Money to buy medicines is an important part of the fight against drug trafficking | News, Sports, Vacancies

If City Council members were to survey city residents about their biggest concerns, we believe that reducing the flow of illegal drugs coming into the city would be high on the list.

That’s one reason why Police Chief Timothy Jackson’s request for money to buy drugs is a serious request that will be considered in future years as council members and Mayor Kim Eklund try to get the city’s budget right.

For years, the Jamestown Police Department has used money seized in drug investigations to buy drugs. The only problem is that some years a lot of money is seized in drug investigations and other years the amount is less. Having the money to buy allows the department to conduct more drug investigations and, ideally, get more confiscated money from drug dealers once the investigations are closed. Regional narcotics investigators certainly have an easier time this year with a line item in the city budget for money to buy drugs.

But faced with a 7.79% tax hike this year, money to buy drugs was taken out of the budget as all unnecessary spending was removed from the budget. It’s unlikely that drug money will be added back into the 2025 budget, as Jackson also expressed concern that the department’s fuel budget will be $36,000 less than the department’s request. Gasoline for police cars is a more pressing need than spending $14,400 to buy drugs.

As Eklund and the council begin to look at the 2026 budget, we hope they can find a way to include money for drug purchases. It’s been a busy year for drug investigations, and we know that the majority of gun violence and illegal gun seizures on our streets typically involve the sale of illegal drugs. From this perspective, it can be argued that drug money is actually an investment in reducing some of the most dangerous elements of crime in our areas.

It is also important to recognize that the city must return to the days of pragmatic budgeting. Funding for the American Rescue Plan Act has been cut off. Employee contracts are pending negotiations, and these costs are not being reduced. So if we decide that money to buy drugs is important, then something else will need to be cut to include money to buy drugs.

Budgeting has been easy the last few years thanks to the ability to use ARPA funding to plug holes. We hope the city’s residents aren’t too used to the city spending money like a five-year-old buying toys, because those days are gone even for something as important—and relatively small—as money to buy medicine.