Anti-Meth Measure Draws Some Ire

NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana's new law regulating the sale of Sudafed and similar cold medicines takes effect Aug. 15, and pharmacists who will have to enforce it see it as just another rock on an existing mountain of regulation.

Thirty-three states, including Mississippi, restrict the amount of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine pills people can buy and sell because the drug is a major ingredient for illegal methamphetamine labs, according to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

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We extend our condolences to the family of 31-year-old Terry Melancon, a Baton Rouge Police Department detective who was killed in a gun battle with a suspected drug dealer.

Detectives Dennis Smith, 41, and Neal Noel, 35, were wounded in the exchange, and they are expected to recover. We wish them well in their recovery, and we know that the community of Baton Rouge will keep these officers in mind as they heal.

Baton Rouge also has a lot of healing to do in the wake of this terrible incident.

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Mike Brady, 30, looks at one of the bullet holes made in his wall during a shootout Wednesday between suspected drug dealer Gergely Garry Devai, who lived in the apartment next to Brady, and police. The Hungarian national who died in a shootout with narcotics officers Wednesday might have qualified for a light sentence or even probation if he had surrendered instead of pulling a gun, Baton Rouge lawyers speculated Thursday.

"It's a stupid thing. If he had just not armed himself with a weapon, there's a good chance he would not have received any jail time if he was a first offender," said John Russell, assistant public defender, of Gergely Garry Devai.

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2 Wounded Officers Improving; Search 'Routine'

A man, who left Baton Rouge residents stunned when he killed a narcotics officer and wounded two others Wednesday was growing marijuana in an upstairs area he converted to a greenhouse.

"He had set up the entire second floor of the duplex as a greenhouse," said Sgt. Don Kelly, a spokesman for the Police Department.

"There were pots, fertilizer, growing lights, everything he needed for a greenhouse," Kelly said.

Gergely Garry Devai, 3634 Capital Heights Ave. also had 72 marijuana plants, 60 plastic bags filled with marijuana ready to sell, scales and other drug paraphernalia, $1,386 in cash, and two guns including a .45-caliber handgun and a sawed-off shotgun, Kelly said.

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The Mayor's Office plans to announce Monday that the Constable's Office will take over the DARE program to allow the Baton Rouge Police Department to assign officers to build bridges to the city's high school youth, officials said Friday. Maj. Reginald Brown, the city's constable, said Friday that three deputies from his office will replace the Police Department's three DARE officers so the department can initiate a School Resource Officer program. The change will account for a DARE program shift in 27 elementary schools, Brown said. The Mayor's Office has scheduled a news conference Monday that is designed to address this adjustment and the Police Department's new venture. Because of the news conference, the Police Department is waiting until Monday to discuss the matter. Advertisements

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Two veteran Lafayette police officers have been fired and one of them arrested in connection with a broad internal affairs investigation that involves at least two other officers, a June drug bust and a downtown bar.

The internal affairs investigation suggests that Cpl. John Keith Richard and Cpl. Trampus Gaspard were involved with steroids. Police officials would neither confirm nor deny these accusations.

They were fired Tuesday because they violated the police department's drug policy, said Lafayette Police spokesman Cpl. Mark Francis. He would not provide further details.

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The internal affairs investigation that cost two veteran Lafayette police officers their jobs for violating the city's drug policy is nearly finished, a top city-parish official said Wednesday.

But, officials remained tight-lipped about just how Cpl. Trampus Gaspard and Cpl. Keith Richard violated that drug policy, which requires random drug testing of employees who work in "safety sensitive" areas, including police officers. They were fired Tuesday, just hours after Richard was arrested for alleged possession of prescription painkiller Lortab and a stolen firearm. Gaspard was not arrested.

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The Internet is full of stories about unusual careers. You can read about those with so-called weird jobs such as a certified fire walking instructor, a magician's assistant and the person who takes care of the elephants' toenails for the circus.

I didn't need to go online to meet this one: an expert in marijuana cultivation.

At the end of July, Chris Conrad of El Cerrito, Calif., brought his expertise and a backpack of notes to U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge.

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Dr. Gordon White has received the frenzied phone calls and seen the shaking patients, all begging for prescription pain medication.

But these aren't patients trembling with pain. These are addicts.

"It is a frustrating situation," Gordon said. "You don't want someone to go in pain, but you don't want to give drugs to someone who doesn't really need it."

The Alexandria doctor wasn't surprised to learn an estimated 15 million Americans abuse prescription drugs.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University released its three-year study on prescription drug abuse earlier this month. The study found that more Americans misuse painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Xanax than cocaine or heroin.

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Law enforcement and citizens face a common challenge. Violent crime and drugs are real concerns for both and tough to tackle.

An initiative is under way in northeastern Louisiana that seeks to help make a dent in both drugs and violent crime.

Some local agencies and the FBI are pooling their resources to combat the problem through the Northeast Louisiana Gang Task Force, part of a national safe streets endeavor. It's an interesting collaboration of FBI expertise and information and local manpower - funded with federal dollars.

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A 16-year-old boy overdosed this weekend on a prescription drug given to him by an alleged drug dealer in Church Point, Acadia Parish Sheriff Wayne Melancon said. The teen's story of prescription drug abuse is part of a growing trend, according to a new national report.

