Also, Legislation Would Allow More To Earn Their Freedom

The economic squeeze on the Mississippi Department of Corrections means hundreds of nonviolent inmates could see fewer days behind bars.

MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps said he has asked the state Parole Board to review the files of some 2,100 inmates who have been denied parole.

"I recommended to the governor that, in my view, we should have the parole board relook at these individuals," Epps said.

He estimated that about 25 percent - or 525 inmates - could earn parole on a second look for a savings of about $1.5 million before the fiscal year ends June 30.

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This is from my heart to yours, concerning the meth problem in our state.

Some people are all riled up over the "inconvenience" of having to get a prescription for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine after the passage of a new law to make it harder for meth manufacturers to get the main ingredients to enable them to make their "life-changing" drugs.

Let me mention some of the lives that are changed: innocent children who matter less to these meth addicts than the meth itself and their next fix; children who have to sleep in tents in the freezing cold because the "grown-ups" are in the house tending their meth labs; or children in the back room sleeping on the floor with the dogs to keep warm, or the children who get burned and scarred for life, others who are burned to death. And let us not forget the precious newborn babies born into drug addiction. They also suffer from withdrawals, seizures and bad headaches and some even die.

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Cannabis Grown for Research Through Contract With Federal Government

OXFORD -- It's the smell - pungent and slightly citrusy-that first greets visitors to Mahmoud ElSohly's office on the University of Mississippi campus.

Next are pictures lining the hallways of the bright green plants ElSohly has researched for 35 years as chief cultivator in the nation's only legal marijuana farm.

The University of Mississippi Marijuana Project provides marijuana by the bale to licensed researchers throughout the nation. They study the drug through a federal contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Come July, Mississippians will need a doctor's prescription to buy cold medicines like Mucinex, Claritin D and Sudafed.

Gov. Haley Barbour has signed House Bill 512, making any medicine that contains pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient in methamphetamine - a controlled substance as of July 1.

Supporters say the measure, which passed the House and Senate in recent weeks, will deter meth production.

"We are serious about reducing the use of methamphetamine in our state," Barbour said in a statement. "This law is another tool for law enforcement to fight illegal drugs and protect our communities. Meth use is a problem all over the nation, and I'm proud Mississippi can lead the way in battling this drug that damages lives."

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Hinds County Judge William Skinner said stopping methamphetamine abuse is worth the inconveniences caused by a new law that will restrict use of decongestant medicines, the main ingredient of meth.

"We took a lot of heat over supporting this," Skinner said, noting his three years presiding over the county's drug and Youth courts showed him the ill effects of meth abuse.

Gov. Haley Barbour signed House Bill 512 on Thursday requiring prescriptions to purchase medicine that contains pseudoephedrine, like Sudafed D and Zyrtec D. The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the measure.

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The Senate on Tuesday sent to the governor House Bill 512, which supporters say is designed to curtail the state's escalating meth activity. The House earlier passed the bill. Gov. Haley Barbour said he would sign the bill.

The law would go into effect July 1. Oregon passed a similar law in 2006.

Barbour said the new law would "make it more difficult to obtain the ingredients for this drug that tears families apart and harms many of our communities. Meth labs threaten public safety, and I don't think there is any doubt we will see a drop in the number of labs in our state."

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The Legislature's rather decisive vote to strike a blow at the supply of pseudoephedrine available in Mississippi for home meth labs represents a huge victory for state lawmen and a huge loss for drug companies and their lobbyists.

Law enforcement agencies don't really have the political clout or the financial resources to lobby in the classic sense - nor should they have to engage in that nonsense.

New moonshine? Crystal methamphetamine is the new moonshine in Mississippi. It's relatively easy to make, the precursors are cheap and readily available at a lot of locations in even the smallest Mississippi towns and the demand for the drug is high.

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Even in the greenest state in the union, marijuana is still considered a taboo subject.

A pro-marijuana group launched a television advertisement Wednesday in California advocating legalization and taxation of the drug as a potential solution to the state's $26.3 billion budget deficit.

Four TV stations, including two in Los Angeles, one in San Francisco and another in San Jose refused to run the ad sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project.

California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco introduced a bill that would tax the potent plant the same as tobacco and alcohol.

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Local law enforcement officers should be commended for the major dent they put in Jackson County's bustling drug trade last week.

The three-month undercover sting, dubbed Operation Moon Burn, peaked on Wednesday when authorities rounded up 52 of 116 suspects. More arrests certainly will follow. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd described those arrested as "serious drug dealers" and a mixture of "small fish and big fish."

It would not have been such a success without the ongoing cooperation of the Jackson County Narcotics Task Force, the sheriff's office and the police departments of Pascagoula, Moss Point, Ocean Springs and Gautier.

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Five men dead in an apartment. In a county that might see five homicides in an entire year, the call over the sheriff's radio revealed little about what awaited law enforcement. A type of crime, and criminal, once foreign to this landscape of blooming dogwoods had arrived in Shelby County. Sheriff Chris Curry felt it even before he saw the grisly scene. He called the state. The FBI. The DEA.

"I don't know what I've got," he warned. "But I'm gonna need help."

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PICAYUNE - Students at Nicholson Elementary completed a nine-week course that aims to help them make the choice to stay drug free.

