ALBANY - Neighborhood watch representatives got a basic education on illegal drugs, their effects and where they come from Saturday at the Community Room of the Albany downtown Law Enforcement Center. The short course delivered by Maj. Bill Berry, of the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit gave eager members of the Community Council of Watch Associations an earful of information on familiar drugs including ecstasy or "Molly," crack cocaine and prescription pain pills. But they learned about some new threats too, including yaba (a blend of caffeine and methamphetamine), powdered alcohol, synthetic marijuana and even "Krokodil," a drug so devastating it destroys skin and muscle tissue from the inside out. [continues 387 words]
By the time my 5-year-old daughter leaves for college, it's quite likely that marijuana use will be broadly decriminalized. Alaska has become the most recent state to move toward legalization, placing an initiative on the ballot for an August vote. If it passes, Alaska would join Washington and Colorado, which have already made recreational use legal for adults. The trend will probably continue, since 52 percent of Americans support legalization, according to the Pew Research Center. That's good news - and not because I want my daughter to indulge. [continues 622 words]
When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight, Roll up a joint ... or don't. Just follow your arrow wherever it points. - - Kacey Musgraves A Republican Macon lawmaker is attempting what many in these parts say is the unthinkable: Rep. Allen Peake has prepared a bill that would allow for the legalization of medical marijuana in Georgia. Opponents have already started lining up their "damn hippies" defense, and proponents of legalization of pot in general have started waving their freak flags and saying the bill doesn't go far enough. [continues 656 words]
Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 recognizes the old adage: If you remember the '60s, you weren't there. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. It is true that marijuana smoking tends to affect one's short-term memory, but the good news is that, while stoned, one does relatively little worth remembering. At least that's my own recollection. So, yes, I toked, too. This doesn't mean anyone else should, and I haven't in decades, but our debate might have more value if more of us were forthcoming. [continues 677 words]
Since his first year in office, President Obama has drawn scathing critiques from a handful of prominent black critics, mostly for his failure to pursue an explicit =93black=94 agenda aimed at ameliorating the legacy of racism. Usually, I disagree with those critics, who are unrealistic about the limits of the presidency, unfair in their assessments of Obama's broader agenda and, most important, bizarrely naive about the tightrope he walks as the first black man to win the office. If he announced a =93black=94 agenda, the rest of his presidency would be swallowed up by the ensuing controversy. [continues 592 words]
Just as every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints. - - The Rolling Stones One of my favorite lines by late comedian Richard Pryor: "I go down to the courthouse looking for justice, and that's what I see: Just us." The great comedian's one-liner certainly tickled plenty of funny bones in its day, but it also serves as a telling commentary on perhaps the most broken element of this country's foundation: our criminal justice system. Pryor's observation notwithstanding, the devolution of the American justice system, circa 2013, has less to do with race, more to do with dollar bills. Forget the biblical admonition about the difficulty wealthy people face as they seek heaven. Heaven's a much more likely locale for the wealthy than the inside of a prison. [continues 578 words]
ALBANY -- With 42 percent of child endangerment cases and 43 percent of federal convictions in Georgia involving methamphetamine use, officials say it is time to attack the problem on a regional level. That message came to Albany on Wednesday. The Georgia Meth Project, in partnership with Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and the Dougherty County School System, hosted a community forum at Phoebe Northwest Wednesday to educate the public on the dangers of meth use -- and to get more area volunteers on board the prevention effort. [continues 792 words]
ALBANY -- A federal report issued Monday that could lead to the early release of crack-cocaine offenders has no effect on prisoners in Georgia state prisons, authorities said. The report does not affect those convicted by my office, nor does it affect prisoners serving sentences under Georgia state law," Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said. "Georgia has never recognized a difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine." That has not been the case in federal courts like the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, which includes Albany and four other locations. [continues 643 words]
