They marched by the thousands Thursday in Jena, La., to protest a terrible injustice against six teenagers there, and rightfully so. As the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous April 16, 1963, Letter from the Birmingham Jail, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Now that the injustice toward those six young African-American teenagers in Louisiana has been brought to the nation's attention, it's time for those of us in Tennessee and elsewhere around the United States to move toward protesting another gross injustice that's been hanging around for far too long.

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To the Editor:

Tennessee lawmakers sought an end-around on self-incrimination in 2005 when they became the 23rd state legislature to enact a tax on the possession of illegal drugs. Fortunately, the appeals court saw through this and overturned the tax as "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable." ("Bredesen has doubts about tax on illegal drugs," Sept. 14)

Do I find the tax arbitrary? Not really. It seems to have a built-in target market. Do I find it capricious? Yes, if you mean that it was an impulsive and not-well-thought-out attempt to take advantage of people who are prone to a specific sort of "questionable" behavior; has a lower burden of proof than the criminal possession of the actual substance does; and only offers a very short means of redress (48 hours) to make it hard to satisfy the conditions of the law.

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The closure of a major, Midstate drug-trafficking organization will keep some drugs off the street in Murfreesboro, the city's top cop said Friday.

"What you saw (Thursday) was a large-scale operation put out of business," police Chief Glenn Chrisman said. "They took some major players out of the game."

The supply chain interruption will curb sales on local streets immediately, he added.

More than 300 officers from 60 agencies executed 22 search warrants on businesses and homes in Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Davidson counties. Federal agents made 27 arrests.

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To the Editor:

While the Metro police might celebrate the fact that the cocaine supply is down in Nashville, they're faced with an inescapable economic reality.

Tighter supplies drive up prices, as police spokesman Don Aaron acknowledged has been the case, and higher prices will draw more suppliers to the area hoping to make a bigger profit ("Supply of cocaine shrinks in Nashville," Sept. 14).

So, as Aaron might see the tight supply as a good thing, it's a short-sighted celebration. In the long term, the potential for greater profit is likely to see an increase in cocaine's availability in Nashville.

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NASHVILLE -- A recent Court of Appeals ruling may end Tennessee's tax on illegal drugs, Gov. Phil Bredesen and state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr said Thursday.

But Sen. Randy McNally, who sponsored the bill creating the tax when it was enacted in 2005, said he remains hopeful that the Legislature can approve a revised version to eliminate any "constitutional shortcomings," even if the court ruling stands.

A three-judge Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously Sept. 7 that the "unauthorized substances tax" -- often called the "crack tax" -- violates the state constitution.

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Cocaine Supply In Cities Has Dropped, DEA Says

Finally, some good news regarding the international war on drugs. A Drug Enforcement Administration analysis shows the cocaine supply in more than two dozen large cities, including Nashville, has dropped. Such cities serve as distribution sites for the rest of the country.

DEA intelligence agents are crediting a crackdown in Mexico by President Felipe Calderon with the decrease. He sent in 3,000 troops to break up two drug cartels that were engaged in a turf war.

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Appeals Judges Uphold Lower Court, Finds Tax-Stamp Unconstitutional

Drug dealers won a round against the tax man with a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling this week striking down the so-called "crack tax." In a unanimous decision Thursday, a three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision declaring unconstitutional a law that requires dealers of drugs like cocaine, marijuana and even moonshine to buy a tax stamp or face hefty fines and confiscation of assets.

Despite the ruling, Tennessee intends to continue enforcing the law while appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court, said Sophie Moery, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Revenue. Since the Unauthorized Substance Tax was enacted in January 2005, the Revenue Department has sold 981 tax stamps, some to stamp collectors, and taken in a total of $6.8 million arising from 3,818 cases, she said. Three-fourths of the money goes to local law enforcement agencies for drug education and enforcement, she said.

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You can tax sin, but you can't tax crime.

So concludes the state Court of Appeals in striking down as unconstitutional the state's Unauthorized Substance Tax Act, more commonly known as the "crack tax." In an opinion delivered Friday by Appellate Judge Sharon G. Lee, the court joined a growing list of chancellors across the state in declaring the crack tax unconstitutional. But it did so from an entirely different angle, thus sidestepping what has been the primary legal beef with the tax. Rather than address whether the tax violates an alleged drug dealer's rights to due process and against self-incrimination, the court instead determined that the tax itself is unconstitutional.

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Saturday of education about drugs was culminated by a heart-wrenching talk from former meth addict David Parnell of Martin.

Parnell spoke for a solid 90 minutes about his drug history, starting with marijuana and leading to other drugs, especially meth. Parnell is married and he and wife Amy have seven children. He almost died twice, first as the result of attempting to hang himself and a second time when he put a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger. Amy knocked the barrel just as it was going off and the blast tore away the front of his face. He has undergone several surgeries including periodically having to have his jaw rebroken and put back together.

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Their hearts were in the right place when three Shelby County high school principals tried to continue random drug testing of students engaged in extracurricular activities this week.

"To heck with what the attorney general's office says," however, might not be the right lesson for young people to take from their high school experience going forward.

