Every day drug use affects you. Oh, you may not realize it or immediately notice these effects, but drug use contributes to higher crime rates, violence including homicides, higher insurance rates, and even higher costs in retail stores. The United States Department of Justice estimates the total cost of drug use to be $67 Billion annually, and the number keeps growing.
Drug users come from all walks of life, hold all levels of jobs and live in every community. In fact, approximately 70-percent of illegal drug users are employed. Your next door neighbor or granddaughter could be using drugs, as often a user is the person you would least expect at first. According to national drug statistics, over 24.2 million people in the United States have used an illicit drug at least once in the past year, and over half of those people have used drugs in the past 30 days. Many of those people are teenagers. Did you know the U.S. has the highest estimated levels of teenage substance abuse found in any developed country in the world?
But how can you tell if your neighborhood teens or the owners of the house down the street are doing and/or selling drugs? And what difference should it make to you? Thinking that what people do in their own homes is their own business is a seemingly uncomplicated way to go through life. But it is not safe. Drug dealers bring crime, corruption and danger wherever they set up shop. Once one dealer or grower moves into your neighborhood, others often quickly follow, and sometimes gangs, too, creating an unsafe and unhealthy living environment for you and your children.
What are the signs to look for if you suspect illegal drug activity is going on in your community? First, keep your eyes open for a large amount of traffic and high turnover of cars in a driveway, or a large number of people going in and out of a house or apartment. Street level dealers and users will only stay at a house briefly in order to score their drugs. Also, note any unusual porch light patterns. For example, if the tenant or homeowner switches on an outside light in the afternoon or evening for brief time periods and those lights-on times brings the cars. Report suspicions to the police.
What Not to Do:
*Do not confront possible drug dealers yourself. You could be putting yourself in a potentially deadly situation. Superheroes only triumph in the movies. Let the trained professionals make the arrests.
*The police and other law enforcement agencies take time to build cases. They will not make an arrest within 24 hours, so be patient, but stay on the lookout for more suspicious activity.
*Give up. Neighborhoods can only get better if the residents care and then act on their feelings. Talk to your neighbors and establish a support group. Work on goals to clean up the neighborhood, including physically clean up, such as painting and litter control. Have nighttime block parties and light-up, take-back-the-night events. Invest in community pride.
What You Can Do:
*Get to know the people on your block or in your neighborhood and form a community coalition. Talk about how you can improve your neighborhood.
*Establish a neighborhood watch program to keep an eye on everything. This is one of the best neighborhood security systems.
*Leave all of your outside lights on during the night, or pitch in to pay for street lights. The better lit the neighborhood, the better crime deterrent.
*Establish a rapport with local law enforcement and local elected officials. Speak up at community counsel meetings and voice your concerns.
*Use the local media. Call the television and radio stations and print media and tell them what your community is doing. Write letters to the editor. Staying silent is the same as giving the drug dealers and criminals in your neighborhood the okay to do business.
*Publish a community newsletter so those who cannot attend a coalition meeting will still be informed. The newsletter will also help foster a sense of unity .
*Remember: change happens one person at a time.
Jill L. Ferguson is an editor, writer, public speaker and professor. Her novel, Sometimes Art Can't Save You, about a teenage girl who tries to cope with her chaotic life by painting her feelings onto canvas, was published by In Your Face Ink (http://www.inyourfaceink.com) in October 2005.