A Former Police Chief Calls the Drug War a "Joke" and Believes Dime Bags Should Be Sold Like Cigarettes

When Jerry Cameron was chief of police in Fernandina Beach in 1988, he believed so strongly in the war on drugs he was willing to go to jail to fight it. Cameron was threatened with arrest after refusing to release a juvenile he'd arrested on felony cocaine possession charges. He wanted state child welfare authorities, who called the shots in juvenile justice matters, to take the boy to a detention center. The agency countered that since the youth wasn't a threat, he should be released to his parents. But Cameron believed letting the kid go would send the wrong message -- and cede a key battle in the drug war. He held fast until the agency backed down and took the juvenile into custody.

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