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Here you will find all the article I have and will write on various topics related to our city.

Pacifica's Drug Epidemic and Possible Solutions

This is my first of a series of articles I plan on writing about the city of Pacifica, its problems, and solutions. This first article is going to cover a problem of epidemic proportions in Pacifica, one you will never read about in the Pacifica Tribune, and one which most citizens seem to ignore. The issue is drug use and the increasing amount of drug addicts in Pacifica. Pacifica is just like a drug addict who has yet to admit there is a problem, and therefore the problem will continue to grow until we admit to the problem and look at real solutions, which I will present here. It will take a multi prong approach, and not a tunnel vision approach. This article is not meant as a definitive guide, but rather as a starting point in addressing the issues and hopefully starting an open discussion of the problems our city faces.

I grew up in Pacifica and have been living here for 31 years. When I was a kid, the drug of choice was Marijuana and alcohol. Now that I am an adult here, meth has taken a very strong hold on many Pacificans. Nearly everyone I knew growing up and many of my family members are strung out on this drug. I have talked to many Pacificans who also realize this is a growing problem, yet they don't think they can do anything to solve it. There are solutions to helping solve this problem, but the city is doing little and their ideas for solving this problem are completely wrong. Many erroneously think police are the best defense against this problem, but they are mistaken and are only going to fuel a massive increase in crime and drug use. I will explain how and why later in this article. The solutions are simple, but implementation will be difficult until we are able to change the way people look at this problem and its solutions.

Before I go on, I want to make a few statements to clarify my position on those who use drugs. I don't think drug addicts are victims, but rather people who have made bad decisions and whom usually come from broken families (not in terms of financial status, but rather in regards to parenting, more on this later). In addition, not all drug addicts want to stop using drugs and therefore they will not be able to be helped until they hit the bottom. With that said, the majority of those drug addicts that I have spoken with do want to kick the habit. I feel the majority of drug addicts in Pacifica can be helped but the problem is so bad that parents are doing dope with their teenage and young adult sons and daughters and if we are to get a hold of this problem, we need to act, and act in a targeted and well planned out fashion.

Our current approach to the drug problem and why it will only fuel the problem

The City of Pacifica's solution to solving the drug problem is to increase the size of the police force and to crack down on the drug addicts instead of the dealers. Now don't get me wrong, we need police officers, but for the drug problem, this is the wrong approach. I don't know how many times I have seen a drug addict get arrested and back on the streets a few months later and once again back on drugs. This does not work because it’s nothing more then a cycle which is taking petty drug addicts off the street and putting them in prison or jail. When they come out of jail or prison, they are usually more violent, more hardened, and a better criminal. They meet other criminal elements and learn more tricks of the trade so to speak. Add to this the fact that they now have a felony drug conviction on their record and are going to have to disclose that on any and all job applications. This is going to make getting a GOOD job nearly impossible. So now you have a drug addict, who doesn't get any treatment because Pacifica has zero in-house treatment centers, and who has a felony on his/her record and cannot get a job. Do you think this person has a good chance to become a productive citizen of Pacifica? Of course not, and not only does he not have a good outlook, but his outlook is worse after he has been convicted of a felony. And so the cycle continues. Its time to break the cycle and that starts with changing how we approach the drug problem.

Another reason the current approach to the drug problem is wrong and does not work is because this approach only tries to address the problem long after it has manifested itself. By the time these drug addicts are caught using or selling drugs, they have already been using for some time. Therefore we are doing nothing but dealing with the problem instead of solving the problem. See the difference? We are dealing with those who are already on drugs, which we have to do, but not in the current way, and ignoring the source of the problem.

Of course, I am speaking of drug addicts who have done nothing more then get caught with dope or a petty drug related crime. For the more violent crimes, they should be punished, but each crime needs to be looked at individually. If we are to stop this drug problem, we need to change how we approach the problem and how we deal with those who are already drug addicts.

Fixing the problem at the roots

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, to fix this problem, we as a community will have to approach it from many different angles simultaneously. We have to approach it at the family, community, and even law enforcement level. I am going to go into great detail on each of these topics and will therefore divide them up into categories of their own.

Starting with the family

One of the single most important aspects of getting the drug problem solved is to stop it before it starts. This can only be accomplished by the immediate families and parents. I am not going to say that bad families or parenting skills are 100% of the cause, but I will say they are a very large part of the problem as a whole.

