The Jan. 18 article "1968 Corvette seized with couple's guilty plea" is cause for serious reflection. Apparently the couple was guilty of possession, not manufacturing or trafficking illegal drugs. They had their drugs confiscated, yet, they will receive an $11,000 tax lien on drugs they no longer possess. They forfeited $3,800 and their Corvette. This is all on top of the jail time and any fines associated with their conviction. They forfeit their Second Amendment rights and their right to vote. [continues 162 words]
After Battling Addiction Himself, Jim Stillwell Helps Lead A Return To Treatment--Rather Than Prison--As Our Best Weapon In The Never-Ending War On Drugs Seated in a Los Angeles courtroom, Jakata Arrant fidgets nervously as a judge reads through her case file. Admittedly there is a lot to read. A former runaway, Arrant, 24, has been arrested three times for drugs, most recently in late 1999 for felony possession of cocaine. She acknowledges she has spent roughly half her life desperately addicted--so much so, she says, that on the day of her last release from a state prison, "I was at my dealer's within an hour." [continues 1912 words]
A Presidential Pardon In A Drug Case Helps Right A Wrong For Dorothy Gaines I'm gonna need a hug," says Cozy Brown as an old friend walks through the door of his Prichard, Ala., soul-food restaurant. Dorothy Gaines hasn't been by in years--so long, in fact, that she doesn't recognize Brown's new dining room, with its enormous Last Supper mural, or the roaring interstate nearby. But then, after the ordeal Gaines has been through, even the most commonplace things seem jarringly unfamiliar. "My daughter handed me a cell phone the other day," Gaines tells Brown with a smile, "and I said, 'What's that, a big candy bar?'" [continues 1302 words]
