Drug Dealing Forces Residents Out of N.J. Community February 16, 2001
News Summary
In Camden, N.J., open-air drug markets have driven residents out of the city, the Associated Press reported Feb. 10.City property tax records from Jan. 1, 1987 through June 30, 1987 show a strong relationship between the establishement of illicit drug markets and the subsequent abandonment of nearby properties.
Currently, there are 181 open-air drug markets in Camden. Over the past 13 years, 78 percent of the 1,167 property foreclosures were within one block of a long-term drug market, and more than half were within a half a block of other drug areas.
To address the situation, longtime activist Frank Fulbrook, a city landlord, said the city should lift the ban on illegal drugs and regulate their sale instead. "I'm not saying that the only form of urban blight is drug dealing, but it's a particularly pernicious form," said Fulbrook. He added that the illegal nature of drugs "creates a violent underground economy."
Camden County Prosecutor Lee Solomon acknowledged that open-air drug markets have forced residents out of the city. But he said legalizing drugs is not the solution to the problem.
"The idea that government would ever sanction something that is as devastating and destructive to people, family, and society as drugs like crack and heroin and powdered cocaine is abhorrent and would be one more nail in the coffin of our social fabric," Solomon said.
Instead, he said the city should continue in its effort to close the drug markets by increasing the number of police officers on patrol in high crime areas. "But that can only take you so far," Solomon pointed out. "Key to success will be community support and government support and problem-oriented policing."
He added, "It won't be easy and it won't be quick. It'll have to be done location by location, based on activity and community support. But if we hang together and follow that approach, we can begin to make some of these locations places where people will want to live again in the future."
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