A 16-year-old Columbus girl has been arrested for murder after her child was born dead last month.

Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant's investigation led to the arrest under the state's "depraved heart murder" charge. Merchant determined that the baby died from a cocaine overdose.

The girl's identity is not being revealed because she is a minor.

The case is the second infant death charge brought by Merchant in the past four months relating to drug use by the mother. Tonya Regina Hairston, 32, of Columbus is currently awaiting trial on manslaughter charges after her baby was stillborn July 30. An autopsy on that baby determined cocaine toxicity caused its death.

[continues 258 words]

We sincerely hope that the newly established Tate County drug court will help curtail the growing problem of drug-related crimes.

It seems common sense not to simply throw the offenders in jail, where they can sometimes continue to procure their illicit substances, but to offer them a way out of their addiction.

Yes, it will be expensive, but those enrolled in the program are being expected to hold steady employment and contribute towards the cost of their treatment.

Some of these individuals are seeing structure and accountability for the first time in their lives.

If the root cause of the crimes is drug addition, it seems elementary that the ultimate solution is ridding the offender of that addiction.

[end]

As the nation ponders its lost cause in Iraq, it's past time to reconsider yet another misbegotten crusade: America's 35-year-old "War on Drugs." Conceived by President Richard Nixon in 1971 partly as an attack on the anti-Vietnam war "counterculture," like most governmental efforts to abolish sin and folly, it's a complete failure.

For different reasons, Democrats and Republicans alike refuse to acknowledge reality. I yield to none in my contempt for the romance of narcotics.

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A member of the state Legislature told a group of graduates Monday he wants them to be examples for the entire state.

While that's not an unusual theme for a commencement address, state Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, was talking to people who have completed Warren County Drug Court's rehabilitation program.

"You will be a walking advertisement" for the drug-court concept, Flaggs said, encouraging five graduates to use the tools they had learned in overcoming their own addictions to help them face other challenges.

[continues 394 words]

Police officers should be subjected to random drug testing.

The recent arrest of a Moss Point police officer is an indication of how critical such a simple procedure such as frequent and random drug tests may be for public safety.

Police officers are not immune from the ills of life, such as substance abuse. Law enforcement officers are in a unique position because they are entrusted to carry weapons in the course of their work. Police officers and deputies also are called upon to make life and death decisions from the use of a weapon to even how a vehicle is driven. The public ought to be assured all reasonable safeguards are taken to make sure the person given such authority is not impaired by substance abuse. Testing would be a reasonable safeguard.

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Mississippi has one of the highest inmate incarceration rates in the country, and the state's prison population keeps growing, amid concern about pending budget woes and a shortage of inmate beds.

Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said his staff expected the inmate population to grow by 594 between July 1 and June 30, 2007.

Instead, the inmate tally hit 610 additional prisoners Dec. 10.

"I can't tell you what the next six months is going to bring," Epps said.

House Corrections Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said the number of empty beds in state prisons went from about 1,200 earlier this year to fewer than 200, Malone said.

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Arrest Numbers Relatively Low, but Higher Profile

Statistics show a large increase in the number of Mississippi law enforcement officers who have crossed the line and turned to the wrong side of the law.

Since July, at least 17 officers statewide have been arrested on criminal charges. There have been five arrests in South Mississippi since 2000.

The numbers are enough to raise this question: Have cops gone wild?

Not at all, said law enforcement officials and consultants, who say the number of recent arrests is small considering the state has more than 10,000 sworn officers.

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It has become a familiar scene on the evening news across the country: Neighbors watch in stunned silence as police raid the house next door and the nice couple who for the most part kept to themselves is hauled away for running a methamphetamine lab in their basement.

How could this happen, the neighbors ask, in our neighborhood? Isn't this the kind of thing you only see . . . somewhere else?

Compared to marijuana, heroin or cocaine, methamphetamine, or "meth" as it is commonly known, is relatively new in the headlines. But this drug has had a tremendous and terrible impact in a short time.

[continues 753 words]

Public Safety Commissioner George Phillips was right to reverse a recommendation to cut funding for the state's largest narcotics task force.

A committee appointed by Phillips earlier turned down a $228,000 grant application for the North Central Narcotics Task Force, citing a cut in federal funding to the state.

