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Topic for
4/22/96:		 Why is it so difficult to put an end to drugs within our communities, even though it is often known just who is buying it, selling it, and where it is being sold?

What prevents us, as individuals with this knowledge, from putting an end to this blight?


This week's discussion topic was suggested to us by Richard Lands -- Lands@electric.austin.tx.us




Name: Rashidra Scott
Email: genecamp@pilot.infi.net
Response: I'm taking this from the stand point of a young, African-American female, High school student. I see people smoking and in possession of drugs , alcohol, and/or tobacco almost everyday. When administrators see it, they expell the student. My feeling is, why would you expell them from school to give them more liesure time to get more hooked on drugs? I feel the student who is caught should be sent to an alternative program with cognitive therapy. That way, the problem has a chance of getting resolved and in turn, perhaps the number of teenagers using drugs will decrease, as opposed to increase. I have done a bit if research and through it have learned that while in cognitive therapy programs, they realize that a life on crack is not worth losing their "right" in society. People (spec. school administrators) talk about how many teens are using drugs, but instead of helping them with their problem, they leave it up to society, which is what messed them up in the first place.


Name: George Lambert
Email: rasta@voicenet.com
Response: Never mind Why . The solution is to adapt the same philosophy that South Africa and China has adopted. To charge these people with CRIMES AGAINST THE PEOPLE . PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.. Can't you see what they (Drug Dealers) are doing to our neighborhood's and our children . We need to take control . In South Africa the comunity got together and arrested the known drug dealers . Shot them in the streets like dogs and then set their bodies on fire. China gathered the drug dealers and made them walk down the the neighbored streets with signs tied around their necks . I'm a drug dealer and I will be executed imeditally. And the were.
In times when the FBI and the CIA and the local police are are being found to have been involved in the drug trade of america . There is no war on drugs . Unless we the people wage one .....


Name: Perry Ashford
Email: ashtech@cyber1.servtech.com
Response:
Why? You dare to ask? I live very close to a crack house. I have learned over time that the dealers and the users do not play by any rules. That's their advantage. Anyone playing by the rules when dealing with either, user or seller is bound for failure. It's time to take of the gloves. The dealers never had then on to begin with! We can irredicate drug dealers and drive them away but, one must be willing to preform just as henious a crime as they to get what you want. A clear message must be delivered in order to correct the bad seeds.

Name: Nicole M. Halaska
Email:
Response:
I would like to add to what I had responded to the other day. Law enforcement needs to work together with our communities instead of againt them. We cannot fight this fight alone. Help would be nice. In my neighborhood kids will be silling rock across the street and do you think the police stop them? No. Why? The cops probally get their own stash from that person. With clean cops and people who really want to make a difference, change will come. Also, some people think that drugs are in the ghetto and only crack heads use but I live in a well to do part of town and it happens right across the street. I just hope that some day all of this maddness needs to stop, in all communities. Thank You.

Name: MS. V. JAMES
Email:
Response:
I BELEIVE THAT IT IS NOT SO DIFFICULT TO STOP DRUGS FROM ENTEREING THE U.S. . THE U.S. OFTEN TELL OTHER COUNTRIES THAT WE HAVE THE TOP TECHNOLOGY, TOP SKYWAVE SCANNERS, HI-TECH WEAPONRY. WHY CAN'T WE USE ALL OF THESE RESOURCES TO STOP DRUGS FROM ENTERING US TERRITORIES.I OFTEN WONDERED WHY, JUST WHY!!
WHY CAN'T CONGRESS OR OUR US LEADERS STOP THIS KILLING OF OUR COUNTRY. EXCUSE MY IGNORANCE WHEN IT COMES TO DRUG TRAFFICKING. BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT SOMEONE OUT THERE IS MAKING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OFF OF SOMEONES MISHAP. THE US TELL OUR CITIZENS THAT THEY ARE CONCERNED, BUT I DO NOT SEE ANY ACTION TAKEN FOR STOPPING BOATS, PLANES, AND TRAINS COMING INTO THE US WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS TO SELL ON OUR ALREADY POVERTY STICKEN NEIGHBORHOODS.
"PLEASE, IF THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO COULD EXPLAIN THIS SITUATION TO ME AND MILLIONS OF FAMALIES THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED WITH THIS DRUG SITUATION.
peace...

