The average man who goes through a mid-life crisis buys a red car, one slung so low to the ground he has to date sweet young things because they are limber enough to sling themselves out.

Thomas Ravenel apparently isn't your average man. When he went through what he told a reporter was his mid-life crisis, he turned to cocaine.

The disgraced former South Carolina Treasurer only used a little, just every now and then, he says now, referring to himself as a "recreational user" in a published report in The State.

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Investigation into Ex-S.C. Treasurer's Habit

Transcripts Show Drug Was Common, Casually Used in Social Circles

Cocaine circulated so readily in Charleston's upper-crust circles that former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel confessed that, in his orbit, users shared the powder "like a football ... back and forth." The then-rising political star privately described his casual drug culture to a SLED investigator last spring when Ravenel was first confronted about his drug use.

Ravenel portrayed himself as being drawn from a healthy lifestyle into a cocaine world that stretched from the Upper King Street bar district to mansions south of Broad Street.

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Woman in Prison for Killing Unborn Child to Get New Trial

The S.C. Supreme Court on Monday overturned a conviction that sent a Conway woman to prison for 12 years.

The court ruled that Regina McKnight, who was convicted in 2001 of homicide by child abuse after being accused of killing her unborn child with cocaine, must be granted a new trial.

McKnight gave birth to a stillborn, 5-pound girl May 15, 1999. The baby's age was estimated at between 34 and 37 weeks.

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Unanimous Ruling Finds Attorneys Erred in Case That Ended in Conviction

A South Carolina woman convicted of homicide after her stillborn baby tested positive for cocaine should get a new trial because of mistakes her attorneys made, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Attorneys for Regina McKnight did not introduce the baby's autopsy report into evidence and failed to rebut the prosecution's medical expert, the court said in the unanimous decision.

A spokesman for the state attorney general's office said he didn't immediately know whether prosecutors would appeal. They have 15 days to decide.

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana concealed in a container of clay pottery on a ship attempting to enter the Port of Charleston, the agency announced this week.

Mike Balero, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said that on March 17, officers discovered anomalies in a container while scanning it with an X-ray device. After further examination, they found 1,440 packages of marijuana that totaled 2,075 pounds and had a street value of about $1.4 million, he said.

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At least 17 people have been released from prison in the Upstate in the month since federal judges have had the leeway to reduce crack cocaine sentences, and more are to come as orders to release prisoners trickle daily through the federal court system.

Early estimates are that 800-900 federal inmates serving sentences on crack convictions will be granted early release statewide under new sentencing guidelines that are designed to shrink the disparity with powder cocaine sentences, said Quincy Avinger, deputy chief of the South Carolina District U.S. Probation Office.

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Regarding Thomas Moore's March 17 column, "Drug stances dominated by previous conceptions," the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

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Taking open-minded look at recreational use could change common opinion

I would like to begin with a disclaimer: I do not encourage anyone to use, distribute or otherwise get involved with drugs. Drug use is often a terribly destructive aspect of both personal and family life. Drug use, and more specifically, habitual drug use, is a serious matter that is not to be trivialized.

That being said, I feel that many people have an extremely skewed perspective of recreational drug use. As I define it, recreational drug use involves the use of a drug or drugs in an appropriate atmosphere in the free time of an individual. Recreational drug use is not habitual. In other words, if you are truly a recreational drug user, you don't feel a need to use. It is simply a want.

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COLUMBIA -- Former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel's bid to avoid significant prison time collapsed in federal court Friday when a judge sentenced him to 10 months behind bars.

His co-defendant and cocaine supplier, Michael L. Miller, also received a 10-month term, but it was Ravenel who left the courtroom upset after his lawyers made repeated pleas for leniency.

Defense attorney Gedney Howe suggested that if the case were being held in state court, a first-offense charge for cocaine use might draw less than a slap on the wrist.

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Now that federal sentencing guidelines for drug convictions have been dramatically changed to undo the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses, it is only fair to extend some leniency to those already serving time under the old standards.

