The four men vying to become Kanawha County's next law and order duo said Tuesday that they believe police and prosecutors can do more to stop the spread of methamphetamine. Speaking at a forum in the South Charleston Women's Club, the candidates for county sheriff said they would call on lawmakers to increase punishments for making methamphetamine while the candidates for county prosecutor promised to focus more of the office's resources on drug crimes. [continues 352 words]
Editor: I cannot believe that anyone would think restricting the sales of pseudoephedrine would stop drug dealers from making meth. Why not jail the people involved with making meth and set high bonds? One guy was caught three times, so apparently the laws are not strict enough for this particular crime. Why should the people who have allergies suffer because these idiots break the law? Brenda Young, South Charleston [end]
What Exactly Constitutes A Meth Lab? Jurors Stumped When police found methamphetamine, more than 150 cold pills, a glass flask and a butane torch in Robert E. Dickerson's truck in December, they declared that they had uncovered a budding drug lab. That was news to Dickerson, a 48-year-old methamphetamine user from Nitro who says he was just carrying around his drug paraphernalia. And thanks to the vagaries of the state's year-old meth lab law, even the courts aren't sure whether Dickerson was carrying around a drug factory. The problem: State law doesn't say what constitutes a meth lab. [continues 382 words]
Not long ago, early in the first half of the 20th century, a group of people noticed that our nation had a problem. The problem was that many of our citizens were destroying their lives, and those of others, with alcohol. A large rise in domestic crime, beatings, murders and rapes was attributed to the abuse of alcohol, and, in fact, was linked to its abuse. After decades of effort, a small group succeeded in passing the 18th amendment to the Constitution, thereby outlawing alcohol and, hopefully, its ruinous effects on our society. Prohibition, as any educated person knows, was a complete and total failure. [continues 407 words]
Legislature, Police Seek Law To Restrict Pseudoephedrine Sales Even though some pharmacies have taken it upon themselves to keep illegal drug makers from loading up on pseudoephedrine, police and legislators hope to team up to limit sales of the drug. The methamphetamine boom in West Virginia has taken such a commanding role with many law enforcement agencies that many in the field say something has to give. Homemade drug labs are popping up in urban neighborhoods, rural mobile homes and in motel rooms. Police have become experts in seeing meth ingredients and busting the volatile, toxic drug labs. [continues 1053 words]
A Charleston police officer accused of letting a drug dealer's wife keep thousands of dollars in drug proceeds invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a federal court hearing Friday. Charleston police Cpl. William Hart, currently on leave from the department, did not testify during the U.S. District Court hearing to decide if drug kingpin Calvin "Calcutta" Dyess and two of his associates should have their federal prison sentences reviewed, leading to possible resentencings. Dyess, his uncle Orange Junior Dyess, and Eric Dewayne "High School" Spencer had their cases reopened after Hart's handling of the investigation was questioned in 2002. [continues 386 words]
PIKEVILLE, Ky. - Carrie Cinnamond realized just how much times have changed when she had a steel vault hauled into her pharmacy in Eastern Kentucky. Two break-ins in two weeks by burglars in search of painkillers forced her to adopt many of the same security measures that are used at the bank down the street. Ever since prescription painkillers such as OxyContin became the drugs of choice among dealers and addicts in Appalachia, the days of small-town pharmacists dispensing medicines from behind an ordinary counter have become a quaint memory. [continues 480 words]
Gutting of Washington state law applies to W.Va., U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin decides In a decision with national implications, a federal judge in Charleston ruled Wednesday that a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that gutted sentencing rules in Washington state also applies to federal sentencing guidelines used here and across the country. Before an unusually crowded courtroom filled with lawyers and probation officers, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin reduced the sentence of a St. Albans man who conspired to make methamphetamine from 20 years to one year. [continues 766 words]
Supreme Court Limits Penalties To What Jury Hears A U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last week could mean an overhaul of the way criminal cases are handled in the federal court system as well as delayed sentencing hearings, West Virginia federal judges and lawyers said Tuesday. They are scrambling to make sense of last week's decision by the court in Blakely v. Washington, a case that throws into doubt the way convicts are sentenced at the federal level. [continues 960 words]