Name: Ralph Randall
Email:
Response:
I like the way Dr. Cherry said it;
"The struggle for FREEDOM is not over"
Ever since our skin tones marked us for use by those seeking to advance the United States we have been in a struggle. So I believe Dr. Cherry states why we can not easily put an end to this madness when we seemingly know all the components. The madness is an out growth of CAPITALISM, which equates to the American Dream. Our so called FREEDOM resulted in us getting caught up in the race to achieve the American Dream. Our (Africans in America) forgiven (GOD given) nature has at times blinded us to the trickery that exist. Understanding the trickery that presented itself in the varied treatment of field vs house slaves, or lightskined vs darkskin people begins to define the complicity of the drug culture that touches most of us. The answers to why it is so hard to end this menace now is found in the response of Micheal Dean who communicates,... For a proletariat (Poor or working class person) living in the ghetto it is much more realistic to get paid as a dealer of Drugs CEO. Many others responded regarding the resources neccesary to begin and sustain the Drug Business which points to the facts that tricks are still being used when we watch the news and find it is US (Africans in America) that is blamed forthe Drug mess. So, before I leave for my neighborhood meeting to discuss drug dealing in the neighborhood, rembering that my 14 year old niece gave my 30 year old cousin a ride on her bike only to later find he sold the bike for a $10 crack rock.....I just want to say, in the word of Dr. Cherry, "The Struggle for FREEDOM is not over."

Name: Nicole Halaska
Email:
Response:
I feel that the police want the madness to continue therefore they will not help prevent it.

Name: Judy P. Johnson
Email: jucy_johnson@merck.com
Response:
Education is the key--you need an education to get a good job. The higher the education, hopefully the better the job. We need the church, our young must believe in a higher being and say thank you for this day. If we value our children, really everybody, then we should get on the street corner and convince the drug pusher/user that there is a better way, which is to live life to its fullest, so grab a book, look into educational programs, you must start somewhere to get to someplace.

Name: Mark Russell
Email: cojobuck@mail.earthlink.net
Response:
The root problems of drug abuse starts in the individual. Drug abuse in my view is the "out-cropping" of a person's desire to escape reality and get the feeling of being a super human being.
However legalizing drugs is not cure all solution to our social problems. Legalizing drugs may wipe out the low level criminal activities that accompany drug dealing, but has anyone thought to realize the side effects? Imagine you are scheduled for a life saving operation. your doctor is high on crack or cocaine or maybe he did not get his "pick me up get out of bed" hit of dope. An airplane pilot with the lives of people in his hands intoxicated. A military commander with the access to launch a nuclear attack? Just think of the above.
If drugs are to be legalized then money must be invested in prevention programs and rehab. If you take away the need you kill the source.

Name: A.R.Smith
Email:
Response:
Drugs are soo difficult to get rid of in my neighborhood because the lifestyle offers much more than what the movies, media or even church groups realize. In my own case as a recovered crack addict, I can tell you that the people that I bought from were not street scum. They often offered a service not mentioned and that was a strange type of friendship that filled a void left by living only for a job or family responsibilities that were draining the life out of me. I could have paid a shrink to sit and listen or bought a few moments of physical awakening that didn't care whether I was pretty or thin or anything else. When in fact the only people who even know your alive are ones you're paying in some sense be they ministers or male compainions that are still judgemental then the attraction of anyone who is glad to see you every day starts to feel good regardless of how they provide that needed stroking. If all dealers were as crazy and demented as they are depicted then fewer women at least would be involved in perpetrating this deception on ourselves.

