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By J. MARSHALL COLEMAN
Rappahannock News Contributing Writer
Virginia has never experienced a crime problem as deadly and vicious as we face today with the trafficking of illegal drugs.
Crime related to the distribution, sale and consumption of illegal narcotics has exploded in the last 20 years, making life in the Commonwealth increasingly dangerous.
For the third consecutive year, the crime rate has risen, according to the State Police. The state-wide murder rate rose 6‘/j percent last jfear. Some Virginia communities witnessed a staggering 100 percent to 500 percent increase in homicides, which authorities attribute to the growing drug trade in our state.
Why? It has a lot to do with geography. What used to be Miami’s iproblem has become a major crisis jor Virginians. With 1-95, 1-81 and I,64 crisscrossing the state, Virginia has become a major conduit in America’s drug distribution channels.
, In neighboring Washington, D.C., someone is murdered nearly every day and Mayor Marion Barry there says 80 percent of these homicides are drug related. The Mayor of Richmond voices the same complaint.
85.1%