SYMBOLS WON'T DEFEAT DRUGS; TRY COURAGE

I find it interesting how many folks from out of town write to the Mountain
Xpress about the need to legalize drugs in Asheville/Buncombe. The letter
from Florida was one of the most recent ["Move Drug Laws into 21st
Century," May 18]. I realize that Law Enforcement Against Prohibition has
an organized national effort to write letters to editors. However, I
believe the political process is skewed when organized groups from across
the country get a loud voice in local politics.

I am not passing judgment on the Mountain Xpress, which only prints the
letters it receives. I just wish to offer another side on the drug issue.

Drugs are a plague to our neighbors in low-income housing. Ask the folks in
Pisgah View and Deaverview about having to wait in the drive-throughs when
they try to get in or out of their neighborhoods. Their children are
recruited as lookouts. What about the parties and assaults that
characterize crack houses? What about the break-ins and larcenies that feed
the habits of crackheads?

As somebody who lives here, I have a stake in whether we put a lid on our
local criminal-drug culture or let it spread with impunity until we become
a little Los Angeles, where kids get shot on their way to school for
wearing "gang colors."

If we legalize drugs, perhaps contraband markups will fall, putting dealers
out of business. Do we then expect that our savvy, tough-guy dealers, who
were too cool to finish school, will all go bag groceries at Ingles like
good little boys?

Having now offered my criticism, I would agree with your out-of-state
contributors that the so-called "war on drugs" is a joke. Symbolic
gestures, slogans, posters, awareness training and other
non-confrontational approaches are not going to make the world a safer
place. What seems to work in other municipalities is courageous, inventive
intervention by local leadership combined with equally courageous,
zero-tolerance attitudes from victimized neighborhoods.

- -- Michael Harrison Barnardsville

[Editor's note: To clarify, it is the policy of the Xpress to give
publication priority to (1) letters written by local/regional residents;
and, (2) letters written about local issues or about Xpress articles and
opinion pieces.]