For A Growing Number Of People In The Area, This Cheap, Easy-To-Make Drug Holds The Ticket To A Very Bad Trip - From A Seductive High To A Dramatic Descent Into Addiction And Loss For 20 years, methamphetamine gave Chuck Grier the boost he needed. But the drug had consequences - it cost Grier his marriage; his wife left him two years after they were married, now 19 years ago. Since then, his son has fought his own battle with methamphetamine, but has conquered the addiction, just like his father. [continues 2258 words]
Commerce Schools COMMERCE - With little discussion and no input from parents, a proposal to give random drug tests to students in Commerce City Schools cleared its first hurdle Monday. The Commerce Board of Education could implement the policy at its April 11 meeting. School officials say there is not a drug problem within the 1,425-student school system; rather, the policy to randomly test students is meant to give kids an excuse to say no if pressured to use drugs. Students with privileges, even as common as driving to school every day, would be subjected to the random tests, and the privileges could be revoked if they test positive. [continues 369 words]
Break out the swabs. Commerce City Schools officials could begin to randomly drug test students' saliva - whether or not they show signs of using illicit substances. If the Commerce Board of Education approves the proposed policy at its April meeting, students could be tested as early as next year. "There's not a problem that's been pinpointed for us to initiate (random drug testing of students)," Schools Superintendent Larry White said. "There's a drug problem in our society. Anyone who won't admit that has their eyes in the sand." [continues 571 words]
The sound of an approaching helicopter broke the mid-afternoon stillness. On the ground students started screaming, cheering for the chopper as it made its way over the tree line. Within moments, the helicopter was on the ground amidst a cloud of dust. Dennis Floyd, a special agent/pilot with the Drug Enforcement Administration, emerged from the drug helicopter and onto the ball field at Pleasant Grove Elementary School, making his way to a podium, where he addressed the students with an anti-drug message. [continues 507 words]
It Begins With A Traffic Stop. A deputy's emergency lights break the flow of traffic on Interstate 24. Within minutes, three cruisers pull behind a vehicle stopped on the highway's shoulder. One deputy asks to see the driver's license and registration, while others stand by, ready to help. Minutes later, another deputy leads a drug-sniffing dog around the vehicle. "A big part of what we do is look for things that don't look right," said Deputy Kyle Darnell, a member of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Interdiction Unit. [continues 755 words]
Police Finding Fewer Mobile Labs As Cookeries Move To Static Sites Kentucky State Police are seeing fewer mobile methamphetamine labs on the road, but they are finding a lot of home cookeries, especially in rural counties such as Todd. "Most labs we discover are located in houses and buildings, i.e. unattached garages and storage buildings," Trooper Stu Recke said. "All labs pose a danger because they are explosive, toxic and cause respiratory problems due to all the chemicals used in the manufacture of meth." [continues 245 words]
The widely-used D.A.R.E. program has local elementary school students, but officials are interested in increasing drug-education programs to reach older audiences. D.A.R.E., a program offered locally to fifth-grade students, has been successful in thwarting drug use among elementary school children, Officer Leo Rowe says. "I see parents with their children that stop me on the street and say there's my D.A.R.E. officer; and the parents come up and say, 'I want to thank you,' " Rowe said. "Children go home and share what they learned with their parents." [continues 353 words]
Positive drug screens for people on probation is one sign that drug use is on the rise in Montgomery County, officials say. But, it's not just the quantity of drug use that has local court officials concerned, it's the age of the users. "Drugs don't discriminate," said Elvira Glass, a county probation officer who works with juveniles. "We have kids from the eighth grade and up who have substance abuse problems." Juvenile probation officers and court officials are more frequently faced with positive drug screens among youth on probation. [continues 501 words]
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Federal charges against 28 men arrested during a February 2000 drug bust here were dropped after the U.S. Attorney's Office barred one of its prosecutors from discussing an internal memo about the investigation with defense lawyers. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Watson said several factors, including revealing the memo that contained possible weaknesses in the case, played into the decision not to prosecute. Watson raised concerns about a judge forcing the office to turn over the memo as part of evidence requested by defense lawyers. [continues 360 words]
Charges Dropped Against 28 Of 43 Arrested In a blow to Clarksville police and to the family of an informant who helped them put the case together, charges have been dropped against 28 men arrested in a massive February 2000 drug bust because of a dispute over a memo at the U.S. Attorney's Office. The office had barred one of its prosecutors from discussing with defense lawyers a memo he wrote about the investigation. A judge ordered the prosecutor to testify, and to prevent that from happening, the U.S. Attorney's Office has dropped all charges. [continues 606 words]
Judge Seals Results Of Meetings On 'Selective Prosecution' Motion NASHVILLE -- Two years after Clarksville's largest drug bust, 20 of 27 people have delayed federal prosecution because of a motion to dismiss some defendants' charges. They say they were victims of "selective prosecution." The motion, filed in July 2000 by Peter J. Strianse, attorney for three of the 27, alleges police targeted certain neighborhoods and people during the February 2000 drug sting. Forty-four people were arrested on state and federal drug charges. [continues 220 words]