There are many aspects of parenting which can be conducive to creating future drug addicts. I am not only speaking of parents who abuse or neglect their children. I am speaking of all that plus parents who do not set limits and enforce rules for their children to follow and who do not take an active role in their child’s life. As I have spoken many times in this article, I grew up here and many of the people I grew up with are now drug addicts. They have come from all financial backgrounds and social status. The one thing I found to be almost always a factor is parents who do not enforce any rules and who do not take a very large role in their children’s daily activities.

For example, I had a good friend whose parents were extremely successful. They had the newest and most expensive cars and were always giving my friend plenty of money to do what he wanted. But although he had plenty of money, his parents did not set any limits and were not involved with his life at all. Every time he was in trouble, they simply bailed him out and he was off again doing what he wanted to do. I ran into him a few years ago and he was looking for some meth. Yep, he was a dope head. Now it doesn’t take a genius to know that when parents are involved in their children’s lives and set limits, they will usually grow up to be productive citizens of society. Of course, good parenting does not mean you are guaranteed that your child will grow up without experimenting with drugs, but it does mean you have dramatically increased their chances of becoming productive citizens of society, and not drug addicts.

If you are a parent who is reading this article, and you are wondering what you can do to make sure you child grows up to be a productive citizen of society, here is what you need to do. First of all, you need to set limits for your children and make sure they abide by those limits. Remember, you are not your children’s friend, you are their parent and you are the one who is responsible for making sure the child knows how to behave and knows right from wrong. So many times I see parents who act like they are their children’s friend, not a good idea. Next, you need to get involved with your children’s daily activities and lives. You need to be their guide and be there for them when they need you. And finally, communicate openly with your children and help them by setting limits, having rules, and participating in their daily activities.

Therefore we need to find some way of getting parents to be parents and to enforce rules and to take part in their children’s lives. Many parents seem to follow the “me principle”, which is they only think about themselves and what they want. They don’t seem to realize their children should come first and have to. This is directly tied into the community and holding parents responsible for their children. We need to find ways to hold parents responsible for their child’s misbehavior. We will discuss this more in the next section.

The Community

The community aspect of solving the approach actually plays a very large role in solving the Pacifica drug problem. First we have to recognize that we have a major drug problem in Pacifica. Second, we have to hold parents responsible for their children’s behavior. Third, we have to give the kids in the community options and provide them with activities such as sports, education, family counseling and classes, etc. Lastly we have to provide those who are already hooked on drugs a treatment program locally and family programs for both parents and their kids who are on drugs.

Just like a drug addict must admit there is a problem before he/she can successfully kick the habit, the city of Pacifica also must admit that we have a major drug problem before we can solve it. Once the city acknowledges such problems exist, we can then move forward with engaging the public with public meetings and working on solutions. This article is meant as a means to hopefully get this started, although I won’t hold my breath.

The next aspect of solving this problem is a little more difficult because we have to find a way to fairly and within their constitutional rights, to force parents who are neglecting and hurting their children to change their ways. I am not suggesting in any way that we create anything like a socialist movement, so hear me out. What I am suggesting is an early warning system in which the parents are immediately notified when their children are in trouble with the law. I think law enforcement can play a very large role in this aspect. When children and young adults are involved with petty crimes, law enforcement should hold a meeting with the family and let the family know of any family counseling in the area. I also think when young adults under 18 are arrested with drugs or on drug related crimes, instead of jail, we should have mandatory laws in which parents and children must go to family counseling. In addition the child should have to go to an in house drug treatment program, and the parents should go to parenting classes. And yes, I think they should go through all of this in order to prevent any escalation and to stop the problem immediately. Remember, when the child is under 18, it’s the parents who are responsible for them and their behavior, and therefore, if they do not follow through with these programs, they all go to jail for a few days and should face a fine. The fine should be based on income in order to be fair to all. Now some may think this is harsh, but think of all the pain the family goes through when their kids are in and out of jail and eventually die from a drug overdose. In addition, think about the costs to the community as a whole from the increase in petty crimes, cost for police, and the cost for incarceration.

Next, as a community, we have to give the kids of Pacifica opportunities and activities to keep them busy. It is well known that children engaged in sports are less likely to be overweight, hooked on drugs, or in trouble with the law. I personally think the reason for this is because the parents are involved with their children and the children are involved with activities which keep them busy. But, I have to once again reflect on my own childhood in this city and growing up here. When I went to Linda Mar school in about 5^th grade, I remember all my friends used to ride their motorcycles with their parents at PMA. They would go ride their dirt bikes almost daily after school. Then the wacko environmentalists decided to take the hill away. Now all these kids who would go to PMA after school had nothing to do. Suddenly, I noticed a large increase in bikes being stolen and seen many of these kids on the streets with nothing to do. You know the saying, idleness is the devils playground, that that is as true today as it ever was. Anyway, the point is that the kids no longer had anything to do and the activities they shared with their parents were now gone. Although Pacifica has made very little progress in this area, the skate park is a start. But I cannot imagine many parents on skateboards with their children. But, Pacifica has decided to decrease funding to PB&R and increase funding to the Pacifica Police Department. This is the opposite of what we should be doing!

