DRUG ARRESTS UP 39% FOR 1ST HALF OF '04

Increase attributed to MBN restructuring, improved agency interaction

Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics drug arrests for the first half of the
year are up 39 percent over the same period last year, state officials
said Thursday.

It is the largest increase in three years. Public Safety Commissioner
Rusty Fortenberry and Bureau of Narcotics Director George Phillip
attribute part of the increase to restructuring MBN under the
Department of Public Safety. Better interaction with local law
enforcement agencies also was cited as a reason for the increase in
drug crime arrests.

"We still have a lot of work to do, but we're working more efficiently
together and with local officials," Phillips said during a news
conference at the DPS' headquarters in Jackson, where officials
displayed seized contraband, including cocaine, marijuana,
methamphetamine and guns. "We're making significant strides fighting
drug crimes."

For the first half of 2004, officials said there were 1,435 drug
arrests statewide. In the same period in 2003, there were 1,034 arrests.

"That's the right kind of start," said Gov. Haley Barbour.

This week, 38 people were arrested on felony drug charges in Union
County.

Sheriff Tommy Wilhite said sweep of arrests - which started about 3:15
a.m. Monday - culminated a yearlong investigation by his office, the
New Albany Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.

Wilhite said 15 more arrests are possible, with 83 charges filed
against 53 people. The cases will be presented to a grand jury this
fall.

Asked if the arrests make Union County safer, Wilhite said in a phone
interview: "I think we'll be good for a couple of weeks. Those that we
did not get who were selling drugs will be leery to who they sell drugs to."

But, he said the illegal drug trade always finds a way to pop back up,
even after arrests.

"It's too easy money," he said.

In Jackson, MBN agent Frank Altieri said the agency now has four
officers investigating abuse of pharmaceutical drugs. That's up from
one agent previously.

"Pharmaceutical abuse is a nationwide problem," Altieri said.

Altieri said he and the three other officers look for patients who go
from one doctor to another seeking prescriptions for narcotic
painkillers like OxyContin, which is highly addictive. The officers
also look for possible abuse by doctors, pharmacists or other health
care providers.