Bill Aimed At Fighting Meth Labs; Critics Say Problem Is Exaggerated RALEIGH - Getting medicine for stuffed-up sinuses or other cold symptoms should become more difficult in a few months, after the N.C. House gave final legislative approval yesterday to new regulations. House members voted 108-0 for a bill that would restrict access to some medicines that include pseudoephedrine, a common decongestant in such products as Sudafed and a key ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine. The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley, who has not taken a position on it but has 30 days to sign or veto the bill. [continues 524 words]
Push-Pull Begins In Effort To Remove Illegal Drug's Main Ingredient From Pharmacy Shelves RALEIGH - A legislative subcommittee began hashing out a compromise yesterday on a bill to restrict pseudoephedrine, a decongestant that is also a main ingredient for the illegal drug methamphetamine. With five of the subcommittee's seven members leaning against strict regulation of pseudoephedrine, the group is expected to endorse a weaker version of the bill. "The access is what I'm concerned about, when you have (sinusitis) real bad," said Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth, a member of the subcommittee. [continues 452 words]
Behind-the-counter question kicked to subcommittee State retailers and rural legislators won a battle yesterday in the fight over proposed restrictions on some cold medicine, forcing the matter to a legislative subcommittee for further negotiation. Legislation that passed the N.C. Senate in April would require that any medicine tablets including pseudoephedrine - such as Sudafed - be kept behind a pharmacy counter, away from people who might use the tablets to make methamphetamine. Consumers would need to show photo identification to buy the medicine, and couldn't buy more than nine grams - about a third of an ounce - a month without a prescription. [continues 428 words]
It Saves Money At Expense Of Criminal-Justice System, Opponent Says RALEIGH - Prison sentences for most felonies committed on or after Dec. 1 this year could be quite a bit shorter than the sentences are now, under a bill making its way through the General Assembly. The bill would shorten the minimum sentence for most repeat offenders by several months and in some cases by two years. As a result, maximum sentences would be shorter, too. The proposed changes wouldn't apply to first-degree murder or to lower-level felonies, but they would apply to the large group of crimes in between. Those include crimes from child abuse inflicting serious injury to first-degree rape. [continues 497 words]
RALEIGH -- Buying certain cold medicines would require showing a photo identification to a licensed pharmacist, and no one without a prescription could buy more than 9 grams of certain medicines within a 30-day period, under a bill filed yesterday. The bill would restrict access to tablets that include ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, the active ingredients in products that relieve allergies, congestion and other cold symptoms. Those ingredients are also necessary for making methamphetamine, and officials said that restricting access to the ingredients would help slow the spread of the drug. [continues 388 words]
N.C. Attorney General, Some Legislators Considering Ways To Inhibit Purchases Of Cold Medicine RALEIGH -- State officials moved last year to impose tougher sentences on people who make methamphetamine. Now they're turning their attention to a main source of the drug: medicine for the common cold. Pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in medicines to relieve congestion, allergies and other cold symptoms, is also the key ingredient for methamphetamine. Attorney General Roy Cooper and legislators from western counties are looking at limiting the sale of tablets that include pseudoephedrine. [continues 401 words]
Legislation Would Stiffen Penalties For Those Convicted Of Offenses Associated With Drug [ SBI agents found chemicals used to make methamphetamine in and around this house in Deep Gap that burned in January 2003. Journal File Photo] On a Sunday night in January 2003, the Deep Gap Volunteer Fire Department responded to the report of a fire in its corner of Watauga County. Darien South, a firefighter in the department, hasn't been the same since. His eyesight is impaired, he has problems with short-term memory, and he has lost half of his lung capacity. [continues 521 words]
Sheriff Is Suspended; DA Files Papers To Have Him Removed LEXINGTON - Sheriff Gerald Hege of Davidson County was charged with 15 felonies and suspended from office yesterday after a wide-ranging state and federal investigation into corruption and misconduct by the sheriff and his allies. Judge W. Erwin Spainhour issued an order for Hege's arrest about 10:15 a.m., after he opened 15 indictments that were sealed Sept. 2. Hege appeared in Davidson Superior Court around noon and was suspended as sheriff before posting a $15,000 bond and leaving the courthouse with his family. [continues 1707 words]
Secretary Of State Wants To Know More About His Foundation LEXINGTON -- Weeks after the N.C. Secretary of State's office asked Sheriff Gerald Hege for financial information on his Blue Line Foundation, state officials say that Hege has yet to meet their request. Hege and his wife set up the foundation in 1999 to raise money for families of law-enforcement officers killed or injured in the line of duty. In a series of written and telephone exchanges over the past several weeks, state officials have repeatedly asked for copies of the foundation's financial records so that they can determine whether it requires a license to solicit charitable contributions. [continues 592 words]
Davidson officer is the fifth charged in past 18 months A Davidson County sheriff's deputy was fired earlier this month after a King police officer arrested her on a felony drug charge - the fifth member of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office to face criminal charges in the past 18 months. According to police warrants, Maureen Cleary Williams tried to forge a prescription for a controlled substance June 27 at an Eckerd drug store in King. After an investigation, she was charged July 10 with one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, a felony. [continues 191 words]
Anti-Terrorism Statute May Fight Meth Labs Frustrated by drug laws that he thought were not tough enough on methamphetamine producers, prosecutor Jerry Wilson decided to examine the books. Wilson, the district attorney for Watauga County, and members of his staff started flipping through legal texts and precedents in the past few weeks until they found what they were looking for - a law with more teeth. Instead of a drug law, though, Wilson turned to the state's antiterrorism laws when prosecuting accused methamphetamine producers. The laws, specifically a statute passed in November 2001, detail the penalties for manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon. Wilson's office filed what are believed to be the first charges using that law last week. [continues 823 words]
