CYCLE OF CRIME

I've read statistics indicating as much as 90 percent of all crime is
rooted in drugs. Placing the obvious crimes of murder and robbery
aside, that suggests nine of every 10 shopliftings, worthless or
forged checks, burglaries and thefts are all tied to drugs.

The victims of the crimes certainly feel the impact - the shop owners
who took the bad check or who lost the merchandise because of
shoplifting or the homeowner who arrives home to find his garage
burgled and his lawn mower missing.

It is the addict who commits these crimes, the addict who needs a fix
and must get it at whatever cost. The need for a rock of this or a
gram of that perpetuates the cycle of crime in our communities - the
consequences of which are astounding.

Think of the ramifications on you and your community. When you shop
you pay more, when you insure your home or car you pay more, when you
purchase alarms for your home or anti-theft devices for your car,
you've paid more.

When you lock yourself in your home - a prisoner - you've paid with
your freedom.

When the court dockets are full and jail walls are bulging, you pay in
taxes to feed, clothe, house, medicate and rehabilitate.

When your child becomes a slave to addiction you pay with worry. If
you bury that child you've paid the ultimate price.

Consider this: While the addict becomes a parasite on society, his
dealer lives large.

While the addict spends all he has and steals from you to feed his
addiction, his dealer watches your television.

While you're making insurance claims, a drug dealer is enjoying your
son's Sony Play Station. While you're watching the police dust for
fingerprints, the dealer buys a plush SUV. While you file your taxes,
the dealer gambles in Biloxi.

While your family eats Hamburger Helper, the dealer cuts into a
steak.

While you're working and paying taxes to keep the addict imprisoned or
in rehab, the dealer turns in for a good 10 or 12 hours sleep.

While that happens, a handful of dope cops who've been on overtime for
hours are talking to a judge, barefoot and in pajamas; they are
strapping on vests, preparing to knock down the dealer's door with the
immediate objective of taking the dealer's dope, the money he's made
and any assets possible under the law - putting a temporary end to the
crimes he causes and the crimes he commits, while painstakingly
attempting not to hurt a hair on his head.

While you help your child with her spelling words in the warmth of
your home, the dope cop is out there in the cold, overworked,
ill-equipped, out-gunned and out-manned, and after a successful
investigation (meaning no one got hurt), the dope cop goes home to a
quiet house, quiet because it is very late.

His kids are long in bed, his supper is long cold - as is his spouse,
and 8 a.m. will come all to soon. It will all begin again.

A footnote to consider is this: The dealer, like everyone accused of a
crime, is entitled to bail, which he will make, and a lawyer, which he
will retain =C9 with drug money.

R.L. GARTMAN

Gadsden