I think a good start would to first decrease the Pacifica Police budget and to increase the PB&R. We have sports, but not all kids and parents are into sports so we need other activities such as free science, computer, etc camps for the kids both during summer and after school. In addition, we need activities for young adults, such as a dirt bike area or possible a 1/8^th mile drag strip. Young adults would then get into hobbies such as dirt bikes or auto’s, and any number of others hobbies, and it would bring in a lot of revenue for the city. A drag strip could easily be built at the old rock quarry in rock away, but it has already been sold for development of apartments and retail space (so much for the no growth policies). We talk about no growth, but this is more of a slogan than anything. Seems we have tons of trees being cut and houses being built at the end of Adobe. Anyway, once we have activities for both children and young adults in place, they will gravitate to those activities and hobbies. A reduction in crime will follow and a reduction in the police force will also be able to follow. A reduction in the police force is a positive sign; it means we have lowered crime and reduced the need for as many police. Is there any downside to having less police and less crime?

Last of all, in regards to community approaches, we need to have some in town drug treatment programs and parenting classes. We need to also help those who are already hooked on drugs and who are not able to get treatment. How can we expect them to kick the habit when they have zero options to do so? If you doub’t this is the case, let me tell you about a few drug addicts I know in town. I know one guy in town whose parents are also drug addicts. He wants to get off drugs, wants to get a job, etc. Of course now he has a record and it’s harder for him to find employment. To add to this, he was released and told he had to attend a rehab in Redwood City. This is a young adult who has no job, no money, no transportation, and no family who can help him, and who is sent back to a city in which all his friends are all drug addicts. Now you tell me how much of a chance this guy has of getting clean and getting out of the drug scene? I personally know about 5 people who are in the same exact boat. So what can we do is probably what you are thinking, and the solution is extremely simple. What we need is a treatment center in the city of Pacifica which can be an in house and out house programs for Pacifica residents. The drug addicts are already in your city, you can either have them getting treatment in a center or on the streets, you decide. We should also provide them a shuttle if need be. Funds for such a program could come from both federal and state grants as well as by making cuts in the city budget. In addition, cost of admittance for such a program could be based on income and the situation of the person in need. Such a program could be used for drug treatment, parenting classes, and parent/child counseling. In addition, it could help those who complete the program find meaningful employment or attend college. This would create jobs in Pacifica, produce law abiding citizens who would contribute both to society and to the cities tax base. This is a win/win situation.

Law Enforcement

Now many people feel that I down the Pacifica Police Department because of this website, but the truth is, police are a very much needed part of society. But, at the same time, the size of the police force in a city can tell you a lot. If you need a very large police force in a small city such as Pacifica, what does that tell you about the city? I do not have a problem with police in general, but I do think the Pacifica Police force could be changed for the better. Anyway, the problems with the Pacifica Police Department are a whole other article. The problem with Pacifica police departments current approach to the drug problem is that it tries to eradicate the problem far too late in its manifestation. By the time the police catch a drug addict in the commission of a crime to support their habit; the problem is already well rooted for that individual. This doesn’t mean all is lost, but rather the approach should be different. Instead of taking the individual off to jail for a petty offense, we should have an intermediary option of drug rehabilitation. If we had a drug program here in town, as I discuss above, we could allow them the choice, mandatory in house drug treatment, or jail. If this is the first offense, this would allow one to become clean without also having a criminal record. With a criminal record, even with a petty crime and felony drug charge, the person will have to put down that he is a felony criminal on every application for the rest of his life. You tell me who is going to want to hire him. In addition, if this is a young kid (under 18), then the approach of having both the parents and kid go to drug rehab, parenting classes, etc could be an option. This also puts the police in a good position to help curb the problem when children and teens are at risk and could help the family. Of course this would require them to actually get out of their cars and get to know the citizens, but that is a long shot indeed.

