In a woefully shortsighted opinion by Craig Morford, he stated as acting deputy U.S. attorney general that "we believe communities are safer when violent, convicted criminals are imprisoned for the full duration of their sentences" ("Crack crooks are behind bars for a reason," @issue, Feb. 29). My question is, "And then what?" As he acknowledged, "re-entry programs are not equipped to deal with this many offenders." The more intelligent and responsible action would be to devise, fund and equip re-entry programs so they are able to effectively deal with a large number of people who need substance-abuse counseling, not imprisonment. To say that we can't handle it, so we'll just lock them up and unleash them in 20 years is an abdication of responsibility. Morford advocates dumping today's untreated addicts on tomorrow's innocent citizens. What a tragedy. Lisa Bashir, Loganville [end]
Metro Atlanta may get a little bloodier. Call it a sign of success. Jack Killorin, who heads a federal narcotics task force, said his agents are rolling up drug-trafficking organizations to the point that they have decreased the quality and raised the price of drugs on the street. He credits last year's spike in area burglaries, robberies and car thefts in part to criminals forced to pay more for their illicit drugs. If law enforcement someday succeeds in breaking up established drug territories - the real sign of success from a metropolitan perspective - it could mean a similar spike in murders, as drug organizations vie for a larger market share. [continues 837 words]
Three U.S. Army Rangers and another soldier were charged Friday with drug conspiracy after agreeing to an undercover scheme that involved the armed robbery of purported cocaine traffickers. When three of the men --- Carlos Lopez, 30, Stefan Andre Champagne, 28, and David Ray White, 28, all staff sergeants --- were arrested Thursday, they had an assault rifle, semi-automatic pistols, 15 magazines of ammunition, a TASER, a ski mask and a medic kit. The soldiers, two of whom were armed, were taken by surprise and arrested by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' SWAT team and Sandy Springs police officers. [continues 664 words]
Businesses Paid Officers Directly for Extra Patrols. Crime Pushed to Owners Who Didn't Pay, U.S. Attorney Says. A former Atlanta police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to extortion charges that were uncovered in the ongoing federal investigation of the fatal shooting of an elderly woman during a botched drug raid in 2006. Daniel Betts, who resigned from the force shortly before his plea, admitted accepting payoffs in exchange for extra patrols. Betts and other officers would give business owners their phone numbers so if there was trouble, the owners could call the officers directly, not 911. [continues 503 words]
Mandatory minimum prison sentences have done little other than give the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. (Editorial, "Cracked Sentencing," Dec. 24) The deterrent value of tough drug laws is grossly overrated. During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, New York City chose the zero tolerance approach, opting to arrest and prosecute as many offenders as possible. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per-capita murder rate in the country. [continues 131 words]
You don't hear much about the nation's "war on drugs" these days. It's a has-been, a glamorless geezer, a holdover from bygone days. Its glitz has been stolen by the "war on terror," which gets the news media hype and campaign trail rhetoric. Railing against recreational drug use and demanding that offenders be locked away is so '90s. But the drug war proceeds, mostly away from news cameras and photo ops, still chewing up federal and state resources and casting criminal sanctions over entire neighborhoods. Some four or so decades into an intensive effort to stamp out recreational drug use, billions of dollars have been spent; thousands of criminals, many of them foreigners, have been enriched; and hundreds of thousands of Americans have been imprisoned. And the use of illegal substances continues unabated. [continues 515 words]
THERE IS only one illicit drug in America for which one is sentenced differently, depending on how it's ingested: Cocaine. Until recently, the federal sentencing guidelines for powder and crack cocaine were vastly different. For instance, the penalty a person would face for possessing only five grams of crack equaled the penalty a person would face for possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine. Now, federal authorities have rightly taken steps to make the sentences more equitable. Crack might be more addictive than powder cocaine, but on a scale of relative evils, a coke dealer is a coke dealer. [continues 345 words]
Clark County officials could seek an injunction against the Southern Indiana Treatment Center, a methadone clinic, as early as Thursday, county attorney Dan Moore said during a telephone interview Tuesday evening. "I think there are a lot of issues with the safety," said Moore. "I have my thoughts in my mind, and I've done my legal research." Last Thursday, the Clark County Commissioners voted 3-0 to seek an injunction against the methadone clinic, on the basis of public safety issues that became apparent when the clinic opened at its Charlestown Pike location a week ago today. [continues 830 words]
