Three Springfield VT men are facing multiple counts of drug charges after separate arrests on March 31.
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Springfield VT Men Arrested on Heroin Charges
Three Springfield VT men are facing multiple counts of drug charges after separate arrests on Marchspringfielddrugbustapril 31. Police say Eddie Cruz was arrested after police obtained a search warrant for Cruz’s 1 Elm Hill residence. Police seized a large quantity of heroin, other drugs and firearms that were allegedly owned by Cruz. Cruz was later taken into custody for the alleged offenses of Trafficking Heroin, Possession of Cocaine, and Possession of Regulated drugs.
Thomas Daniels was arrested and charged with possession of heroin after Springfield Police witnessed an alleged drug transaction and found Daniels in possession of suspected heroin.
Also arrested was Keith Destromp who allegedly had an extraditable warrant out of Florida. Destromp was also allegedly in possession of heroin. Destromp was lodged at Southern State Correctional Facility.
I made this observation when I heard on the news last week that 80+ pounds of heroin was found in South Londonderry, in connection with Guatemala. The observation is that Vermont is a hub for the surrounding states. Cars with license plates from New Jersey, New York, Conn, Mass, RI,NH are here in droves. Great cover up. No one notices anything out of the ordinary. A Vermont license plate in Holyoke MA at midnight on the other hand stands out like a sore thumb. The top drug dealers know that Vermont is the place to do business (as a hub for the North East) since they can hide in plain sight. There seem to be more out of state cars on the roads than Vermont cars. Out of state cars, especially at the ski areas, come an go unnoticed. We got more than we wanted being a Tourist state.
ReplyDeleteWell done police officers!!! Thanks for all you do.
ReplyDeleteLegalize it! Control the production (no more deaths from additives like fentanyl), distribution (liquor store clerks don't make more money if they hook kids on alcohol) and marketing (ditto with advertising). The price drops to the point where dealers can't make a nice living-- or any living-- on a black market, and they and the gangs move on to other rackets. When Portugal legalized drugs, usage rates went down, not up, although there was a temporary spike in marijuana use among teens.
ReplyDeleteSince heroin addiction rates in Vermont are minuscule compared to alcohol rates but a lot more expensive than alcoholism in terms of social and law enforcement costs, legalizing it and diverting into prevention and therapy will reduce crime and reduce law enforcement costs tremendously.
Legalization may reduce certain numbers, but will it reduce what's wrong? I doubt it; the problems associated with drug abuse would only seem to disappear, i.e., from media reporting. However, any alternative fixes I might imagine are indeed more expensive. I'm tempted to say the current system, bad on all sides, is about the best we can do.
DeleteThe first thing it will reduce is the violence that results from the lure of profits alleged to be made (actually, the Freakonomics guys pointed out that at the street level, it's more profitable to hold an honest job). It's what happened when we finally ended Prohibition. We eliminate the burglaries, prostitution and robberies committed by addicts who are now paying $500 a day for a habit that, if legal, would cost them as much as a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit; we'd have the pushers and dealers move into something else because they could not possibly live on reduced profits unless they did a Wal-Mart sized business. And of course the gun violence would disappear with them, as well as the international smuggling.
DeleteThe other part of the problem-- getting addicted in the first place-- will continue to be there, but it requires attention to the individual and his/her environment. A man without a positive male role model and/or without significant (to him) job or life's work will find it alluring to escape into substance abuse; there are also people who are genetically susceptible to it, and there are those who will function as parents, workers and partners despite an addiction (which is where about 80% of alcoholics are).
We can divert half the money used at present in drug enforcement (detection, prosecution, imprisonment and so forth) for education, prevention and rehabilitation and have a heft amount left to return to taxpayers.
The legalization experience in Portugal shows that abuse does not go up; it actually went down. I haven't researched what the posited reasons are, but will share any information I come across. Read this month's Harper's (in the library) article, "Legalize it All," by David Baum, the reporter who found out the War on Drugs was started simply to neutralize Nixon's anti-war and black opposition. John Ehrlichmann spilled the beans to him quite openly.
Chuck, if heroin were to be openly available with no penalty for use, please explain how these addicts would fund their addiction? Also, since such an addiction precludes employment and has significant heath complications who picks up the tab for their healthcare?
DeleteAwhile back someone posed the question to you of the impact of bath salts when still legal. Yet you blew them off with a non answer. Question stands Chuck, how well did bath salts work out in our community when as openly available as you wish to see heroin? Before answering may want to speak first hand to SFD ambulance crew and hospital ED staff.
Like alcohol and tobacco (well, not tobacco so much because of the lack of oversight on additives), if heroin is legalized, it has to be with three things: 1) Regulated production-- From the afghan poppy fields to the packager, the product is checked for purity and quantity-- just as we keep an eye out for Jack Daniels employees smuggling fifths out of Gatlinburg. 2) Distribution-- it's sold in state-controlled retail outlets at a reasonable price-- a habit that is now $500 a day would easily be reduced to the price of a two-pack a day cigarette habit, which virtually every nicotine addict can afford. Employees of the outlet, paid what retail clerks get, would not make more by selling more, unlike the pushers' motivation. Furthermore, the state would not allow advertising to let the retail outlets increase profits by creating addicts. 3) Prevention education and treatment efforts-- with the cost of our failed War on Drugs eliminated, if only half of that money went into prevention and treatment, it would provide a system that would be the envy of the world.
DeleteBath salts: 1) We had a problem with bath salts when they were legal because everything else was illegal. Now we have the same problems with them that we have with the other illegal substances. 2) There will be stupid addicts. I find it hard to believe that anyone would want to mess with legalized crystal meth because it will kill them, but somebody's going to be at the shallow end of the gene pool.
On the other hand, the complete legalization of drugs in Portugal has resulted in a LOWERING of addiction rates, including a spike among teens which disappeared (presumably after they found out it wasn't as exciting as they thought).
Please read "Legalize it All" in this month's Harper's. Let me know your reaction.
Chuck what a joke you are!
DeleteI knew it was a drug house when I saw Holton, in front of it
ReplyDelete"but somebody's going to be at the shallow end of the gene pool." Well...now you will have plenty of company.....
ReplyDelete