Pot times
Drug Task Force Needs Local Support
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1107/a01.htmlNewshawk: chip
Pubdate: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 DRUG TASK FORCE NEEDS LOCAL SUPPORT
Source: Daily Home, The (Talladega, AL)
Copyright: 2005 Consolidated Publishing
Contact:
cpappas@dailyhome.com
Website: http://www.dailyhome.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1632
Note:
ghadley@dailyhome.com also listed as
contact
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
On an all too regular basis, Talladega County's Drug Task Force makes headlines
for its efforts in getting illegal drugs off the streets.
Bust after bust should send a message that the Task Force will not shy away from
its duty. Members are making a dent in a rock solid problem that faces
communities across the nation, but there is plenty of work that lies ahead.
Especially now.
Methamphetamine production and trafficking are reaching epidemic proportions,
and the headlines of new labs springing up in places like Sylacauga and
Talladega only point toward more of the same.
That's why it must be disheartening for dedicated public servants like District
Attorney Steve Giddens, whose Task Force is losing funding because federal
budgets are being slashed by 50 percent this year. And what's worse,
federal grant money is at risk of being cut completely the following year.
It is forcing Giddens to turn to local communities to help make up the
difference in the funding loss. This week, he asked the City of Lincoln to
up its investment in the task force from $13,355 this year to $26,776 next year.
Unfortunately, it is just an indication of requests to come if the group hopes
to be a viable force in the ongoing fight against drugs.
That fight is a local one, and communities across the county, as well as the
county, need to support it. If it means increasing the funding on the
local end, governments need to find a way to do it.
If it means lobbying federal officials for continued grant funding, that ought
to be done, too.
Losing the fight because of a loss of funding should not be an option.
