No spike in treatment after Tuesday drug bust
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By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: June 19, 2009
Two days after a drug sweep by federal and local authorities through Rutland County and over the border into New York netted more than $13,000 in cocaine, two handguns and nine suspected distributors, there was no indication that substance abuse treatment centers in the Rutland area were seeing more people in need of help from drug withdrawals or substance abuse problems.
The 24 beds at Wallingford's Serenity House are as full as they normally are, according to Mary Ellen O'Brien, chief executive officer for Recovery House, Inc.
Rutland Regional Medical Center isn't treating a "more than usual" amount of substance abuse patients, according to Spokesman Joe Stuhlmueller.
Police and community activists did say Thursday, however, that drug busts such as the one on Tuesday do help ease the problem of drug using and dealing.
But it's only temporary.
It's likely there will be other people to fill the orders for illegal narcotics that those arrested can't, according to Lt. Kevin Geno of the Rutland City Police Department.
"When you've got a demand there is always going to be a problem," Geno said. "We bring in federal and state help when we can and we do what we can at the local level."
Tuesday's sweep by U.S Marshals, the federal Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms and Drug Enforcement Agency, and state, local and county law enforcement officials resulted in three suspects pleading innocent in U.S. District Court Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they helped traffic cocaine and guns.
Eight out of the nine suspects rounded up by police were 24 or younger, leading Lynn Walsh to believe increasing drug prevention programs and substance abuse education in schools and out will help.
Walsh is the executive director of Rutland's United Neighborhoods Community Justice Center.
"The bust was a really big part of following through with all the leads they (law enforcement officials) picked up here and there and it's a positive thing for the community," Walsh said.
"I hope that the publicity about it causes people to think twice about using drugs but I don't think it made a huge significance in stemming the problem."
The fact is, Walsh said, "you can make more money in an hour than your parents can make in a week."
"It's a risk that they (youth) take and if they don't see other options, they are likely to do that," she said.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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