{"id":221,"date":"1969-03-23T18:07:55","date_gmt":"1969-03-24T01:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=221"},"modified":"2015-01-14T11:26:25","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:26:25","slug":"drug-abuse-problem-in-vuiiey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":"Drug Abuse Problem in Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>Evidence continues to mount\u00a0that we in Utah\u00a0Valley – like other areas of the state and nation – have\u00a0a serious\u00a0drug abuse\u00a0problem.<\/p>\n

It’s a problem\u00a0that can\u00a0neither be swept under\u00a0the rug\u00a0nor solved simply and quickly. Definitely it can’t be left strictly\u00a0up to the law enforcement officers. These men\u00a0are trying, but they\u00a0need your support.<\/p>\n

They need your support in backing up the law as a good citizen should\u00a0– and that means willingness to expose persons who sell dope or other-wise break the law and to testify in court.<\/p>\n

It means, too, putting our own house in order. As with so many things, obedience to law begins in the home.<\/p>\n

Testimony both of the existence of the drug problem and of the crying need for better community support of police efforts\u00a0appears in a letter to the editor on this page. It was written by Richard L. Maxfield, the district attorney of the Fourth Judicial District. When a district attorney is moved to call to public attention (1) the rise in illegal use of drugs and (2) pathetic public support for the officers trying in do something about it, you can be assured we have a problem we’d better tackle with more vigor\u00a0than has been demonstrated thus\u00a0far.<\/p>\n

We can no longer say: “Why don’t\u00a0the police do\u00a0something about it?” The job extends far beyond\u00a0the specific borders\u00a0of police work.<\/p>\n

We do\u00a0not wish\u00a0in portray\u00a0the problem as being worse\u00a0than it actually is. We emphasize at we have frequently done, that we have faith in our young people, the great majority of whom are law-abiding. The violators are a relatively small minority.<\/p>\n

But you can’t ignore such evidence\u00a0as:<\/p>\n

-The district attorney’s disclosure (quoting a police officer) of alleged widespread involvement of students in sale and use of drugs.<\/p>\n

-Rep. Laurence L. Burton’s information\u00a0from the FBI that nearly\u00a0every community in Utah has its illegal drug traffic and “every high school and college has a narcotics\u00a0problem.”<\/p>\n

-The report of Dr. Glen Brown, assistant director of the Utah State Hospital Youth Center in Provo that there is a 20 percent increase in young patients admitted because of drug problems.<\/p>\n

Rep. Burton said one report reaching his office showed that 15 percent of all the high school students in Utah have, at one time, tried dope. Drug arrests are up 700 percent in the nation, he reported.<\/p>\n

Within a few days Rep. Burton plans to join several colleagues in\u00a0introducing the “Drug Abuse Education Act of 1969,” a comprehensive measure to help parents, students, and community officials learn\u00a0more about dangerous drugs\u00a0and the effect of their use.<\/p>\n

This is commendable. Legislation can help. But at best it is only a partial answer. Individual recognition of the problem and its dangers, application of a strong effort in obeying and enforcing the law, and sincere attempts both to prevent violations and to punish and rehabilitate violators are primary steps.<\/p>\n

Parents must be more concerned; schools must maintain tough rules and enforce them; citizens in general must recognize their duty in cooperate with the law and not pink-step the obligation to “get involved.”<\/p>\n

In San Clemente, Calif., a police chief upheld the law and had fellow officers arrest his own son for possession of heroin and marijuana. This was a tough decision for the chief, but to him there was only one honest course and that was to carry out the law no matter who was involved. We need more people with that kind of devotion.<\/p>\n

The drug abuse problem will not go away by itself. Now is the time for a total effort to control it. As Mr. Maxfield suggests, we’d better conquer it now before it devastates our society.<\/p>\n

Inflation’s Treadmill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guest “editorial” from a newsletter published by the investment firm of Goodbody and C0.;<\/p>\n

“From 1965 to 1968, gross weekly earnings in manufacturing rose nearly 14 per cent, to $122.50, with about half the increase\u00a0occurring in 1968\u00a0alone. Higher Social Security taxes and the surtax, however, held the gain in average take-home pay for the manufacturing worker with three dependents to\u00a010.3 percent. The consumer price index during the same period rose by 10 per cent, thus leaving a three-year gain in purchasing power of only 26\u00a2 a week.”<\/p>\n

That, in case\u00a0you were wondering\u00a0is what is known as inflation – or running as fast as you can to stay in the same place.<\/p>\n

The average worker was actually better off in 1962 through 1965, the newsletter points out. A more stable price level enabled him to realize an annual average increase of more than $2 a week in his purchasing power during those years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evidence continues to mount\u00a0that we in Utah\u00a0Valley – like other areas of the state and nation – have\u00a0a serious\u00a0drug abuse\u00a0problem. It’s a problem\u00a0that can\u00a0neither be swept under\u00a0the rug\u00a0nor solved simply and quickly. Definitely it can’t be left strictly\u00a0up to the law enforcement officers. These men\u00a0are trying, but they\u00a0need your support. They need your support in… Continue reading Drug Abuse Problem in Valley<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,25,60,39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1869,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gashler.com\/nlc\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}