Shelby County Schools officials were correct to halt the testing at Germantown, Houston and Millington High Schools, pending a review of an opinion authored by deputy Atty. Gen. Kate Eyler.

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Justice was served when Stewarts Creek teacher Jay Gill was fined and ordered to undergo two months of drug screening after being caught with marijuana last spring.

Unfortunately, Rutherford County Schools let it drop as if nothing happened.

Not so much as a word officially emanated from Rutherford County Schools toward the teacher, no letter of reprimand, no suspension, and certainly no firing.

That's a shame because County Schools Director Harry Gill Jr. could have used the incident to send a strong message about drugs and alcohol.

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SUB: Drug Tests For Gill; Shelton Can't Own Gun

Two Smyrna teachers arrested in the spring for separate off-campus incidents are back in the classroom, their court cases behind them and back pay restored to one.

But Stewarts Creek Middle School technology teacher Adlai "Jay" Gill will be required to take court-ordered drug screens for the next two months. And Julie A. Shelton, a science teacher at Smyrna High, can't own a gun for a while or speak to her neighbor.

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Since Crackdown Here, 80 Percent Of American Users' Supply Comes From South, DEA Says

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. -- Thanks to tougher U.S. laws, fewer people are cooking up batches of meth in dangerous homemade labs, but that doesn't mean the supply has dried up. Eighty percent or more of America's methamphetamine habit now comes from Mexico, law enforcement officials say.

That means U.S. drug agents are changing how they fight this particular drug war -- looking to stop Mexican traffickers on interstate highways instead of raiding small-time meth labs in kitchens and backyard sheds.

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SEVIERVILLE - Call off the drug testing and all those hastily scheduled meetings.

In response to a July 2 opinion by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, the Sevier County Board of Education has decided to hold off on its new drug-testing policy for athletes that went into effect just the day before.

Sevier County high school athletic directors had scheduled a number of meetings this week to inform athletes about the new policy and distribute parental consent forms. The actual drug testing was slated to start July 31.

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Plans by the Bradley County school system to initiate a random drug-testing program for the 2007-2008 school year may be put on hold after an opinion last week by the state attorney general.

Although such testing has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Tennessee attorney general says students cannot be randomly tested unless a principal has a good reason to suspect a student is using drugs.

"In light of this ruling, I'm going to wait for an additional assessment from our attorneys," said Bradley County Director of Schools Bob Taylor today.

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Opinion May Affect Midstate Schools

A new state attorney general's opinion could jeopardize random drug-testing programs at several Midstate high schools, including those in Wilson County.

The opinion, issued this week, states that Tennessee school districts cannot randomly test students for drugs just because they participate in extracurricular activities. Despite two decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court that random drug testing does not violate a student's rights, state law provides more protection than the U.S. Constitution against search and seizure.

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On Monday, June 25, the Supreme Court ruled against Joseph Frederick in his freedom of speech case that has been active for five years.

Frederick posted a banner in 2002 that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a school-sponsored event. He refused to take it down when asked and the principal of the school suspended him for 10 days. Frederick sued and the case landed in the Supreme Courts lap.

Frederick sputtered and raged about how his rights were infringed for posting a harmless banner that was meant as a joke. He later even admitted that he did it to purposefully provoke his principal. Frederick was completely aware of the Zero Tolerance policy his school enforced regarding drug paraphernalia, which included his banner promoting bong hits. Yet, he thought his rights were stolen from him.

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When it comes to drug trends, synthetic or man-made drugs are hot while methamphetamine is not.

Director Tommy Farmer of the Tennessee Methamphetamine Drug Task Force said the meth epidemic showed a dramatic decrease in manufacturing labs since the state made it tougher last year to buy Ephedrine, the key component of the illegal drug.

More than 1,565 labs were seized in the peak year of 2005 while only 210 labs were confiscated this year. Tennessee is still fourth in the nation for confiscation of illegal meth labs.

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With revenue from the seizure of drug-related property on the decline, Hawkins County Sheriff Roger Christian said Monday he may have to chop the department's marijuana eradication helicopter from the 2007-08 fiscal year budget to avoid ending up in the red.

Between insurance, storage and maintenance, the helicopter costs the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office about $20,000 annually simply to possess before it even gets off the ground. Insurance is $9,300 per year alone.

During the current fiscal year, the sheriff's department was anticipating $75,000 in revenue from drug fines, court costs and seizures based on previous years. But instead that figure will come in at barely over $41,000 this year.

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I am writing to express my support for Mr. Bernie Ellis ("Marijuana Martyr," April 26). I recently read about his situation on your website and felt it necessary to log disgust with the state of Tennessee and those prosecutors who have decided to destroy this man's life.

What I want to know is: whom was he harming? He broke the law, fair enough. I'll even grant that when the law is broken it constitutes an ostensible harm to all of us, as the rule of law is at the very root of our American ideology. However, as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "we have a moral obligation to obey just laws, but we also have a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws" (or something thereabouts). And what law could be more unjust than a law whose execution calls for the destruction of this kindly old man's life? Ellis was doing nothing but minding his own business and trying-in a most Christ-like fashion-to help those in pain.

Christiaan Mitchell

Blackwell, Okla.

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