DRUG PROBLEM WILL NOT GO AWAY

Serving on a Clark County grand jury, indeed, any grand jury, can be an
eye-opening experience. Indeed, one need look no further than this month's
final report by the grand jury impaneled here in June to see just how eye
opening.

"This unique opportunity," the grand jury declared, "provided each of us
with a striking view of our community and especially its criminal justice
system!" Moreover, it said, "We leave our term as grand jurors with a much
different point of view. First-hand accounts of the wide range of criminal
activity afoot in both the city and county were both shocking and sad," the
report declared.

"First and foremost," grand jurors said, "we are appalled at the toll drug
trafficking and abuse is taking on our community. Looking back at all the
cases we reviewed, it would be difficult to find more than one or two cases
that did not have drugs as the root cause," grand jurors said. "This drug
plague," they added, "causes murders, assaults, burglaries, failures to
support and protect children and thefts." Moreover, it said, while many
have a tendency to dismiss drug crimes as "victimless" crimes, that's "not
so from our first-hand perspective."

Grand juries are appointed in January and June from a pool of jurors
summoned for Clark Circuit Court duty and serve for six months. Each grand
jury has 15 members and at least 12 members must be present for each
session as they hear testimony from law enforcement officers and others and
weigh evidence to determine if there is enough to warrant an indictment and
a subsequent trial. Serving on a grand jury can indeed be an eye-opening
experience with regard to the seamier side of life in Winchester and Clark
County.

Recent years have seen virtually every grand jury's final report focus
primarily on one problem - drugs. "Much of the crime in our community is
drug related," said one. Another said the community's security and economic
well-being were "at risk" because of drugs. One grand jury labeled drugs a
"plague" that costs society dearly and another said drugs and alcohol exact
an "awesome price" on the community.

Some perhaps might be tempted to dismiss so many similarly worded reports
as they would a broken record that plays the same refrain over and over.
They shouldn't, because Clark Countians need a clear understanding of just
how bad the problem is. But we need more than an awareness of the problem.
We need to be motivated enough to confront it head on!

A "new and disturbing trend" in drug procurement, the latest grand jury
report declared, is the ordering of drugs from out of state via the
Internet. While some drug orders may indeed be legitimate, it is an area
ripe for abuse and the grand jury was correct to call for action at the
state and national levels to put an end to "mail order" drug trafficking.

While it found much about which to be concerned, the grand jury also had
praise for local judicial and law enforcement officials and their staffs
for the outstanding work they do. Such acknowledgement not only was
appropriate, but also well deserved.

Soon another grand jury will be impaneled and the process of hearing
testimony and weighing evidence will begin anew. If it's like many earlier
grand juries, we expect it too will be "appalled" at what it discovers
about the problem of drug abuse. We would challenge it to go a step further
by suggesting measures the community can take to begin getting a handle on
a problem that seems to grow steadily worse.