Pubdate: Sat, 29 Mar 2003
Source: Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright: 2003 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact: http://www.clarionledger.com/about/letters.html
Website: http://www.clarionledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUG CORRIDOR?

I-20 Now A Major Drug Portal

Homeland security? It's not always about protecting Mississippi citizens 
from what is traditionally defined as terrorism. Sometimes, it's protecting 
us from the scourges within our own borders - and illegal drugs is chief 
among those dangers along Mississippi's Interstate 20 corridor.

How significant a drug portal has this federal highway crossing Mississippi 
from Vicksburg to Kewanee become? Consider this week's activity:

*  State Department of Transportation officers seized $412,000 worth of 
marijuana (206 pounds) from a tractor-trailer load of watermelons bound for 
Baltimore that was stopped on Interstate 20 near Meridian, officials said.

*  Rankin County lawmen arrested two Texas men at an I-20 traffic stop on 
Thursday who are accused of attempting to transport $8 million in drugs 
inside crates of new furniture. Officers found what they believe was 332 
pounds of cocaine and more than 80 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.

Economic developers dream of an I-20 corridor that will be the "new 
Detroit" in terms of attracting auto makers to the Deep South. But unless 
federal, state and local lawmen maintain their vigilance, the I-20 corridor 
may well become known as the drug corridor for the state.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager