"Dealing with Dealers", posted 8 Sep 2005 9:19 AM
Randy Cohen, who writes "The Ethicist" column for the New York Times Sunday Magazine, responded last week to a readed who asked:
I live in a gentrifying neighborhood. Someone on the block is dealing drugs that, I recently learned, are less benign than I'd assumed; he's dealing crystal meth. I believe that the drug laws are overly punitive, and I've never had a problem with the dealer. But I would like to see the block cleaned up and the drug traffic gone. What's the morality of narcking on the neighbors?
Ask yourself how you'd answer, then read Cohen's response (I'm linking to the Houston Chronicle's version of the column hoping that it does not, like the Times, require registration and payment after a week).
Then let us know what you think, and if Cohen's response had any impact on where you now stand.
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