Bob Alberti wrote:
The problem needs a multipronged approach, between prevention, intervention, and law enforcement.
WM: And treatment.
WM: But only under certain conditions. Not all kids raised in poverty are into gangs or drugs. Something else is happening.We need to acknowledge that poverty breeds drug involvement as youth are drawn to the quick buck of drug dealing.
WM: And suburban dealers. In the suburbs drug dealing is handled often through "parties." Everybody who is invited to the party buys his/her drugs at the party. Nothing so tacky as street corner dealing. Unless the party gets out of hand, no one is the wiser that the drugs were marketed through a party.We need to admit that the buyers of drugs include both urban and suburban consumers, and be ready to target suburban consumers.
We need to focus on early intervention in neglectful households.WM: The Rolling 30s Bloods, one of the two gangs whose interaction killed Tyesha Edwards, is a family, inter generational gang. For at least three generations one very large clan has been so incredibly dysfunctional that they program each new generation into the mentality of their gang. One branch of the Rolling 30s lives on my block. It is awful the way these folks treat themselves, each other, and their children, their house, their cars, kids toys, everything. It's as though they have no self respect therefore cannot respect each other. It's really painful to watch. And aggravating.
We need to create jobs programs to offer youth a reasonable alternative toWM: We also need to inculcate in children that a job is a thing that they, too, can have. They don't know how to get a job, keep a job, act on a job. Their posture is defensive at all times.
the fast money offered by drugs.
WM: By the time the kids down the block reach the age where they can get a job--14--they are already unable to collect themselves to approach job as a notion.Most sensible people, including potential gang members, are risk averse: a decent job with no risk of trouble can be a strong incentive against fast bucks and high risk.
We need to consider decriminalization of drugs, with proceeds from clean, safe drugs DEDICATED to programs to prevent and counter addiction, the spread of disease, and the welfare of families. It would be wise if alcohol were included in this program.
WM: And cigarettes.
We need to aggressively enforce existing laws against suspected gang membersWM: I'm no longer sure that aggressively enforcing laws against drugs, as we now practice it, is worth diddley.
and drug dealers.
Insofar as drugs are presently criminalized, we need toWM: The Rolling 30s gang members have lived in this neighborhood for four or five generations. There are lots of them. "Rolling 30s" indicates people born and raised South of Lake St. How does the law, the custom, the whatever protect us against neighbors from hell?
protect neighborhoods from the kind of resulting gang violence that killed
Tyesha Edwards.
WM: I'd like to think this would work. But there is more to it than that. Because we've tried all those things and have proven ourselves to be ineffective. There are toxic families and the Rolling 30s, at least, was created out of a toxic clan.The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. By looking at the decriminalization of drugs, by actually addressing poverty, by refusing to tolerate the neglect of our children, then possibly we can stop the insanity of our present drug culture.
WizardMarks, Central
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