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Response To Drug Raids Does Nothing To Help The Situation

Two major drug raids captured the attention of area residents on Wednesday and Thursday. One in Charlotte, where one man was charged with selling marijuana and cocaine. The other, in Hanover, led to the arrest of six who were in their early 20s and were tied to fentanyl, cocaine and concentrated cannabis.

As social media did its standard holier-than-others criticizing — quite harshly, we might add — to the seven being charged, the bigger issue is missed. How does this region even begin to get control of the drug problem here? It no longer is expected to be in the areas that surround the two cities. These recent arrests prove it has become too common in rural towns and villages as well.

More alarming, these busts happened on a week in which meetings and seminars were held in Dunkirk, Mayville and Fredonia on how to help the addicts and continue the community’s fight against this deadly epidemic. Discussions centered around how to assist those struggling users so maybe, just maybe, they can get back on their feet.

Those afflicted and selling are not just affecting neighbors and families. They are affecting the whole community.

Talk to some of the larger area employers. Even the small ones know it is tough finding people who can work because they cannot pass a drug test. “Obviously what we’re dealing with is a huge addiction epidemic,” said Melanie Witkowski, executive director of the Chautauqua Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council on Wednesday in Fredonia. “I know it’s a heroin epidemic, but it’s my belief that it’s an addiction epidemic, because we have alcohol, we have cocaine, we have methamphetamines and we have opiates and heroin … and we need to figure out what to do about that.”

Even those with a background on how to treat these individuals are searching for answers. To be fair, officials on the county, city and law-enforcement levels are being proactive.

But what does not even begin to solve the situation, however, is a downright nasty thread of mindless comments regarding these nabbed individuals. Some may be greedy and doing it for the money. Others, however, are hooked. For them, there’s no way out.

To those throwing stones, just what are you doing as the county continues to face a growing drug crisis? Families and friends are suffering. They need support.

Instead of passing judgment, maybe some constructive suggestions could be bantered. Arrests solve a small portion of this huge crisis. Once one supplier is gone, another emerges.

It is vicious. It is real — and its consequences are very deadly.

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