Cutting supply line addresses only one part of the problem

The seizure of cocaine estimated to have a "conservative" street value of $2.4 million and the arrest of seven area men on various drug and weapons charges in two raids this past week will go a long way in shutting down the flow of cocaine into this region. But as important as it is to go after the drug suppliers, so is it essential that the suburban buyers who create the demand for drugs also be apprehended. In narco-economics, both the supply side and the demand side must be addressed.
Nonetheless, the importance of the Drug Enforcement Administration working with the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force and Drug Task Force in cutting a supply line between New York and the Mahoning Valley cannot be underestimated. The cooperation among local law enforcement agencies, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the FBI and the DEA proves what can be accomplished when turf battles are minimized.
The officers and agents who have put their lives on the line to go after the highly dangerous drug criminals deserve the thanks of every man, women and child in the Valley.
Drug trafficking has been the scourge of many of Youngstown's neighborhoods, causing residents to hide in their homes, fearing the gangs that have operated openly on the streets. But with 14 members of the Ayers Street Playas indicted last March on state drug charges and the raids on the group that terrorized the area around Glenaven and Oak Hill, more of Youngstown has cause to finally breathe easier.
Suburban crackdown
The same cannot be said for the suburbs. After all, when Joe Shoaf, the former superintendent of Girard Schools, is indicted on cocaine trafficking -- with the possible involvement of children in the school district -- and when the license plate numbers of customers written down by police in the recent Youngstown raids show that the buyers had come from Boardman, Canfield and Poland, it's clear that these communities deserve no less scrutiny than do those in Youngstown.
We understand why law enforcement must go after the big fish, but as in nature, the little fish provide the food for the sharks. When their food chain is disrupted, the sharks have to move elsewhere.
Thus, the public arrests of suburban drug users could change the image of drug use from that of glamorous, relatively low-risk excitement to that of embarrassing, high-risk misery. That's the image that young people especially need to see. They need to hear about the people in their own neighborhoods who are suffering the manifold consequences of their illicit drug use.