Name: lef.
Email: lef@sirius.com
Response:
I don't think that you can say that the drug problem has one source. If it were that simple, then the possibility of it still being an issue would be far slimmer (if at all). The sociological, psychological and economic problems plaguing middle to lower-class Black America have yet to be resolved - and those only begin to hint at problems like racism, sexism, homophobia, and the other forms/systems of oppresion. Even the idea that each of these problems could exist by itself is unreal. They exist in variety of combinations.
The idea that there is a solution is also problematic. There are too many specific situations that need to be addressed that can't accurately be covered by a 'one size fits all' approach. The minute that you buy into that, there are bound to be people who don't fit that one size. These are the people who find themselves left behind. A lot of these people tend to be our people.
If there is "a solution" it would be that there isn't "a solution". That would be easier. That has been tried. That has only partially worked. Time to try several somethings new. Time to put our heads together and come up with those several somethings. Anybody?

Name: R Stroud
Email:
Response:
I agree with Mark Walter, education is the key. We need to educate our people, especially our young people. They are our future. Look what happenedto the number of smokers among our Black youth when they were educated to the trick the tobacco companies were playing on them. When our kids realized they were being "played" they dropped smoking. Our kids aren't criminal or stupid. We must find a way to show them the game being played. See, we have kids who aren't being raised knowing that life is not fair, but you can make it if you know the game. I grew up hearing that Black people always "Work twice as hard to ge half as much". Is it fair, Heck no. But all the cards were out there for me to see. I fault the adults for not showing, explaining, teaching, preaching this anymore. We used to care about all of our kids and we have got to get back to that.
We can't lose hope. Our people have been in worst situations than this and we MADE IT! WE CAN DO IT AGAIN.

Name: AL
Email: Alump@premier.net
Response:
Apathy, simply apathy.

Name: Michael Flowers
Email: Ml3592@Devry Colu.edu
Response:
I agree with Michael Dean it would seems that for some in our community that drus are the best and only way out. What we need to happen is more role models for the younger kids that are comming up to show that its not the only way. The best way to get what you want in life is by working hard for what you want. Sure drugs can give you money but by selling it and using it destroys not just those you sell to but yourself because anyone who does that has little selfrespect for themselves. What I would like to see being a senior at DeVry is more of our people in college inparticularly young afrocan-american males I find it sad to be here with so few of my fellow brothers. Because guys the sisters can't do it alone. Its time for use to walk side by side with our sisters and rebuild our communities.

Name: L. Cherry, Ph.D.
Email: LCherryPhd@gnn.com
Response:
The time is now for Afro centric Americans to become more proactive in our thinking and less retroactive. More prescriptive and less descriptive. Every response to the drug problem was right-on and valid. We must ask ourselves, what am I going to do, what can I do, and what am I willing to do.
Legislators only represent those who have enough money to support their golf habits.
So unless we pool our money together, this is not the answer. Prisons are just a modern form of slavery, more prisons are not the solution.
As a people, we are hurting economically, politically, and spiritually! We need healing in our soul, our families, and our communities. The healing must began today, with you and me my brothers and sisters.
The struggle for freedom is not over. Furthermore, we must learn the responsibilities that comes with freedom. Let us join our hands and hearts together and cry out, sing out, pray out, write out, and live out the forces who seek out to oppress us!!!

