A police raid last week illustrated just how deep the heroin-related drug problem is in our area.

The raid resulted in the seizure of $116,000 worth of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone and landed four men in prison.

It was the culmination of good work by Lycoming County’s Narcotics Enforcement Unit, Williamsport Bureau of Police and state police over the past few weeks.

It also was sobering work.

Police found 3,504 bags of heroin, over a pound of methamphetamine, 37 grams of cocaine and 98 oxycodone pills.

We wonder how many supply loads of this volume are out there in our community on a regular basis, with willing buyers.

To choke off that supply, we need fewer buyers.

That takes a community education effort – which appears to be strong and coordinated – but that education has to be coupled with the discipline by people in every age group, culture and economic class to resist this dead-end path. And it should be clear by now from the daily stories that this is nothing more than a dead end.

None of that is easy.

But if we don’t want to lose a generation to illicit drugs and their pathway to tragedy, it’s all necessary.

We salute the good work of the drug enforcement unit.

Cutting off the drug supply to this area is no easy task.