Boulder City not immune to drug, gang problems, police say

By Cassie Tomlin

Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 | 4:23 p.m.

With Las Vegas and its drug and gang problems so close, Boulder City isn't exactly a world away from danger, Boulder City police officers said Thursday at a City Council workshop on drug and gang awareness.

"It's very safe here, but at the same time, we're not immune," Detective Scott Pastore said. "These things are out there."

Pastore and officer Jeff Grasso talked to about 40 residents and the council about gang and drug traffic through Boulder City, coming to and from Las Vegas, a "major corridor" for drug sales, they said.

Since 2006, more than 250 gang members traveled through Boulder City, Pastore said.

Drugs fuel most crimes in Boulder City, from thefts to domestic violence, Chief Thomas Finn said.

To illustrate how Boulder City is not untouched by drugs, Grasso noted the results of a survey given to 100 students at Boulder City High School last year.

Of the 100 surveyed, 52 of them said they'd drunk alcohol in their lifetimes, and 23 said they had in the past month. Nationally, 75 percent of teens said they had had a drink in their life, and 45 percent in the past month, according to the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Twenty-six teens said they'd smoked marijuana ever, and 16 said they had within a month. Nationally, 38 percent of students had tried marijuana and 20 percent in the past month.

Three Boulder City students said they'd used methamphetamines, and five said they'd used cocaine. Seventeen students said they'd abused prescription pills in their lifetimes, Grasso said. The national averages were 4.4 percent for meth and 7.2 percent for cocaine. The CDC survey did not ask about prescription pill abuse.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].