We No Longer See This 800 Pound Gorilla | Eastern North Carolina Now

    During this political silly season, politicians want to drag us into issues that most of us do not understand or are not related to the big picture. It makes them look important and intelligent. They want us to make emotional decisions, because most emotional decisions are bad decisions.

    We have an 800 pound gorilla problem that no one wants to talk about anymore. The issue has ruined the life of at least one person in every family. It has caused broken homes, leaves deep life time scars on children, lost fortunes, ruined careers, sent people to prison, caused murders, created a law enforcement industry and increased welfare rolls. Those who consort with this gorilla range from school children to judges. There is no part of our daily fabric that does not connect with this gorilla. Several major industries handling billions of dollars revolve around the gorilla including a nation wide sales network that has more of a presence than McDonalds, major banking and money laundering interests, and law enforcement groups employing millions of people. The dollar value of the commerce surrounding this gorilla easily competes with Wal-Mart.

    You may have guessed by now the 800 pound gorilla is the illegal use of narcotics. National and state governments have had drug czars, study programs and passed law after law. The only thing we have succeeded in doing is making narcotics illegal. We have not slowed down the use. Serious consideration has been given to life time sentences for narcotics violators and rehabilitating all those misguided souls. What we have been doing has not worked. Have we given up? Are we admitting defeat? The cost in human damage and financial expense is too much not to keep trying. There is no doubt that we have become apathetic about illegal narcotics.
Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson, July, 2004: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    We have to admit to two things: first, there are a lot of people who make money from illegal narcotics from the judge to the street dealer; second, the use of illegal narcotics brings a lot of comfort to the user.

    There is not a silver bullet solution to this problem. By the same token we need to clean up our present failed system of enforcement and get down to the nittty gritty. For the sake of argument I present the following. Seems to me the choke points on this are the street dealer and his supplier. We need to continue to put pressure on the user to finger the dealer and the supplier. Court penalties should be light on the user but very harsh on the dealer and his supplier. Peace officers, and all law enforcement should receive harsh sentences for any violations that involve narcotics whether personal or job related. Every person receiving government money should be tested at random twice each year and denied their job or funding if they check positive. This includes every government dollar from every government right down to the volunteer fire department. Laws can be enacted on the state level, they do not have to be federal. Simply put, I propose to severely punish responsible parties and deny benefits including government jobs to users. Some countries impose the death penalty for possession. So, what I propose is not that radical.

    I am concerned that nether state nor federal candidates see his as an issue. Nor does the public at large. Has the public given up, are they willing to allow this criminal scourge to destroy society? We are facing other issues equally capable of destroying our nation. Some of them are: illegal immigration, socialism and entitlements. Where do we start? No one is willing to take a position on these gorillas. What are the real issues during the coming state and federal elections?

    We may get a break during the debates. Perhaps the moderators will man up and ask the tough questions. It is sad to say that candidates are unwilling to publicly address these destructive issues. We need to examine ourselves as citizens for not being able to squarely face these issues. Could it be money has compromised the morals of the majority of our population? If so we are doomed.

    Observe all candidates closely for clues as to what they are willing to do about these issues. There is no doubt those who have used so called recreational drugs will do nothing. We have elected several presidents who have admitted to the use of illegal drugs. They have done nothing. Let us not make that mistake again.