SENTENCING IN DRUG CASE PROVIDES CAUTIONARY TALE FOR OUR TIME

The sentencing in U.S. District Court last week of long-time Cape Girardeau attorney Edward L. Downs for cocaine trafficking brings to an end an ugly and rather sad story of our times. It is a cautionary tale, one that warns of cocaine as a destroyer of lives and reputations, and one that should strengthen local resolve to rid this controlled substance from our community.

Obviously, Mr. Downs is one of only dozens of people in the past few years to find the immediate satisfaction of drugs yields to a steep and destructive downside. His case, however, attracted considerable local attention because of his age and station in the community. His arrest and subsequent indictment touched off a wave of rumors that affected a number of other people in Cape Girardeau. Above all, it provided incontrovertible evidence that drug problems are not confined to specified rungs on the social ladder. The message inherent in this drama is this: If a successful lawyer, a man of education and means, falls prey to cocaine, the drug has the potential to touch us all.

Illustrative of the low points cocaine leads to was Friday's sentencing hearing, where the defendant, having pleaded guilty and seeking the mercy of the court, stood contrite concerning his actions, apologizing to the friends and family he had hurt with his habit. Friends and colleagues spoke on his behalf, talking about the man's truthfulness and generous nature. This is rather the point when it comes to cocaine: The drug turns people into something they weren't before. Decades of accomplishment can be torn down in a heartbeat.

Mr. Downs sold cocaine to feed his hunger for the drug. Along the way, he placed other people in danger and subverted his profession. He disregarded the laws he took an oath to uphold. At age 73, he will go to a federal prison for 55 months, with no chance for parole under federal sentencing mandates. (While it is sport these days to criticize anything related to the federal government, one must note and applaud the seriousness with which drug crimes are addressed and the no-nonsense manner in which punishment is carried out. The minimum sentencing standards are a powerful signal that drug offenses are taken seriously in the federal judiciary.)

Find in the case of Edward Downs a brutal lesson about illegal drugs. From their grasp, there is no immunity, from rich or poor, young or old, black or white, politically connected or disenfranchised. You can be influential in the community and powerless in the grip of cocaine. Others will not take this lesson and some will inevitably discover the same road to self-destruction. It should serve as a warning, and it should serve as a call to action for those who think drugs don't affect everyone.