ABUSE

Just As They've Saturated Cites, Drugs Have Permeated Hills

While it hardly rates as comforting, word that police are backing away from
a random sniper theory in the Charleston-area shootings makes the general
population breathe a bit easier.

Not much easier, mind you; just a bit.

Police now believe the two victims of the Aug. 14 shootings were targeted.

"We can't eliminate the possibility of a sniper, but it appears like it is
drug related," Kanawha County Chief Deputy Phil Morris said Wednesday. "I
believe it's one shooter, one weapon, two victims. Possibly three."

What is also very disturbing is the inescapable fact that crime in the
Mountain State is tied, in large part, to drugs.

West Virginians boast about a crime rate that's among the nation's lowest.
Last October, in fact, the FBI reported that the number of crimes in West
Virginia dropped between 2000 and 2001, from 47,067 to 46,120.

But drugs have permeated our hills and hollows, just as they've saturated
the cities.

Drug abuse costs the nation nearly $110 billion a year. Illicit drug abuse
contributes to many social ills plaguing society, including violent crime.

No good thing can come from it.