A Mistake By The Oregon Legislature Makes Selling Pot The 'King' Of Drug Crimes Here in liberal Portland, marijuana's practically legal, right, dude? Hell, pot-smoking grandpa Don DuPay got more votes last spring in his run for Multnomah County sheriff than County Chair Diane Linn got in her reelection bid. And backers of a measure that would have made marijuana the 'lowest priority' for local law enforcement came close to getting that proposal on the city's November ballot. [continues 439 words]
One Man Held; Weapon Tested For Clues To Shooter Shots fired at an undercover Metro police officer Wednesday night won't deter the department's drug-fighting efforts, police said yesterday. Officer Martin Gonzalez of the West Precinct's crime-suppression unit drove to the John Henry Hale Homes, a public housing complex, on Jo Johnston Avenue at 9:15 p.m., according to police accounts. The officer, assigned to look for street-level drug activity, eased his undercover vehicle toward a group of four people standing in the 5 block of 16th Avenue North. [continues 317 words]
Officers Can Act On Tips More Quickly, So Arrests, Drug Seizures Are Rising Moving Nashville's street-level undercover drug units out of the central office this summer is already having a major impact, Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said yesterday. In a conference room scented with marijuana, 75 pounds of which - worth $75,500 - was stacked in bricks on the table, Serpas praised his officers' hard work. The cache was found in a closet during the execution of a search warrant at 4997-B Karen Ray Drive last Wednesday, police said. Investigators suspect the pot was going to be divided up and sold to street dealers. [continues 467 words]
Since January, undercover Metro police officers have been visiting Nashville convenience stores and buying fake roses in glass tubes - items commonly used for smoking crack. Yesterday the department put out the message that the markets need to stop selling them or face criminal charges. During the two-month operation, 23 markets in town sold the implements to police. Undercover officers would enter a market and specifically asked for a crack pipe, Sgt. Buddy Rhett with the Crime Suppression Unit said yesterday. [continues 282 words]
MURFREESBORO - Until last week, a glass case in the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department lobby displayed books related to the Wicca religion and Celtic lore alongside drug paraphernalia. No labels explained why the bongs, pipes and drug-related items were in the case with books, including Living Wicca, Celtic Lore, The Witches' Almanac and Celtic Magic. The religious items, which had been on display for at least most of 2003, were removed after The Tennessean asked where the items had come from and why they were on display. [continues 419 words]
Rather Than Going to Jail, People Get Intensive Treatment MURFREESBORO - Laura Morrow says she's about to give birth to her first drug-free baby out of nine. Without Rutherford County's Drug Court program, she'd "either be dead or in prison," she says. Morrow was among the 12 who made up the drug court program's largest graduating class to date last week. The 38-year-old says she spent too long with her "windows foggy" from crack cocaine abuse. But she recently received her General Educational Development certificate and plans to attend Tennessee Tech to study surgical technology beginning in January. [continues 618 words]
