OFFICIALS SAY DRUGS TO BLAME FOR MUCH OF THE CRIME IN REGION

Drugs may not be the root of all evil, but they're the root cause of
most crime in Northeast Tennessee, according to local law
enforcement.

It's a conclusion that was reached by those in attendance at a closed
meeting held Tuesday at the Millennium Centre in Johnson City,
according to Sullivan County District Attorney Greeley Wells.

The meeting, sponsored by the United States Attorney's Office, was an
opportunity for local law enforcement to share public safety concerns
amongst each other and with state and federal investigative agencies,
Wells said Wednesday.

"People who are on drugs do a lot of stealing, forging, robberies,
things of that nature to obtain money to buy more drugs," Wells said.
"Alcohol causes a good deal of trouble in the criminal arena, but
nothing like the controlled substances, cocaine, Oxycontin,
methamphetamine, the other controlled drugs."

Wells cited widespread prescription drug abuse and cocaine use as two
of Sullivan's most worrisome trends. "(Drug abuse) fosters a good deal
of violence ... particularly among drug sellers and drug dealers,
Wells said. "We've seen that in this area with a number of shootings
that were directly traceable to those involved in selling and
distributing drugs."

The number of forgery and identity theft cases in Sullivan County
courts are growing rapidly, but Wells said he doesn't believe
authorities have "touched the tip of the iceberg on the fraudulent
prescription problem because the ones that we catch are those who are
pretty unsophisticated in their methods."

Kingsport Police Department Corporal Tim Horne says one contributing
factor to the rise in prescription pill abuse is that people who
"would never dream of becoming involved with cocaine or heroine or
methamphetamine" will "doctor shop" by going to the ER and to several
doctors to acquire the same prescription multiple times, or alter or
forge a single prescription in order to sell the pills, most commonly
Lortabs (hydrocodone) to others for profit. Compounding the problem, a
growing number of health professionals have begun "diverting medicine"
- -- channeling it away from patients being treated in hospitals and
nursing homes.

A couple years ago, legislation regulating the sale of pseudophedrine
products helped douse the "wildfire" methamphetamine had become, Horne
said, but no effective legislation has been able to put a dent in the
still growing prescription pill problem.

When asked what's being done to cut back on drugs and related crimes,
Wells said, "We've got our drug task force that is targeting mid-to
upper-level distributors, and we have the vice units from local police
departments who are actively pursuing those who are selling drugs on
the streets."

However, Wells explained, it's a catch-as-catch-can situation because
no sooner than one group is swept off the streets, the prospect of big
money means another group will almost always be ready and waiting to
take their place.

"There's no question about it, all you have to do is get a calculator
out. Understand that you can go to south Florida or south Texas and
buy a kilo of cocaine for $20 to $25,000, bring it back here, mix it
with something to make two kilos of substance and sell it out at $100
a gram -- all you have to do is do the math, it's a tremendous amount
of profit."

"It's for money, it's the almighty dollar. The distribution of illegal
narcotics or legal narcotics that are obtained illegally -- it's a
billion dollar a year industry. We live in Northeast Tennessee and we
want to bury our head in the sand..." echoed Horne, who cited his 16
years of law enforcement experience as the basis of his opinion.

And while Horne agreed that marijuana is the local drug abusers
"casual drug of choice," with cocaine and crack cocaine being next in
line, other less common drugs such as heroin are making a comeback on
the streets. "Slowly but surely you're starting to see the more exotic
drugs -- mushrooms, Ecstasy, LSD..." and so on.

While Horne, like Wells, could offer no solid solution to the area's
drug problem, he did offer his opinion on what Sullivan currently does
best when it comes to the nation's so-called 'war on drugs.' Although
the public seems to disregard the negative effects of drugs such as
marijuana, Horne says most, especially offenders coming here from
larger metropolitan areas, can't ignore the punishment that results
from getting caught here.

Based on his experience prosecuting cases in Sullivan and networking
with district attorney offices and investigators in other counties,
Horne described Sullivan as "one of the toughest prosecuted drug
offender counties in the state."

"They're firm, yet fair, and they're consistent in how they prosecute
drug cases," Horne said of Sullivan Assistant District Attorneys Gene
Perrin and Kent Chitwood, who handle most of the felony drug
indictments.

"The greatest deterrence to a drug problem is not the severity of the
punishment, but yet the certainty of it. Don't worry about how severe
it's going to be in this county, bank on it that it's coming."

Unfortunately, prosecutors can only punish those who get caught -- and
Horne says there just aren't enough officers on hand to effectively
combat the growing problem. To adequately address it, at least in
Kingsport, would require citizens to tolerate a tax increase.

Even a tax increase might not help, as Hank McQueen of the 2nd
Judicial Drug Task Force pointed out. When it comes to fighting drugs
on the street, it's a job that many might not want to work." You
either love it or you hate it," he said.

In 2007, Kingsport police arrested 561 suspects on felony and
misdemeanor drug charges. So far in 2008, approximately 50 have been
charged each month, with the largest change (44 to 64) coming between
May and June.

Thus far in 2008, the majority of Sullivan County Sheriff's Office
drug arrests (58) involved marijuana, with just nine cocaine and crack
cocaine arrests. However, there were dozens of other arrests made
involving pills and other drugs, including several listed in
categories of "other" or "unknown."

While the number of marijuana arrests are significantly higher today
than in 2006, the SCSO numbers from 2006 show that crack cocaine and
cocaine arrests have not yet surpassed the 2006 tally