The U.S. Department of Justice cut the state's funding from $5.3 million to about $2 million, saying money was shifted from drugs to homeland security needs.

That is a shortsighted shift in priorities, especially for rural states like Mississippi. Much crime is driven by drugs, as Phillips points out. Federal funding is needed for this overwhelming task.

Second District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, will be assuming chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee and says he supports restoring the law enforcement grant funding.

That would help Mississippi do what it must to fight drugs.

[end]

National Celebration Honors Fallen Hero

CARRIERE -- Pearl River Central Upper and Lower Elementary Schools celebrated National Red Ribbon Week October 23-27, 2006. This week is celebrated throughout our country as a tribute to a fallen hero, DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. He grew up very poor and vowed one day to make a difference. He was tragically murdered by drug traffickers in Mexico in February of 1985. In his memory, friends and family began to wear red badges of satin.

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Is America giving up on the "drug war" in favor of fighting the war in Iraq?

Mississippi's 14 multijurisdictional narcotics task forces were told on Sept. 29 that their federal funding was being cut. Cuts are blamed on the Iraq war.

The U.S. Justice Department's Byrne Justice Assistance Grant used to fund the task forces has dropped from $5.3 million in 2003 to about $2 million this year, forcing some to shut down already.

It's particularly acute in the Delta, where the state's largest task force - the eight-county North Central Narcotics Task Force - is losing its $280,000. It netted 162 drug arrests in the past fiscal year.

[continues 132 words]

STARKVILLE - Students at Henderson Intermediate School in Starkville got the drug-free message loud and clear Friday, not only from their own classmates, but from a convicted and rehabilitated drug offender as well.

"I think the worst thing that happened was watching my mom cry in court," said Heath Kleinke, 31, from Hattiesburg, and a trustee with the Oktibbeha County Jail, who is serving six years into a 12-year sentence for multiple drug-related crimes, including drug possession and selling.

[continues 206 words]

Former Biloxi police officer Darrell D. Cvitanovich Jr. has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling Ecstasy.

Harrison County Circuit Judge Roger Clark on Monday suspended 10 years of the sentence, giving Cvitanovich five years to serve.

Cvitanovich pleaded guilty earlier this month to one of two drug charges.

The 14-year veteran resigned following his arrest in June after a raid at his home turned up several tablets of Ecstasy and a small amount of methamphetamine.

Clark agreed to give Cvitanovich until noon Nov. 15 to turn himself in to go to prison.

[continues 62 words]

Area students wore caps, ties and mismatched socks and also planted flowers during Red Ribbon Week. Observed each year from Oct. 23-31, the Red Ribbon Campaign is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the country.

"Our highlight for the week was the whole school planting red tulip bulbs," said Jennifer Homan, counselor at Parkway Elementary in Tupelo.

The Red Ribbon Campaign was started after drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered Kiki Camarena, a DEA agent, in 1985. In honor of Camarena's memory, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parent coalitions took note, adopting the red ribbon as a symbol of the fight against drugs.

[continues 177 words]

The dangers from substance abuse are as real today as they were 21 years ago when Red Ribbon Week began after drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena. The red ribbon is used as a symbol of the commitment against drug abuse.

Red Ribbon Week is scheduled from Oct. 23 to Oct. 31. A look through the newspaper from the arrests by police and sheriff's departments to even the sports pages shows that substance abuse is, unfortunately, part of daily life. From illegal drugs to legal substances such as tobacco, substance abuse robs individuals from becoming full participants in the world around them.

[continues 218 words]

JACKSON COUNTY - Every K-12 student in Jackson County received a red ribbon last week as part of National Red Ribbon Week, which is the largest drug prevention event in America.

Singing River Services Prevention Department passed out more than 3,000 red ribbons with the phrase "Drug Free 24/7 - 365."

National Red Ribbon Week was a campaign started when drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered Kiki Camarena, a DEA agent, in 1985. The continuing tradition of wearing red ribbons symbolizes the intolerance towards the use of drugs and to present a unified commitment toward a drug-free America.

[continues 152 words]

MOSS POINT -- By the end of school Friday, every child in a Jackson County public school should have a red ribbon to proudly wear to show their courage to say "no" to drugs.

