NEWSDAY REPORTS ON L.I. DRUG "SCOURGE"

Newsday has been covering a report by federal investigators which details the pervasive presence of heroin on Long Island (see link below).  This report may come as a surprise to many people.  However, to people who have had their lives affected by the terrible cycle of addiction and crime, this news is often too little too late.

In my professional experience, as both a prosecutor and as defense counsel, I have handled thousands of these cases.  I have handled them at every level-- from the suffering addict to the sophisticated trafficker.  I make no bones about it.  Drug crimes are not victimless crimes.  They affect people of all walks of life, and from every community.  For anyone who has been ravaged by addiction, or anyone who has suffered while someone close to them has been ravaged by addiction, the victims are too real.

Drug dealers sell drugs to addicts.  This predation only exploits addicts when they are most vulnerable.  As we learn more about addiction, we learn how to combat it better.  Curing the root of the crime, and the addicts' need to buy drugs, is our most effective tool.

Addiction is a problem that will never go away, and neither will the crime that so often accompanies it.  However, as a community, we owe it to ourselves to combat the cycle of addiction and crime as wisely, as efficiently, and as effectively as possible.

Drug dealers should be punished under law with state prison time because they have preyed upon the vulnerable.  On the other hand, Court mandated treatment should be available to non-violent offenders who are ready to break the cycle of addiction and crime.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/colombian-mexican-cartels-drive-li-heroin-scourge-1.7092806