ALBANY, Ga. -- After several high-profile busts of marijuana "grow houses" in metro Albany over the past few years, Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agents told the Dougherty County Rotary Club Tuesday that growers don't meet any particular profile and could be living right next door. "We've taken down veterinarians, doctors, college students and all kinds of different people growing marijuana," GBI special agent Stripling Luke said of the people practicing indoor marijuana cultivation. "We've shut down grow houses in Calloway Lakes, Terrell County, nice neighborhoods and places out in the country. There is no profile. [continues 289 words]
We can't continue to afford to keep all these folks in jail, and it really isn't too bright to release them into society without some changes. The change we need is to legalize simple drugs, just like beer and booze. Make it cheap enough where they don't have to steal to get it, but put half the profits from it back into a fund for the medical attention the users might need in the future. Think of the savings between policing, courts and prison. Plus, right now the justice system has been unable to slow down, let alone control drugs. The intercept rate can't be higher than 15 percent. So we turn a draining loss into a profit center. The DUI laws, public intoxication and theft laws will still be in place. Maybe I don't like it, but to me it makes more sense to divert the profit from the drug cartels to our government. Walt Specht, Leesburg [end]
The new governor of Georgia has formed a commission to "review Georgia's tough sentencing law to determine what changes can be made to protect the public" in order to reduce the cost of Georgia's prison population by releasing "non-violent" offenders to local communities. Many of the released are drug offenders. It was nice to learn that people in prison for drug offenses are considered "non-violent." I wonder who decided drug offenders are non-violent? So just where does such thinking believe these users get their drugs? I suppose they think that after a hard day's work at a legitimate job, they go to the corner store and buy their drugs, just like visiting a store that sells legal alcohol. They buy from a drug cartel, which is nothing but violent (think Mexico). These non-violent offenders who are released back into local communities, more than likely have long histories of drug offenses and will continue their use by buying from local distributors who are linked to the cartels. [continues 117 words]
A 10-member commission has been appointed to review Georgia's tough sentencing laws to determine what changes can be made to make protecting the public ... well, more affordable. Gov. Nathan Deal, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Carol Hunstein, House Speaker David Ralston, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams attended a news conference Wednesday, where Deal announced the formation of the sentencing reform panel that will look into the issue this year and make a recommendation to the General Assembly for its 2012 session. [continues 515 words]
Some people might think I'm wrong, but so be it. I think we should bring our troops home from Afghanistan immediately. Then, I think we should use these same troops to protect the southern border of the United States to keep the illegal Mexicans and drug cartels and possibly terrorists from coming into the United States. If the people of the United States don't stand up for themselves, we will lose this country. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, this war is being fought the same as Vietnam and we did not win that war. I know this because I served there from July 1, 1966, until July 1967. The only thing we accomplished was the loss of 52,000 good men. [continues 118 words]
Headlines are often more important than the stories on which they ride. No newspaper editor ever headlined anything using the word "tragedy" unless he figured he had a weeper of a story. Which is why I've noticed the prevalence of the words "failed" and "lost" in stories about America's drug war. A couple decades ago, a newspaper might have headlined a story about a huge international drug ring with the word "smashed," as in "Drug Ring Smashed." Now, newspapers do news-y think pieces on the drug war headlined, "America's Failed Drug War: Cartels Flourish." [continues 669 words]
ALBANY -- For drug unit commander Bill Berry, drug investigations are really a matter of quality over quantity. Giving his annual report to the Dougherty County Commission Monday, Berry gave numbers that -- on the surface -- seem to suggest a slow down in the department's drug eradication efforts. Compared to 2008, arrests and charges brought against suspects by the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit for 2009 are down significantly. For 2009, the department arrested 393 individuals compared to 575 in 2008, bringing 617 total charges compared with 1,055 in 2008. But in terms of those same 2008 statistics, the department's drug and property seizure totals are high. [continues 532 words]
