Drugs 'Old Issue with a New Twist'

MIFFLINTOWN - The Rotary Club at Mifflintown invited a guest speaker Thursday at their weekly luncheon meeting at Truck Stop 35.

Special Agent John Barrett from the Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA ) addressed the group, stressing the importance of community activism to combat the local drug problem.

Barrett has 15 years experience with the DEA and began his career in Newark, NJ, working for two years there.  In 1990, he made the move to the gang-infested Los Angeles area.

After eight years in California, he was assigned to Puerto Rico for three years.  As Barrett put it, "I came to the lovely Harrisburg just over two years ago and I am enjoying it immensely.  It is good to be back on the mainland."

Barrett came to Mifflintown to talk about an "old issue with a new twist." Drug trafficking and the problems it brings to remote areas, such as Juniata County.

Barrett provided background information about the DEA and its ongoing struggle to arrest drug smugglers over the past 30 years.

He summed up the drug culture decade by decade and how it coincided with the creation of the DEA in 1973.  The newly formed agency had fewer than 3,000 agents at that time and now has more than 5,000.  In 1973, Richard Nixon was president and, after a decade of social change dominated by mood-altering drugs in the 1960s, "we turned the corner and the drug war followed us."

In the 1980s, Barrett said, "South American cocaine literally was washing up on the beaches of Miami and South Florida becoming an open shooting gallery for outlaw cowboys seeking to make a profit."

This was the decade that Ronald Reagan was president and Nancy Reagan pushed the "Just Say No" slogan.  Unable to just say no and unable to shut off drug use on the consumer end, the demand for drugs created an increased profit for the drug traffickers.

By 1990, the traffickers realized that they could "expand their drug trade beyond cocaine and marijuana, by beginning a mass cultivation of opium poppy plants in the Colombian countryside, which produced high quality heroin."

Barrett said, "Drug use and distribution followed us into the new millennium and the same new age technology that benefited legitimate businesses also benefited drug traffickers." Cell phones and pagers were making it easier for the drug lords to distribute their killer cargo from overseas.

Barrett said law enforcement findings have indicated that wholesale drug traffickers have moved their stash houses from the inner cities into the smaller communities.

He particularly wanted to focus on Juniata County and the increase in the use of Oxycontin.  Barrett said Oxycontin is often referred to as the "Hillbilly Heroin."

He explained that it is a synthetic heroin used legitimately for cancer patients and their pain management.  This drug has become the reason behind most of the pharmacy burglaries in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania leads the country with the greatest number of pharmacy thefts followed by Florida and Ohio according to the DEA Diversion Investigators.

The DEA Diversion Investigators work the pharmaceutical end of drug trafficking.  Barrett said that methamphetamine and ecstasy are other synthetic party drugs that are on an upward trend in Juniata County.

The United Nations Office of Drug and Crime report that these synthetic drugs are especially dangerous because of the irreversible alterations that occur in the brains chemistry.

Barrett said the "trend of high grade urban heroin in Juniata County began several years ago.  Juniata County data supports the idea that heroin has been the drug of choice since 1997 up to the present."

He reported that admissions to state facilities for treatment of heroin addiction of Juniata County residents have doubled this fiscal year.  "From the year 2000 to 2001, there were 14 admissions and from 2002 to 2003, there have been 31 admissions," he said.

"How can we effectively combat it?" Barrett talked about the community activism involved in fighting the influx of traffickers that was seen recently in Mifflin County.

He said that because local citizens reported to police suspicious activity the result was a multi-agency effort that led to indictments of New York City drug dealers.

Community activism takes many forms, whether they come through schools, churches or law enforcement.

Barrett said to keep it in the forefront.  "Drug dealers are like roaches, they hate the light that focuses attention on them.  Don't give them a place to hide.

"Light up your community with media reports and community programs and citizen involvement.  You are not alone in the battle against drugs.  Your neighboring counties are in this fight with you also as well as the state, local and federal law enforcement."

Barrett said staying in tuned to what is happening in the fast paced youth culture can help.

He said, "If your daughter or granddaughter comes home with a baby pacifier or a chemical glow stick light stick in her mouth.  The chances are that she has been to a rave party.  The common drug at a rave party being ecstasy.  Most importantly report suspicious activity to local authorities.  You are the eyes and ears of the local community and we rely on you."

Newshawk: http://DrugPolicyCentral.com/bot
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Oct 2003
Source: Sentinel, The (PA)
Copyright: 2003 The Sentinel, a publication of Ogden Newspapers Inc.
Contact: sentinel@lewistownsentinel.com
Website: http://lewistownsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3122
Author: Jennifer Aurand, Sentinel reporter

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