Name: Rlands
Email: lands@electric.austin.tx.us
Response:
The first Africans to be brought over to the Americas were not slaves. There great-great-great-grand kids. Became the slave.
Why? Because, slavery is not a physical issue. That is,it is more then what we, see and feel (though important for the education to slavery), It involves the mind and spirit. To be an user of drugs is to be in SLAVERY. Drugs alters the mind, it controls the mind, and anything that controls the mind is master and you are it's slave. And believe it or not the greatest slave is the slave who does not know they are a slave.
Yes, it takes more then burning down crack houses and bustin' dealers, just as it took more then beatin' up the master and runnin',it takes a paradigm shift. A renewal of the mind. Just like slavery of our people, no matter where they turned there was either a whip, more work, shackles or the master.
Wherever we turn, there appears to be drugs, drug users and drug dealers. It seems hopeless, but it's not. Because the African American community knows someone who can solve all problems. He brought us through the middle passage, through slavery, the wars, Jim Crow, desegregation, unemployment, no employment and under employment.
We have to get back to who WE are and not what the media, society, the penal system wants us to be. We need leaders of high moral character that are sold out to building family and community. Sold out to standing against racism, violence, poverty, drugs, greed, ignorance, death and life. How do we stop drugs in our community, by doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reason, expecting the right results, to benefit our brothers and sisters and glorify GOD. I refuse to lose and so should the rest of you.
I know it's not comfortable, standing all the time, but when you have done all you can do to stand, then. . . STAND!!!

Name: Charlie Snugle
Email:
Response:
As a minor drug user myself, I believe drugs are o.k. as long as you don't overdose on the bad stuff like heroin and Cocaine. they shouldn't be legal. I think that marajuana should be legalized as well as nicotine products and alcohol. People wouldn't try to rebel as much and wouldn't want to use as many drugs. I think we need to worry more about teen sex. I'm gonna go smoke some bud. Bye.

Name: Michael Dean
Email: MD575151@aol.com
Response:
So, we know who is selling and buying. Short term we are ok. We can just bust the sellers and the users, right? No.
Drug use is not the result of any individual(s). Drugs are the result of the material conditions which dominate society today. These conditions are poverty, hunger and the need to do something about it. Selling drugs is an easy, and proffitable way to earn a living. For a proletariat (a member of the working class) living in the ghetto it is much more realistic to get paid as a dealer then as a CEO. For a rich man selling drugs is a ridiculas suggestion, they are able to make large amounts of money in a legal way. The proletariat is not able to do so.
Unfortunatly this division of society into rich and poor is a must in this capitalist system. There has to be a large group of poor to support the profits of the rich. As long as this is so drugs and other destructive ways of earning a living will be a reality.
So, what can we do? We can destroy these class antagonisms that divide society into rich and poor, exploiter and exploited, bourgeoisie and proletariat. To do this we must demand a say in the economy, we must demand social ownership of the means of production. By doing this we will be able to utilise production for use, not for profit. We can direct goods into the neiborhoods that need them. We can end the need to deal drugs.

Name: Marco Gravey
Email:
Response:
If the African Americans of the Us wish to perserve their integrity it is necesary for them to return to Africa in order to escape the harsh realities of Aids and the numerous other burdens that the white man loads on the backs of the blacks.

Name: RayRay
Email:
Response:
The reason why drugs continue to destroy urban black neighborhoods is because the government allows drug import and export within the United States. In addition, the fast money beats the slow employment line and many of our brothers and sisters prefer to be compensated quickly.

Name: G.P. Williams
Email: gwillia1@tx.ncsu.edu
Response:
I think the difficulty is that people approach drug users and sellers with a just say no mentality. Anytime you ask someone to stop a behavior they need motivation and another behavior to replace the old behavior. We can't just lock up dealers and users we must provide them with motivation for stopping their activities. This requires approaching people as individuals because each person has their own reasons for selling or using drugs. More emphasis should be placed on holistic (addressing a person's spiritual, physical, and emotional needs) rehabilitation instead of law enforcement.