Cops Say Gangs Are Driving The City's Crime Surge The "International Robbing Crew" was the gang that shot straight -- or, at least, often. Prosecutors on Nov. 2 charged nine young desperados from the gang, at least three of them from New Orleans, with seven murders. But cops say they may have killed as many as 30 people over the last two years in a brutal gambit to dominate the Atlanta crime scene. Some of the murder victims apparently were random, among them an Iraq war vet who was gunned down on Spring Street in what prosecutors speculate was target practice by the gangsters. [continues 2915 words]
If Isaac Saleumsy was a drug dealer, he wasn't a very good one. Either that or he just didn't pay his bills. The Marietta police officer rarely paid the monthly dues for his east Cobb County condominium - which resulted in a lien on his condo, and got his pickup truck towed this summer. He also apparently struggled to pay his mortgage, as a foreclosure announcement for his condo ran in a local newspaper around the same time. Saleumsy's money problems rankled his neighbors, but those who knew the 30-year-old cop say they never could have predicted he would be charged as an Ecstasy dealer in an international drug ring. [continues 699 words]
Lightning Enters Plea To Conspiracy, Extortion In Drug Bust; Faces Up To 40 Years Larry Lightning, the former Columbus Police officer accused of colluding with drug dealers, pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy and extortion charges in a case related to what authorities call the largest drug bust in Muscogee County history. Lightning, 48, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine base and to extortion by a public official. He faces five to 40 years on the felony counts, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Hyde. [continues 447 words]
Twenty years ago, as executive director of AID Atlanta, I would arrive at the office at the crack of dawn to find a cast of homeless intravenous drug users waiting at our door. Their faces and the countless more living with HIV I've met since still haunt my dreams. I often wonder if a clean needle could have saved their lives. Ten years later, during my tenure as Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy in the second Clinton term, we allowed bad politics to override good science when the White House pulled the plug on support for federal funding for needle-exchange programs. Later President Clinton had the fortitude to admit that decision was wrong. Today, nothing much has changed, except increasing numbers of IV drug users infected with HIV. What's wrong with this picture? [continues 615 words]
Regarding your Nov. 19th editorial: Tift County School System administrators need to educate themselves on the downside of student drug testing. Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular programs. Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing. Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. [continues 126 words]
Mandatory minimum prison sentences have done little other than give the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. The deterrent value of tough drug laws is grossly overrated. During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, New York City chose the zero-tolerance approach. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was smoking crack and America's capital had the highest per-capita murder rate in the country. Yet crack use declined in both cities simultaneously. Simply put, the younger generation saw firsthand what crack was doing to their older siblings and decided for themselves that crack was bad news. This is not to say nothing can be done about hard drugs like crack or methamphetamine, the latest headline grabber. Access to substance-abuse treatment is critical. Diverting resources away from prisons and into cost-effective treatment would save both tax dollars and lives. Robert Sharpe Sharpe is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy [end]
Never has a loony, lefty, liberal, AJC editorial position been more proudly proclaimed than it was in last Sunday's editorial. In this monumental tribute to wrong-headed political correctness, the editorial board argues that crack cocaine pushers deserve less time in jail than powder cocaine sellers because, "African-Americans make up a disproportionate number of inmates incarcerated for the crime." Nevermind that for minorities, crack cocaine has destroyed more individuals, more families, more neighborhoods, and more communities than powder cocaine, the choice of the more-affluent druggies who tend to only destroy themselves. Because crack is the drug of choice in poorer communities, it exacerbates the poverty cycle, seduces the most vulnerable and is a habit frequently supported by predatory crimes against defenseless neighbors. A better idea, although not necessary, is to eliminate the disparity by increasing sentences for selling powder cocaine and let the chips fall where they may. Vince Mancuso, Greensboro [end]
I wholeheartedly applaud the federal government for trying to reduce sentencing for crack-cocaine sales and possession convictions. However, the problem continues and grows when they are released into the community with minimal resources to tap in terms of treatment and employment. As a parole substance-abuse counselor for many years, I am well aware that the government is not real keen on treatment. Treatment options are meager and haphazard. Long waiting lists for more intense treatment discourage any spark of hope in terms of "rehabilitating" those with a penchant for addiction. And as far as employment for those with a drug conviction, the few above-minimum-wage choices usually send them into the construction sector, which is rife with drug use. And let's not forget the discrimination from the federal food stamp program. (No food stamps to drug offenders). When a drug-convicted parolee can't pay their bills or feed their families, they return to the streets since that's what they know best. And the cycle continues. [continues 73 words]
