UPHOLDING A PLEDGE TO FIGHT THE WAR ON DRUGS

When Jimmy Thornton took office three years ago, one of the things he
pledged to the people of Sampson County was an all-out effort to
reduce the drug traffic in Sampson County.

Clearly, Thornton and his team of officers have worked diligently to
uphold that pledge. Countless raids have been conducted, hundreds of
thousands of dollars of cocaine, marijuana and meth has been taken
off the streets and thousands more dollars have been seized along
with weapons and an assortment of drug paraphernalia.

What's more, dozens of suspected drug dealers have been taken off the
streets, if only for a short while, forcing them to either halt their
operations or change their mode of moving illegal substances for the
short haul if not the long one.

The significance of what Thornton and his officers are doing should
not escape anyone. When, as it was early Friday morning, over
$200,000 worth of marijuana is taken off the streets, it means that
is less of the illegal substance that is available for your son or
daughter, your husband or wife, your friend or neighbor to consume or sell.

No one argues that for every drug dealer you take off the street, two
more are in line to take his or her place. And, no one argues that as
long as their is a demand for an illegal substance, someone will be
there to fill the order, it is obvious that we're making a dent.

Just as obviously, and particularly disturbing, is how much
marijuana, meth, crack and cocaine there is being circulated through
our county and distributed.

Having law enforcement officers who diligently work to aggravate the
trade and slowing it down, does make a huge difference.

The work they do is extremely dangerous, painstakingly slow and often
fails to uncover all that investigators and drug officers would like to dig up.

But what they do uncover has made a dent.

No we've won the war on drugs in Sampson County. Far from it. But,
we're showing drug dealers and users that we are looking under every
rock to turn up illegal activity. And, what's more, when we find
something under those rocks, we aren't turning away; we're plunging
head-on, making arrests, seizing cash, weapons and drugs and
upsetting a trade that has, unfortunately, become a tremendous
business in our county.

Thornton's pledge was made because he knew, before even becoming
sheriff, that we had a serious drug problem in Sampson County, one
that couldn't be ignored.

He's not ignored it. He's taken his pledge seriously, as have all of
his officers, and they are doing something about it.

Like our neighbors in Duplin County, who have similar problems and a
sheriff with the same kind of dedication to ridding his county of
illegal drug activity, we are making a dent.

Every time we hack away at the problem, we can see a difference.
Slight though it may be, it's a difference all the same, and it's a
positive one.

We can't ask for more than that ... other than, perhaps, that once
law enforcement do the job of arresting suspected drug dealers that
our justice system mete out a proper punishment.