Thursday morning, 55 students at the school graduated from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, taught by Pearl River County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Ishmael "Rocket" Quiroz.

Before they were presented with their certificates, the children heard from Sheriff David Allison and special guest B.J. Condrey. Condrey told the students about the importance of self worth. Each child, dressed in black DARE shirts, listened to Condrey. He especially appeared to have their attention when he ripped a $5 bill in half, his way of representing the loss of self value that the decision to do drugs could mean.

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Authorities Seeing Disturbing Trend

Jones County might not be a large metropolis, but it has the same big problem shared by many of the larger cities and communities across the country -- methamphetamine.

Better known as "meth," according to Jones County Sherrif Alex Hodge, it is currently one of the most popular drugs in the county. This white, odorless, bitter-tasting powder, can be easily dissolved in alcohol or water and can be smoked, injected, or snorted.

"It's a dangerous drug," said Hodge. "And all of those old stereotypes you may have of drug users can be trashed.

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The scheduled release of a former Mississippi State football player from prison this week has local prosecutors voicing renewed concerns about the inadequacies of the state's correctional system.

Dontay Walker, 29, is scheduled to be released from a Mississippi Department of Corrections facility on Tuesday after serving four years of a 25-year sentence for his 2005 conviction on charges of possession of more than an ounce of marijuana and possession of more than an ounce of crack cocaine.

Walker, according to a letter sent by fax from MDOC officials to Judge Jim Kitchens, the District Attorney's Office and Starkville and Oktibbeha County authorities, will be placed under house arrest. The decision has prosecutors in the District Attorney's Office unhappy.

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Regarding the Feb. 16 column by Kathleen Parker:

The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults older than 18. This abject failure is not for lack of trying.

There were 872,720 marijuana arrests in 2007, the vast majority for simple possession. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. As an admitted former pot smoker, President Obama no doubt knows that marijuana is comparatively harmless.

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Jurors in the federal trial of Mayor Frank Melton took a master's course in constitutional law from federal prosecutors last week.

So far, the defense has given them little more than a pop quiz in what might have driven Melton on Aug. 26, 2006, when he and his entourage raided a suspected crack house on Ridgeway Street.

Melton and his former police bodyguard Michael Recio are charged with federal civil rights violations related to the raid and face between five and 25 years in prison if convicted.

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If wrapped up today, verdict could come by end of the week

Defense attorneys for Mayor Frank Melton and his former police bodyguard Michael Recio expect to wrap up their cases today in federal court, paving the way for a possible verdict by the end of the week.

It is still unclear whether Melton plans to take the stand. However, Recio's attorney, Cynthia Stewart, indicated Recio likely will testify.

The plan was announced Tuesday at the end of a stop-and-go day at the federal court house in downtown Jackson.

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Drink and drive and it's grrrrrrrr-eat! Smoke pot and your flakes are frosted, dude.

So seems the message from Kellogg, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with Michael Phelps after the Olympian was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in South Carolina.

That's showbiz, of course, but the cereal and munchie company had no problem signing Phelps despite a prior alcohol-related arrest. In 2004, Phelps was fined and sentenced to 18 months probation and community service after pleading guilty to driving while impaired.

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Jackson Mayor Frank Melton is back in federal court this week, continuing the ongoing legal and personal battles that have marked his administration.

Jury selection begins today for the trial of Melton and his former bodyguard, Michael Recio, who are charged with civil rights violations in connection with the destruction of a duplex on Ridgeway Street. The house was partially destroyed by sledgehammer-wielding youths while the mayor and Recio allegedly looked on. Melton claimed it was a drug house.

Another bodyguard, Marcus Wright, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and is expected to testify against them.

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JACKSON, Miss. -- Mayor Frank Melton got elected by wooing working-class blacks and upper-class whites with a promise to personally evict the "thugs" and drug dealers who plagued his crime-bedeviled city's streets. "Get ready," he told residents. "Because this is going to be different."

On Monday, Mr. Melton is scheduled to go on trial -- for the third time since taking office -- on felony charges related to his hard-line, gun-toting tactics. Mr. Melton is battling three counts in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on civil-rights and related weapons charges after he and two police bodyguards, and a group of young acquaintances wielding sledgehammers, allegedly destroyed a home where the mayor has claimed occupants used and sold crack cocaine. Mississippi has a long history of tough-talking local candidates. But the rise and potential fall of Mr. Melton, an African-American, have exposed a big rift among blacks, who make up more than 70% of Jackson's population. Some African-Americans here say the mayor has "talked down" to the black community and used the same kind of harsh words and tactics once used by club-wielding whites. In his zeal to fight crime, many add, he has ignored other city needs and led Jackson government astray.

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PICAYUNE -- Scoob, a Labrador mix with a golden fur coat, has become the newest addition to the Pearl River County School District law enforcement division as a donation from the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department. He will work in conjunction with the other school resource officers to find and eliminate the presence of illegal drugs on campus.

With the sheriff's department moving to more aggressive K-9 units, Scoob's passive personality seemed to better suit a school atmosphere, where the presence of children calls for more laid back personalities, said Sheriff David Allison. School district superintendent Dennis Penton said the district has been considering adding a K-9 to their law enforcement resources, but the expense of purchasing and training a dog held them back. This donation made their plans a reality.

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