Pistol-Selling Verdict West Virginia attracts drugs-for-guns criminals because the state has no limit on the number of pistols a person may buy. Dope dealers come to the Mountain State, peddle their illicit narcotics, use the profit to buy trunkloads of cheap pistols, then return to major cities where they sell the guns to street thugs at a fat markup. But this ugly business may be crimped, thanks to this week's breakthrough lawsuit outcome. The insurer for Will Jewelry & Loan Co. in South Charleston agreed to pay $1 million to two New Jersey police officers who were wounded by a pistol from Will. Here's the background: [continues 422 words]
America the stockade ASK YOURSELF: Are people in the United States six times more criminal than citizens of Canada, England, Mexico and other lands? Of course not. People are innately alike everywhere. Then why does America lock people in prison at a rate six times higher than those nations do? New figures from the U.S. Justice Department say this country's prison population grew nearly 3 percent last year, to 2.1 million - although the crime rate has declined, and most states are trying to reduce incarceration to save money. The biggest increase was in federal jailing, which grew 7 percent. [continues 228 words]
Editor: I have been reading of the feud between the county commission and the prosecutor's office here in Kanawha County over funds to prosecute the 60-plus meth cases they have. To me as a citizen, I feel it is more important to give the extra money to get these people off the street than have the political fighting. Kent Carper wants people to think he has the power to do what he wants with our tax dollars. So Kent, give the prosecutor the extra money he needs to do this very important job. [continues 87 words]
Any Charleston employee can be asked to take a drug test if their supervisors have a reasonable suspicion they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol on the job, the city employee committee decided Thursday. The committee met Thursday afternoon for the first time since Mayor Danny Jones took office to approve changes to the city's policy on testing employees for drugs and alcohol. Under the current policy, Charleston can randomly test employees who need a commercial driver's license for their job, or people who have jobs that require them to do something that could injure themselves or others, like work with dangerous chemicals or tools or carry a gun. These employees also submit to a drug test before they are hired. [continues 365 words]
More than 60 Kanawha County felony criminal cases involve people facing methamphetamine-related charges, and prosecutors are getting overloaded, says Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Clifford. Clifford wants to add a drug prosecutor to his staff, and is trying to get a federal grant or other funding to help pay for such a position - about $35,000 to $40,000 in salary, plus benefits. He has approached U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner about getting money from the U.S. Department of Justice. Warner said he couldn't comment about the request, but said his office receives "hundreds" of similar requests every year for help with federal funding. He said he always hopes to be able to help local law enforcement. "I think the best law enforcement is joint law enforcement," Warner said. But Clifford isn't optimistic that his office will receive the federal money. "The problem is it doesn't look real promising that we'll be able to get it because of the federal budget crisis," Clifford said. "But we're going to at least try." [continues 285 words]
Two Kanawha County commissioners say Prosecuting Attorney Mike Clifford has enough money to prosecute methamphetamine cases, in the latest feud between the commission and the prosecutor. Clifford said last week he would try to get federal money to hire someone to prosecute the meth cases because the commission refuses to support his office financially. "I am confident that we can assist the prosecutor in reallocating his $2.7 million annual budget so that he can finally begin prosecuting these cases," said Commission President Kent Carper in a news release. Of the more than 60 felony criminal cases involving methamphetamine-related charges in Kanawha County, only one person has been indicted and one other has pleaded guilty. [continues 366 words]
'I FEEL I'VE BEEN REBORN' He was the quintessential golden boy. Prominent family. Idyllic childhood. All-American teenager. Blond. Handsome. Popular. A tennis star. Behind the poster boy façade was a drug-addicted alcoholic. Today, classmates probably wouldn't know him. Booze and drugs damaged him. At 54, sober and drug-free, Chick Maddox reflects ruefully on squandered possibilities, a bright future blighted by addiction. He tells his story to students at area schools. Maybe he can keep just one from making the same mistakes. [continues 1412 words]
With the election just around the corner, I want to stress the importance of the job of Kanawha County prosecutor. When you think of that position, you should think of the qualities that the person elected to the office must possess. Honesty, courage to do what is right and integrity come to mind, along with several other attributes. With those three qualities in mind, I want to tell a true story, unlike falsehoods then-prosecutor Bill Forbes told in February 1999 about the Charleston Police Department Street Crimes Unit. [continues 679 words]
Putnam County's magistrate candidates say there is a need for a fourth judge in the county to handle increasing domestic violence and methamphetamine cases. Seven candidates met with Gazette editors Monday to discuss what they would do if elected to one of the county's three seats on the bench. Incumbent Republican Kim Blair said dockets sometimes have to be planned two months ahead of time, meaning people have to wait that long for their initial court hearings in Putnam County. [continues 228 words]
