DRUG 'STINGS' MOSTLY FOR SHOW

Illegal drug sales and drug-related crime is arguably the most serious
social and legal problem facing communities nationwide today. These
are also areas that police, despite massive efforts in cracking down
on violators, have the least success in battling.

The harsh reality is that successful drug interdiction will continue
to be limited as long as there are massive quantities of illegal drugs
available and a flourishing market eager to buy and consume them.

Considering this, it is only logical that the most effective approach
to cutting into this criminal endeavor involves blocking the steady
flow of drugs coming into the country and arresting and prosecuting
those who are major distributors and manufacturers of illicit drugs.

This is far easier said than done, as U.S. Customs and the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency can testify. Unfortunately, it's not unusual for
police agencies to take the easy way out, which involves devising a
procedure to arrest a large number of drug users and low-level
sellers. Once this is accomplished, then police can point to newspaper
stories and TV reports that seem to suggest that police are taking a
bite out of drug crime.

This appears to be the case in Macon. The police department set up a
"sting" operation in which it was selling small quantities of
court-approved marijuana and then arresting the buyers. This operation
has resulted in the arrests of 39 people from their Pio Nono drug house.

There are several serious problems with this, not the least of which
is that it really doesn't address the core problem of illegal drugs.
In the first place, the people who are being arrested are, for the
most part, drug users, the lowest link in the drug chain - not the
high-level criminals who bring dangerous drugs such as crack and
powder cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines as well as designer drugs and
illegal prescription narcotics - into our city.

When the police arrest the lowest level of drug violator - the user -
it's almost always nonproductive in that the user doesn't know enough
about illegal drug operations to identify higher-level criminals. He
or she can't point to pushers high up in the chain.

The truth is that these sting operations are mostly for show, and
police officers can and should be put to better use in protecting the
community.