Over one hundred thousand steroid caplets and vials were intercepted in four busts within seven days at Vancouver airport two weeks ago. The illegal drug that is usually made of animal testosterone and causes muscles to grow, is used primarily by athletes and body builders who are looking to gain muscle mass and strength quickly or win in sporting competitions. Roid ragers, as they are often referred to, not only put themselves at risk by using unregulated products, said local health and fitness experts Carrie Beck and Erin Einarson of Results Gym. Steroids tax the heart, intestines and liver as they go to work on every muscle in the body. [continues 838 words]
18 Charged With Conspiracy To Launder Money Made By Selling Smuggled-In Narcotics, Running Sports Betting Ring Inmates at the federal prison in Edgefield have been operating drug and illegal sports-gambling rings with the help of friends and relatives on the outside, according to a grand jury indictment opened Thursday. The 15-count indictment handed down in May was left sealed until most of the suspects were arrested, U.S. Attorney Scott N. Schools said. Six inmates allegedly were involved in the arranging of shipments of heroin from Puerto Rico and cocaine and marijuana from other sources, the indictment charged. [continues 552 words]
To The Editor: Last week, the Bush administration announced that the United States is giving Afghanistan a gift of $43 million. The Taliban controls this country. These people enslave their girls and women. This government also provides sanctuary to Osma bin Laden, one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. The United States government has publicly denounced the human rights practices of the Taliban. Our government has also publicly denounced Afghanistan for its association with Osma bin Laden. It seems to me that this so-called gift is directly supporting the enslavement of females in Afghanistan and terrorism at the same time! [continues 67 words]
The Supreme Court delivered a timely reminder of the social costs of our "war on drugs." Its May 14 decision in U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative rejected a medical-necessity exception to the federal law criminalizing marijuana. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush has moved toward abandoning his instincts and repeating his predecessors' mistakes by endlessly escalating a $20 billion-a-year "war" that-as most Americans now understand-we have lost. The court was faced with evidence that smoking marijuana can alleviate the pain, even extend the lives, of tens of thousands of patients suffering from cancer, AIDS and other serious illnesses. Still, it held that Congress had allowed no room for a medical exception to the law making it a crime to distribute marijuana or even to possess it for personal use. [continues 1340 words]
The Netherlands is known for its liberal policies on drugs and alcohol. However, that is far from all that is special about the small European country being honored this year by Memphis in May. Fourteen Memphis-area high school students recently had the opportunity to find out for themselves as participants in the Memphis in May Student Exchange Program. They spent two weeks living with host families in the Netherlands and experiencing life as the Dutch do. The students spent time with their hosts at school and spent days touring the sights of the Netherlands. They found the liberal Dutch attitude in all aspects of life. [continues 480 words]
WASHINGTON -- Americans last year elected an enthusiastic proponent of capital punishment to the White House. And they're applauding the resumption of federal executions next month, when mass murderer Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to die by lethal injection. Yet, paradoxically, the dawn of George W. Bush's presidency is bringing a swing in the pendulum away from executions in America. Though most Americans continue to back capital punishment, support has been dropping in recent years in tandem with declining rates of violent crime. Advances in DNA testing and scandals involving the prosecution of major offenses have underscored the fallibility of evidence in capital cases. [continues 2096 words]
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Smoke billowed through an open window and out into the street as Craig Alves gulped another hit of marijuana from a blue bong. "I think they should take pot smokers out of jail and leave jail to the true criminals," said Alves, 21, a New York college student on vacation in this European city of sin. Tourists from around the world come to Amsterdam to do things outlawed or severely restricted back home. Here, in the land of tolerance, marijuana and hashish - both technically illegal - are openly sold and smoked with official approval. [continues 2022 words]
When liquid fertilizer starts disappearing, watch out. That's what Screven County sheriff's deputies have learned to do, and their hunch paid off Monday, when Cpl. Cedric Rhodes spotted a woman lurking near a tank of anhydrous ammonia at a local fertilizer company. Along with a tank of stolen fertilizer, Cpl. Rhodes allegedly found crystal methamphetamine in Susan Lynn Pennington's truck. He arrested the 37-year-old woman. Her companion, Willard Dale Pendergraft, 38, fled into the woods and was eventually caught. [continues 438 words]
Currently there are 90,000 women in prison in the United States. The average age is 29, and 58 percent have not finished high school. Ninety percent are single mothers. Over half of female inmates have children under 18, and the majority of them were the primary caregivers at the time of their arrest. One out of every three women in prisons, and one out of four in jails, are being held for non-violent offenses. The most typical convictions resulting in imprisonment for women are property crimes, such as check forgery and illegal credit card use. Eighty percent report incomes of less than $2,000 per year and 92 percent report incomes under $10,000. [continues 308 words]
A national expert on drug courts told local officials Wednesday that rehabilitating drug offenders works better than locking them away. "Only 10 percent of graduates in Denver's drug court are re-offenders after the first year," said Bill Ritter, the district attorney for Denver, and a national expert on drug courts. "Compare that to 50 to 55 percent recidivist rate for those who complete regular probation." Drug courts emphasize a closely monitored treatment program instead of jail time for many people arrested on drug charges, officials said. [continues 307 words]