Singing River Services, a mental health and drug-treatment facility in Gautier, is participating in the national campaign for its third year in a row to kick off Red Ribbon Week from Oct. 23-Oct. 31. The facility will send representatives to every school in the county to hand out red ribbons to students.

[continues 501 words]

Owner Also Forbidden From Providing 'Harassing' Information

Jackson officials are prohibited from referring to a Virden Addition duplex the mayor allegedly damaged as a crack house, Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie T. Green ruled Tuesday.

"Unfettered use of the terms 'drug house,' 'crack house,' 'dope house' or 'drug distribution center' publicly and before the media has the effect of unfairly swaying the opinions of potential jurors who may be called upon to try the issue in related litigation," Green wrote in her ruling.

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You and your law-abiding neighbors in Mississippi might be just one street address away from a life-threatening, midnight raid by a local paramilitary police unit.

As these so-called SWAT squads increasingly become America's favored search warrant delivery service, bungled raids - including many to the wrong address - have skyrocketed. In these assaults on private property, scores of innocent citizens, police officers and nonviolent offenders have died.

In a recent CATO Institute report titled "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America," Radley Balko describes how, "Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home."

[continues 436 words]

As a retired police officer with 18 years experience, I am surprised that in 2006 you still say that "crime is driven by drugs" ("Budget cuts: What happened to drug 'war?' " Oct. 5 editorial).

It is the prohibition of drugs which causes 75 percent of felony crime - not the use. If we were as wise as our grandparents and ended the new prohibition, we would experience a tremendous drop in felony crime.

Also, a serious drop in DUI deaths would result because then officers could focus on drunk drivers instead of Willie Nelson.

As Thomas Paine wrote in The American Crisis in 1776: "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

Howard J. Wooldridge

Member

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

Frederick, Md.

[end]

The News That Two Drug Task Forces In Mississippi Are Shutting Down Couldn't Come At A Worse Time.

Crime is on the increase, nationally and here in Mississippi. Much of the crime is driven by drugs. It is a problem not limited to urban areas. In fact, rural areas of the state have unique and difficult drug problems that require special enforcement.

Yet, at the time crime is on an increase, much-needed federal grant money is being cut.

The North Central Narcotics Task force and the Metro Narcotics Unit in DeSoto County have been informed that the federal grant money that funds the state's 14 narcotics units is drying up.

[continues 151 words]

Two drug task forces in the state will be shut down because of cuts in a federal grant program.

Law enforcement representatives for the eight-county North Central Narcotics Task Force and the Metro Narcotics Unit in DeSoto County received word this week that they had lost their funding. At least six employees of the North Central Narcotics Task Force will be left without a job.

"We kind of knew it was eventually going to come," said DeSoto County Sheriff's Department spokesman Chief Steve Atkinson. "We didn't know it was going to be this year."

[continues 536 words]

VIDALIA -- After completing the two-week training program, Officer Bobby Sheppard said he is proud to be Concordia Parish's newest D.A.R.E. officer.

Sheppard teaches classes for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at Ferriday Lower Elementary School every Wednesday.

After taking his own classes to prepare to teach, Sheppard said he has an appreciation for what the parish school teachers go through on a day-to-day basis.

Sheppard said each day his class had instructors come in and teach the officers from different parishes lessons on different aspects of education, from child behavior to adjusting from the field to a classroom environment.

[continues 331 words]

Cory Maye's version of an incident five years ago sounds like a compelling argument for the Castle Doctrine, the controversial law that gives Mississippians broader authority to defend their homes and other property.

Maye said he was home with his 18-month-old daughter when he fell asleep in a chair. He said he was awakened by what he believed were intruders and, like most people, wanted to protect his home and his family. He reached for a nearby handgun and shot Ron Jones as Jones entered Maye's duplex.

[continues 428 words]

Jackson lawyer Rhonda Cooper said Monday she did her job in defending Cory Maye of Prentiss, who was convicted of killing a police officer in a 2001 drug raid.

"I was trying to save somebody's life," she said. "It was do or die."

On Thursday, Circuit Judge Michael Eubanks ruled that Maye should be removed from death row, concluding that Cooper did not represent her client adequately during the penalty phase of Maye's trial.

Eubanks overturned the sentence and ordered a new sentencing hearing for Maye, who fatally wounded Prentiss police officer Ron Jones. The judge said he would rule later on the other matters raised by Maye's new defense team.