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the worst scandal to hit the Atlanta Police Department in his four years as leader, Chief Richard Pennington announced that the department's newly revamped anti-drug section is "the best-trained narcotics unit in the Southeast." With Mayor Shirley Franklin by his side, Pennington said the Nov. 21, 2006, police killing of Kathryn Johnston, 92, in her home on the city's northwest side was a tragedy that "tore at the heart of the community" and caused an overhaul of police training and procedures to ensure such a thing doesn't happen again. [continues 662 words]
The family of the 92-year-old woman fatally shot in a botched police raid filed a civil suit against the city and the Police Department on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of a police killing that shocked the nation. "The filing of this lawsuit continues my aunt's journey to justice," Sarah Dozier, a niece of the victim, Kathryn Johnston, wrote in a letter read aloud by lawyers on the courthouse steps. "While I cannot bring her back to life, I want to ensure that her legacy is the removal of unconstitutional practices by the Atlanta PD so that this never happens to anyone else," she said. [continues 925 words]
Neal Street: Officers' Shooting of an Elderly Woman in Her Home a Year Ago Quickly Ballooned into a Major Scandal. Little has changed at Kathryn Johnston's yellow brick house on Neal Street since the first few days after the elderly woman was killed during a botched drug raid. Someone regularly tends the yard and, on a recent day, was careful to rake around the pile of stuffed animals and fake flowers left on the curb a year ago - apparently undisturbed since they were placed there in memory of the 92-year-old's death at the hands of Atlanta police Nov. 21. [continues 880 words]
System has moral obligation to adjust crack cocaine users' inflated sentences The widespread panic over crack cocaine in the 1980s should have taught us something: Splashy headlines don't usually translate into sound public policy. In retrospect, the clamor to pass "strong" anti-drug laws has warped our criminal justice system without addressing the larger problems caused by drug abuse. Last week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission heard testimony on a controversial proposal to allow the early release of roughly 20,000 federal inmates who are serving longer sentences for crimes related to crack cocaine than prisoners convicted of identical offenses involving cocaine in its powdered form. [continues 626 words]
What kind of message does it send to children when communist Chinese farmers may grow hemp but free American farmers are not allowed ("Hemp For The Hemp-less," Nov. 3)? It's time to reintroduce hemp as a component of American agriculture. Stan White, Dillon, Col. [end]
Tift County School System administrators should think carefully before implementing a proposed random drug testing program for some students in grades seven through 12. The school officials' desire to prevent drug abuse is understandable, especially since gang activity seems to be more prevalent in the schools today. But why test only athletes and students involved in extracurricular activities? Wouldn't kids involved in sports and extracurricular activities be less likely to use drugs than those who goof around after school doing nothing? [continues 127 words]
Sometimes Regrets Telling FBI of Police Cover-Up Alex White maintained a year ago he was a "hero" and risked his livelihood and life when he told federal authorities Atlanta cops were trying to cover up the truth about an elderly woman's death in a botched drug raid. It is still his mantra. "I am a hero," White said. But now he feels abandoned by the FBI agents who for months talked to him almost every day. White admits he's become paranoid. He said it's been two to three months since he spoke to agents. Now, he says, they don't even return his calls. [continues 834 words]
If adopted, a random drug testing program would begin in the fall of next year, school officials say. TIFTON -- The Tift County School Board is considering a measure that would require some students in the system to undergo random drug testing, school officials said. The measure, which was offered as its first reading to school board members Tuesday night, is far from a final, polished product, schools superintendent Patrick Atwater said. It would allow for the random testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities in grades 7-9, Atwater said. [continues 562 words]
Activists ask CDC to open doors, expand prevention techniques After being boiled down to three basic strategies — abstain from sex, wear a condom and avoid sharing needles — HIV prevention in America is in urgent need of an expanded approach, according to a nationwide coalition of AIDS organizations known as the Prevention Justice Mobilization. Traditional HIV-prevention messages tend to focus on personal responsibility and reducing individual risk factors while ignoring broader issues like poverty, homophobia and homelessness that may increase a person's risk no matter what steps they take to remain uninfected, said Kenyon Farrow, a spokesperson for the Prevention Justice Mobilization. [continues 597 words]