Next, the police should target the dealers and foster community cooperation in order to get the drugs out of the city. Why not have an anonymous tip line and get the police out of their cars and in contact with the citizens? Why not an anonymous e-mail form? I would be more than happy to set something like that up on this website. We should hold meetings at the local city hall in which the police could work with Pacifica’s civilians. In addition, get them involved in local sports and events in order to get to know the people on a first name basis. This will serve many purposes including trust, appreciation, and open communication. This would allow for concentrated patrols and a direct level of communication between the police and citizens. But, this would be extremely difficult to change since I have received a ton of complaints regarding the dispatchers who answer the phones and treat those who are trying to tip off the police as idiots.

Now I am not delusional, and I am all for punishing those who commit serious crimes. I also know that we cannot save everyone and some will never kick the habit. But, if we make a concerted effort to eradicate this problem, admit we have this problem, and then take well thought out approaches to fix the problem; we could drastically cut down the drug problem in our city and reduce the crime rate. This is a very difficult problem that every city faces, and I hope by spending the time writing this article, I can create some discussion and maybe even some solutions to eradicating this issue.

Neighborhood Watch Meeting and My Commentary

Recently we had Officer Buchanan come to our small town house community to speak about a neighborhood watch program. I did not attend the meeting, but I had a friend take notes. Instead of talking about the neighborhood watch program, what they ended up listening to is officer Buchanan suggesting that Pacifica does not have enough police and that his safety and the safety of the officers comes first. Lets address these issues and more.

First, lets talk about Pacifica not having enough police. Mr. Buchanan and another officer stayed at this meeting for about 2 hours. How could two officers be able to stay at a very small community meeting if they do not have enough police officers? In addition, anyone who drives around Pacifica will notice many police vehicles on the roads (mainly sitting at quickstop and other parking lots with at least 2 cars doing nothing) and will quickly be able to discern there are plenty of Police in Pacifica. But, expect the police to possibly delay when contacted in an emergency call in order for them to try and push the idea that they are understaffed and unable to respond quickly. The ones who will most likely suffer from their agenda are the tax payers of Pacifica who recently built a new police station costing over 2.5 million dollars. All we heard before the new police station was built was how Pacifica Police could not do their job in the old station which was falling apart, and now it looks like all we will hear about is how they cannot do their job because they do not have enough police officers. Maybe instead of purchasing AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles for each patrol car, they should have used that money to hire another police officer if they indeed think they need more. I don't know about you, but I personally have had enough!

Now, lets talk about the officer safety issue. Lets remember the Police are supposed to SERVE and PROTECT the citizens in the city they serve. In addition, lets not forget about the fact the tax payers in Pacifica are the ones who are giving these police officers their paychecks. Officer Buchanan talked about his pay check many times at this meeting and said outright that its nothing more then a paycheck for him. Is this the type of police officers we want patrolling our city and relying on for our safety? An officers whose job is nothing more then a pay check? Now, to get back to the safety issue, can you tell me the last time a Pacifica Police Officer has been killed in the line of duty? Do they really need AR-15 semi-automatic rifles? Enough said!

The problem with the Pacifica Police Department, and many other departments around the country, is the US vs. THEM mentality ingrained in the department. This is a major issue with the Pacifica Police department, and was brought out many times at this meeting. I have studied this issue extensively at SFSU, and before we move on, lets discuss what the US vs. THEM mentality is. The concept is very simple, the police view the citizens it serves as the enemy, or the outsiders, while their fellow police are the insiders and friends. Therefore, the folks who are paying their salaries (which in Pacifica the police make more then $80,000 a year with overtime) are the enemy or outsiders. The main reason this mentality develops is due to very little or no contact with the citizens of the communities in which they serve. When was the last time you seen a Pacifica Police Officer walking or riding a mountain bike through the community talking with the citizens? I have never seen this in the 31 years I have lived here, and neither have my grandparents who have lived here for over 50 years. In Pacifica, the police only get out of their cars when they have to. In addition, if you have been to the new Pacifica Police station, you will notice bullet proof glass, cameras, etc, and a police station you would expect to find in Los Angeles, not in a small city like Pacifica. The barriers are everywhere from the massive bullet proof glass, steel doors, cameras, microphone to talk though, etc. This high level security police station enforces the us vs. them mentality and is overkill for a city with such a low crime rate. Many cities such as Palo Alto have bicycle police officers who actually communicate with the citizens they serve and get to know them on a personal level. They do this in order to break down the barriers and to change the mentality of the police officers. Officer Buchanan espoused this US vs. THEM mentality many times at the meeting. He said many times "Our safety comes first, me and my officers." I guess this means the ones who fork over the cash to give him his check come second. Its time for this mentality to change once and for all and to make Pacifica and its police deparment better for all.

Since August 11th 2005