-from wcpo.com-

By Deb Silverman

The fine you pay for your next speeding ticket could help fund the next drug bust in your neighborhood.

Ohio lawmakers are considering boosting traffic fines to cover the cost of local drug task forces.

The Warren County Drug Task Force was busy on Wednesday, arresting people in Mason, Lebanon, Middletown, Franklin, Springboro and Hamilton Township.

The suspects were picked up at their homes and at work.

In a Lebanon home on Mound Court, drug agents say they didn’t find the person they were looking for, but they did find marajuana plants. “A good portion of these were done by complaints of citizens in the neighbhorhoods,” said Drug Task Force Commander John Burke. “These are the people that the average person sees in the neighborhood trafficking drugs. These are the people concerned about their own kids with.”

Burke said the federal government has shifted millions of dollars from the war on drugs into the war on terror.

He said that leaves Ohio drug task forces without enough money to conduct many busts like the most recent one.

Burke says the programs will survive if the proposal to add $5 to every moving violation in Ohio becomes law. It would generate $8 million and make up for the loss in federal funding.

A legislative committee is weighing in on whether or not the bill should go to the legislature for a vote. Locals are weighing in on it, too.

Wayne Herzog of West Chester and his wife Jo are split on the proposal. “I would think it’s okay as long as the money’s allocated towards that purpose,” said Wayne.

“I really don’t agree with it because tickets are already expensive,” Jo argued. However, Jo thinks the programs definietly need to be funded.

“It’s like crime of any kind. Robbery, burglary, they have to be addressed and without addressing the drug trafficking problem in Ohio we’d be innondated and just keeping it under control and curbing it is probably the best we can do but it’s something that’s absolutely essential.”

Drug agents also say it’s essential to make drug arrests because they say drugs lead to many violent crimes. As for the suspects arrested on Wednesday, they are all now in the Warren County jail.