Name: Mark Walters
Email: crisis@mit.edu
Response:
The reason drug problem is still so prevalent in our communities stems from two distinct actualities.
1. Negros are too unenlightened to see the long term harm drugs cause our communities and themselves. The drug sellers only see making a quick dollar. They do not see the long time erosion their enterprise causes on their communities and the overall Negro image.
The drug users likewise do not see the long time erosion their practice causes on their tradional values, communities, or their individual overall health and well being.
2. The Federal Government of the United States of America wants to keep drugs in our communities. The 18th Amendment (preventing the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors) was proposed(1917) and ratified(1919) in 2 years. This fact shows tremendous effort. Not even a fraction of this effort has been used in the war, I mean squable, against drugs.
b) Negros don't own, boats, trains, planes or arable land. We are not the ones bringing in or manufacturing drugs. I have an associate who imports lumber and other building materials he pays hella tariffs and is interrogated on every import.
c) The US Government has satellite networks which allow for the easy tracking objects the size of tennis balls across the planet's surface.
Since the government is against us, our only feasable option is education. We must be educated, not only with school book sense but most importantly with common sense, as to the dangerous realities that will arise if our drug innundated lifestyles do not cease.

Name: xavier smith
Email: le froggee@aol.com
Response:
As a young addict, I believe that drugs should be made legal. Throughout my D.A.R.E. education I was told what alcohol did to your body and that I should not do it, but no one ever told me why drugs were bad. I learned through experience what drugs do to people because my parents used them. They only used marijuana, but it set the example that it was not bad. They never let me do them, but I learned how to do it at a very young age. I think the key is education starting in preschool. Like alcohol, which is legal, people will investigate and found out the details about it. Drugs such as horoin and cocain should not be made legal, only marijuana. It is natural and the hemp plant could actually be used for things like paper. It is actually more resourceful than trees. Some of our forefather actually encouraged the growth of the hemp plant. Education needs to start now. Thank you.

Name: Michael A. Tucker
Email: MTucker417@aol.com
Response:
It seems not enough people want to just say no, and like all vice, it can't be legislated. We've known for decades the death and destruction that is drug abuse, yet we continue to demand a product that is killing our people. Bottom line: No buyers, no sellers.

Name: Lynnetta Jones
Email: mnhre003@sivm.edu
Response:
I have personally called the police and told the police, the names of the drug dealers, what the were doing (drugs and prostitution), and their address. The police have done absolutely nothing. My landlord offered the police an empty apartment to catch them. They were not interested. If the system that is suppose to protect us, ignores us, what are we to do? The criminals know that the honest citizens can't have guns to protect themselves. D.C. has enough police officers to walk the streets. This has been the only time that the streets remain clear. We have enough manpower in D.C. to stop the flow of drugs. When D.C. citizens hold their officials accountable for what they DON'T do, we will see a change in our communities.

Name: Alfred Sellers
Email: sellers@alaska.net
Response:
I believe drugs should be made legal. In order that we might decrimanize the use of drug users in our country. Alcohol is legal and their is those who choose not to drink. I do not use any drugs including alcohol. I stop using drugs three years ago. Thank God for helping me out of that pit of hell. If you choose to use, then you will be used. You will be used by others who will keep you supplied with the very things that will kill you, your family and your community. Stop helping to kill us. Educate yourself, then educate all those who have ears that are willing to hear.

Name: Franklin D. Westbrook
Email: fw3@umail.umd.edu
Response:
I don't know who is selling drugs, who is buying them, nor where they are being sold. But even if I knew, it would be unlawful to do anything about it.
A man in the news a month ago burnt down a shack in his neighborhood where drugs were sold and used rampantly. He is now being prosecuted for an offense that can cost him 10-20 years in prison.
Since this man couldn't arrest the offenders or drive them away, the way he chose to remove the problem was to remove the blight. The police, who knew about the drug marketplace and did nothing about it, arrested him and booked him for the commission of a felony.
The district attorney literally boasted about the prision time he would seek for the torch-bearer while admitting that a service had been done for the community. His reason for insisting upon vigorous prosecution was that citizens had to be discouraged from taking the law into their own hands.
Practically, I think we can rescue our children with our own hands.

Name: Denise Rhones
Email: Rhones.Denise@rw.doe.gov
Response:
I feel that sometimes people are afraid to say or do anything, because they are in constant fear of their lives. I think the Federal goverment should step in and give the city police any kind of assistance they need to clean up this problem.