The crystal methamphetamine epidemic hasn't spread to the Lowcountry, but it's on its way, according to county officials. "We're very fortunate we don't have it yet, but it's something we're very concerned about," said 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone. Crystal meth, a glassy substance sold powdered or in rocks, is either smoked or injected to produce a long-lasting euphoric high, according to a Web site maintained by the National Drug Intelligence Center. Over time, meth can produce inflammation of the lining surrounding the heart, tooth loss, paranoia and other symptoms. [continues 541 words]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - It looked like Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson would coast toward re-election until Saturday when his little-known Republican opponent dropped out of the race and the GOP named a more aggressive candidate. J.R. Damron, who had no ballot opposition in this month's primary election, never got much traction in his campaign and was so far behind Richardson in fundraising that some GOP insiders questioned whether he could compete against the popular incumbent. The Santa Fe radiologist who has never held elected office addressed delegates at the Republican State Central Committee meeting and left without talking with reporters. [continues 424 words]
COLUMBIA, S.C. - An associate warden at a state prison in Sumter County faces federal drug charges. Matthew Golden, 43, was arrested Wednesday and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of crack cocaine, U.S. Attorney Reginald Lloyd said. The cocaine has a wholesale value of at least $100,000, authorities said. Golden is an associate warden at Wateree River Correctional Institution, a medium-security facility in Rembert. He has worked in the Department of Corrections since Nov. 13, 1984. [continues 70 words]
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Debate on a bill that would put some cold medicines behind the counter and require buyers sign a log will move to the Senate floor, following approval Wednesday in a Senate committee. The measure, similar to one in the U.S. Congress, would put cold remedies containing pseudoephedrine, such as Sudafed, behind store counters. Methamphetamine is made with common ingredients, including the cold medicines, in makeshift labs that are prone to explosions. The labs leave behind toxic waste, and expose children to hazardous materials. [continues 541 words]
Inconvenience May Be Worth Safety A nightmare for police officers came true last week in Berkeley County, when two police officers were hospitalized after entering a house used as a meth lab. People who run meth labs produce methamphetamine, which, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, is a synthetic central nervous system stimulant that is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance. It is dangerous, and it is distributed across the nation under the names of "Crystal" and "Speed." [continues 327 words]
I'm writing about: "Bill would put cold medicines behind the counter" (The Gazette, Jan. 17). Keeping the ingredients of meth behind the counter is certainly a lot better solution than the previous nonsolution of building more and bigger prisons. Oklahoma learned the hard way that the so-called "tough on drugs" policies don't work and they are very expensive. Largely because of its "tough on drugs" policies, Oklahoma became the fourth-highest state for incarcerations. Largely because of our war on drugs policies, the United States has been transformed into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. Even though we in the United States have fewer than 5 percent of the world's population, we have more than 25 percent of the world's prisoners. In other words, one of four prisoners in the world is locked in an American jail or prison. What message does this send to the rest of the world? Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Sudafed and other cold medicines used to create the illegal drug methamphetamine would be placed behind the counter under a bill that received second reading Tuesday in the House. "They would be back there with cigarettes and lottery tickets," said Rep. Joan Brady, the bill's sponsor. The bill, introduced last year, passed 93-4 on Tuesday. The proposal affects about a dozen products that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in meth. People who go into stores and pharmacies to buy the cold medicine would need to sign a log that includes their name, address and how much of the product they purchased. [continues 81 words]
Use Of Methamphetamine, Pain Killers Grows Beaufort County teenagers may be lagging, even bucking, a trend in the illegal use of prescription drugs, but they still indulge in unhealthy lifestyles. The trend of more teens using illegally obtained prescription drugs was reported recently in the Monitoring the Future survey, which was conducted by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan. Nearly 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in 402 public and private schools were questioned about their use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Surprisingly, smoking among teens has decreased slightly, but the increased abuse of prescription drugs may have offset any gains. [continues 467 words]
JASPER COUNTY -- Recovering drug addicts throughout the Lowcountry should have better access to treatment this summer. The state gave official permission for a methadone clinic to prepare to open off of S.C. 170 in Jasper County. But before the clinic can begin operating, it needs federal approval to distribute methadone and state confirmation that it's staffed and set up properly. "We have given them a permit ... that says we're approving you to operate this type of facility," said Albert Whiteside, director of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Division of Planning and Certificate of Need. The approval, called a certificate of need, was issued April 26. [continues 391 words]
Full Government Funding Needed To Help Change Lives Beaufort County's Drug Court -- like others across the state and nation -- is working well and deserves continued full funding. The court is delivering solutions to one of society's most vexing problems: drug and alcohol abuse. It tackles the root of the problem rather than pretend it can be solved by arresting suspects time after time and throwing them in jail. The Drug Court can keep defendants out of jail, but it's not an easy way out. It has been called "Alcoholics Anonymous with teeth" because it can be both touchy-feely and threatening. The program offers intensive addiction treatment to nonviolent offenders rather than hard time. The 12- to 18-month program is costly to defendants, with a personal price tag of $1,500. They must keep a job, and commit a great deal of time and effort to changing their own lives. It involves random drug testing over a long period of time. And if participants mess up, they are dismissed and go straight to conventional sentencing with a guilty plea already on record. [continues 311 words]