The glaring disparity between sentencing for offenses involving crack cocaine compared with those for powder cocaine has been a searing point of contention since the guidelines were established by the U.S. Sentencing Commission in the 1980s. Under those guidelines, the punishment for dealing 1 gram of crack cocaine -- the rough equivalent of a package of artificial sweetener -- was the same as the sentence for a dealer trafficking in 100 grams of powder cocaine.

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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.

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Prohibition Is the Problem

"The Drug War has arguably been the single most devastating, dysfunctional social policy since slavery." --Norm Stamper, Retired Chief of Police, Seattle

In the long history of human folly and futility, America's War on Drugs has surely earned a special place of honor.

Not satisfied that America was fighting a no-win war in Vietnam, in 1971 President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs, creating the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention. Nearly 40 years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, we are still fighting that war, with no end in sight. And the casualties keep piling up. The first, of course, was truth, as Aeschylus reminded us long ago. Other casualties have been our civil liberties and our trust in our government and leaders.

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Thumbs up for the establishment of a drug court in Marlboro County. The program is for nonviolent offenders whose crimes are driven by addiction, 4th Circuit Solicitor Jay Hodge said, and began Monday when it was announced. Marlboro County joins Chesterfield - which also is in the 4th Judicial Circuit - Greenville and Laurens counties as the only ones in the state licensed by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to have their own in-house drug treatment program.

A $350,000 grant from the federal government will allow the court to be conducted in Marlboro County for two years.

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College fraternity and sorority members are sometimes stereotyped as lively students known for their keg parties, and a new study suggests that this may be partly true. Greeks on college campuses are in some instances twice as likely to drink while underage and use illegal drugs as non-Greek students.

That's according to a report conducted by the State Epidemiological Outreach Workgroup (SEOW), which was released recently by Spartanburg Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. SEOW examined information on alcohol, drug, tobacco and other data to examine substance abuse in South Carolina. Each of the 46 counties received an individual report which includes data on teen pregnancy, crime, truancy, and substance abuse.

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Demands to do something about prisons are piling up on lawmakers

South Carolina's prison director has told lawmakers the state needs two new prisons just to hold the number of inmates it already has.

The chief justice of the state Supreme Court has called on lawmakers to keep violent offenders in prison longer and devise alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

And the attorney general has suggested a similar plan - no parole for violent criminals and non-prison punishments for others.

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The 10th Judicial Circuit recently announced that efforts are underway toward the formation of a Drug Court for Anderson and Oconee counties.

Once the court is operating, qualifying drug-related criminal cases will be handled there, officials said.

"Drug Court is an opportunity for persons whose drug addiction has led to criminal behavior to change their lives and become productive members of the community," according the 10th Circuit Web site.

10th Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams said, "We are very excited about this addition to our judicial process in the 10th Circuit. The importance of a drug court is that it may keep an individual from going to jail for a drug-related crime, if there is any chance that they can become a productive citizen. This is especially important for juvenile offenders, who may now be offered an alternative to jail."

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Thomas Ravenel, former state treasurer, is a perfect example of why illegal drugs will always be so plentiful in this country. He was busted with a pound of cocaine, and never spent one night in the detention center. He was allowed to go out of state for some "Hollywood" rehab. The police came to his defense right away by saying, "He wasn't intending on selling the drugs, it was just intended for him and his friends." Nicky Barnes , a black man in N.Y., was given life in prison for getting caught with half the cocaine this man had.

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A policy that would provide for random drug and alcohol tests on students who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities was approved by Lexington 3 officials Tuesday night.

The measure could cost about $8,000 and affect nearly 1,000 students. The district will begin testing students in grades seven through 12 beginning this fall.

The policy will target alcohol and drug use, including marijuana, opiates, cocaine and PCP. Superintendent Bill Gummerson said the district will not test for steroid use because that is too expensive.

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I'm writing about: "Sheriff looking to expand D.A.R.E."

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs - not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

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Lt. Ashley Harris is back in other people's labs.

A chemist for the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, Harris has helped investigate 11 methamphetamine labs in the county this year, up from only one in 2006 and four in 2005. New laws limiting the availability of key ingredients and creating stiffer penalties for meth production led to a lull in activity throughout the state and nation since 2004, when Spartanburg County saw 17 labs.

Why business is again booming isn't clear.

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