WILMINGTON IS CROSSROAD OF DRUG TRADE

Location, location, location -- the selling point that economic
development officials use to sell Delaware to prospective businesses
- -- is also the opportunity being seized by the drug trade.

Dealers and buyers are flocking to Wilmington's central East Coast
location, easily accessible by Interstates 95, 495 and 295, and
through the busy Amtrak station and heavily used Port of Wilmington,
city officials say.

Mayor James Baker has made illegal drugs the number-one target of his
new administration.

While the effects of drug trafficking might be felt most severely in
the city, the problem cannot be separated from the rest of New Castle
County, Delaware, our country and the world. The interrelationship is
vividly portrayed in a current film, "Traffic."

The film vividly demonstrates what Baker said in his inaugural
address three weeks ago: "The war on drugs has been the greatest
defeat in the history of civilization for our country and our
community. The casualty list is unending, but consists mostly of our
children and our poor."

Baker says his strong remarks were prompted by the pervasive
complaints he heard during his election campaign and earlier service
as city council president. Residents, many of them elderly or poor,
feel they are imprisoned in their own homes because of often violent
activity on the street.

Dirty Profits

Baker cited the open sale of drugs on streets and dealers who move
from one neighborhood to another when confronted by police. Children
see big money being made from the illicit trade, Baker said, and are
tempted to spurn honest work. Illnesses such as HIV and AIDS are
directly traceable to drug use. Millions of dollars are being spent
to imprison those who do get arrested.

Baker said a variety of ethnic groups take advantage of the profits,
with each new entrepreneur trying to muscle out others, leading to
shootings.

Baker and Police Chief Mike Szczerba say the latest to take advantage
of Wilmington streets are dealers from Baltimore. Baker says their
Maryland-licensed cars are seen parked in drug neighborhoods. No
longer are just Philadelphia, Chester and New York considered the
sources for drugs and potential purchasers.

Szczerba says that crack cocaine has been the major problem for 15
years but a major heroin bust was made recently.

Baker knows the city cannot go it alone. He already has called on
county, state and federal authorities to assist. He will use
Wilmington's licensing and inspection department to drive dealers and
users from vacant and rehabilitated houses. He says the Wilmington
Housing Authority will have to do more to stop the drug trade in its
jurisdiction.

Dealers say they're only meeting demand, often from middle- and
upper-class suburbs. This aspect is vividly shown in "Traffic," where
the fictional daughter of the national drug czar-designate gets
hooked.

Baker sees the great need for more treatment centers for addicts who
haven't wound up in prison or recently been released.

He also should lobby state Sen. Tom Sharp and his like-minded
colleagues, who believe mandatory minimum prison sentences help the
state. If Sharp doesn't listen, it's long past time to go around him.

Baker is still formulating his plans. From the many national
failures, he knows how hard his battle will be to curb both drug
trafficking and usage. But he also knows it is a battle he must wage.