[continues 605 words]

Charges 'Silly,' Political, Says Attorney

Jackson Mayor Frank Melton's attorney said the fiery, first-term mayor would not resign and called three grand jury indictments handed down Friday "silly" and "politically motivated."

Melton, 56, turned himself in to authorities at the Hinds County Courthouse shortly past noon, after a specially convened grand jury indicted him on five felony charges related to the Aug. 26 partial destruction of a west Jackson duplex, along with three gun violations, one of which is a felony. If found guilty, Melton faces up to 50 years in prison. Marcus Wright, 30, and Michael Recio, 37, Jackson police detectives and Melton's bodyguards, also were indicted on five felony charges related to destruction of the duplex.

[continues 1412 words]

The mayor of Jackson, Miss., was indicted on six felony charges Friday after months of criticism and warnings that his unorthodox crime-fighting tactics might put him on the wrong side of the law.

Among the counts now faced by the mayor, Frank Melton, are burglary, malicious mischief, illegally carrying a gun and causing a minor to commit a felony. The most serious of the charges against him carry sentences of up to 25 years, said the local district attorney, Faye Peterson.

[continues 397 words]

Jackson City Council President Ben Allen was actually insightful in explaining his logic for wimpish inaction instead of taking a stand against Mayor Frank Melton.

"This isn't Iraq. This is the United States of America . . . We are the legislative branch of government. We are not the Gestapo," Allen said in explaining why he joined three colleagues in deciding not to investigate the mayor's possible participation in the partial demolition of a Virden Addition duplex.

That this is Jackson, not Baghdad or Moscow, is precisely the point. Citizens by law are afforded due process and a presumption of innocence and not subjected to financial penalties based on suspicion, even if it's the mayor.

[continues 382 words]

Young drug offenders will have new resources to overcome abuse problems and avoid further contact with the justice system with the advent of a Forrest County Youth Drug Court.

Youth Court Judge Michael McPhail on Tuesday told the Forrest County Board of Supervisors the court received a $300,000 grant from Hattiesburg's Asbury Foundation. The grant, distributed over two years, will provide seed money for the juvenile drug court that is expected to open Jan. 1.

"We try to keep children from further penetrating the justice system," McPhail said. "This will help give them resources to stem alcohol and drug abuse."

[continues 481 words]

CALEDONIA - Town Marshal Chris Griffin warned Caledonia Aldermen Tuesday that the city isn't immune to the spread of methamphetamine, which can be made by amateur cooks with a variety of household chemicals, and urged the board to pass an ordinance to create a mandatory registry to help law enforcement officials help fight the spread of the drug.

A State Senate Bill passed in 2005 made the purchase, possession, transfer or distribution of any two or more meth precursor chemicals illegal, and urged retailers to voluntarily keep registers of customers who buy precursors.

[continues 513 words]

No Such Lack Of Flak For Crack

HANCOCK COUNTY - In the past few months, county narcotics agents have been pulling wild weed from weird places.

Several residents have reported strange-looking plants growing along roadsides, in ditches or even under a stop sign on a busy street.

The mysterious weeds are actually, just that, weed - marijuana, pot, herb, chronic, maryjane. Whatever one wants to call it, wild cannabis plants are growing naturally in some parts of the county.

"This is the first time I've ever seen marijuana like this, just growing along the side of the road," said Matt Carl, who runs the Hancock County Narcotics Division.

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Students in the Scott County School District participating in extracurricular activities will be subject to random drug and alcohol testing starting this school year.

"We're looking at this as a preventative tool," said Superintendent Frank McCurdy about the Scott County School Board's decision to implement a drug testing policy. "We want this to be a deterrent. If a child is using drugs, we want the parents and anyone involved to know so they (the student) can be helped."

McCurdy spoke to principals and staff from schools within the district, as well as parents, during a meeting last week concerning the new policy. All students in grades seven through 12 involved in extracurricular activities, including school clubs, must sign a consent form agreeing to testing this school year.

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Repugnant, repulsive and revolting are just a few choice words that describe the actions of three former Jones County sheriff's deputies accused of misdeeds while they were members of a task force established to ferret out illegal drug activity.

