I haven't posted for a while, because I was and am busy settling into a new job as a municipal prosecutor. Now, I've also been a criminal defense lawyer, so I think I see this issue pretty much in balance. That being said, I consider drug dealers to be on a level with murderers. The only difference is, they kill spirits and souls, not just bodies.

And most long-term addicts are indeed lost souls. I read about 6 new police reports a day on average, and at least 4 of them involve drugs. Not just possession for personal use, but stealing to buy drugs, mugging people to buy drugs, and, recently, bashing in your father's head with a hammer because he wouldn't give you money for drugs, then taking his cell phone and making three or four calls to drug dealers while he died in front of you. It's not a matter of personal choice and it's not a victimless crime. It is an exploitation of a genetic flaw in our species - a form of cannibalism, if you will. I respect and embrace the Constitution, but when a guy with no visible means of support gets busted in a brand new Explorer with 4 kg of marijuana and a couple of hundred Percocets rolling around in the back, you can believe we seize the vehicle and seek forfeiture. Interesting thing is, the druggies usually don't even try to oppose the forefeiture, because to do that you have to testify, and you don't necessarily want to answer questions under oath about how you were able to pay cash for a new vehicle when you haven't worked or filed a tax return in 5 years.

Sorry about the rant, but these people contribute nothing, they build nothing, and they add nothing to our community. Yes, they represent job security for me. I'd trade the job in a second for a drug-free town.