Public comment turned to drug addiction and crime during the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners’ July meeting.

Ray Leary, a member of “Citizens for a Better Beaufort County” shared with commissioners what he had learned at a recent meeting of the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party that focused on the “war on drugs” and how it has been lost, he said.

With most of the courts filled with low-level users rather than suppliers, the indication is the system is ineffective and addiction should be treated as an illness, rather than a crime, Leary said.

The stance represents a growing trend in the U.S. toward decriminalization of small amounts of illegal drugs.

“Jails do not rehabilitate,” Leary said.

Several commissioners said the ongoing drug problem was a failure on the part of law enforcement to stop the distribution of drugs on a larger scale.

“As long as you get these little, petty guys, you’re just throwing money after bad,” Booth said. “The guy who’s walking around selling nickel bags is and out (of jail). Get Mr. Big, you’ll take the little man out of circulation.”

“Law enforcement is not doing their job, (on the) county, state and national level,” said Commissioner Hood Richardson.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charlie Rose countered that the sheriff’s office narcotics unit is doing its job, and in the process, keeping associated crime down in the county.

“Our drug unit is the best in the state,” Rose said. “We, in Beaufort County, are not having to deal with the same types of crime that we see all around us. … It’s because of the work they do, keeping it out of the county.”

Rose said narcotics investigators do go after drug distributors, but in order to build cases against them, they have to start off small and make the connections. Investigators do not target those with small amounts, but when they run across them, they are required to make arrests, he said.

“Right, wrong or indifferent, if someone’s breaking the law, we need to enforce it,” Rose said.

While Leary said many are acknowledging the problem with drugs, jail and treatment, he said the Tea Party forum came up with no ready solutions.

Rose said keeping the sheriff’s office narcotics unit funded with money to use in drug buys is part of the solution.

“You want to make more of mark, then support us more,” Rose said. “For every dollar you invest in that program, you’re making Beaufort County a safer place.”