Will A Lawsuit Filed By North Dakota Farmers Resurrect Georgia's Hemp Industry? In 2000, Americans spent $11 billion on marijuana. As many as 13 percent of Atlantans (including the metro area--can't forget the suburban kids) smoke pot. Those are stunning statistics. But while marijuana usually bogarts the spotlight, lately its buzz-kill cousin hemp is getting its moment in the sun, thanks to a lawsuit filed by two North Dakota farmers against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The farmers, Wayne Hauge and Dave Monson, were granted licenses by the state to grow hemp for industrial use. The only problem is that hemp falls under federal guidelines for controlled substances. So, without an exemption, each time the farmers ship hemp across the state border, the feds--in the form of the DEA, for example--will confiscate or burn their crops. Also, Monson (who is a Republican state legislator) and Hauge both face serious jail time. [continues 1441 words]
Teens think prescription pills, even taken at random and consumed with alcohol, are safer than street drugs -- but they could be dead wrong Heard the one about the trail mix parties teens have? They grab a bunch of prescription drugs out of their parents' and grandparents' -- and friends' parents' and grandparents' -- medicine cabinets. And then they put all the pills in a big bowl. And then they reach in the bowl and grab some pills at random and put them in their mouths. And then they wash them down. [continues 990 words]
MOULTRIE -- Georgia's prisons are at about 105 percent, thanks in large part to a methamphetamine epidemic, said Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner James Donald. Last year, 21,000 inmates were sentenced into the system but only 18,000 were rotated out. The remainder is growth in an already maxed-out system. "We're the fastest growing large prison population in the nation. ... We know exactly where our population is coming from," he said, listing off several Albany ZIP codes. [continues 485 words]
Dear Editor, Anastacia Cosner and Kirk Muse ("High school drug policy needs another look," Sept. 27, and "Marijuana use different than cocaine or meth," Oct. 5) got arrow-splitting bull's-eyes, but there is more to the story. Cannabis (marijuana) prohibition contributes to hard drug addiction because of inherent lies used to perpetuate the farce. One example: cannabis is a relatively safe God-given plant, yet the federal government places it as a Schedule I substance along with heroin, and meth is only a Schedule II substance. [continues 80 words]
This letter is in reference to The Telegraph's article published Oct. 1, "Macon revising drug testing plan." As the parent of a 16-year-old, ideally my son will never use any illegal drugs. However, if he does use an illegal drug, I would hope it's marijuana and only marijuana. Drug testing discourages this because marijuana is fat soluble. As a result, marijuana stays in a person's system for up to several weeks. On the other hand, drugs like meth, cocaine and heroin exit the body within a few days because they are water-soluble. [continues 62 words]
Twenty-five years ago, Crawford County narcotics investigators were trailing cannabis plants grown in local fields. Now they chase the scent of scorched ether in the air - ether, ammonia and other toxins that are melted and burned in clandestine labs where methamphetamine is produced. Since June, the Crawford County Sheriff's Office says it has seized 12 such labs and the people manufacturing meth inside them, up from one lab between January and May. Chemical burns, flashover fires and a mobile home explosion led deputies to discover three operational drug-cooking workshops from Sept. 6 to Sept. 27. [continues 886 words]
Dear Editor, I'm writing about Anastacia Cosner's thoughtful letter, "High school drug policy needs another look," Sept. 27. As the parent of a 16-year-old, I can say that, ideally, my son will never use any illegal drugs. However, if he does use an illegal drug, I would hope it's marijuana and only marijuana. Drug testing discourages this because marijuana is fat-soluble. As a result, marijuana stays in a person's system for up to several weeks. On the other hand, drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin exit the body within a few days because they are water-soluble. [continues 59 words]
According to a study by Harvard professor Jeffrey Miron, the government will spend approximately $8.61 billion in 2007 on marijuana prohibition enforcement. Despite such robust government spending, current strategies have failed to curb marijuana consumption. In 2005, 16.9 percent of Americans surveyed in National Household Surveys on Drug Use and Health admitted to using marijuana in the last year compared with 13.2 percent in 2000. Data from drug treatment facilities indicate that marijuana abuse is also increasing. According to a Drug and Alcohol Information System study, admission rates to drug treatment for primary marijuana users have increased by more than 162 percent since 1992. [continues 481 words]
Macon officials are putting into place new drug-testing guidelines for employees, a little more than a year after a man was killed in a car accident involving a city worker who officials said later tested positive for marijuana and cocaine use. The revised drug and alcohol policy, which expands the city's ability to perform random drug tests, will go into effect this week barring opposition from the City Council. A council committee already has signaled its acceptance of the plan, which does not require a formal vote of approval. [continues 463 words]