Joseph Larry Hoffpauir, 61, was arrested for allegedly giving the boy the prescription depressant Xanax. The boy overdosed on the drug and ended up in the hospital; he was set to be released Monday.

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Eric Stoker still grinds his teeth.

After 10 years of heavy crystal meth use, the 28-year-old North Louisiana native has V-shaped teeth from the constant grinding. It is just one of the many lingering effects Stoker said he feels as he recovers from his addiction at Teen Challenge in New Orleans.

Like most people who become addicted to crystal meth, Stoker started the drug innocently enough. His first time was at age 18. After a night of hard drinking, Stoker knew he wouldn't be able to get to work in the morning, so he did some meth to help him stay awake.

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Substance abuse of any kind can be devastating to families and those who find themselves lost in the cycle of addiction.

It can also be devastating to local communities. Financially, law enforcement and health agencies often find themselves spinning their wheels fighting a war that seems to have no end in sight.

Enter crystal meth.

Also known as crank, speed, ice or simply meth, the illegal use of methamphetamines is reaching epidemic proportions nationally, according to many studies.

The drug, first widely introduced in the 1950s and 1960s as a way to help people who needed to work long hours stay awake, re-emerged in the late 1980s and is taking roots in small communities and big cities everywhere.

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"Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it."

- - Shakti Gawain

Confession time.

I'm addicted to cigarettes. There, I said it out loud and everything. (Not that it's a huge secret or anything, but still it's not as easy to admit as you think.)

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Officials Warn Of Continued Spread Of Deadly Drug

Although phenomenon mostly in the Midwest and along the Pacific West Coast, crystal meth also is a growing problem in the South, where home-made labs are springing up in rural communities everywhere.

So far, however, local officials say the drug has not taken root much in South Louisiana but state police say it's prevalence in North Louisiana means it could be here before too long.

"Meth is being seen more so in North Louisiana. This is where we are having more problems, but it is trickling down south," said state police Narcotics Sgt. Harold Jean Batiste. "Two weeks ago, we had a traffic stop of crystal meth going from Texas to Mississippi, then Florida. Recently, we haven't had any events, not saying it's not happening, but just that we haven't come across it yet. Normally, we get tips from cooperating individuals and through investigating other drug crimes, or we find out that someone is setting up a lab."

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Ingredient Can Be Used to Make Meth

BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed into law this week legislation limiting the sale of over-the-counter cold and sinus tablets that are used to make the illegal and highly addictive substance crystal methamphetamine.

Effective Aug. 15, shoppers at convenience stores and pharmacies will be restricted from buying more than three packs of nonprescription medication containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Blanco aides said Thursday the governor signed Senate Bill 24 by Sen. James David Cain, R-Dry Creek, on Tuesday.

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PLAQUEMINE -- Law-enforcement officers arrested the commander of the area's Law Enforcement Against Drugs Narcotics Task Force on accusations he was involved in a burglary and attempted arson at task force headquarters.

Lt. Gerald Jenkins, task force commander and a 20-year sheriff's deputy, was booked with malfeasance in office, obstruction of justice, burglary, theft, attempted arson, attempted arson with intent to defraud, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and placing combustible material in a structure.

Authorities also arrested Joseph Jenkins, 8832 Loredo St., Baton Rouge, a cousin of the commander. Deputies booked Joseph Jenkins with burglary, attempted arson, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm with narcotics and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

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Parish Addresses Overdose Death Rate

Do people who take illegal drugs or abuse prescription medications belong behind bars or in rehabilitation clinics?

That was a central question at a town hall meeting on illegal drug use Monday night in the St. Bernard Parish council chambers, where speaker after speaker came down squarely on the side of treatment over incarceration.

"Locking people up and throwing away the key doesn't work," said Samantha Hope Atkins, a drug-treatment advocate from Baton Rouge. "The recidivism rate is nearly 100 percent. Once they get out, they go back to committing crimes to support their addictions."

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For more information or to help spread the word on narcotics abuse, write P.O. Box 52644, Shreveport LA 71135-2644.

Turning tragedy to purpose takes courage, perseverance and great generosity of spirit.

Bea Nash and Paula Harvey have chosen not to turn inward but outward in the aftermaths of their sons' deaths from drug experimentation. By spreading the word about the dangers of mixing methadone with Xanax, the deaths of Nash's 19-year-old son, Phillip Guilbault, and Harvey's 23-year-old son, Jeremy Yerton, can serve as warning signals to others who may be speeding along similarly precipitous paths.

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Nobody believes that Louisianians are naturally more criminal than people born in other states. So it should concern everybody who lives here that Louisiana imprisons a higher percentage of its residents than every other state does.

According to a new report released by State Policy Reports, in 2003 Louisiana imprisoned 801 people for every 100,000 residents. Mississippi was next worst, with 768 people in prison for every 100,000 people who live there.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that two states with high rates of child poverty, lagging economies and a long history of subpar schools would have crime problems. In addition to that, Louisiana went through a phase where lawmakers were fascinated with minimum-sentence legislation. They deprived judges of the discretion to give some offenders probation or to order them into rehabilitation centers.

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