Growing up, I always thought people who did drugs were losers and deadbeats. It was not until high school that I began to realize drugs are a common element of the party scene and that it isn't just losers and deadbeats who enjoy them. Whenever I saw the bright, intelligent students from my honors classes at school lighting up, I found myself wondering, "What are they thinking?" It was not until a recent interview with one senior, a National Merit semifinalist with a scholarship offer from the University of Tennessee who was expelled in March, that I began to have some insight. At his request, his name was withheld. [continues 672 words]
The three men who want to be Kanawha County's prosecutor said Monday the public's confidence in the office is shot and they could turn it around if elected. While they were primarily concerned with battling violent crimes and methamphetamine in the county, Democrats Tom Ciccarello and Bill Forbes and Republican Bill Charnock told the Gazette's editorial board that overtime policies would also change under their administrations. The candidates were critical of Mike Clifford's administration, citing a lack of prosecution of methamphetamine crimes among areas needing improvement by his successor. [continues 542 words]
WINFIELD - The drug unit is getting better at finding meth labs. But Putnam County Chief Deputy John Dailey isn't so sure that's the reason why there's been a surge of related incidents in the county. "It's profitable," Dailey said. "And you can find out how to make it just about anywhere." With a few taps on the keyboard and a click of the mouse, he brought up several recipe Web sites on his office computer. Though most people learn how to cook meth from recipes on the Internet, Dailey said that detectives find that people already making meth are more than happy to spread the word. [continues 185 words]
Criminals are being warned that using a firearm while committing a crime could put them in a federal prison for the rest of their lives. Community members and the U.S. attorney's Southern District Office have started "Hard Time for Gun Crime," a local gun-violence reduction program that will include billboards, community outreach and advertising to help reduce gun crimes. The project is a branch of the national "Protect Safe Neighborhoods" program and is focused on Southern West Virginia. [continues 335 words]
Editor: The problem with granting police access to patient records in methadone clinics is that many of the patients trying to clean up their lives have a history of illicit drug use. Police access would discourage rehabilitation. Would alcoholics seek help if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Methadone has been shown to reduce drug use and related crime, death and disease among chronic heroin addicts. It's also a viable treatment for OxyContin addiction. Contrary to popular opinion, methadone staves off debilitating withdrawal symptoms, but does not produce a high that prevents patients from living productive lives. The tough-on-drugs alternative is a very real threat to public safety. [continues 153 words]
Editor: Regarding your Feb. 20 methadone editorial: Earlier this month, the federal government issued a report concluding unequivocally that methadone-maintenance patients and the programs that treat them "are not the culprits" responsible for the recent wave of overdoses associated with this medication. Furthermore, it is simply not possible for programs to "pay little attention to their customers, merely sending them home with bottles of methadone." Every provider is obligated to adhere to a battery of standards imposed by nationally certified accreditation agencies - just as is true of hospitals. With a terrible problem like drug addiction, the very worst response is to abandon those who want and can benefit from availability of treatment services! Dr. Robert Newman Director Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute Beth Israel Medical Center New York [end]
Editor: As co-director of the Virginia chapter of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates, I have no qualms with a bill in the Legislature that would tax methadone providers. When Delegate Marshall Long, D-Mercer, started this "crusade," the foundation of his proposal seemed to be that the state mental health system wasn't getting enough revenue from these "for-profit" clinics. However, because of unfounded, untrue, ridiculous rumors of illicit methadone being peddled on the streets and of hundreds of stoned junkies wandering in and out of a legal drug distributorship, this bill has blossomed into one that would put unnecessary restrictions on an already well-regulated federal system and would violate federal privacy regulations by giving law enforcement easy access to patient information simply because they choose to treat their disease with a safe, legal medicine. Charles Kitts Bluefield, Va. [end]