Two years ago, stay-at-home mom Janie Fulghum was clueless about crystal meth and assumed her kids were, too. Now, she knows the drug's street names --- ice, crank, go fast, devil, speed. A neighbor's cry for help opened Fulghum's eyes to the drug underworld lurking outside her Loganville home. The woman, practically a stranger to Fulghum, needed help finding her 17-year-old methamphetamine-addicted daughter who had run away. Fulghum's kids helped to educate their mother about the drug during the search. The rest she learned on the Internet. [continues 625 words]
I would like to again share one of the good stories about drug-addiction recovery I previously wrote about. It's the good ones I prefer to remember. This one started with two sets of grandparents, each concerned for the safety of their shared grandchildren. Their children, married to each other, were addicted to methamphetamines and the local law enforcement had already been called in because of a domestic disturbance incident resulting from the drug abuse. On the advice of one of the police officers, the grandparents jointly met with a local drug abuse activist about their concerns. The activist in turn referred them to a local faith-based drug recovery program. The grandparents managed to convince their children, with the help of an activist and counselor, that the program was necessary - -- for the sake of the grandchildren. [continues 406 words]
Dear Editor, In the article "Administrators try to keep school safe", there were apparent inconsistencies in the logic behind Camden County High School's tightening of their security on campus to keep students out of danger. All students have a right to feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment. The administration reserves the right to randomly drug test any student suspected of drug use, and a refusal to submit to such a test would be perceived as an admission of guilt. This is a dangerous violation of student privacy and independence. Especially in the case of marijuana, drug tests do not accurately measure impairment, and have been proven to be inconsistent, often times resulting in false positive results. The active chemical in marijuana, THC, can remain in one's system up to 45 days after exposure. While "harder drugs" (such as cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and other commonly abused prescription drugs) have average detection times of two to five days. [continues 170 words]
As an athlete at Chestatee High School in northwest Hall County, Zach Bennett already is subject to the county school system's random drug-screening policy. As a trumpet player for the school's band, he wouldn't mind seeing the policy expand to other extracurricular programs at the county's high schools. "It's good to be fair," said Bennett, a 16-year-old junior. A systemwide committee has been exploring that possibility, also looking at stretching the policy to affect middle school extracurricular programs and high school students who drive to school. [continues 758 words]
The notion of expanding random drug screening beyond high school athletics is picking up steam in Hall County schools. A systemwide committee has been exploring that possibility as it relates to students in middle and high school athletics and other extracurricular programs, as well as students who drive their cars to school. School officials issued a statement Tuesday summarizing the committee's work, which includes a survey of staff members at several schools over the potential policy expansion. "The vast majority ... supported the possible expansion of the program," the report stated. [continues 528 words]
A Drug Education Program at the Dougherty County Jail Draws Raves From County Commissioners. ALBANY -- Noting the "overwhelming success" of the Dougherty County Jail's Controlled Substance Education Program in a report to the Dougherty County Commission Monday morning, Jail Director Doug McGinley provided some impressive numbers to back up his claim. Calling attention to a 17 percent recidivism rate among graduates of the program during its five years of existence -- as compared to the typical 80 percent or above -- and $725,817 in "cost avoidance" as compared to $228,400 in actual costs, McGinley assured commissioners the six-week program delivers plenty of bang for the buck. [continues 566 words]
Members of a Chatham County grand jury who spent three months hearing presentations from police and prosecutors were frightened at the extent of the crime they saw close up, they said in a report issued last week. "As weeks passed, it was mind-boggling to hear about young men, mostly African-American, involved with gangs, guns and high-speed auto chases," foreman William P. Franklin Jr. wrote in the report's cover letter. "Where there are drugs, there are usually well-armed, mean-spirited miscreants who have little or no regard for our lives, let alone their own. [continues 721 words]
Responding to residents' calls for action, about 60 police officers and two specially trained dogs swept through two known drug areas in northwest Atlanta on Saturday in hopes of capturing drug dealers, fugitives and gang members. With media along for the ride, officers made eight public arrests just before sundown in what APD spokeswoman Judy Pal called "an obvious showing that the police are here to support the community." "The reason we're doing this is the community wanted us to come out here because they are tired of the thugs and criminality," Pal said. [continues 371 words]
