Judging by past standards, the current neighborhoods and communities in Newton County can no longer be considered safe and secure. Neighbors rarely know each other, many are transients in rental houses and many houses are empty and deteriorating due to foreclosures.

This type of environment can only lead to increased criminal activity most of which is now drug-related. Many neighborhoods now contain crack houses as the metro Atlanta area has now become the drug capital for the eastern United States.

These crack houses evolve into houses of prostitution and clearing houses for stolen property. The money spent for drugs at these houses now (for the most part) seems to come from Caucasian female addicts. These women live a lifestyle that most citizens would find hard to even comprehend. A normal citizen's mind set is programmed toward obtaining the necessities of life: food, clothing and shelter. An addict's total mindset is where and when is my next fix coming from.

Addicted women will use every devious and perverted means imaginable in order to obtain money for their next fix. I have seen them prostitute themselves and also try to prostitute their young girls. They will sell their food stamps and give up other subsidy payments. They will steal and connive and go to every charity with a horror story as to why they need money. They will even claim to be associated with charities and businesses in an effort to extort money. If they, by chance, have a vehicle, money or any other assets, the assets are generally gone within two months after their addiction begins. They usually rotate from the streets to jail, to the homeless shelter and, most times, back to the streets. Normal individuals have a God-given conscience that tells them right from wrong, Crack addicts completely lose this moral guidance.

A second type of shadow participant who inhabits the drug world is the enabler. These are usually parents, spouses, pimps or lovers who furnish the money, vehicles or residences needed to support an addict's habit. Drug officers are having some success against these accessories under the civil law where the property commits the crime and can be seized.

Many parents have children in school who come home and tell what friends they have disassociated with because they are on drugs.

It is now estimated that in the United States around 10 percent of the population over 12 years old use illegal drugs. Newton County has an outstanding drug unit, and all suspicious drug activity should be reported to them.
In Georgia, it is legal to video- or audio-tape anything on public property (roads, streets and sidewalks). Citizens can write down vehicle tag numbers, the make and color and description of a car with the time of day and date and call or mail this information to the drug unit.
Any law enforcement unit is no better than the information it receives from the public. Addicts will usually be hesitant about entering a neighborhood to buy drugs if they know they will be reported. Crack houses can only exist in an area where apathy exists.

Hopefully, Newton County will turn the corner and not become another Gwinnett County.