WELCOME ALLIES IN THE DRUG FIGHT

The Marines have enlisted in the battle against dangerous drugs in
Wilmington's nightclub scene.

Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune worked
with city-county drug officers for a year and a half to find out what was
going on and start making arrests. Eighty-four Marines and sailors and 91
civilians were charged with drug offenses.

Eighty-two of the military defendants already have been convicted in
military courts. Most of the civilians still await trial.

The main drug involved was Ecstasy. For a time, it was more popular in
Wilmington than cocaine, according to Col. Sid Causey of the city-county
vice and narcotics unit.

Users apparently believed it was relatively harmless. But they're wrong,
Col. Causey says.

Users can't know what's in those tablets; after all, they're made and
distributed by criminals. And if one tablet makes users feel good, they
might figure two will make them feel even better.

Sometimes they ended up feeling much worse. Overdoses started showing up at
the hospital. In other places, users have died.

Of course, people who hang around in places where drugs are sold might
decide to try others that also are on sale. Here, they include GHB, the
"date rape" drug.

Officers believe the undercover operation and arrests - as well as the bad
news about its potential effects - have lessened the prevalence of Ecstasy
in Wilmington.

But we'll never get rid of drugs. Unless we legalize and regulate them,
which seems unlikely any time soon, they will remain a lucrative business
and a temptation.

As long as Wilmington keeps its thriving night scene, which for the most
part is a healthy and welcome development, drugs will be a part of it.

Camp Lejeune wants to make sure Marines don't fall into that trap. Local
drug officers want to keep civilians out of it. Working together, their
chances of success should rise.