is admitting I'm an alcoholic."

She laughed. "Why? Your friends already know it."

When I mentioned the name of one person on the arrest list, a friend
reacted, "No surprise there." She isn't a friend of the arrestee, but she
knows the arrestee from the arrestee's personal behavior out in public.

Face it: This is a small town. As AA members say, "If your drinking is
causing problems, you're a problem drinker." That is the ultimate reason
why this incident requires we take a courageous look at ourselves - before
another promising person performs an act of social self-immolation.

Kenneth E. Lamb is a writer and a resident of Pensacola. He owns a computer
manufacturing firm and also works as a contract journalist, theological
essayist and radio news-interview program host.