Don't believe the hype: Raves aren't "drug orgies," a panel of people from the rave scene told parents and the community last week. About 40 people attended the informal discussion at the Salt Lake City-County Building. Panel members, which included attendees, rave educators, security guards, disc jockeys and promoters, wanted to calm the "hysteria" they believe the media have perpetuated in recent stories about the scene. Raves are all-night dance parties, usually featuring techno music. People of all ages can attend, although they are most popular with high school students and people in their 20s. [continues 344 words]
Let's talk about "responsibility," since that word is on the bright yellow banner across the Jasper County school board building. Back in the old, old days of basketball, when you committed a foul on an opposing team member, you raised your hand. That little admission of responsibility has fallen by the wayside, as have so many others. Did you ever wonder why? It's simply because people are not responsible for their own acts anymore. The new cry is, "Find a scapegoat!" [continues 598 words]
Law enforcement officials are continuing to struggle against the growing epidemic of methamphetamine in Southeast Tennessee. According to federal Drug Enforcement Administration statistics, about 140 methamphetamine labs have been seized in the 17-county region in the past six months -- close to one a day. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Wednesday DEA records indicate the rural mountainous region of East Tennessee is second only to California for illegal production of methamphetamine. "This is a plague," Rep. Wamp said. "It is the fastest growing drug problem in America. And in certain parts of the country, like East Tennessee, it has overtaken cocaine." [continues 572 words]
The right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches and seizures is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. So what's more unreasonable than having hospitals test pregnant women for drugs without their consent and turn the results over to police? This was permitted under South Carolina law until the U.S. Supreme Court rightly struck it down on privacy grounds last week. Such tests require a search warrant or consent, the justices said. The 6-3 decision banning non-consensual drug testing by hospital personnel is a welcome affirmation that pregnant women have the same doctor-patient confidentiality rights as all Americans. [continues 274 words]
The Bush administration has wisely decided to withhold submitting its bill to aid faith-based programs until it can revise the legislation to make it more acceptable to conservative religious leaders. The administration had expected opposition from liberal groups, but not the level of resistance coming from conservative religious leaders and organizations who fear that inviting the government in will mean eventual government control of their message. Historians have debated whether the Roman Emperor Constantine was seriously converted to Christianity in the Third Century, or if he merely found that faith expedient in the pursuit of his military objectives. He may have believed the Christians could be persuaded to serve in his army if they were freed from the catacombs and their faith declared not only legitimate but also the official state religion. [continues 606 words]
Deadly Dilemma Hundreds of Eastern Kentuckians have followed a thin white line to destruction and death with OxyContin. And Pike County from many accounts is one of the state's hotbeds of illegal use and abuse of the powerful painkiller, as well as the place some officials say features the highest number of overdose deaths attached to it. Despite that unsavory distinction, the county still appears on the outside looking in at effective ways to combat the synthetic opiate's increasing grip on the region's culture of illicit drug abuse. [continues 390 words]
The production of methamphetamine is an explosive problem -- both literally and figuratively -- in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, law enforcement officials said. "It's become a serious problem and it's increasing rapidly," said Agent Dave Shelton of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Chattanooga. In Georgia, legislators want those convicted of manufacturing methamphetamines to help pay the high cost of meth lab cleanups. State Rep. Bobby Parham, D-Milledgeville, sponsored a bill that would fine those convicted of manufacturing meth up to $30,000. Federal officials spend an average of $30,000 cleaning up hazardous chemicals each time a lab is shut down, he said. [continues 886 words]
Maryland officials report that heroin-related deaths stayed near record highs for the year 2000, despite a two-year-old program to fight the drug. The state Medical Examiners office recorded 304 overdose deaths in Baltimore alone, bringing last year's overdose fatality total for the state to 474. According to police, Maryland's efforts to fight heroin abuse have failed because use of the drug has shifted from the inner city to the suburbs, and also because the heroin that is now available is much more potent than what was around 10 years ago. Dr. Shiv Soni, supervisor of the drug analysis unit of the Baltimore Police Department, says that in the past two years, even the lowest grades of heroin have increased from about 4 percent to 14 percent purity, while high-quality heroin is now about 75 percent pure. Baltimore health commissioner Peter L. Bielenson notes that the increased strength of the drug could raise mortality in a number of ways, particularly as new users are drawn to stronger grades of heroin because they can snort or smoke it, instead of using a needle. [end]
Despite Action Plan, Number Of Deaths Remains Record High Nearly two years after state officials announced their most comprehensive fight against heroin, the drug continues to kill Marylanders in record numbers, with almost 300 more fatal overdoses in 2000 than a decade ago. Heroin related overdoses last year 474 statewide, including 304 in Baltimore were at about the same level as in 1999, according to the state medical examiner's office. But 1999 was a record year for heroin deaths in Maryland, and two consecutive years of such numbers have raised concerns among health workers and law enforcement officials. They are troubled by the drug's reach, from the inner city to the suburbs and beyond, and by its potency, which they say has never been greater. [continues 625 words]
Ex-Bacon County Commissioner Is The Latest To Be Indicted On Federal Drug Charges ALMA, Ga. - Marijuana has clouded the reputation of another south Georgia politician. Former Bacon County Commissioner Ronald "Butch" Smith was indicted by a Savannah grand jury last week on federal drug charges. Mr. Smith, 55, was almost halfway through a four-year term when he resigned his commission post last fall, saying he couldn't fulfill his duties. After two years of FBI and state investigations, Mr. Smith was arrested Jan. 12 at home in Mershon and indicted the same day. [continues 625 words]
