Enough Is Enough

   The story is becoming a broken record. A young male in his twenties moves into the state generally seeking drug buying customers. That person enlists the help of a young woman either in her late teens or early twenties as a girlfriend but more of a person to provide a home base.

  From there the visitor feeds the addiction and has the young girl enlist several friends who will sell the product usually to support their own habit. Within a year all are severely addicted except for the dealer and generally someone will die while working for the dealer either via an overdose or violence.

   I think all residents of Orleans County would agree enough is enough. It’s time for a strong arm approach to this menace. Forget the idea of having an injection site. They have been proven to never work and just serve as a place for addicts to hang out and ply their trade. Our local state police, county sheriffs and city police forces are smart but under financed and under equipped to handle the wave of drug crime. They are further impeded by soft judges that grant bail the day after they are arrested. Let’s get serious here.

   Get more financing for local equipment and manpower for law enforcement. The towns of Orleans County should use more local sheriff and state police patrols of local law enforcement for businesses and law abiding residents 24-7. When a bust happens or an arrest, keep these idiots locked up and impose severe penalties to the maximum level of the written law to contain the problem. No injection sites and more counseling centers and education units. And most of all incarcerate the offenders. Some just do not respond to counseling. They will respond to jail time and while in jail can get cleaned up. There is a bill in the Vermont general assembly to jail a person for 10 years for selling 1000 doses of fentanyl. Now that sounds like a deterrent.

    I speak to many individuals in the law enforcement profession regularly. They know who most of these criminals are. They need our help to enforce the capture and corralling of these drug houses which, sadly enough, we have in every town. In some cases all they need is a solid lead and they can do the rest. Law abiding Local citizens need to stand up and report illegal activities when they see them and not look the other way.

   And while out of state and region dealers command the most attention there are plenty of local dealers as well in Orleans County and for the most part, neighbors and folks living near them know who they are. They are committing the robbery crimes to maintain their habit through stealing from local folks.

   Working together as residents with local law enforcement is the most direct and immediately effective way to curb this scourge. We need to help the local law help us. Now. Before it’s way too late. Thanks for your time.