we left last night and on the way to good old walmart and passed a neighbors house, there must have ben5 cop cars there. we kept going and while shopping 2 families came up to us and asked about all the cops and dogs and hellicopter around our house. we got in the car and made record time home!turns out the folks down the street maybe big time drug dealers!! alot of bags were removed and the fields searched!

i would not even know these folks if i ran into them, very quite not alot of company, just so happens a few kids were kicked out of highschool the first day for drugs,yesterday. i wondr if these folks were involved? kinda scarey not knowing your neighbors!

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), September 07, 2000

Answers

yikes...that is amazing...I pray God will send a mighty angel to watch over you and yours!!!

-- Beth Weber (talmidim88@hotmail.com), September 07, 2000.

I know how you feel! We have several drug dealers in the neighborhood. One woman with a steady stream of men supporting her little business. And several who regularly abuse/neglect their children since they are too wasted to know whats going on. I hate having neighbors! Can't wait until we can live in the country somewhere. Hope things quiet down for you

-- Kathleen (krob777@msn.com), September 07, 2000.

Kathleen, sometimes moving to the country is not much better. I live pretty far out and our nearest neighbors sound just like yours!! Their yards look (literally!) like the town dump/junkyard and, as you said, some of their kids are neglected and dirty. I think these kind of people are just everywhere unfortunately.

-- Lisa (tepeeclan@nidlink.com), September 07, 2000.

I live 60 miles from the nearest WalMart, 12 miles from the nearest small town. I can assure you drug dealers and drug users are everywhere. Way out in the country is ideal for meth labs and plantations.

The one advantage we have is that if you don't know them personally, you certainly know them by reputation.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), September 08, 2000.

Illegal drugs are like porn. That is hugh demand and the profits are very, very lucerative. Say someone plants an acre of corn. With cooperative weather and a good market several hundred dollars can be made. Someone can also grow a single marajuana plant with a street value of about $1,000.

If there is a Crime Stoppers in your area use it if you suspect illegal activity. I am involved with the one locally and can confirm it goes out of its way to not know who the tipster is. Each tip is assigned a number. They can call back to the local police station for the status of their tip (no caller ID used). When a reward is approved they are told they can pick it up in cash at the drive-thru teller at a local bank by just telling the clerk the number. They then hand over a sealed envelope. One give-a-way is a high volume of traffic in and out of a residence.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 08, 2000.

Hey now! What's this picking on people who grow a little pot? Ever since I moved to eastern KY in the mid-70s, marijuana has proved to be the single most important cash crop that I have. I can grow a few plants deep in the woods where they are not too visible to the local police, and come time to sell I make more profit from 5 plants that I can ever make from the truck garden in the summer and my pottery that I sell at art fairs in the fall/winter. In fact, the drug production subsidizes those very worthwhile activities.

I think that something like 75% of the US population regularly smokes weed, which unlike Special K or Crystal Meth, or coke, or heroine, or any number of other hard drugs, is not addictive, does not contribute to the spread of blook-borne diseases (ie. HIV), and is really no different from drinking alcohol in its effects on the body (but you can't get addicted to pot the way you can alcohol.)

Give me a break.

- Lance

-- Lance Genet (lancegenet@yahoo.com), September 11, 2000.

Lance , sorry to disagree but pot is harmfull just like tobacco . I also disagree that it is not habit forming .Well then lets see its illegal and if found harvesting it you could loose your property , children , job 'real ones that is ' and if you transport it your car .Then when you sell it they can get you for drug trafficing .I guess that would be so bad if you wanted to be butch's girlfriend in cell block 8.

Give me a break!

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), September 11, 2000.

Lance:

Your posting was probably intended to be tongue-in-cheek, but I'll take it at face value. I do hope you don't live in Texas. I don't know what the threshold is, but if you are convicted as a commercial grower (as your post implies), it is an automatic life sentense. After a couple of years 'Ole Butch' may start to look rather attractive.

The feds are backing off on seizure, but it is still a definite possibility if convicted. Plus, if someone snitches on you, they can receive 10% of the value of assets seized.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 12, 2000.

For anyone interested, there's a group at cashforbirthcontrol.com that offers hardcore, multi-year drug addicts $200 in exchange for getting them either sterilized or at least on long-term birth control that they can't forget, like Depo Provera. Do they use the money for durgs? Sure, probably, but they were going to end up with the money somehow. Isn't that an awfully big/permanent decision to be made by someone who's not in their right mind. Yes, and children aren't? At least it cuts down on the number of drug addicted and/or abused/neglected children born to these people. Most addicts see these children (if the children are lucky) as annoyances that cut into their drug money and time. If the children are not so lucky, the addict realizes that he/she is capable of producing an indefinate supply of a high-dollar black market commodity. Think about it.

If the addict later cleans up and wishes to have a family, they can always adopt or foster, or if they or their insurance can afford it, go with in vitro fertilization. Sterilization doesn't interfere with egg/sperm development, although prolonged drug abuse does, causing birth defects which, of course, the addict is unlikely to be able to deal with competently.

No, it's not an ideal idea. But neither is a crack whore with 6 kids and a "boyfriend" with an entreprenurial mind trying to make up for the money she's lost giving birth. To my mind, it's a needed program whose time has unfortunately come, and whom all hope will soon go.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 12, 2000.