MISSOURI SHOULD MAKE DRUG COURIERS NERVOUS

In Missouri, Interstate 44 stretches between Joplin and St. Louis. Along that route, 10,315 pounds of marijuana and 600 pounds of cocaine were confiscated from vehicles during 1991. Highways that spawn commerce for regions of the state also can serve as conduits for those willing to exploit public infrastructure for illegal activities. Is the answer to quit building highways? Hardly. It is instead to applaud the enforcement efforts under way and take action to strengthen them.

The I-44 case is interesting locally not only because it annexes state resources but because an interstate highway runs through our own backyard. There is no doubt that the roads that carry goods to and from our region and provide ease to our lives also serve the merchants of contraband. We should reveal little surprise that felonious cargo travels past our doorstep each day. If I-44 offers an appealing route for California drug haulers who dispatch their commodities to Chicago and New York, then I-55 must also be regarded as an attractive northern pipeline for criminal importers from the Gulf coast.

In terms of economic development, Missouri uses its highway system as a tool for attracting new commercial enterprises. The type of enterprises the drug dealers represent are unwanted in Missouri, and the state should take special care to make them feel unwelcome. Gov. John Ashcroft has proposed legislation for the current session of the General Assembly that makes Missouri a less cordial place for drug smugglers. Among the provisions is a measure to give the Missouri Highway Patrol, the unit responsible for most of the I-44 drug seizures, the same powers of search and seizure held by local law enforcement agencies in the state.

This measure is part of a larger bill now being debated in the Missouri Senate. In the past two years, the two legislative houses have debated and passed various aspects of Ashcroft's anti-drug initiatives; none of the measures have reached the governor's desk. This is the year for that to happen.

The drug trade is a lucrative one for those who practice it. Drug couriers who misuse our interstate highways in this pursuit can earn from $3,000 to $15,000 per run, according to the Highway Patrol. Efforts should be made in Missouri to persuade these delivery persons to ply their trade elsewhere. In a commercial sense, our highways should be used for the transport of goods that are productive, not destructive.