BRATTLEBORO-I commend all those who attended the recent Selectboard meetings to address the plight of Brattleboro's downtown.
And kudos to Susan Bellville for pointing out that Brattleboro cannot "ticket" its way out of an increasingly desperate situation by only addressing the symptoms of a deepening crisis of crime and addiction in our community. Nor will blaming public officials, our police force, or society at large stem this rising tide.
As in any problem, the root cause must be addressed for a solution.
Clearly, the basis of Brattleboro's crisis is illegal, highly addictive drugs and the malevolent career criminals - drug dealers - who ruthlessly victimize vulnerable people of all ages, hollowing out already-fragile lives to systematically create a hostage population of hopeless and traumatized addicts within our community, all for the sake of profit.
In this scenario, there are only victims - both the addicted and the community at large - so long as the erstwhile victors, the drug dealers and their criminal networks, remain at large.
We ignore this merciless crime against humanity, unfolding in our midst, at our peril.
The drug cartels at the root of Brattleboro's crisis are not a local problem. They are an interstate crime wave requiring the prolonged intervention of state and federal authorities to eradicate the roots of this cruel plague of addiction on our community.
M. Smith
Brattleboro
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at [email protected].