DRUG WOES COME TO ROOST

All about are examples of how drug use makes people stupid. Most recently:

James Russell of Harrisburg dropped by the office of District Justice
Robert V. Manlove to pay off an overdue parking ticket. While he was
fishing around for the $74.80 to pay the fine, he dropped a small bag of
marijuana on the floor, police said. His girl friend Dara J. Martin picked
it up and stuffed it in a pocket. A cop saw the fumble, asked to see the
stash. A subsequent search turned up more pot and 46 packets of crack
cocaine. The two were taken to jail and their van confiscated.

Joshua Adam Carlisle of Blain was driving down Interstate 81 Thursday
without a muffler on his car, a condition almost sure to attract attention.
And that is what it did; a state police trooper pulled Carlisle over,
smelled what he suspected was Cannabis sativa and arrested Carlisle on
charges of simple possession of marijuana, possession of a prohibited
offensive weapon and several motor vehicle violations. What's wrong with
these people?

But we might just as easily have asked the same question regarding the
Pennsylvania D.A.R.E. Officers Association, which is accused of misspending
state funds and has been ordered to return $204,468 to the Pennsylvania
Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The group is part of the nationwide
Drug Abuse Resistance Education organization that seeks to place police
officers in schools for anti-drug efforts. Perhaps you have seen their logo
on some Pennsylvania license plates.

State funding of Pennsylvania D.A.R.E. Officers Association has been
suspended as auditors pore over expense vouchers and allegations of
mismanagement, many associated with the group's relationship with a former
PCCD official who was forced to resign after his fourth drunken-driving
arrest, and a state grand jury investigation into alleged misappropriation
of funds.

It's unfortunate that the damage done to official drug education and
suppression from the D.A.R.E. scandal probably will neutralize at least
some of the progress that police, educators, the health care community and
peers will have in the war on drugs. Why take these matters seriously, kids
will ask, when the people in charge of this large anti-drug effort are
living it up and writing fat checks on the state's dime to entities with
names like the Oink & Cluck Roasting Service?

It's true that the campaign against drugs involves a lot of three steps
forward and two steps back. It's a tough, expensive effort.

But it would certainly help matters a lot if the supposed good guys were
able to demonstrate a little more common sense than the bad ones.