Federally regulated methadone clinics are not to blame for the recent glut of methadone-related deaths, according to a press release issued by the federal regulator. The press release came as legislators in some states, including West Virginia and Virginia, debate bills to regulate methadone clinics. The regulator exonerated methadone clinics, based on a report issued by a "panel of state and federal experts, researchers, epidemiologists, pathologists, toxicologists, medical examiners, coroners, pain management specialists, addiction medicine specialists and others." The "others" included representatives from three methadone manufacturers, two methadone marketers and three consultants for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin - the abuse of which leads many addicts to methadone clinics. [continues 332 words]
a.. State Regulation Needed Almost overnight, for-profit methadone clinics sprang up across West Virginia, selling "fixes" of the synthetic drug to addicts for as little as $12 a day. The purpose of this trend was noble: It allowed narcotics victims to quench their craving legally, without going to criminal drug dealers who charge sky-high prices. But Gazette reporter Tara Tuckwiller revealed problems in West Virginia: Some clinics paid little attention to their customers, merely sending them home with bottles of methadone. In some cases, the stuff was peddled to other addicts, like street drugs. Overdose deaths occurred - but when police tried to learn the source of the methadone, clinics refused to name their customers. [continues 129 words]
Four days after a bill that proposed state regulations on methadone clinics was introduced in the House of Delegates, a Charleston methadone patient announced that he has formed a group to fight it. The West Virginia Methadone Advocacy Project started with four people, but "its membership has increased rapidly in the last couple days," coordinator Daniel White said Monday. "We suddenly find ourselves with about 25 members," thanks to fliers posted in the Charleston methadone clinic and on the project's Web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~wvmap/). The members include people who depend on the clinics for their daily methadone doses and "people at the corporate level - clinic owners." [continues 300 words]
Affidavits Inconsistent In Dyess Case A lawyer for convicted drug kingpin Calvin Dyess wants federal prosecutors to release grand jury testimony they used to indict two witnesses who testified against him. In a motion filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, Dyess' attorney, Jane Moran, asked for grand jury testimony used to indict Benjamin E. Green and Lori Nicole Cummings earlier this month. Moran also wants all subsequent testimony related to the Dyess case. Green and Cummings were charged with lying under oath about the amount of drugs they helped Dyess ship into West Virginia. [continues 321 words]
Moratorium To Allow Time For Rules To Take Shape With methadone clinic No. 15 knocking at West Virginia's door, the state Health Care Authority voted Wednesday to temporarily halt new clinics. "We're concerned about going from zero to 15 in a real short span of time," said HCA Chairwoman Sonia Chambers. "We're concerned about adequate regulations." West Virginia has no state regulations on methadone clinics. Since 2001, seven for-profit clinics have sprung up in West Virginia. Eight more have asked permission to open. The clinics sell methadone, a highly addictive legal drug, for about $12 a day to people who are trying to kick heroin, OxyContin or some other illegal opioid. The legal methadone is supposed to replace the illegal drug, allowing the client to lead a law-abiding life. [continues 216 words]
Editor: I grew up in Beckley. How do we ever expect to change peoples' opinion about West Virginia when we continue to print stupid articles like the one about West Virginians' paying more for illegal drugs than most states? Then we have our own U.S. attorney calling himself a hillbilly, and better yet, why are our tax dollars even being spent on such stupid research? Why do The Charleston Gazette and Daily Mail continue to print such negative articles about their own state and their own capital city? [continues 95 words]
Right-wing radio host ridicules U.S. attorney for statements on drugs A Gazette story about how West Virginia users of illegal drugs pay higher prices than those in other states drew the ridicule of right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh on his Wednesday radio program. Limbaugh poked fun at U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner for a quote in the story Tuesday where he said, "Maybe people have the idea that us poor hillbillies in the backwoods will pay more for our drugs." [continues 254 words]
Two witnesses who testified in one of West Virginia's largest drug conspiracy cases have been indicted on charges they lied under oath about the amount of drugs shipped into the state. In affidavits filed in the summer of 2002, Charleston residents Benjamin E. Green and Lori Nicole Cummings gave testimony different from their 1999 testimony in Calvin Dyess' drug conspiracy case, federal grand jurors charged Monday. Dyess, of Hurricane, is serving a life sentence for importing more than 100 pounds of marijuana and 200 pounds of crack cocaine into the Kanawha Valley from 1993 to 1999. [continues 465 words]
