Governor, Lawmakers Need To Be Cautious With Their Plans To Decrease The Number Behind Bars After education, one of the chief issues the Arkansas Legislature will have to tackle when it meets in 2003 is prison overcrowding. It's an issue Gov. Mike Huckabee brought to the forefront in a speech to the Arkansas Bar Association last month. Saying he wants to look at ways to reduce the prison population, he advocated such things as expanding the system of drug courts and helping drug addicts break their cycle of addiction and become productive members of society. [continues 683 words]
Bill Could Help Curb Meth Production What would cause an otherwise loving parent to forget about a toddler in the home they live in for days? What would cause that person to go three days with little food or water themselves? The answer is methamphetamine. While fecal material collects around the house, a child goes hungry, and the parent spends three days without sleeping on a continual methamphetamine roller coaster. After that, the parent (or parents) sleep for another three days as his or her body tries to compensate for the abuse of chemical happiness. If the users are lucky, they will have escaped without brain damage, because the cerebral impairment meth leaves is permanent. Rep. Jan Judy, D-Fayetteville, wants to curb the evil meth is inflicting in Arkansas by making one of the key ingredients in the cooking of meth a little harder to acquire. [continues 428 words]
