Raleigh Attorney General Roy Cooper wants North Carolina lawmakers to make it a lot tougher to buy many of the common cold medicines sold down at the corner drugstore. The reason? A key ingredient in medications like Sudafed and Actifed is also a key ingredient used by the criminals who cook up methamphetamine in illegal drug labs. Cooper wants North Carolina to adopt restrictions for the sale of ephedrine- and pseudoephedrine-based medications similar to those put in place by Oklahoma last year. Since that state's restrictions went into effect 11 months ago, meth lab busts have dropped by 80 percent. [continues 408 words]
Prison Population Continues To Rise By About 1,000 Each Year RALEIGH -North Carolina's ever-rising prison population has state lawmakers looking at a number of proposals designed to slow the trend, among them changes to a law that is notorious on the street. For a four-time felon, the state's habitual felon law can mean the difference between a prison stay of a few months or many years. Prosecutors say the law is a savior, and credit it for helping deter crime. They recount stories of criminals, already convicted of three felonies, begging that it not be applied to them. [continues 462 words]
RALEIGH - The state Highway Patrol is conducting too many roadside searches if it is finding illegal drugs in only 20 percent of those stops, a state lawmaker said Thursday. "This business of stopping a car and bringing in drug dogs, that's serious business," said Rep. Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe. Nesbitt's comments came as the House Judiciary I Committee took up a plan to try to determine if the Highway Patrol and other statewide law enforcement agencies are stopping a disproportionate number of black drivers. [continues 265 words]
