TAKING DRUG WAR TO GRASSROOTS LEVEL

If you believe Southwest Virginia's drug problem couldn't affect your
life, you need to think again.

If you know that the problem is serious but don't believe you could
play a role in easing the circumstances, you also need to reconsider
your position.

Tazewell County Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Lee put it bluntly
during a forum in Bland County last week. He said, "It can affect any
family, and if you don't think it could happen to your children, then
you're just blind."

Lee's message should certainly be a wake-up call to area residents,
especially parents. Unfortunately, not many people heard it firsthand.
Despite a much better attended forum earlier in the year that proved
to be eye opening about the apparently widespread drug problem, only a
dozen individuals turned out for this educational session.

While we all have busy lives and attending an informational meeting
about a scary subject isn't high on anyone's list of recreational
activities, a community approach to the drug problem will be needed if
the threat is to be eased and quality of life improved.

Since OxyContin, a potent prescription narcotic painkiller often
prescribed for cancer patients and others suffering intense pain, hit
this area's streets in the late '90s, crime of all kinds has been
escalating in this region. OxyContin, also known as hillbilly heroin,
is highly addictive and people often resort to crime - break-ins,
robberies, identity theft and more -- to get the money necessary to
fund their habit.

From 1998 until 2001, Lee noted that Tazewell County's crime rate
practically doubled, largely due to OxyContin abuse.

In 2000, that community's residents decided to take action and formed
a taskforce made up of concerned citizens ranging from police officers
to church leaders.

According to Lee, the taskforce members have targeted the drug problem
on multiple fronts. They've taken the traditional path of working with
students, but have also branched out by increasing awareness among the
general public and even physicians. Local doctors were provided a list
of all the people convicted of drug crimes.

The grassroots' taskforce in combination with intense law enforcement
work and a crackdown by judges has made a difference.

Tazewell County's crime rate has dropped 12 percent.

That's undeniably a significant achievement.

Now other Southwest Virginia communities must decide if they want to
follow Tazewell County's example by confronting the drug problem as a
community. That's a path that requires commitment, but the results
certainly seem preferable to accepting the status quo.