The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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October 5, 2007

Support options needed for drug-related offenders

Another drug raid, another large number of arrests and many more charges filed.

Wednesday’s raid by Enid Police Department and several other law enforcement agencies was significant. The final tally was 29 people arrested and 74 criminal charges filed. A raid a couple of weeks ago resulted in 12 arrests and 23 criminal charges.

Raids like these take a lot of drugs off the street, and they take some bad people off the street as well — even if it’s only temporarily. We stand wholeheartedly behind law enforcement in these efforts.

Drug sales and use are behind so many other crimes, particularly from people trying to pay for their habits.

The big question for our society is what comes after the jail terms?

Unfortunately, the same names crop up time after time in drug arrests. It’s obvious prison or jail terms aren’t working for everyone. What other options are there?

Garfield County is lucky to have one of the state’s drug courts. The program “is a court supervised comprehensive treatment program for non-violent” offenders, according to court papers given to participants. It is a voluntary program that requires participants to sign a contract and adhere to regulations of the court. Participants are subjected to the possibility of drug or alcohol testing at their homes or places of employment.

The idea behind drug court is to keep people from going to prison while helping them overcome their addiction. Is it for everyone? No. Does it help everyone? No.

But it’s worth the effort if it helps just one person.

These big raids law enforcement agencies stage regularly also point out the need for more drug rehab and support options, both locally and statewide.

Drug arrests have filled our state prisons to overcrowding. It’s time lawmakers and others get together to come up with a solution that takes drugs and dangerous people off our streets, but also allows for rehabilitation so the cycle can end.

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