Letter to the Editor 10-28-22

Dear editor:
Recently the Salina Journal published a story on the front page right edge column a news story on fentanyl as seen through the GOP eyes. This story featured the dissertation of Sen. Roger Marshall. He is not getting any cooperation from the Kansas Attorney General's office in the ongoing need to track down any and all of these substances and those persons who are responsible for the cooking and distribution of these substances that can kill, destroy users lives and the lives of those who are the users' family members.
This article states that the GOP ties fentanyl to border security. Well, if this is true, and the border security is lax and cannot destroy all of the substances and the source that is bringing this to the Kansas/Oklahoma border, it is because the Kansas Attorney General is too busy campaigning to enforce the border crossings and to put extra manpower onto those crossings to prevent the illegal entrance into the state of Kansas.
Sen. Marshall's plan is to have the U.S. Congress pass more laws that define the fact that there is a loophole in the defense locally, statewide, and federally, that permits these illegal drugs to enter into the local population via the holes in the borders of the states and the Mexico/United States borders. This trafficking has been and will continue to be a scourge to all law populations and those law officers who specialize in the use of various sundry tactics to discourage those who flaunt their smartness before the law and the everyday citizen.
Drug dogs are the most perfect answer to many of these problems but these dogs need to be where the weakness is in the use of the borders by traffickers. This cannot be done when the main option is to be on the campaign trail visiting those who are near and dear. I recall not too many weeks ago stating that the visit by the lieutenant governor lacked a lot of bit to the visit and should have focused more on more important issues such as being in touch where the fentanyl can be bought. This is an operative that can prevent the leakage of this drug into the hands of children and young adults, but it has to be put on the board as a “GO” item and not on the back burner where the smoke smells like burning feathers from an old feather bed. Drug dogs are much smarter than their handlers and can do more to prevent these border crossings than the human being along.
Fentanyl is a narcotic analgesic, C22H28N20.C6H807, derivative of piperidine, occurring as a white, crystalline power or white, glistening crystals used to sedate and calm the user during usage as an illegal drug. And this derivative can be cut with other agents to smooth out the rough places during the day. This becomes the habitual need for the “smoke” once the user is hooked on the cut version and needs a daily or twice a day shoot-up.
This is why the need is necessary to have a force of law enforcement officers who are not out campaigning for the upcoming election and the homecoming greeting. I am very sure that most persons who are aware of the need of forthright dialogue would much rather be governed by a governor who is now in control of the agriculture futures of the state and also has the knowledge of the borders where trades are made on a daily, hourly need of the user and the sellers.
Sincerely,
Arlene F. Clayton