COUNTIES CHECKING UP ON DRUGS

LOGAN -- Now drivers have to face more than the traditional sobriety
checkpoint. The latest obstacle in the war on drugs is the drug checkpoint.

State Police have erected checkpoints to search specifically for drugs
eight times this year on West Virginia roads. The most recent checkpoint
was Monday on U.S. 119 in Logan County. The program is receiving good
reviews from many drivers, but it's a real downer for some.

"I don't like it. Put it that way," said one man who was fined and put on
six months probation after police found him with what he described as four
or five joints, a misdemeanor offense.

This is the first year for the drug checkpoints. Eleven counties in West
Virginia -- known for being in a region labeled the Marijuana Belt --
received a federal grant for the program.

Police say most of the drugs captured are small amounts meant for only one
user, so those drivers are cited for misdemeanors. But they say they
sometimes capture enough to designate the driver as a dealer, an offense
that is considered a felony and carries a stiffer penalty.

On Monday, State Police halted traffic on both sides of U.S. 119 just
outside Logan. Troopers asked drivers for their license and registration.
They also asked if any drugs were in the car.

Most drivers said they had no drugs and drove off. Those drivers usually
said they didn't mind the checkpoint.

"It's OK with me," said driver Paul Holcolmb. "Anything that helps."

A few people trying to escape punishment threw small bags of pot out the
car window, an act that the police noticed. Those drivers were the most
likely to be detained longer and fined.

One man who threw a bag of marijuana out the window insisted it wasn't his.

"I got screwed," he said. "Somebody left something in my car. That's
nothing they're going to believe. I wouldn't if I were them."

State Police received the federal drug checkpoint grant from the High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program under the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. Police would not reveal the grant's amount.

Eleven counties in West Virginia are involved: Boone, Braxton, Cabell,
Gilmer, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, McDowell, Mingo and Wayne.

Those counties are part of a broader region that also includes areas of
Tennessee and Kentucky. Federal drug policy officials termed the region the
Marijuana Belt because of the amount of pot grown there.

The American Civil Liberties Union considers checkpoints to be "an affront
to civil liberties," but acknowledges that they're legal as long as police
don't stop and search people randomly.

"They ought to be able to tell you why you've been stopped," said Hillary
Chiz, the director of the West Virginia Civil Liberties Union. "They've got
to say what their method is."

Chiz said she doubts any real need for the drug stops exists.

"This is a way to prove they're doing something useful with the drug
money," she said.

State Police Lt. C.E. Berlin said police seized 10 pounds of marijuana from
a car in Wayne County and 5 pounds from a car in Cabell County during two
checkpoints this summer.

"We're waiting for that one big pop every time," Berlin said. "If you
transport drugs, we'll take the drugs, we'll take you and we'll take
everything you bought with the drug money."