And those are gentler adjectives. What was once known as the Southeast Mississippi Drug Task Force can now go down as a public farce, all thanks to the actions of Roger Williams, 44; Chris Smith, 34; and Randall Parker, 32. On Tuesday, the three former deputies waived their right to a grand jury investigation and agreed to plead guilty to charges ranging from planting evidence to assaulting defendants and embezzlement.

[continues 361 words]

- -- The three men who were the subjects of an investigation involving wrongdoing at the Southeast Mississippi Drug Task Force appeared in Jones County Circuit Court Tuesday morning and pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. Roger Williams, 43, the former commander of the now closed drug enforcement unit, pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to falsely accuse another of a felony, one count of embezzlement, one count of simple assault and one count of obstructing justice.

Randall Parker, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement, one count of obstructing justice and four counts of conspiracy to falsely accuse another of a felony.

[continues 352 words]

LAUREL - Sheriff Larry Dykes has spent many days in the Jones County Circuit Courthouse, sometimes as a witness.

On Tuesday, though, he was witness to three of his former deputies pleading guilty to various charges ranging from embezzlement to beating and torturing handcuffed suspects and planting illegal drugs on residents. "This is the hardest day I've ever spent in this courtroom," Dykes said as he quietly watched Roger Williams, 43; Chris Smith, 34; and Randall Parker, 32, plead guilty before Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum. "You grow up with people and work with them and trust them. When something like this happens, it's a detriment to all law enforcement in the state of Mississippi," Dykes added.

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Has the federal government given up on the Drug War? Is it raising the white flag and admitting defeat in attempting to curb crimes involving illegal drugs?

Or is it simply saying to local communities and states: You pay the cost.

Those are logical questions since Mississippi's 14 local drug task forces have been asked to trim grant requests by 25 percent because of federal funding cuts.

Federal assistance to local law enforcement in Mississippi during the Bush administration has dipped from almost $5.3 million in 2003 to just more than $2 million this year. Federal officials say the funds are being shifted to fight terrorism.

[continues 120 words]

New Tactic Vs. Youth Crime

Brittany Weathersby, 10, carefully etched two sentences into her workbook about the day's lesson.

"I learned that it's better to make good decisions than bad decisions. I learned that D.A.R.E. stands for drugs," she said Thursday.

Drug prevention education kicked off this week in the Hinds County School District and a program geared toward older students - G.R.E.A.T. - will accompany the traditional D.A.R.E. program this year.

[continues 473 words]

Students In Some Activities To Get Random Checks

Madison County will perform more random drug tests on middle and high school students this year.

The district has decided to test 25 percent of each school's projected enrollments, up from the 10 to 15 percent tested this past year. Random drug tests are performed on students who participate in extracurricular activities that engage in competition, such as yearbook, newspaper, band, cheerleading, athletics and choir.

"The rationale (behind the testing) is to give kids a reason to say no if they're tempted," Superintendent Mike Kent said. "The more the tests are widely available, the more reason there is to say no."

[continues 370 words]

Starting this school year, some Pine Belt public schools plan to offer a program administrators hope will keep youthful miscreants from becoming youthful felons.

The Youth Development Initiative will receive referrals from schools, the youth court or district parents, said Alan Oubre, Hattiesburg schools executive director of support services.

"When they find out a child is slipping toward delinquency, it's a diversion program," he said. "They counsel (the children), provide community services and even get into mediation."

The program will begin in Hattiesburg and Petal public schools in the upcoming school year. Petal Schools Superintendent James Hutto said his district is working on coordinating the program's launch.

[continues 499 words]

Oak Grove parent Lillian Flynt isn't fearful of her daughter attending first grade at a school with a drug dog - she is more fearful of a school that doesn't have a dog.

"If it keeps bad influences away from my daughter, I'm all for it," Flynt said.

Lamar County public schools will have its first drug dog this fall, while Petal public schools will continue its existing drug dog program. In Petal, the dogs are available to search for drugs and serve as an aid in teaching children about crime prevention.

[continues 310 words]

Sadly, America's first national prison commission in 30 years failed to tackle, head-on, our lock 'em up culture and to find ways to reduce the number of people behind bars in Mississippi and elsewhere. The commission's recent report is little more than a how-to manual to help wardens cope with overcrowded prisons that breed violence, disease and recidivism. What we really need is a road map to drastically shrink

Mississippi's prison population and, at the same time, save state taxpayers a lot of money.

