We read with great dismay reporter Julie Riddle’s front-page story on Monday about the increase in mail-order drug shipments intercepted by area law enforcement.

The news is discouraging on its face, that the internet allows individuals to obtain large quantities of unregulated drugs through the mail, many of which then end up sold on the street. As if we didn’t have enough trouble with traditional street drugs, now we must deal with manufactured drugs shipped through the mail from Asia, Europe, and elsewhere.

But what is most concerning from Riddle’s dispatch is the news that manufacturers of those drugs, in an attempt to stay ahead of regulators, will frequently and hurriedly change the formulas to their drugs so regulations no longer apply.

What that means is that those who order the drugs online have no way of knowing exactly what it is they’re getting in the mail, and no way of knowing exactly what those drugs might do, how they might react with other drugs, what side effects they may have.

That’s incredibly dangerous.

To anyone ordering those drugs for personal use, please stop. It just isn’t worth the risk to ingest a mystery that could very well kill you.

To anyone ordering those drugs to sell to others, think about it. Would you want your actions to lead to someone else’s death? Is it really worth whatever money you might make?

We wish our local police good luck in stopping this scourge, and we hope our readers participating in the drug shipments will recognize the danger and stop while they still can.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)