NAACP CONDUCTS RALLY TARGETING DRUG BUST

Amarillo, Texas - A controversial 1999 drug bust in the Texas Panhandle
town of Tulia highlights problems with the nation's drug policy, members of
the NAACP were told during a rally Saturday night.

The rally was scheduled to call attention to drug policy concerns following
the Tulia bust in which 46 people - 40 of whom were black - were arrested.

Opponents of the sting have alleged that the investigation and arrests were
racially motivated.

Drug policy expert Deborah Peterson Small, director of public policy and
community outreach for the Lindesmith Center in New York, told about 75
people that the major problem with the drug war in America stems from a
focus on law enforcement and incarceration rather than intervention and
treatment.

"I do believe that, in general, the public is starting to question the
underlying structure and thought of our drug policy," Small said. "With
more and more people getting caught up in drugs, not too many people
haven't seen the effects of drug policy in their own families."

The drug arrests in Tulia serve as a good illustration of what's wrong with
the drug war, Small said. An inordinately high number of minorities were
arrested, lengthy sentences were handed out, and convictions were secured
with little evidence - all commons occurrences in the drug war, she said.

The Justice Department is investigating the Tulia bust, which brought
national attention and questions about the way the state's drug task forces
conduct investigations. A civil lawsuit brought by one of the black men
arrested in the bust also is pending.

Many of the cases against black Tulia residents were based solely on the
testimony of an undercover officer who was charged with theft and abuse of
power. About 250 blacks live in the small farming community.

After the first jury trial resulted in a 60-year sentence for one of the
defendants, 17 people entered guilty pleas.

Another 10 were later found guilty at trials based solely on the testimony
of undercover officer Tom Coleman, who himself was charged with theft and
abuse of power during his 18-month long investigation. The charges against
Coleman were later dropped.

Along with the bust, the Justice Department is investigating the roles
Coleman, Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern and Sheriff Larry
Stewart. Some in Tulia alleged Stewart provided Coleman with a list of
suspects to target.

The rally was scheduled to focus on Tulia, but also to show that similar
problems exist across the state and nation, said Alphonso Vaughn, president
of the Amarillo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.