WHAT A WASTE

Operation Trailer Hitch is a blockbuster story of success in the war
against drugs in North Iowa:

* $18 million in drugs seized.

* 21 people convicted and sentenced to a total of more than 250 years in
prison, with two potential life sentences.

* The seizure of $50,000 in personal property (much of it stolen) and the
forfeiture of $1076,750.

* Honors for the officers involved.

But there's another, less-visible chapter to this story. It is a woeful
tale of human tragedy, of waste, of what might have been.

Indeed, it's a story that should send shivers down the spine of drug users
(if they have one), a message that you're putting a lot on the line when
you choose to poison yourself and others with drugs.

The drug problem will never go away, of course, and violators must be
tracked down and prosecuted.

But we look at those names on the convicted list and lament the waste of
time and talent that could have done so much good had their efforts been
channeled toward more positive pursuits.

We wonder, too, what will happen to their loved ones now that these people
are no longer able to be with them. There may be divorces and more people
turning to welfare for support. We imagine that some of those left behind
will turn to drugs themselves because of that same lure of easy money and a
drug-induced high, the same lure that put their friends and relatives
behind bars.

No, the drug problem will never go away. It's as U.S. Attorney Charles
Larson says: "Methamphetamine has reached epidemic proportions. It is
puzzling why people insist on continuing to use it ... but they do."

It is, indeed, a human tragedy.