My colleague Sheriff Rachals "hopes the 25-year sentence for Russell Jenkins will send a message" demonstrates how hopelessly naive he is about drug dealers. During my 18 years of working the trenches of the drug war, I learned that drug dealers accept, as a condition of employment, death and long prison terms. Dealer Jenkins has already been replaced as a low-level dealer (90 grams is like two candy bars worth of cocaine). The real victim is the Georgia taxpayer, who will spend at least $600,000 to lock him up. That my profession must enforce this modern prohibition is regrettable and a horrific waste of good police time. To have a sheriff who is unaware of the dynamics of those involved in the drug trade is scary. Howard Woolwridge, Washington, D.C. [end]
A Federal Judge Sentences A Smithville Man To 25 Years In Prison Without A Chance For Parole. ALBANY -- A Smithville man caught a 25-year sentence to federal prison without parole from a federal judge after pleading guilty to illegal drug distribution Thursday, a U.S. Department of Justice press release stated. Russell Leon Jenkins, 37, was sentenced "as the result of a guilty plea," said G.F. Peterman III, acting United States attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. The sentence imposed by Judge W. Louis Sands will run consecutively with a sentence Jenkins is already serving in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections. [continues 226 words]
ADDU Says Drug Dogs Have A Significant Impact On The Work The Drug Unit Does. ALBANY — Coco and Ross are two of Albany Dougherty Drug Unit's hardest working agents. Not only are they reliable, team oriented, and dedicated, they both have a nose for drugs not to mention four paws and shiny coat. Victor Camp and Shirley Adams know the importance of their hairy partners, Coco and Ross, and the sometimes unbelievable work they do for the drug unit. Camp, whose partner is five-year-old Coco, said the black shepherd is always excited and eager to work. "She's just like a human partner," he said. "She rides with me and we talk." Camp demonstrated how Coco signals for drugs during an interview with The Herald in which the black shepherd signaled to varying amounts of methaphetamine hidden among ADDU's parking lot. Coco waited patiently as Camp hid meth in various places and when given the signal to begin work she immediately set out to find the drugs with much tail-wagging and speed. Adams, who was also at the demonstration, said a person could tell the bond and trust between a handler and a dog by the dog's reaction. "They have a close bond," she said of Camp and Coco. "He doesn't even have to use a leash (to guide her). You know the partnership is working when the dog can block any outside stimuli and focus on the job they are being asked to do." Adams said that both dogs have different personalities, much like their owners. "Ross is a more aggressive dog," she said. "He is very protective of me." Adams said that the longer a dog is with their handler the more protective they become. "You build that bond with them and eventually they become your family," she said. Adams said Ross, a Czech shepherd, has come to know various officers voices on ADDU's radios. "He can hear the tone of someone's voice and know who it is and if they are excited he gets excited. [continues 899 words]
As a retired police detective, I know how futile all the efforts of the ADDU are and I pray they never get hurt. My colleague Bill Berry and all officers know that every drug dealer arrested is quickly replaced. Despite 40 years of drug war, drugs are cheaper, stronger and easier to buy. When I was a student at Dougherty High School in 1969, marijuana was very hard to find. Now, anyone in Albany can easily buy heroin, coke and all illegal drugs with one or two phone calls. I would dispute Berry's claim about the unit being self-funded. His unit does not seize enough money to pay for the prison time of those he arrests. That heavy burden is borne by the taxpayers of Georgia. Will we ever become as wise as our grandparents and end this modern prohibition? Howard Wooldridge EDITOR'S NOTE: Howard Wooldridge is a retired police officer from Michigan and a 1969 graduate of Dougherty High School who is a drug policy specialist with Citizens Opposing Prohibition in Buckeystown, Md. [end]
ALBANY -- Fighting the use and distribution of illegal drugs is a daily battle for Bill Berry and members of the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit. The 20-member group's sole task is disrupting, dismantling and dissolving drug operations within the confines of Albany and Dougherty County. However, Berry and his crew occasionally venture out further into southwest and south-central Georgia to assist law enforcement agencies that are suffering from a small-time police presence but a large-scale drug problem. [continues 718 words]
