BUSTS: THE BIGGER, THE BETTER

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary made tidy work last week of two
drug busts here in town. Two homes yielded a catch of illegal drugs
(hashish, cocaine, marijuana), prohibited weapons and a quantity of
cash. What's nice about it is this is a couple of supplies that will
not make it to the streets or the schoolyards of Labrador West.

A local constabulary officer told me once (in a general conversation
about drugs) that it's practically impossible to rid any community of
illegal drugs and I am sure he was right in saying that.

But, we keep looking for cures for cancer, HIV, diabetes and other
killing agents even though at times, it all seems close to impossible
to counteract. It's good to see that police keep working to counteract
the sale of illegal drugs in our communities--even if cleaning it up
totally is a too-far-to-reach goal.

When a young person can say it's no problem getting cocaine and crack
cocaine in a schoolyard, then something needs to be done for sure to
curb it.

Marijuana has been used and sold for years and though it still is
illegal, cocaine and crack cocaine puts a whole new spin on the use
and sales of illegal drugs in our society.

There is a certain percentage of people who will always experiment
with whatever drug becomes available and by the same token there is
always a greater percentage who auspiciously opt to say 'no'.

In any high-industry town, drug use and trafficking tends to be on a
higher scale and Labrador West is right up there with the best
economic markets for a pusher to hit. The citizens of Labrador West
would be well-justified in putting the scum of their town on alert
when it comes to putting such poisons on the street.

Plenty of people are perturbed over the garbage that is uncovered each
spring but the filthiest garbage is not hidden in winter's snow but
behind business suits and steering wheels of expensive vehicles paid
for in drug sales.

It's not the acne-faced kids with $300 worth of weed in his pants
pocket selling in the school yard, it's the scumbag suppliers who puts
up the big bucks to yield huge profits from the 10 or 12 pawns who
carry out the illicit trade for them.

All you need, to reap the benefits of drug sales, is a dormant
conscience that doesn't allow the guilt of screwing up a young
person's life to interfere with the big financial gains.

The principal of a school in Blaketown, Trinity Bay recently made a
few headlines when he called the RCMP to his school to report a drug
incident.

The 18-year-old student was charged with trafficking over a single
marijuana joint.

Some called the charge "heavy handed" and perhaps it was a bit heavy--
as indications are that many students pass joints to each other
regularly and most likely that is the case. But maybe there's a
message in it all about the repercussions of illegal drugs in a schoolyard.

But, most people would prefer to see the heavy weights going down--
the ones dealing with pounds and not the ones nickel and diming. It's
the big-ticket hawkers who make sure shipments of crack cocaine
trickle down to the school yards and wherever else supply and demand
can be capitalized on.

It's the same mindset as 'even though we can never keep a town
trash-free, we keep picking it up'. We may never shutdown all the
businesses of the low-life drug dealers but cracking down on it sends
a solid message, 'don't sleep too sounding for you never know who's
going to knock on your door because someone decided to rat you out'.
Even the biggest can fall and those types have a bigger height to fall
from. Here's to bigger drug busts in the future!