Highly Addictive, Dangerous-To-Make Drug on Radar of the Law

Lt. Lachlan MacNeish hopes he'll never see another meth lab in his life.

"If I could wake up and never have to go to another one, I'd be happy," said MacNeish, commander of the Emergency Response Team with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office.

While meth labs aren't common in the area, chances are MacNeish will have to deal with another one sooner or later.

In a presentation to county commissioners last week, MacNeish and others said meth is here in Southeastern North Carolina, even if manufacturing isn't common. MacNeish said last year local authorities confiscated more than 453 grams of meth in New Hanover County, with a street value exceeding $45,000.

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Interesting ideas can cross your mind at the strangest times. Recently, my own ruminations were sparked in the men's room on the fifth floor of Davis Library, where I noticed that someone had scrawled "legalize it" on the tile wall.

Normally, the graffiti found in UNC's bathrooms is entertaining but not very thought provoking. But this wasn't your ordinary act of vandalism. Instead it inspired me to ponder if I could answer the question of whether marijuana should be legal from an objective point of view.

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Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, a recently formed on-campus group, is focusing on key issues pertaining to current drug laws both locally and nationally.

"It's important to stress that what we're trying to do isn't simply to grant people the legal right to get high," said Laura Eshelman, vice president of SSDP. "Fighting the war on drugs is much more significant than that, and it extends to so many other areas of society." SSDP, a national grassroots activist organization created in 1998, has chapters on college campuses nationwide, including three others in North Carolina. The main goals of SSDP are pushing for a sensible federal drug policy, as well as fighting back against the drug war policies, which harm many students, according to Eshelman.

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An undercover Onslow County deputy accidentally fired a single round from his .45-caliber handgun during a drug raid Friday at a home on Oxford Drive, Sheriff Ed Brown said.

"Because drug dealers are known to be armed, narcotic agents are required to be ready to respond immediately," Brown said. "The first agent entering the residence had his handgun drawn and pointing upward. During the entry process that agent bumped his arm on something causing his (weapon) to discharge one time."

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I read with interest the events leading to the incarceration of a law enforcement officer ("Former deputy sentenced to 20 years in prison," Oct. 17), and it reminded me of the first time I came to know police corruption. When I was a college freshman in 1973, the Durham vice squad was on a self-serving rampage similar to that of the former Robeson County deputies, sans the kidnapping and shooting.

I thought then that only Hollywood law enforcement was capable of such acts, but again, I was a naive 17-year-old. Police corruption seems commonplace when fighting drugs these past 35 years. Haven't we learned by now that prohibition supports an internecine relationship with guns, money and drugs around the world?

There is a way out of this mess. Regulation and treatment.

Take the money and cops-and-robber game off the table and things might change for the better.

Can't get much worse.

Peter Christopher

[end]

State Looks into Methadone Cases

CHARLOTTE - State health officials are investigating the deaths in the past year of at least 16 patients treated for drug addiction at clinics run by a Charlotte company.

The probe comes as the state tries to combat a growing number of deaths involving methadone, a drug traditionally used to help heroin addicts but increasingly prescribed as a painkiller.

In 2004, North Carolina's 245 methadone-poisoning deaths trailed only Florida's, according to a new federal study.

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LUMBERTON - Richard Moore has spent the last seven years looking after employees' retirement plans as the state treasurer. On Thursday, Moore gave a pep talk in Lumberton to agencies in the business of securing the futures of young people by steering them away from substance abuse.

"There are no two things that are more important than combating drugs and helping our children," Moore told about 400 people who were attending the 10th annual Red Ribbon Luncheon at the Southeastern N.C. Agricultural Center/Farmers Market. "We are all grateful to Palmer Prevention for the work they do, day in and day out."

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At Least 16 Tied To Drug Used To Help Addicts; Fatalities Rise In N.C. As Prescriptions Grow

N.C. health officials are investigating the deaths in the past year of at least 16 patients treated for drug addiction at clinics run by a Charlotte company. The probe comes as the state tries to combat a growing number of deaths involving methadone, a drug traditionally used to help heroin addicts but increasingly prescribed as a painkiller.

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Twenty-five years is a long run for any nonprofit organization, especially one taking on such a seemingly intractable problem as drug abuse. But Wilson Families in Action is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week after a quarter century of award-winning efforts to save children from the temptations and devastations of substance abuse. Begun in 1982 as an initiative of the Wilson Chamber of Commerce, Families in Action went to work immediately on the problem of drug abuse. Initially under the leadership of Tom Brown, Families in Action faced a most daunting task. The drug culture of the late 1960s had never been tamped down, and highly destructive crack cocaine was on the horizon. Few, if any, employers required drug tests at the time, so recreational drug users could fit easily into society with potentially catastrophic results for work safety and productivity.

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Marijuana may still be king, but prescription drugs are gaining ground as the most abused illegal drug in Moore County, acccording to Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Kip Dennis.

