Paterra appeared at the commissioners meeting Thursday to question why they hadn't convened a meeting to plan an attack on drugs. He also told them they should "make a proclamation to declare war on drugs."

The problem with drugs isn't that there aren't enough meetings on the subject or that some branch of local government hasn't condemned their use. It's that there's a ready market for them on the streets of probably every community in Washington County, and an army of sales people, many from outside the area, is anxious to supply it for a profit. Paterra's Charleroi is most likely no better or no worse than the rest. An award-winning news series in our paper last year, "Havoc on the Hill," dealt with serious problems with drugs and shootings in one neighborhood in the city of Washington.

Drug dealers don't worry about political proclamations, and we

wouldn't expect them to even be aware if the commissioners issued one. As for the meeting Paterra wants the county to convene, we can't imagine what that would accomplish.

The county does run a drug task force, but it operates out of the District Attorney's office. DA Steve Toprani has beefed up its membership since taking office in January, and he recently requested, and the commissioners granted, a raise for its members to $15 per hour. Most of the money for the task force comes from the state and the rest through forfeitures of cash and property from the suspects.

There is, of course, no pro-drug lobby in county government. Like most of the citizenry, the commissioners would unquestionably be very happy to see the drug problem go away. But they have their own duties to attend to. They can't go to work as police officers, and suggesting they could wipe out the drug trade by doing some cheerleading is awfully naive.

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