First Posted: 2/9/2015
It seems drug addicts are more readily arrested and convicted than the drug dealers that support their habit.
Are police afraid of personal retaliation, knowing that the dealers have “people” that could be a future threat? Maybe there is more to the notion that dealers get a free pass.
Arresting easy to catch addicts is a form of job security and making money? Ohio receives “fees” for reinstatement by addicts for their driver’s license? Rather than a “profit” for arresting an addict, a one time arrest of a dealer would be an expense for the local government and state government to be convicted and housed. Most addicts are not confined to jail or prison for any long period of time, which is a minimum cost for the government. And most addicts will plea, which is less government expense in court. Local lawyers profit off the arrests of addicts. Addiction clinics can profit off arrests of addicts. But again, no profit — only expenses — when convicting a drug dealer.
When will law enforcement protect and serve, by aggressively ridding our streets of illegal drugs, by arresting and convicting those who are the foundation of the heroin epidemic — the dealers.
And yes, arresting a drug dealer only opens the door for another. But, if arrests/convictions are aggressive and severe, maybe these dealers will think twice about coming to our areas for their operation. It is up to law enforcement to protect and serve. It is up to the judicial system to convict these dealers. Arresting addicts is a nothing more than a bandage to the real problem.
— Melissa Bowers, Lima
