Here’s how to clean up drug problem

Pick up that empty coffee container along your street.
It just might help eliminate Canonsburg’s drug problem. Let me explain.
Like virtually every community in Washington County, Canonsburg has been experiencing an increase in drug-related issues in recent years. The issue is compounded by the facts that Canonsburg is just off a major interchange and that is has relatively inexpensive rentals.
In other words, it’s a perfect extended layover for drug traffickers, as well as an easy-to-locate pickup area for clients. Just scan daily police reports published in local papers – many of those arrested for buying or selling drugs in the borough are not long-time Canonsburg residents. Some, in fact, are from other states. In this instance, “location, location, location” is not a good thing for Canonsburg’s fine citizens.
Our police department is going over and above in doing its part to deal with drug crimes. But you can do your part as well. It starts with picking up that aforementioned coffee container.
Drug trafficking is a business. And like all businesses, it seeks location and low overhead. When scouting for temporary rentals, drug dealers often look for easy access in perceived rundown neighborhoods, where rent is cheap – or free – and they can come and go undetected. It’s a major reason communities have accelerated efforts to eliminate abandoned housing.
Eliminating low rentals isn’t as easy, and it’s also not necessary, as it negatively affects residents with limited income. Yet there is a relatively simple way to give the appearance that one does not reside in a low-rental neighborhood. In one word, it’s just that – appearance.
Certainly, a fresh coat of paint or new landscaping is preferable, but if funds don’t permit that upgrade, landlords or homeowners can simply – in Western Pennsylvania terms – redd up the yard.
It’s time consuming, perhaps, but it’s not expensive. Tear out dead shrubs, cut the grass, pick up the trash. First and foremost, it’s personal and community pride. But it also has a proven positive effect on convincing drug dealers to take their business elsewhere.
This is the time of year when Canonsburg annually garners local and national spotlight with its famed Fourth of July celebration. It’s always preferable, of course, to show off the borough in its Sunday best with neat, clean yards and homes.
But it also sends a clear message to drug dealers – “Not in my neighborhood.”