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This series is designed to analyze and interpret the role our Police and Sheriff departments play, as we quest for solutions to severely depressed economies and a rising tide of violent crime.

Laurinburg Police recently <span style="color: #0000ff;">arrested</span> several subjects as part of a months long investigation into a Vance Street convenience store for allegedly selling synthetic marijuana, known as Spice.

Dealing in, selling or promoting illegal stuff cannot be described as a wise. Doing so from a convenience store, while certainly 'ahead of its time' from a business perspective, was just plain stupid. Any perceived benefits now flow to bail-bondsmen, legal professionals and the prison-industrial complex.

Two suspects appear to be of Middle Eastern origin, which given the current climate, cannot be considered a plus when it comes to garnering judicial sympathy (if there was any to be had in the first place).

How does this story fit into the Big Picture?

If we are to turn things around in Laurinburg and Scotland County, change must occur. Change can be difficult and disconcerting.

Was selling marijuna (synthetic or otherwise) from a convenience store simply a business proposition that's ahead of it's time? After all, a growing list of states  now permit the legal growing, consumption and sale of marijuana. An overwhelming majority of Americans favor this trend, and even our federal government has slacked off it's harsh treatment of marijuana offenders, agreeing to pretty much look the other way.

Prestigious <span style="color: #0000ff;">professions and organizations</span> now call for not only the decriminalization of marijuana, but all drugs. Portugal took this step well over a decade ago and none of the disasters that opponents predicted have come to pass. The whole thing turned out to be 'much ado about nothing'.

Can Laurinburg and Scotland County reverse the trend of young citizens leaving, and can we expect to attract retirees if we don't change course? Statistics clearly show that millennials, gen Xers and Baby Boomers all favor decriminalization by a wide margin.

Law Enforcement is always complaining about its lack of resources when it comes to fighting crime. Does it make sense to commit so much man-power, time and money to busting potheads, especially when we're experiencing a genuine wave of violent crime?

With increasingly negative demographics on all fronts and a rising burden of taxes and fees, this is an issue citizens must sooner or later come to grips with. We don't have enough resources that we can afford to waste them by causing or allowing those we pay to serve and protect us to go off in directions that not only don't take us in the direction we want to go, but may actually be dragging us further into the ditch.

It's time to choose wisely.

LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/24/top-medical-experts-say-we-should-decriminalize-all-drugs-and-maybe-go-even-further/

LINK: http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/4543/clerks-charged-with-selling-fake-marijuana

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