JACKSON COUNTY -- A store owner was arrested after undercover narcotics agents went into her business and purchased spice, a synthetic form of marijuana outlawed in the state, Sheriff Mike Byrd said. Agents with the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County seized three brands of spice Tuesday at Jr.'s Discount Cigarette and Beer on Government Street, Byrd said. The store's owner, Son Thi Nguyen, 48, of Linda Circle, Ocean Springs, was charged with sale of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute. [continues 94 words]
HATTIESBURG - The Lamar County School District is expanding its random drug testing program to include more than 1,000 of its nearly 9,250 students this year. In the past few years, the district has randomly drug tested only about 350 students annually. "My overall goal is to get to 2,000 to 3,000 drug tests a year, especially with our district growing," Superintendent Ben Burnett said. The district randomly drug tests students in the eighth through 12th grades who are involved in extracurricular activities. [continues 550 words]
Some LMS Students Complete Program LAUREL - Some middle school students say they gained a lot from taking part in the city's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Program. A group of sixth graders at Laurel Middle School recently celebrated their completion of the nationally-recognized D.A.R.E. Program. "It was an excellent program. It was a fun way to be educated about drugs," said 11-year-old Amaria Cooley. "It made me know I don't want to do drugs." [continues 789 words]
Many veteran narcotics officers can tell you that people will hide drugs almost anywhere. The Jackson Police Department has two new tools to unearth the most well-hidden contraband. Their names are Alpha and Darius. The two K9s joined the force about three months ago, officials said, and have been on the streets in marked cruisers for about a week, said JPD Deputy Chief Brent Winstead. JPD had gone a few years without a K9 unit, and Chief Rebecca Coleman made the project a priority, he said. [continues 395 words]
We have been unable to either stop the supply or squelch the demand. We deal with dealers and users alike with incarceration rather than interdiction and rehabilitation. With the best of intentions we promote programs such as Red Ribbon Week at the end of each October to try to steer children away from drug use and abuse. Yet drug-related crimes are the number one reason Mississippians wind up behind bars, and as of Oct. 9, the Mississippi Department of Corrections -- at a cost to taxpayers of more than $350 million a year - -- had 21,006 people in some form of custody. [continues 371 words]
Drugs are killing us. We have been unable to either stop the supply or squelch the demand. We deal with dealers and users alike with incarceration rather than interdiction and rehabilitation. With the best of intentions we promote programs such as Red Ribbon Week at the end of each October to try to steer children away from drug use and abuse. Yet drug-related crimes are the number one reason Mississippians wind up behind bars, and as of Oct. 9, the Mississippi Department of Corrections - at a cost to taxpayers of more than $350 million a year - - had 21,006 people in some form of custody. [continues 432 words]
Events Bring Awareness to Drug Prevention BAY SPRINGS -- The City of Laurel is joining national efforts to bring awareness to drug prevention. Laurel Mayor Melvin Mack on Friday declared Oct. 23-31 as Red Ribbon Week. City officials along with students from Laurel Middle School took part in the Red Ribbon Week Kickoff Celebration and special proclamation signing Friday morning. Among those taking part in the event along with Mack were Laurel Police Chief Walter "Bear" Martin, Laurel City Judge Cecelia Arnold, Laurel Fire Chief Jimmie Bunch, Ward Seven City Councilman Trey Chinn, Ward One Councilperson Willie L. Evans and several other city employees and supporters. [continues 615 words]
Any history buff knows that winning a war first means being victorious in the smaller battles. And when you look at America's war on drugs, well, there are battles everywhere. In Adams County, though, we celebrated seven victories this week. The newest graduating class of the Adams County Youth Drug Court received diplomas Wednesday, with minimal community fanfare. These teenagers have completed months of clean drug tests, good grades and good behavior. They've been under close scrutiny and messing up meant answering to the judge. [continues 109 words]
Eighteen men and women graduated from the 15th Judicial Drug Court in May. The graduation ceremony took place on the Pearl River Community College Campus. This was the court's first graduation since it was established by Circuit Judge Prentiss Harrell in 2007. "With our five-county district, we have a population with a tremendous need for the drug court," Harrell said. "This program allows men and women to put their lives back together again, making this program a great success and impacting our communities and their families." [continues 140 words]
Prescriptions Required To Fight Meth Use Starting today, sinus and allergy sufferer Joan Blanks of Pearl won't be able to buy her favorite antidotes without a doctor's blessing. "But, praise the Lord, I've been able to get prescriptions written, and they're good for a year," said Blanks, 79. This day marks the arrival of new restrictions on buying drugs containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, an essential ingredient for making crystal methamphetamine, an illegal, addictive drug experts say destroys families. [continues 763 words]
An ordinance creating steps for the city of Jackson to tear down suspected drug houses passed a key committee vote today, but some on the council wondered whether the process is worth it. The procedures in the proposed ordinance are mirrored in a 2008 law giving cities the power to tear down vacant houses used for drug activity, but leaves the decision up to a circuit judge. That's a higher legal burden than the city's normal procedures for tearing down blighted buildings, a fact that had some on the council concerned. [continues 348 words]