West Virginia residents are paying more for illegal drugs than people in other states, a study says. Statistics complied by the National Drug Intelligence Center and announced by U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner, said state residents pay more for powder cocaine than any other area of the country, except for parts of Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina, North Dakota and Montana. While prices vary based on purity, potency, and buyer-seller relationships, the study said West Virginia drug dealers pay about $24,000 wholesale for a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of powder cocaine. The dealers usually sell the drug back for $100 a gram. One kilogram of cocaine could generate as much as $75,000 in profit. [continues 140 words]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Federal officials are investigating the death of a black teenager shot three times in the back last week by a Louisville police officer, an FBI spokesman said Tuesday. Officer McKenzie Mattingly, working undercover, shot Michael Newby in the back Saturday night after they struggled for Mattingly's service handgun, Police Chief Robert White said. Mattingly was trying to buy drugs from Newby when the deal went wrong, White said. Newby, 19, was carrying a handgun, White said. Also, a powdered substance, either cocaine or crack cocaine, was found on him after the shooting. [continues 107 words]
The state Health Care Authority will vote Jan. 19 whether to put a moratorium on new methadone clinics in West Virginia. "Methadone clinics have become quite controversial," said Sonia Chambers, chairwoman of the HCA. West Virginia had no methadone clinics until 2001. Now, it has seven. The for-profit clinics sell methadone, a synthetic opioid, mostly to OxyContin addicts. The legal methadone is supposed to replace OxyContin, the opioid painkiller that is often obtained illegally. Methadone is also highly addictive, and it has been abused as a street drug. West Virginia has no state regulations on methadone clinics - unlike its neighboring states. Delegate Marshall Long, D-Mercer, has said he plans to introduce a bill during the legislative session to regulate methadone in West Virginia. [continues 136 words]
Proposed Bill Would Put Drug Under State Regulation For First Time Methadone customers in Kanawha County might be able to get their daily dose for a dollar less, if a Florida company is allowed to open a second methadone clinic in the county. It's one of five new methadone clinics proposed for West Virginia this month. The others would be in Nicholas, Mercer, Mineral and Greenbrier counties. West Virginia had zero methadone clinics in 2001. For-profit clinics have been popping up all over the state ever since. [continues 404 words]
The following is a concurring state Supreme Court opinion filed recently. This case involved a man who stole some very valuable hunting dogs and radio equipment, and for this crime he was sentenced to a year in jail. It was a rotten crime, although the offender apparently had no previous criminal record and it was not a crime of violence. I concur in the court's judgment and opinion because the sentence of incarceration was within the sentencing judge's discretion. [continues 578 words]
Editor: The Dec. 6 Gazette reports that Troy Johnston of Cross Lanes was arrested after he bought "acetone, peroxide, cold pills and heating materials" at Wal-Mart. That is, he bought nail polish remover, an antiseptic, a cold medication and maybe a hot plate. Wal-Mart employees reported him to Nitro police, who arrested him before he reached his car for "attempting to operate a clandestine drug lab." As near as I can tell, Mr. Johnston stands accused of a felony because he might use his purchases to create an illegal drug. I wonder where this stops. Should we arrest gardeners who purchase ammonium nitrate fertilizers because they might make bombs with it? Should we arrest gun buyers because they might use their guns illegally? [continues 126 words]
A federal judge Thursday threw out part of a lawsuit filed by three black West Virginia State College students claiming Charleston police officers stopped them because of their race. The students are suing 11 Charleston police officers, one Nitro officer, one Dunbar officer, former Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman and former Charleston Police Chief Jerry Riffe alleging, among other things, false arrest and illegal detention for an April 30, 2002, traffic stop near Charleston Town Center on Washington Street. U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II dismissed the portion of the lawsuit alleging wrongful arrest because he said a one-year statute of limitations had expired when the students filed an amended lawsuit naming the officers on Oct. 1. In the original suit, filed April 30, 2002, the officers were listed as John Does. [continues 391 words]
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments on whether private businesses can require newly hired employees to take a drug test before they start work. The case stems from the appeal of a lawsuit decision filed by Stephanie Baughman, a former Wal-Mart employee in Grafton. Baughman was fired in June 2001 for reasons unrelated to the drug test. Baughman began to search for legal claims against the company, and she "learned for the first time that her privacy rights had been violated" by the drug test, said her lawyer, Michael J. Florio. Harrison County Circuit Court rejected the claim. [continues 590 words]