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun offered Democrats a peace pipe and sent Republican leaders' hopes that he'd toe the party line up in smoke this week by voting to ease federal restrictions on medical marijuana laws. The Republican congressman from Athens was sworn in Wednesday and cast his first vote in the House of Representatives late that night in support of an amendment to stop the U.S. Justice Department from prosecuting people who distribute medical marijuana in states where it is legal. [continues 380 words]
Concluding a two-year undercover sting operation in northwest Georgia that drew criticism from civil rights groups, the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta said it has convicted two men on charges of distributing products used in the production of methamphetamine, and won guilty pleas from 32 other defendants. "Operation Meth Merchant" -- as federal prosecutors dubbed it -- targeted convenience stores where clerks sold drugs containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and other products they knew would be used to make meth, said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias. [continues 314 words]
White County Group's Effort Pays Off CLEVELAND -- When Sharon Lee and her mother decided to go public with their struggles of having a methamphetamine-addicted family member, the response in White County was immediate. What started with an article in the local newspaper about her brother's six-year addiction to meth became a mandate for change. "Over the next two to three weeks we got so many calls from people who had the same story as ours," said Lee, a local chamber of commerce member and co-owner of America's Best Storage in Cleveland. "We said, 'We can't just let this go. If that many people have the same problem, we need to do something.'" [continues 741 words]
Gwinnett teenagers are trying sex, drugs and alcohol at a younger age, according to a new health survey. The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services asked more than 32,000 middle school and high school students to complete questionnaires asking about a wide range of topics, including their drug use and sexual behavior. The results indicate more middle school students are having sex, using drugs and binge drinking -- drinking five or more drinks on a single occasion -- the coalition reported. [continues 500 words]
This week saw two very different First Amendment cases, one which received national coverage and the other with a tremendous regional impact. The first case in the national news this week concerned a high school student in Alaska who held up a sign at a televised school event saying, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The school deemed it as promoting drug use and suspended him, with his case making it all the way to the Supreme Court before a judge finally ruled that, yes, schools have the right to uphold disciplinary rules regarding limits on free speech. Had the court ruled otherwise, any drug-related or offensive or obscene material on T-shirts, posters, etc., would have been fair game for students. [continues 373 words]
To mark the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, government officials rounded up and destroyed thousands of used needles found on the streets of Tbilisi on June 26. The Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs and the Young Doctors Association held the anti-drug action with the slogan "Health is in fashion". Participants of the action collected over 5000 used syringes lying in hospital yards, entranceways to buildings, squares and streets of Tbilisi. Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs Davit Meskhishvili destroyed the needles with an asphalt roller on June 26. [continues 506 words]
Four-Month Undercover Investigation Focused On Newtown Area Longtime residents of the Newtown neighborhood in southeast Gainesville watched from their front porches in curiosity Thursday morning as a steady stream of sheriff's and police cars ferried handcuffed suspects to a gravel parking lot across from Antioch Baptist Church. "We need this," said one Mitchell Street resident of more than 25 years, who like others spoke on the condition his name not be printed for fear of retribution. He said the drug peddling -- mostly crack cocaine and marijuana sales -- occurs at all hours, with dealers glancing down furtively to stash spots in bushes along the sidewalk or hiding their crack rocks in drink bottles. [continues 481 words]
In light of the developments in the Kathryn Johnston case, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington picked a bad time to advocate for trusting the police and to blame their reliance on informants on a "no snitch" campaign. Using paid snitches instead of trained police appears to have more to do with circumventing constitutional rights than a "no snitch" movement. Cases chronicled on November.org -- the Web site of The November Coalition, a nonprofit organization working to end drug war injustice -- reveal that informants are an overused tool in the drug war, which, like the war on terror, is a major catastrophe. It has cultivated a cadre of dishonest snitches and overzealous cops resulting in a mounting distrust of police. [continues 58 words]
Inside Georgia
