Report: 40% Fewer Labs Found in State This Year Than in '05 Two new reports released yesterday suggest that North Carolina is winning the battle against methamphetamine, even as some urban areas along the East Coast are reporting an increase in its use. N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper released figures that said that the state found 40 percent fewer meth labs between Jan. 15 and Nov. 28 of this year, compared with the same time period last year. Law-enforcement officials confiscated 283 labs in 2005, compared with 172 to date in 2006, the report said. [continues 540 words]
Both say that two West Texas agents facing jail time got a raw deal from government Congress is filled with polar opposites. When it comes to politics, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., are about as close to opposites as one might find. Foxx, 63, is a staunch conservative. When it comes to immigration, she favors border security first. As far as she is concerned, that's the only place to start, and she does not entertain other alternatives. Feinstein, 73, is a liberal Democrat. She supports a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country. She has been outspoken in support of a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year that does that, a plan Foxx calls "amnesty." [continues 327 words]
Tucked into the USA Patriot Act is legislation that would restrict and record the sale of products necessary to cook methamphetamine. Congressional leaders say they believe that the bill is an important step in dealing with the drug. The provision would: * Place limits on the amount of pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in meth, that can be bought both daily (3.6 grams) and monthly (9 grams). * Place pseudoephedrine products behind the counter or in a locked cabinet. * Require purchasers of pseudoephedrine to show photo ID and sign a logbook detailing their purchase. [continues 479 words]
Congress May Approve Drug Limits, Prison Terms A key House subcommittee passed legislation yesterday that would curb access to pseudoephedrine-containing drugs and impose mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted in federal court of methamphetamine abuse. The Senate passed a similar version of the bill in September. The House version, sponsored by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., now goes before the full Judiciary Committee, which is expected to vote on the bill later this year. Local law-enforcement officials from both rural and urban areas have been clamoring for greater federal help in dealing with the manufacture and use of illegal meth. [continues 424 words]
Watauga Sheriff Among Those Sounding Alarm WASHINGTON North Carolina law enforcement took center stage yesterday in the national battle against methamphetamine use. Sheriff Mark Shook of Watauga County and Chief Deputy Phil Byers of Rutherford County joined other law-enforcement officials from around the country before a key House subcommittee to discuss what many referred to as the "scourge" of their communities - methamphetamine use. "It's a community problem, its not a law-enforcement problem because everyone in the community has to deal with it," Shook said. [continues 500 words]
Republican and Democratic leaders said yesterday that a key education initiative known as the Thornton Commission likely would be cut following Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of a $135 million corporate-tax bill. "I don't think we are going to be able to sustain the Thornton funding," said state Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus, Senate minority leader and Princess Anne Republican. "If we fully implement Thornton, then you will see an increase in spending of $1 billion and we can't afford to do that." State Sen. Ida G. Ruben, president pro tempore of the Senate, agreed. "I don't know how we can avoid cutting Thornton unless [Mr. Ehrlich] provides alternative funding," said Mrs. Ruben, Montgomery Democrat. The Thornton Commission was a 22-member panel that spent two years studying state funding for education. [continues 714 words]
A U.S. District Court judge yesterday declared unconstitutional a federal law that barred D.C. residents from legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. "The United States' suggestion that this Court should ignore the clear constitutional concerns raised by the [federal law] in deference to Congress' plenary power to legislate is wholly without merit," U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said in his 52-page ruling. The U.S. Department of Justice, which is handling the case, has 60 days to appeal to the Supreme Court. "We are reviewing the decision, and we have made no determination on further steps," said Justice spokesman Mark Corallo. [continues 473 words]
