Wilmington has had a a drug problem for many years just because people are not making open exchanges in the streets mean nothing!!!! How about concentrate on our youth and having something for teenagers to do instead of driving around in cars hanging out in open parking lots and meeting an older age group of drug users these older users seek out young individuals who can help them get money for there drugs in the process turning these kids into the drug users! I think the state also need to get involved and totally redo the whole rehab process in the state put these youths in a program that will help them recover not relapse.

True

It is time to start holding parents responsible in more cases. They want to be buddies with the kid? Pay the price.

Does that include the widespread steroid use that police are know to use regularly? Just asking!

I'd love to see a youth center in Wilmington.

The tactics that police officers in this country use to "combat" drug use come far, far closer to "terrorism" than drug use is. End prohibition and you end the problem. Have you seen any huge mob shootouts over bootleg liquor lately?

"Though there is a long list of reasons why this could be the case, Begonis said he believes the decriminalization of marijuana is one of them. He believes that when that law was passed in Massachusetts, it sent the wrong message about drug use."

The Chief must have really been upset when the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed. How many people are arrested, hurt, or die every year in Wilmington due to alcohol, Chief? And assuming that it's many more arrests, injuries and deaths than are related to "drugs," why are you not taking a harder stance against it? Is it possibly because you recognize that adults have the right to choose to consume alcohol free from police persecution, as long as they do so responsibly and are willing to accept the consequences if they betray that trust? Why don't drug users, *especially* harmless marijuana users, deserve that same respect?

Drug use, specifically use of hard drugs, may be a problem. But the failed War on Drugs should have shown by now that it's not a problem that can be dealt with through arrests or imprisonment, or especially through labeling non-violent citizens as "domestic terrorists." Using language like that displays a deep-seated ignorance that borders on irresponsibility.

Who are people more likely to be afraid of being "terrorized" by? Pot smokers...or SWAT teams?

""Illicit drug use is a form of domestic terrorism to some extent," said Wilmington Police Chief Michael Begonis."

And what extent would that be, Mike?

One definition of terrorism is: a terroristic method of governing.

Considering that most police forces have come to resemble a paramilitary gang, I have much more to fear from those with a legal monopoly on force and violence versus a peaceful person with a vice.

Pleas research the numbers and count how many OD's this town has seen and then count the deaths, then tell us there is NO drug problem.....

I see the prohibition of Cannabis to be a crime against humanity, and I aim to see it abolished. That will disemploy a lot of terroristic thugs, both those with and those without BADGES.

Hasten the day.

-Richard P Steeb, San Jose California

Selectman Cimaglia at a selectmen's meeting said we don't have a massive drug problem. Chief Begonis is quoted in this article as saying that "Wilmington doesn't have a drug problem per se". How can town officials make comments like this with the amount of overdoses and the amount of syringes found on various streets around town?

Kevin you are absolutely right. Hopefully the town officials will wake up and try to address this serious problem.

Wilmington doesn't have a drug problem? I call BS on that. Tell that to the many parents who are helpless to their son or daughter's addiction. Tell that to the parents that have had to bury their kid. Tell that to the parents that have to lock their own child out of the house and get a restraining order. Tell that to the parents that have to make a call and "section" their son or daughter so they are not a danger to themselves or others. Tell that to the parents that have to stand over a bed at the emergency room and hope the doctors can save them from the latest overdose. You want to really work on this problem? Get out of denial.

Drug problems are in every city and town. Just because Wilmington is a small town and a great community does not mean we don't have a drug problem. More focus is needed with the kids in Middle School. DARE belongs in Middle School just as it does in 5th grade.

It is up to parents to talk to their children, but I also feel it is very important for the town to educate our children and parents on drug addiction. Shelly Newhouse is in the process of creating a coalition to spear head this problem. It is not always the parents fault and sometimes the kids are unable to stop because once you try it, you are hooked and addicts will do anything to get that next high. DONT TRY DRUGS is the message we want to send to our children,

Considering the fact that marijuana has never killed anyone due to overdose or adverse drug reaction in 5,000 years, and the Mexican cartels exist because of the war on drugs (50,000 deaths in 6 years), I think it's safe to say who the terrorist really are.

