WAR ON DRUGS IN SCHOOLS WILL BE A CONSTANT BATTLE

Now that all the cases are over, let us hope that we don't put
"Operation Safe Schools" behind us. Less than three months after the
arrests of 59 people in an undercover drug investigation in Alamance
County's high schools, the last case has been resolved. Friday, school
and law officials signed off on the cases in a press conference. They
said about what you'd expect they would say - they're glad they did
it. So are we. Schools Superintendent Jim Merrill still deserves
credit - and our thanks - for deciding to do something radical about
the drug problems in his schools. So he asked for the undercover
investigation. Law enforcement officials, all the way up to the state
level, jumped in to help. Thanks go to them as well. And District
Attorney Rob Johnson deserves our gratitude for making the cases such
a priority in the courts system. For all the cases to be resolved in
little more than two and half months is most impressive. It would have
been a mistake to allow these cases to drag out into the summer.
Giving the cases top priority kept them in the public eye - an
important point, we think, if the charges are meant to scare kids into
staying on the right side of the law.

A major casualty of this drug war was basketball star JamesOn Curry, who was
one of the defendants. His conviction cost him his basketball scholarship to
UNC-Chapel Hill. Curry's star status attracted a disproportionate share of
the attention. Because of him, the drug sweep made national news. Singling
out Curry was sad, and it was wrong. But it's the way of the world. At least
in court, he was treated no differently than any other defendant.

Abother sad consequence of the drug sweep was that some
small fish got caught in the net. Attractive young women, posing as
students, enticed some young men into becoming first-time drug
dealers. Surely that was never the goal of the undercover operation.
It's also unfortunate that the only defendant to be convicted in a
trial by jury is going to prison. He is the only first-time offender
to go to jail. In effect, he was penalized for asking for a trial.
That's not the way the system is supposed to work, and it's wrong. But
the shortcomings of the operation do not detract from its necessity.
It had to be done, and other school systems can learn from us. Jim
Merrill had the guts to do what other superintendents did not. So what
happens now?

We hope that parents won't take for granted that their kids are
walking the straight and narrow. For many parents in Alamance County,
"Operation Safe Schools" was the first time they learned their
children were involved with drugs. Perhaps parents will accept the
fact that the only effective drug awareness programs are at home, not
at school. For now, students in our high schools are going to be more
suspicious of new students who are interested in drugs. And maybe some
young men interested in impressing attractive young women will look
for more appropriate ways than arranging to become middle-men on drug
deals. But we all know the drug problem hasn't gone away - it's just
taking some time off. Drugs will soon be back in our schools, if they
aren't already. We've got to keep fighting the noble fight, and that
includes using such tactics as "Operation Safe Schools." It's a nasty
job. But it must be done.