DRUG WAR PERSISTS

Local Law Enforcement Agencies Make Progress, But They Need Public
Help

How serious is Clark County’s drug problem? Perhaps not as severe as
in big cities or in other states, particularly California. But ponder
the threat presented to our community by one Jesus Mendoza-Virrueta,
and then ask yourself how many more people just like him might still
be living in our neighborhoods.

Last October police searched Mendoza-Virrueta’s two mobile homes on
Northwest Whitney Road, just off Fruit Valley Road near the railroad
overpass. They found one shotgun, six rifles and a pistol, $10,000 in
cash, multiple fake identification documents, drug-cutting materials
and digital scales. Mendoza-Virrueta had sold methamphetamine to a
confidential informant working for the Vancouver Police Department.

Flash-forward to Monday and U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle’s
court room in Tacoma. Mendoza-Virrueta,32, was sentenced to eight
years, 10 months in prison for distributing meth. Clark County
residents might have breathed a figurative, collective sigh of relief,
but again: How many more just like him remain? This man was no
small-time operator, and a sentencing memo defined the danger in
horrifying terms. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Dion wrote that
Mendoza-Virrueta, a Mexican national, was a "heavily armed
methamphetamine dealer and a tremendous danger to the community.
Mendoza-Virrueta’s small arsenal of weapons speaks volumes about his
willingness to use violence to defend his drugs and drug profits."
Furthermore, Mendoza-Virrueta had been convicted in 2000 of drug
trafficking in Oregon, and later was convicted in Arizona for
illegally re-entering the United States.

The story of just this one man should foster both fear and resolve
among all of us. Resolve carries two responsibilities. First, we
should support local law enforcement agencies, particularly special
programs such as the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force. Second, we should
fulfill our role as members of a vast, albeit non-commissioned, force
of citizen "cops" whose open eyes and eagerness to report suspicious
activity carry great clout in the war on drugs.

That war is changing. It’s evolving as new laws kick in, new drugs
arrive on the market, desperate demands drive drug prices up and
addicts accelerate their quest for money by expanding the theft of
metal and identities. As John Branton reported in Saturday’s
Columbian, meth is now selling locally for the equivalent of about
$21,000 a pound. "Prices are up and purity is down, which indicates
that there’s more demand than supply," said Cmdr. Rusty Warren of the
task force. And it’s not just meth. "It sure seems that patrol
(officers) are seeing a lot more heroin, and there are a lot of heroin
dealers now," he added.

The web of suffering has ensnared more than just addicts and crime
victims. In California, "smurfing" is a strategy whereby homeless
people are driven around by meth cooks to repeatedly buy cold
medications used in the deadly brew. To a smaller extent, it’s
happening here, too.

The good news is that no meth labs have been found in Clark County
this year. That’s more than offset by reality: Drug users are going to
greater extremes to pay for their habits, and drug dealers have
modernized their international and local operations to keep that
market as robust as it is wicked.

The call for advanced law enforcement strategies and intensified
vigilance by the public has never been more clear. Jesus
Mendoza-Virrueta was not the last demonic predator to be removed from
Clark County.