That was the message Dennis delivered Saturday during a community forum sponsored by Drug-Free Moore County to kick off Red Ribbon Week. It was held at Sandhills Community College's Dempsey Student Center and Van Dusen Hall. Dennis, a drug officer for the Moore County Sheriff's Office, said prescription medication abuse has overtaken cocaine as the second-most abused drug in the county. Dennis talked in detail about drugs, drug abuse and the county's effort to combat illegal drugs.

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Pitt County received mixed results from a recent survey of high school and middle school students about their use of tobacco, alcohol and narcotics. While progress was made deterring children from smoking, students admitted a greater willingness to engage in other risky and potentially harmful behavior. That fact is cause for concern, but also for optimism. The declining smoking rate indicates that children are listening to messages of deterrence and behaving accordingly. By expanding those efforts to explain the ill effects of alcohol and drugs, Pitt County might be able to make strides in protecting kids from the danger of substance abuse.

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October 11-17, 2007

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Gangs and drugs are terrorizing communities of color and it is up to government at all levels to combat it.

That was the general conclusion of a brain trust, "Terrorism at Home: Breaking the Grip of Gangs and Drugs in Our Communities," sponsored by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in collaboration with the National African American Drug Policy Coalition, a consortium of Black organizations committed to changing the drug laws and culture to the benefit of Blacks.

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Students across the county will participate this week in one of the nation's oldest and largest drug prevention programs, as part of "Red Ribbon Week."

The event promotes living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle and encourages students to be drug free, said Allen Smith, the district's safety coordinator.

"This campaign provides schools and communities with an opportunity to bring together parents, schools, the community and business partners as we look for new and innovative ways to help students make healthy choices when asked to use drugs," he said.

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Local school districts that have adopted student drug-testing policies have reported few positive tests and increased participation in sports and activities.

Camden County Schools adopted a policy for grades 7-12 at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year. Superintendent Ron Melchiorre said 432 students fell under the policy during its first year. He said about one-third -- 140 students -- were tested and five positive tests were reported. "We feel very good about the policy," Melchiorre said. "We've had a good buy-in from parents and it was student-initated." According to Melchiorre, Camden reported seven instances of a student possessing a controlled substance during the 2005-06 school year, but zero since drug testing began. He also said the policy has not had a detrimental effect on participation in sports and other voluntary activities, as 465 students are participating this school year.

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Regarding Pat Orsban's guest commentary, "Banning firearms would not improve our safety," (AC-T, Oct. 9).

For years I've known that increasing the penalties against illegal drugs causes only the casual users to quit, but they have not been a problem anyhow. Drug abusers, on the contrary, will get their fix whether legal or not. That is why escalating penalties does almost nothing to reduce drug abuse. It just increases the profit of the illegal market and draws in more violent men who disrespect authority.

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SHELBY -- Probation, courts and narcotics were the topics of conversation during Thursday's Citizens Police Academy class, hosted by the Shelby Police Department. Tracy Royster, of the Division of Community Corrections, discussed the individuals on probation in Cleveland County, which she numbered at 1,439.

Ninety-eight of those, Royster said, were probation absconders whose locations are not known.

She said there are 43 sex offenders in the county, one of whom is equipped with a GPS bracelet that he will wear for life.

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If someone were to mention the terms "bright red" and "strawberry-flavored," it would probably bring up images of ice cream or candy, not drugs.

However, two arrests in the High Country in September by the Ashe County Sheriff's Office and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation have brought light to a possible new trend in crystal methamphetamines drugs that the terms "bright red" and "strawberry flavored" describe perfectly.

"[These flavored and colored drugs] are the same crystal methamphetamines that we've had for a long time," said Carson Puckett, a narcotics investigator with the Boone Police Department. "They've just added food coloring and flavoring to entice users."

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The UNCG Police Department recently welcomed a new member to the force. Her name is Aja, she has her very own badge and bulletproof vest, and she walks on four legs.

Aja is a two-year-old German Shepard from Czechoslovakia. Sgt. David Combs is Aja's partner, and describes her as a "very sweet, zero-bite dog."

Aja went through 10 weeks of police canine training to learn how to follow scents and ground disturbances. She was the fastest in her class at finding well-hidden narcotics.

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With the cold season approaching, many consumers are frustrated by the removal of many over-the-counter medications from the shelves. Cough and cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine (PSE), ephedrine (EPH), or dextromethorphan (DMX) are restricted by either federal law or by voluntary pharmacy policy.

The federal law restricting PSE and EPH went into effect in January 2007, although a similar North Carolina law went into effect in January 2006. These laws are designed to curtail methamphetamine production.

These products were bought in large quantities, multiple times by those with "meth labs." The medicines are an important ingredient in making the illegal drug methamphetamine.

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RALEIGH -- A federal judge showed little leniency Tuesday, sentencing former Robeson County Deputy Patrick Ferguson to more than 20 years in prison for his role in kidnapping and attempting to rob two drug dealers from Virginia. Ferguson's sentence is the first for 20 former lawmen who have pleaded guilty since a state and federal investigation into corruption in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office began nearly five years ago. The investigation -- known as Operation Tarnished Badge -- continues. Ferguson apologized to the court, his family and to the law enforcement profession.

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