If suspected drug traffickers Miguel OconAcosta and Mario Rivera didn't appreciate the joys of golf before they were arrested, they probably do now. Arrested in May on charges that they had smuggled 88 pounds of marijuana into Allen Park, the two suspects had felony drug charges dismissed during their June 9 preliminary examination because the two arresting police officers were golfing. "I was not happy at all. It was professionally embarrassing," said Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Ray Walsh. "But we reissued the charges." But the charges against the two weren't reissued for two months. Both OconAcosta, 35, and Rivera, 47, fled the state immediately after their charges were dismissed and they were released from jail. Police believe they are in Mexico. [continues 276 words]
'COKE BABY' HAS RIGHTS, TOO If the recent incident involving the notorious "cocaine mom" does not provide enough evidence that the state and/or county should intervene in known cases of fetal neglect, then how valid is the supposed concern of these governmental agencies in cases of child neglect? Does it not make sense for the government to intervene before these children are born into a world of poverty and strife? What kind of life is in store for the cocaine mom's first child and her asyetunborn one in light of her inability to maintain a stable and sober state of mind? [continues 66 words]
A new study of the use of needle exchanges to restrict the spread of HIV in Montreal, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests that the "harm reduction" approach to AIDS does the opposite. It found that 7.9 per cent of needleexchange users contracted HIV between September 1988 and January 1995, as against only 3.1 per cent of those who did not. The theory behind needle exchanges was that since sharing needles for intravenous drug use is the second most significant means of HIV transmission, giving out clean needles would help limit the problem. It hasn't. In 1996 alone, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Youth Activities (DEYAS) needle exchange program handed out 2.38 million needles 2.38 million. Yet eight per cent of Vancouver's intravenous drug users are HIV positive, as against only five per cent in Miami's ghettos. [continues 388 words]
CHICAGO (AP) Three police officers were convicted Monday of robbing suspected drug dealers and a civilian was convicted of helping the officers set up the robberies. Prosecutors said the four stole $23,000 in November and December 1996. The robberies actually were sting operations set up by agents posing as dealers and were recorded by the government. All four defendants were convicted of conspiracy, attempted robbery, depriving individuals of their civil rights and illegal use of a firearm. The officers were Gerald Meachum, 35; Tyrone Francies, 39; and Baxter Streets, 41. The civilian was Robert Meeks, 29, who also was convicted of distributing heroin. [continues 96 words]
MIAMI (AP) Colombia's cocaine traffickers are switching back to their old smuggling routes into Florida, easing out of the Mexican pipeline because of tougher enforcement and greedy partners. Federal agents in Florida seized nearly seven tons of Colombian cocaine in the past two months, a lot of it hidden aboard cargo ships from Venezuela. Just don't look for a return to the Cocaine Cowboy days of the 1980s, when Florida was flooded with millions in excess cash and headlines were filled with the speedboats, lowflying planes and public gun battles that inspired TV's Miami Vice. [continues 291 words]
Heroin Is Sweeping Through Pakistan More than a million Pakistanis are thought to be addicted to heroin according to the United Nations. Most users are middle class Pakistan is on one of the main transit routes for heroin on the way from Afghanistan to the West. This is thought to be the main reason for the huge rise in the number of addicts. The rate of addiction is double that of the US and growing. Most addicts are between 20 and 35 and part of Pakistan's growing middle class. [continues 239 words]
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) Dutch authorities said on Thursday they had arrested a Colombian man who is suspected of being a leading member of that country's Cali cocaine cartel. The 45yearold man, identified only by the initials A.L.Q.B., was arrested on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao on Tuesday and was flown to the Netherlands on Christmas Day. "The arrest of Q.B. marks an important success in the fight against the Colombian drugs mafia," the office of the public prosecutor in The Hague said in a statement. [continues 132 words]
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) The United States and Panama have agreed to set up a center to monitor drug smuggling in Latin America, although some Panamanians say it amounts to turning the country over to foreigners. The U.S.led antidrug center will be built on what is now Howard Air Force Base, a rolling campus with nature trails and bike paths that is one of the most beautiful U.S. military bases in Panama. Wednesday's announcement followed street protests and months of delicate negotiations. The minority of Panamanians who oppose the center, recalling the 1989 U.S. invasion, say the United States is going back on its word to pull its soldiers out of the country. [continues 358 words]
LONDON (Reuters) Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labor government faced acute embarrassment Wednesday after the 17yearold son of an unnamed cabinet minister was arrested for selling cannabis. The case was revealed in the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper, whose reporter Dawn Alford said she had bought the drug from the youth in a London public house. The newspaper then told the minister, who confronted the son and went with him to a police station Monday where he was arrested and then released on bail. [continues 192 words]
Re "Boy, 3, Shows Police Father's Marijuana," Dec. 18: Is it just me or is this a scary thing? I believe possession of marijuana should be legalized. Still, what are the future psychological ramifications of decorating as a hero a 3yearold who turns in his dad? Couldn't this help provoke a lifetime of guilt? This seems like a situation in which discretion and sensitivity would be in order, not a big media hype in which the enormous finger of authority points this kid out to all the world: See, Johnny is a good citizen. He turned in his dad. What other country in recent world history had a taste for this kind of heroism? Jill Giegerich Culver City [end]