[continues 577 words]

Kathy Strickland of Petal has never felt that her two children are in danger while at school.

But Strickland said she is glad that the city's public school district is taking steps - a new drug dog, upgraded security cameras and a new school police officer - to ensure all schools are safer this year.

"The security is great," said Strickland, who has a ninth- and seventh-grader attending Petal schools. "I think the drug dogs are a good idea - anything they can do to make campus safer."

[continues 1381 words]

Students returning to school next month look forward to new experiences: new status, new classes, new teachers, new activities.

What also awaits many of them are new rules, and in some cases a new student random drug testing policy.

Several school districts - Booneville and Prentiss, Itawamba and Tishomingo counties among them - are implementing the new policies for the 2006-07 academic year. Five other school districts in the region also have drug-testing policies for some or all their students.

"Our students deserve a safe and secure environment to learn, and this policy is designed to ensure that," said Malcolm Kuykendall, Tishomingo County's newly appointed superintendent.

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MONTGOMERY - Loretta Nall speaks frankly. She is an atheist, a marijuana smoker and, recently, an escort for women attempting to get abortions. She's also a candidate for governor on the Libertarian Party ticket, and her positions don't seem to jibe with mainstream Alabama thinking.

So when Nall says getting 250,000 votes - equivalent to about 18 percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial election - would be a good result, it sounds ambitious.

"It is," she said over lunch at Davis Cafe, a soul food restaurant in Montgomery. "I'm an ambitious girl."

[continues 826 words]

Some folks' logic baffles me.

Would you ever, knowingly do something that would cause you to lose control of your life?

Would you ever hand over all of your rights to freewill?

I wouldn't. I personally think that self control is just about the only control I can put my hands on in the world.

No matter what we do, usually we can't control the actions of other people --- we can't control the weather, we can't control the price of eggs in China...

[continues 403 words]

I am a constituent of U.S. Rep. Roger Wicker's in Amory. I object to his recent vote "no" on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment (roll call 333) related to using medical marijuana.

I believe Wicker did not listen.

Every single poll and poll initiative since 1995, 80 in total, has come back pro for medical marijuana. Even though Mississippi-based poll initiatives have yet to be done, does that not sound like the people are trying to tell Wicker something?

[continues 162 words]

Five members of the Aryan Brotherhood have been arrested for allegedly being involved in a methamphetamine ring that was directed from inside a Mississippi prison, the U.S. AttorneyThe investigation started in 2004 when correctional officers heard through telephone monitoring and confidential informants about the ring, MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps said.

The scheme lasted for about a year, Luzinski said.

He added there may be another arrest. The investigation is ongoing.'s office said Thursday.

Several imprisoned members of the white supremacist prison gang allegedly enlisted the assistance of former inmates and criminal co-conspirators outside of the prison to produce and distribute the drug.

[continues 159 words]

Regarding Perspective Editor Sid Salter's June 11 article ("Miss.: 25 years of AIDS"), needle exchanges have been shown to reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. They also serve as a bridge to drug treatment for an especially hard-to-reach population.

Drug users are not the only beneficiaries. U.S. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the United States are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs.

[continues 61 words]

Robin Webb doesn't dodge tough questions about AIDS. He's a veteran.

Webb, 49, of Jackson has been carrying the AIDS virus for the last 15 years after contracting the disease from what he said was "some sexual activity" in the 1980s.

"I remember those horrible early days in the 1980s when this (AIDS) affected almost everyone I knew," said Webb. "So many people died, so many suffered and all of us were treated like outcasts."

Today, Webb manages his illness as a chronic disease utilizing drugs that cost over $3,000 a month. "I'm on Medicaid and right now I'm getting what I need to fight the disease."

[continues 905 words]

At least 6,032 Mississippians have contracted AIDS since 1981 and 3,033 have died from it.

Mississippi's death rate from AIDS is 7 per 100,000 residents, while the national AIDS death rate is 4.7.

Three of four Mississippians who have contracted AIDS are male, but the fastest-growing AIDS diagnosis category is females.

Some 55 percent of Mississippians with AIDS got it from male-to-male sex or injection drug use, but one in five contracted it from heterosexual contact.

[continues 261 words]