We legalized alcohol and the bootleggers stopped shooting citizens with tommy guns.

Is that really so hard for Chief Big-one-over-on-us to understand?

The sad fact is, drugs are easier to get than alcohol and cigarettes. You don't need an id. Just cash. You want an education on how bad this problem really is? Spend a day in one of the courts as defendant after defendant stands in front of a judge on charges related directly to their addiction. Or how about visiting the overflowing detox centers and seeing all of the very young people addicted to heroin. These places are so full you have to wait for a bed. Or how about attending a Learn to Cope or Nar-Anon meeting and seeing all the devasted family members that are at their wits end. These are good people, good parents. They did nothing to cause this. Blaming the parents and saying they have to "talk" to their children is judgmental and wrong. We all talked to our children we all set limits. This transcends that. The stuff on the street is 80 to 90 percent pure and it kills. Most addicts are still using so they don't feel sick. They are trapped. Proper education of both the parents and the kids is paramount. Do not sugar coat this. They have to know how dangerous it is. This could happen to anyones kids.

I'm glad to see there are so many people who acknowledge the harm caused by the War on Drugs. Recognizing these truths is not the equivalent of condoning drug use, and does not preclude teaching our children the dangers involved in using them. But it's wrong to accept the War on Drugs as something beneficial simply because you're opposed to drug use, when there is so much evidence that drug prohibition has been a disastrous policy for this country, has devastated our inner cities, has packed our prisons with nonviolent offenders and has led to increased use of stronger, more dangerous and less pure drugs. End the madness!

The major drugs in the world — alcohol, cocaine, morphine (heroin), and cannabis — are valuable medicines which have served mankind for thousands of years. Medicinal plants and extracts are also the safest drugs. Preparations of coca, opium, cannabis, and alcohol have been safely produced and consumed for centuries. These much-valued herbal medicines also have religeous, ceremonial, and recreational uses. They belong in every home and medicine kit unless the homeowner chooses otherwise.

The reasons why medicinal plants and extracts are illegal are money and power. They are illegal because they can be produced and sold for pennies by peasant farmers and poor people. On a level field, Big Pharma (The Government Drug Cartel)cannot compete with peasant farmers.

In a free market, the cost of basic drugs would be pennies. If given a choice, people would choose safe, effective, and inexpensive natural drugs over the expensive and often dangerous synthetics that they are currently being forced to buy. If freedom is restored, Big Pharma would would lose several hundred billon dollars in sales every year. Likewise, law enforcement would lose a similar amount because they would no longer be allowed to assault, rob, and arrest millions of peaceful people or kill those who resist. Likewise, they would no longer be authorized to murder peasant farmers or poison their land, livestock, and families. In addition to all these crimes that are currently being committed in the name of the law, the drug war steals a half trillion dollars every year from taxpayers and consumers . It is the largest armed robbery in history.

Accidental drug overdoses are the predictable consequence of all the adulterated, improperly labeled, and improperly manufactured drugs produced by the current illegalization war. Legalized, pure drugs packaged in safe doses are 100% safe. It is impossible to accidently overdose on properly labeled drugs that are packaged in safe doses just like it is impossible to accidently jump off a tall bridge.

Products such as "Meth" and "Crack" are the results of drug Prohibition just like alcohol Prohibition produced "bathtub gin" and "white lightning". Prohibition wars produce more concentrated, potent, and dangerous subtances because they are easier to conceal from the authorities. Concentrated, potent intoxicants take up less space. Everyone who supports drug Prohibition is personally responsible for all the harm that has been associated with these drugs just like they are personally responsible for all the harm associated with adulterated and improperly labeled drugs produced by their violent interference into the free market. They are personally responsible because they use employ armies of guns and widespread violence in order to prevent their fellow humans from buying safe drugs packaged in safe doses.

The biggest danger to young people and everyone else is to murdered, assaulted, robbed, and/or arrested by the armies of government and private thugs who have been produced by the current Prohibition war which is, in fact, a war mainly against the young and poor.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wilmington-Substance-Abuse-Coalition/296593140463929?fref=ts