“Two people were shot early Sunday morning in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at 400 N. Grand Avenue, in Santa Ana,” according to the O.C. Register.
One victim, a 29-year-old man, was shot in the upper body and taken to a local hospital. The second victim, a 28-year-old woman, was injured when a bullet grazed her upper body. She was treated at the scene and released.
Why is crime so out of control in Santa Ana? I asked a friend that question yesterday. He volunteers at a local non-profit involved in helping Santa Ana’s youth, in the inner city.
His answers were compelling. Part of the problem is the rampant poverty in our city – which has worsened with the onset of the Bush Depression. But that is only half the story. We have a real problem with drugs in our city – but we are not talking about pot and coke. The new drugs of choice are Nitrous Oxide, or Nox, and Ecstasy. These are cheap highs. My friends said that young people will buy balloons full of Nox at parties for one dollar.
And who is pushing this stuff on our young people? The gangs of course. And the SAPD is not doing much about Nox as there are not many laws on the books regarding illicit use of this gas.
According to my friend, hundreds of Santa Ana kids, most of them underage, get high every weekend, at various parties. God only knows what Mondays are like at the local high schools.
The bottom line is that parents are not parenting. And the result is not good. We have the lowest graduation rates in the county – and the highest rate of violent crime.
The city leaders figure into this too, what with only one fully functioning library in town and a terrible shortage of parks. Their anti-business policies also have scared off a lot of companies that might otherwise have given kids other stuff to do. We have no bowling alleys in Santa Ana – no ice skating rinks – no new movie theaters, etc. Most folks have to leave town to have fun, to Irvine or Orange, or get high.
Now that gangs have started to shoot each other in north Santa Ana, there really is nowhere to hide…
Well I must say, this is a much more balanced commentary on the situation than your usual “go after Pulido” approach. Wouldn’t you agree this lends what you say much more credibility?
Talking to people like your friend at the non-profit will always lend fresh perspective to these daunting challenges.
Whoa, there professor. NOx stands for nitrogen oxide – by-product of combustion. Nitrous oxide – or laughing gas – is identifies by the symbol N2O.
It’s really hard to believe that nitrous oxide is causing crime. It sounds cheap and I’ve heard the high is both very potent but very short in duration – just a few seconds. of course I’m not an expert……………………………….
David,
I don’t doubt that – but kids are using “nox” as a street term for Nitrous Oxide. Go figure…
The crime angle is the money made selling it – and the ensuing turf war over nox and ecstasy sales.
Here is health info re Nitrous Oxide:
Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas laughing gas: see nitrous oxide.
laughing gas
(nitrous oxide) sweet-smelling, colorless gas; produces feeling of euphoria. [Medicine: Misc.]
See : Laughter , is an odorless gas used by dentists as a painkiller, but when abused, it can be as dangerous as any other inhalant. It can damage your peripheral nerves, causing numbness, tingling tin·gle
v. tin·gled, tin·gling, tin·gles
v.intr.
1. To have a prickling, stinging sensation, as from cold, a sharp slap, or excitement: tingled all over with joy. , and even paralysis. It also causes blackouts.
When you breathe in pure nitrous oxide, it binds with the oxygen in vour blood. This means your body’s tissues can’t get the oxygen they need. Dentists never give pure nitrous oxide to patients. They always mix it with oxygen. People who sell balloons or little canisters filled with nitrous oxide on the street or at concerts don’t know how to do this–and even if they did, they wouldn’t bother, if you inhale nitrous oxide outside of a dentist’s office, you’ll likely be flooding your body with sulphuric acid, ammonia, and nitric oxide–all toxic substances.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Poison+vapors:+the+truth+about+inhalants:+inhalants+can+cause+harm+to…-a0141092550
Art, you make some good points
Bigmarkod,
Thanks. These are tough times in Santa Ana. That shooting at Main Place the other day was less than a mile from my house.
No one is safe anymore.
Somehow we are going to have to get parents involved, and our police department and city administration need to take a long hard look at what they have been doing up until now. It isn’t working and time is running short…
I think Parents are the #1 force to help stop crime. #2 is the use of “Community Oriented Policing” It helps them stop problems Before they happen, when the city loves the police, and vice versa, it solves a lot of problems that Gestapo tactis don’t. I hope the Sheriff figures this out before Mission Viejo gets a shooting a day.
Poverty is the reason for the social ills descrived above.
There are as many drugs in affluent neighborhoods all over the USA as there are in Santa Ana’s economicaly challenged neighborhoods. Same is true for areas like South Central Los Angeles.
You do not see the in your face crime in the affluent neighborhoods because the kids there have their parents to provide for them.
They are not dependent economically on the drug business as the kids in the poverty depressed neighborhoods are.
The economic issue is the difference in crime between the poverty and effluent neighborhoods.
There is more drug use in Wall Street than in the poverty Santa Ana neighborhoods for sure. Where are the parents of these people working on Wall Street. Bad parenting here I guess.
Come to think about it. There is alot of crime on Wall Streeet also. It is just diferrent based on different economic pressures.
Relief of crime discussed on this thread is dependent on a economic delopment plan for these neighborhoods.
None is in place nor planned by Santa Ana’s current government leadership. The problems will then continue and fester resulting in the further needless death of Santa Ana’s children.
Much of this problem is traceable to scumbag employers who refuse to pay a decent wage. This ends up with both parents working, often two jobs, and living in crowded quarters. No wonder the kids hang out on the streets. Many of these low life employers live in fancy places like Newport Beach. They need to be exposed for what they are; money worshipers who thrive on the backs of the poor.