Summit Calls for Campaign to Seek Federal Aid to Fight Epidemic PIPESTEM - Drunken driving is almost a thing of the past in eastern Kentucky's Martin County. Of 27 recent DUIs there, only three were alcohol-related. In the other 24, the drivers had been "pillin.'" John Voskhul, who works on prescription drug abuse coverage at the Lexington Herald-Leader, used that anecdote to illustrate the enormity of the problem in Appalachia. He spoke at a summit Wednesday for the Coalition on Appalachian Substance Abuse Policy, which brings together doctors, policymakers, journalists and people who counsel and treat drug addicts in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. [continues 656 words]
Editor: So the state realizes in the case of the Kanawha County triple murders that it must cough up a large reward to find the murderer. Is this not actually an indictment of the state's inability to do its job? There are other multiple murders in my community that have not been satisfactorily solved, but no reward offered. How many millions do taxpayers spend in this state for protection and investigations? We have a choice. We can continue to spend massive amounts of money on the drug war and tracking down speeding vehicles and drunken drivers - and then wonder why we do not have the money, skills and determination to track down nasty criminals who have actually committed atrocious crimes. [continues 86 words]
ODDBALL news events occur from time to time in West Virginia - and one of the wildest was the historic Pot Plane crash of 1979. The caper involved a bizarre cast, including some moviemakers who, believe it or not, eventually got out of jail and won an Academy Award. The tale began after midnight on a summer night. An old Douglas DC-6 cargo plane, four propellers whirring, approached Yeager (then Kanawha) Airport and radioed for permission to land. Tower operators didn't know that the darkness-shrouded craft contained 12 tons of marijuana. [continues 843 words]
Editor: There was an article on me in your paper last week. There is a correction to be made. You said in your paper that Marvin Meniar and I were selling 20 grams of cocaine per month. The exact weight was 20 kilograms per month. No one gets 20 years for selling 20 grams per month. Please. Make the correction. If you're so into putting these petty things in your newspaper, at least do a good job at it. One more thing, you should write an article about is how people in West Virginia get away with murder and rape, especially if they're white. But you catch a Hispanic or black for selling drugs, and we get more time than a murderer and rapist. I'm from New York City and this definitely doesn't happen in my city. There is no violence in the sale of narcotics. There is malicious violence in committing rape and murder. Alex Fernandez Charleston [end]
A former Dunbar resident in town to visit relatives criticized city council Monday night for doing nothing and allowing the city to become a haven for drug dealers. John Shook, a former New York City prosecutor, told officials they needed to increase the number of patrolmen and be more aggressive in policing narcotics trafficking. "Right now it is a free-for-all, there's nose candy, crack cocaine and marijuana rampant," he said. "I've been in town four days and I feel safer in my neighborhood in New York than here in Dunbar." [continues 287 words]
U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner said Tuesday that new guidelines by Attorney General John D. Ashcroft on how federal prosecutors should pursue criminal charges and sentences will not change how his office pursues cases. The new policy requires federal prosecutors to charge defendants with the most serious offenses they can prove, and to fight attempts by defense attorneys and judges to sentence a defendant to less prison time than recommended by congressional guidelines. Warner said he already follows those rules and that Ashcroft's new rules are simply designed to clarify U.S. Justice Department policy. [continues 399 words]
PHILADELPHIA - In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes. The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers. Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car. [continues 736 words]
W.Va.'s addiction rates for heroin, OxyContin near double U.S. average Privately owned methadone clinics are popping up all over West Virginia, and a legislative interim committee Monday tried to determine whether that's a boon or bane for behavioral health care in the state. Lawmakers heard from David Gnass, chief executive officer of National Specialty Clinics, a Nashville, Tenn.-based company that operates six of the seven methadone clinics licensed in West Virginia. He told the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources Accountability that West Virginia has proved to be a lucrative market for the company, with percentages of residents addicted to OxyContin and heroin running nearly double the national average. [continues 482 words]
World's Biggest Prison ASK YOURSELF: Are Americans more criminal than people in other nations? Of course not. So why is America the world's foremost stockade, locking up a much-higher ratio of citizens than other advanced nations? One possible explanation is that America, descended from Puritans, is more punitive-minded than other lands. Or perhaps it's America's latent racism, which lurks behind the relentless prosecution of blacks. Whatever the reason, the grim fact is that 2.2 million Americans currently are behind bars - an incarceration rate five to 10 times higher than in most modern countries. U.S. taxpayers shell out $40 billion a year to keep so many confined in steel cages. [continues 278 words]
