WHAT WAS THE DRUG AGENDA?

POLICE Commissioner Barry Matthews' delight in the number of responses to
Crimestoppers' Drug Dealer Day puts into question what the agenda was in
the first place. Are police targeting the Mr Bigs of the drug world or is
the war on drugs actually a war on drug users?

Many drug addicts maintain their dependence by purchasing quite small
amounts, making up even smaller portions to sell to friends and associates
to recover their purchase money, and using the surplus themselves to feed
their drug habit. They are user-dealers, not traffickers, and make no
profit from their transactions besides the drugs they personally use.

Other ways to maintain a drug habit are robbery, home invasion,
prostitution and fraud. Which endeavour would the general public prefer?

The majority of that same public probably wouldn't know a real drug deal
even if they happened upon one anyway, so the majority of the more than
1250 responses to Drug Dealer Day will be absolutely petty claims or
misinformation or nuisance-making exercises in silly neighbourhood vendettas.

Yes, the police might "bust" a few people who are in possession of drugs,
but the big dealers won't be caught. They conduct business well away from
prying eyes. Those caught will almost certainly be user-dealers, but police
are supposedly not targeting them. So why have the program in the first place?

More likely the whole project was nothing more than a public-relations
exercise from a service that desperately needs to reinforce some credibility.

ROSCO WOODS, Heathridge