BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Last Thursday was a good day for deputy Rockingham County attorney Tom Reid. Reid had prosecuted Dante Silva, who, on March 15, 2006 had provided heroin to his girlfriend, 18-year-old Caitlyn Brady of Kingston, NH. The gift resulted in a fatal overdose. Caitlyn's death had struck a particular nerve with Reid, as it had been the third fatal overdose in Rockingham County that week. Indeed, in 2005, there were 153 lethal overdoses in New Hampshire. Try to imagine if those deaths were caused by peanut butter or sling-shots. There would have been an uproar. The reality is, that drug overdoses, not to mention the unmentionable cost of drug-use in general, continues to be a silent plague on society.
On Thursday, though, the state Supreme Court made what prosecutors are calling a "historic ruling", holding that drug dealers can be legally held accountable if one of their buyers later dies of an overdose."We know most of these drugs are coming from across the border from Massachusetts," Reid said. "We need to let them know not to send their drugs up here because we'll come after you." The ruling also upheld a previous Rockingham County Superior Court conviction against Dante. Caitlyn's mother expressed relief. Two other men have already been convicted in connection with Brady's death. Jay Simes of Kingston was found to have been the one who sold Silva the lethal dose of heroin. He is in prison. Robert Drew, also involved in the transaction, cooperated with authorities and was convicted of a lesser charge. Yet another man, Arturo Sanchez of Lawrence, Mass. is awaiting trial here having been accused of providing the heroin to Simes and Drew. I guess the message is pretty clear, where New Hampshire courts stand on this issue.
This ruling will undoubtedly be met with cries of over-reaching. What next, tobacco companies? Is Coors responsible if someone drives into a tree after a dozen cans of their product? These are bridges to be crossed another day, in my opinion, and pragmatism demands that indeed, drug dealers should be held accountable for a tangible death brought about with their full and knowing participation. Remember, too, that we are not talking about pot here, but the criminally dangerous substances such as cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, crack and heroin, to name a few. The fatal overdoses aside, consider the damage and chaos piled upon families with an addicted loved one. The financial burden it places on our already stretched-thin medical institutions. The cost to society in thefts, associated crimes and the loss of a productive member who might otherwise be holding down a job, raising a family and generally adding to the social fabric in a positive way. These costs are to ethereal and expansive to even be measured, but they must be considered in the argument.
A friend I grew up with in town, from a good family, got sucked into the vortex of cocaine-use in the eighties. A bunch of us were in a NASTAR skiing program at a nearby ski area. A bunch of washed up skiers, now adults, still getting together to race a couple of nights a week, and then have a couple of beers in the lodge on the way out. Tony was there a week before it happened, and after he left, the rest of us expressed concern at his condition. Local rumor was bourn out by his behavior that night, he was cranked beyond belief and one could just sense disaster coming. A week later, he ran out of his parents house in the middle of the night. It was the coldest night of the winter, well below zero, and a full moon. He had run through the woods, naked, with his father's shotgun. When he reached the edge of a paved road, he shot himself in the head. It was later learned he had done an enormous amount of coke that night. I knew what lots of friends of mine were thinking. I also knew, that not far away, was a pure weasel of a person that had been reaping grand profits for quite sometime while Tony's habit grew deeper and deeper. I wondered what I could have done, but I also had other friends going down similar roads who were unapproachable when anyone voiced concern or dismay. One of them lost his entire business, just a complete train wreck. A life I had watched him build for years, blown away by a habit that makes no sense from the outside looking in.
Finally, it is as a parent, that I find it logical to support this ruling. It is a violent thing, the descent into the world of heavy-drug use. It is desperate and menacing. It is cruel, sad and maddening. As a culture, we have kind of given up on it all. Just accepted that there is a portion of us that will self-destruct, another portion that will help that destruction along, a portion that will pretend non of it exists, and a portion that really doesn't care until it knocks on our door. Then, thankfully, there is the tiniest portion of all, the "Tom Reids" of the world who make it their business to make the world a better place for the rest of us.
Karl From New Hampshire