+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I see lots of email traffic about arresting drug dealers…interrupting drug supply…. and I’m fine with that, but we need to understand that drugs is like any other market, as long as demand exists there will always be someone there to respond to that demand. Once demand for drugs is curbed in our community, then the drug dealers will no longer find the place interesting for business and they’ll move on. Once the hassle of doing business in Bloomingdale exceeds the profit, they won’t care about sticking around…it’s an opportunity cost …they could be making more money elsewhere.
I think that demand inside our neighborhood is probably waning among the general population. I may be wrong, but I think there is lower demand for drugs (at least the hard core drugs) than in the past. But two sources of demand remain…one is traffic that is coming in from outside our community via North Capitol-- the users from the burbs who make quick trips into the city’s open air markets to make rapid purchases from their cars and then use North Capitol to make a quick exit. The other is the nearby Universities (Catholic, Howard, Trinity)….there will always be some low level of demand rom young people at these Universities who live in our areas that will continue to fuel the drug trade here. We need to figure out what to do about two significant sources of demand…as well as addressing the local demand among our general population. As long as there is money to be made and market to be had, there will remain drug dealers in our centrally located community to service that market. That’s just the simple economics of it.
And let’s review what the rules are for posting comments:
1) Identify yourself. A full name would be best, but at least include a first name.
2) Identify your neighborhood.
3) Totally anonymous posts will not be allowed and be deleted, regardless of the content of the comment.
BOTH name and neighborhood name are required! Thanks for honoring the rules
4 comments:
Well a clientele that you left out is and will always be those "normal" 9-5, wife maybe kids good citizens who smoke there pot in the privacy of there own home or take an occasional bump at a friends party on 1st street. These are the reliable clients, who spend the big bucks and keep the dealers around. It's easy to blame the people you always see grabbing a dime in the ally or a few college kids, but don't forget about your happy go lucky neighbors you see at the sunday market or in Big Bear hell Maybe it's you....
George (the guy who knows from experience)
North Capitol
College kids and 9 to 5'ers are a lot less likely to use street markets when they can buy from their friends, acquaintances, and the house dealer at the party. Why go out in the cold when you can cop in the dorm or at the club?
Eli
Lincoln Rd
First, I love Scott Roberts and the yeoman's service he provides to Bloomingdale. But, it is odd that the rules for this blog are routinely ignored in Scott's listserv offerings where Scott can trumpet the views of CM Thomas and Robert Brannum, and then ignore any comments contrary to the views he supports.
He also routinely allows unnamed friends to personally attack their neighbors. (Don't people leave polite notes for each other any more?)
I think this anonymous note is especially nasty:
From a Flagler Place NW resident regarding a public alley space at Flagler and W St NW: "The trash in the alley must stop. If you overload the super-bins, it will not be picked up. It will just stay there forever. Please don't do it. This really makes me angry. Also whomever has left the chair there for 2 months - you are very rude! It is obvious they are not going to pick it up w/o a special pick up. Please call for one and take the chair back to your house until they come."
This note reveals her scattered mind and bad grammar. Sounds like a DC politician to me.
A First Street Resident
george,
i agree. the demand comes from people with money. and comments like Eli's, shows a complete disregard and almost apologetic approach to drug usage and acquisition. i once thought like eli, and used drugs fairly regularly without a true understanding of the impact it had. if people want to do something, they simply make excuses why the way they are doing it is okay.
i'm in favor of decriminalizing most drugs and altogether legalizing some. but until then every single usage and tolerance of that usage adds to the demand of the market and drains resources from our community and trickles down to become a hardship for the poor. this adds to the violence on our streets.
peace
chris in bloomingdale
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