A Ridgeland man has been handed a 60-year sentence for selling cocaine in Rankin and Madison counties. William Thornton Harper, 31, also pleaded guilty to a 2001 charge of stealing a law enforcement vehicle in Madison County. Through the plea agreement, the last 20 years of his sentence were suspended, according to a statement from District Attorney Michael Guest, who serves both counties. On March 7, 2008, the Flowood Police Department, through the use of a confidential informant, attempted to purchase cocaine from Harper. The informant contacted Harper and established a time and place to meet him in order to purchase $300 of powder cocaine. When Harper arrived at the pre-arraigned meeting location he became suspicious that he had been set up, and he attempted to leave before the transaction occurred. [continues 494 words]
Recently, much has been made about the move in California to decriminalize the use of marijuana. Opponents of California's initiative talk about increases in crime, corruption of the children and how the legalization of marijuana would lead to a breakdown of society. Let us lay these opinions out and look at the facts. First, there is the argument that there would be an increase in crime in society. Well, let us take a look at the numbers of homicide in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a handy graph that lays out the numbers from 1900 to 1997. The highest spikes in the graph come from 1919 to 1933 and then from 1969 to the present. [continues 710 words]
Post-Modern Hangover Supposedly, I'm a racist and a paranoid cynic. At least that is what some people who have read some of my columns have said. I like that kind of response, mainly because it just highlights their ignorance and absolute lack of a sense of humor. Whenever I write a satirical article, I try my damnedest to put something in it that showcases the satirical nature of the article. Oh, things like saying Sarah Palin has extensive arctic warfare and polar bear fighting skills to endorse her for vice president, or using ideas straight from "1984" in dealing with terrorists are some of the tools I've used to hold up a mirror to our culture. Some people get it, and some do not. [continues 1062 words]
California, which became the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana 14 years ago, is voting in November on legalizing marijuana use for the general public. The official proposition would help plug the $20 billion gap in the state's budget. According to CNNMoney.com, the legalization of marijuana is estimated to bring more than a billion dollars in state revenue. If the proposed law passes, it is going to be a revolution, and would challenge federal laws prohibiting marijuana completely. When marijuana was legalized for medical uses in 1996, physicians in California acquired the right to prescribe marijuana to patients. Since then, caregivers in California have started possessing and cultivating marijuana. [continues 546 words]
The problem with zero tolerance policies is that they leave no room for discretion by those who are charged with applying them. Take the case of 15 Mississippi Valley State University students who were expelled last week after being caught in a campus drug raid conducted by a half-dozen law-enforcement agencies. All 15 were treated identically under the university's zero-tolerance policy for drugs, even though the severity of their alleged crimes were not the same. Yes, the 10 students who were charged with the felony of selling marijuana deserved to be kicked out of school. Anyone selling drugs on campus not only isn't smart enough to be in college, but they are putting their fellow students at risk, since violence and drug-trafficking often go hand in hand. [continues 719 words]
Brains Altered; Families Broken Methamphetamine wrecks lives because it wrecks the brain. And it destroys self control. So says Cathy Dixon, a Jackson-area psychologist and consultant who lectures on meth abuse. "The first thing you're going to find in a home where meth is abused is pornography," she said. "The second thing is weapons." Meth is a pervasive, illegal stimulant the Drug Enforcement Administration calls the fastest-growing drug threat in Mississippi. Last year, at least 620 seizures of meth laboratories were made by law enforcement - more than double the number in 2008. [continues 770 words]
If not for methamphetamine, the lives of Gayla Chalmers and Nickie Langford probably would have never intersected in Mississippi. Chalmers, 44, is from Rogers, Ark.; Langford, 24, is from Tuscaloosa, Ala. Recently, both discovered the Friendship Connection in Jackson, a residential drug-treatment facility for women. They began their lives separated by hundreds of miles and an entire generation. But meth brought them to the same place. Langford For Nickie Langford, it started with a guy. Until then, she was never interested in any "harder drugs," she said, never mind meth. [continues 1141 words]
Cleaning up meth labs in the state last year cost millions of dollars, the head of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics said. In Mississippi, it costs from $2,500 to $7,000 to clean up a meth lab, said director Marshall Fisher. In 2009, more than 620 meth labs were seized in the state, which translates to a cost of between $1.5 million and $4.3 million. But the overall cost of cleaning up everything about meth use is virtually immeasurable, experts say. [continues 462 words]
Meth Surpasses Cocaine In Arrests Unnecessary evil. Cycle of madness. Modern-day plague. That's how law enforcement officials describe methamphetamine, an illegal stimulant and appetite suppressant known as "the poor man's cocaine." This relatively cheap, illegal drug is a physical and spiritual corrosive eating into Mississippi's resources, social fabric, and even its soul, law enforcement says. In 2009 alone, the epidemic spawned at least 620 seizures of meth laboratories by law enforcement agencies. That's more than double the number from the previous year. [continues 814 words]
Inside Mississippi