On a recent Monday at the Beaufort County Courthouse, assistant solicitor Christine Grefe sat in for the judge during county Drug Court, an alternative-sentencing program for defendants addicted to drugs or alcohol. The prosecutor listened as two counselors gave progress reports on each participant. "Doing well ... really knows how to present himself in interviews ... but still has to stay in a halfway house" was the update on one man. Another had "acclimated well" in a halfway house and recently landed a job at a Hilton Head Island restaurant. [continues 306 words]
Recovering drug addicts using methadone could get their treatment in Okatie starting this summer. The legal battle over whether a methadone clinic should be located in Okatie, greater Bluffton or both should be coming to an end, said Jimmy Long, a Columbia lawyer representing a Pennsylvania-based group that wants to put a clinic in greater Bluffton. Judge John Geathers with the Administrative Law Court said last month that he would issue a ruling allowing the state to consider applications for clinics in both areas separately instead of in competition with each other. [continues 393 words]
BEAUFORT -- The Beaufort County Solicitor's Office finished up its first court term dedicated to drug cases Friday and geared up for one of its next battles -- securing county funds to hire more attorneys. During the two-week term and roster meetings that preceded it, 68 defendants were sentenced for 111 offenses, deputy solicitor Duffie Stone said. "I think it's unusual to move that many cases," Stone said. "We had one trial in two weeks. Everybody else ended up pleading guilty." [continues 311 words]
Random Inspection Reveals Remnants Of Marijuana An unannounced search Friday didn't uncover any drugs inside Bluffton High School, but police dogs detected remnants of marijuana in a student's car in the parking lot, Principal Aretha Rhone-Bush said. The drug search was conducted by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office's K-9 Unit and the Bluffton Police Department, and it was the first in what Rhone-Bush said will be ongoing random inspections at the school. The searches are part of the principal's overall plan to eliminate illegal activity from the school and increase security measures. [continues 331 words]
In the ever-changing world of law enforcement, new equipment is as important as taking up the latest, most innovative policing techniques. But the Beaufort Police Department has taken a 30-year step back with the purchase of a 10-wheel, Vietnam-era Army truck. The 1967 Kaiser Jeep, also known as a "6x6" or a "Deuce and a Half," was put into use last month by the department as a novel drug awareness and community outreach tool. Bought with money from the department's drug fund, and emblazoned with the words This Vehicle Funded By Your Local Drug Dealer on its rear side, it is a three-axle, two-and-a-half ton example of drug money being used on the opposite side of the law. [continues 432 words]
Daily trips to Charleston or Savannah could end soon for recovering drug abusers taking methadone to break the habit. Two methadone clinics have been proposed for Beaufort and Jasper counties, state officials say. Methadone is a drug given to former opiate addicts to break their dependency on substances such as heroin, morphine, OxyContin and other opioid drugs. The treatment eliminates the withdrawal symptoms for between 24 and 36 hours when given daily, according to the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy. [continues 443 words]
HARDEEVILLE -- Motorists driving into South Carolina from Georgia were greeted at 8 a.m. Friday by an undercover police car in the median on Interstate 95. For the next 9 miles, thousands of vehicles passing through in the mid-morning hours could see more than a dozen marked and unmarked cruisers on the interstate, as 75 police officers and 16 state, federal and local agencies from across South Carolina completed the final hours of a three-day crackdown on lawbreakers and drug runners. [continues 386 words]
The first-ever graduate of Beaufort County's Juvenile Drug Court program was set to put the rehabilitation program behind him Monday night and move on to college, a goal that seemed out of reach a year ago. The boy, now 17, declined to tell his story because "he wants to put the program behind him," said Susan Chapan, Juvenile Drug Court's director. But the young man's graduation, the first and only of the program's 19-month history, is the first sign that the program is reaching Beaufort County's drug-or alcohol-dependent youth and, Chapan hopes, the first of many success stories. [continues 361 words]
Drug dealers who are put in jail are easily, and often, replaced by others looking to make an illegal buck. The Beaufort County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force continues to make undercover "controlled drug buys" and take dealers and users off the street one at a time, but it is admittedly a frustrating, perhaps neverending, effort, said Sheriff P.J. Tanner. The Sheriff's Office on Monday released its semi-annual report of the Task Force's activity for 2003, showing hundreds of indictments. But Tanner acknowledges their work has just begun. [continues 367 words]
RIDGELAND -- With a careful eye, police watched a Ridgeland man as he walked around town in the pouring rain. He was searching for crack and the police knew it. The man walked to two apartments looking for that day's $20 fix, but he struck out each time. Then he called a third drug-dealing acquaintance who also was unavailable. With police officers still tucked inconspicuously nearby, he decided to stand outside the BP gas station on Jacob Smart Boulevard and wait for the crack to come to him. After 25 minutes, he stepped out of a car, where he had just traded a $20 bill for a gram of the crystal rock. As he walked way, the Ridgeland Police Department's undercover station wagon scooped him up. He was an undercover operative and was working for the Ridgeland police with hopes of receiving a reduced sentence for his own crimes. Down the street, a marked cruiser arrested the seller. [continues 372 words]
