Another Pittston Drug Bust Nets 33 More Arrests; Is NEPA Losing the "War on Drugs?" (Scranton: lawyer)

[ScranBarre]

I must say that it's sad that my hometown of Pittston, with a population of just 7,500, has just had yet another major drug bust with 33 criminals apprehended in "Operation Hometown." The suspects, who were not affilliated with each other in a single organized ring, were dealing heroin and cocaine.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett was quoted in the Scranton Times-Tribune as saying "Like many Pennsylvania towns, an influx of drugs and drug-related activity can cause serious quality of life issues for residents. This investigation targeted the problem head-on, and we have successfully put a significant dent in the Pittston drug trade."

Take a drive through Pittston and it's blatantly obvious that drugs have overrun Tomato Town. What used to be a gorgeous hub of 21,000 residents, anchored by a movie theater, JCPenney, Woolworth's, etc. is now collapsing in on itself. Most of my 2005 graduating class from Pittston Area has either left Pittston or plans to do so shortly, including myself. Entire neighborhoods are deteriorating. Many homes are absolutely disgusting. While most of the "old" homes in Scranton, West Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Forty Fort, and many other local communities may be characterized as "quaint," most of those in Pittston are advertised by local realtors as needing "TLC." I've posted photos of the deteriorated conditions of Pittston on here in the past, and they likely dropped many jaws for sure for those who hadn't been here in a number of years.

What, if anything, can Pittston and NEPA in general do to eradicate the drug trade from strangling its economic vitality? Drugs are everywhere---I'm posting this major drug bust on the heels of posting another story about major drug issues plaguing the relatively affluent Abington Heights area. Obviously local law enforcement officials are doing their jobs in apprehending these people, but others just jump in to fill their void.

In order to "shame" those involved, I have decided to post a list of those arrested in Pittston, as referenced by the same newspaper article:

Aptiliasimov, Adam
Aptiliasimov, Layla
Aptiliasimov, Seid Fikri
Azarovich, Michael
Bernoskie, Dave
Brown, Lamar
Catalano, John
Cavill, Lisa
Cromer, Kenneth
Daniels, Jean M.
Grasso, Andrew
Hastie, Trevor
Jedrick, John
Lydie, Richard
Lyons, Dawn
McNulty, Marla
Miller, Robert A.
Musto, John
Naylor, Kevin
O'Neill, Colton
O'Neill, Harry
Paglianite, Gina
Polzer, Carl
Serplus, Katherine J.
Snead, Warren
Spiccioli, Lewis
Switzer, Theadore
Thomas, Tionne
Williams, Alan
...in addition to three juveniles and one unidentified suspect.

Mugshots: http://scrantontimestribune.com/projects/hometown.pdf

What should we do?

[loveinbloom]

Not to sound like an arse...but are you surprised Nepa is on the losing end of the "war" on drugs? The country as a whole has be wagging this expensive "war" for two decades at least with no signs of even getting a foot hold on the problem.

[FightinPhils]

My solution is death penalty for drug dealers, and no penalty for users. Dry up the supply and the demand will go away. Stop jailing people for using, but make drug rehab mandatory. And take these dealers and hang them from the nearest tree. Then these scumbags might think twice before deciding on a career in "street pharmaceutical sales."

[weluvpa]

The war on drugs has been lost on a national level so why would you assume that we have the resources or the ability to fight it here and win.

The local PD's are to busy violating the rights of the law abiding citizens.

[memoriesbre]

Did you see how some of those people that got arrested were smiling in their mug shot photo? What a joke... these people need to be taught a lesson. If we were harder on criminals then maybe we wouldn't have these problems.

[MermanMike]

It is nice to see so many replies I resonate with...I think the war on drugs is seriously misguided...it is bloating our prisons and over-burdening our law enforcement. I think we should call the whole thing off and allow each person to take responsibility for their life and safety...I think we'd all be surprised at how quickly a lot of our social problems would crumble and fall away once the government stopped trying to control everyone.

[SifuPhil]

Agree totally with weluvpa and mermanmike - that war was lost a long, long time ago.

But it DOES offer some lucrative funding for enforcement agencies and the riff-raff (lawyers, clerks, etc.) associated with it.

Make it all legal - hell, GIVE it away. Evolution will take care of the rest.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by SifuPhil

Make it all legal - hell, GIVE it away. Evolution will take care of the rest.

Like Denis Leary once said...the solution is not less drugs, but MORE drugs, and give them to the right #$@% people!

Natural selection.....

[CosmicWizard]

ScranBarre wrote:

Another Pittston Drug Bust Nets 33 More Arrests; Is NEPA Losing the "War on Drugs?"

IMO, a war of any kind can NEVER be won. WAR is a complete waste of human energy. It's an old concept that has absolutely no benefit to mankind whatsoever.

[SifuPhil]

Originally Posted by MrKrabs

Like Denis Leary once said...the solution is not less drugs, but MORE drugs, and give them to the right #$@% people!

Natural selection.....

Heh - didn't know he'd said that - cool!