Dope Dealers
* Re “Deciding Guilt in a Three-Strikes Case,” by Ben Sherwood, Opinion, Feb. 12:
It is Sherwood’s right to believe that society should go easy on dope dealers. However, his position is not reconcilable with his own opening sentence: “On the streets of Los Angeles, where at least one person is shot every hour of every day, five grams of marijuana don’t seem like a big deal.” Surely Sherwood is not unaware that a high percentage of those shootings involve dope transactions, turf disputes among dope dealers and dope users who shoot other dope users.
Taxpayers are tired of picking up the tab; police officers and paramedics are tired of picking up the bodies. It is not acceptable for our communities to live with the fear that is generated by dope dealers and the results of their sorry enterprise. The only problem with applying the “three strikes” law to dope dealers is that it requires two strikes too many.
LT. GREG MEYER
Wilshire Detective Division
Los Angeles Police Department
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