300 INDICTMENTS ISSUED IN DRUG WAR

WARSAW -- A regional grand jury has issued 300 indictments during the past
11 months as it probes the trade of illegal drugs on the rural Northern
Neck.

Officials aren't ready to declare victory in their war with drugs but say
the jury's investigation, by at least one measure, has been a success.

"Our undercover investigators are finding drugs aren't as prevalent," said
Westmoreland County Sheriff C. W. Jackson.

"We think we're making an impact."

The Northern Neck counties of Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland and
Lancaster, plus their Middle Peninsula neighbor, Essex County, organized
the jury last August.

Central to the jury's work has been its closed-door sessions with convicted
drug users and dealers as it attempts to piece together the trails that
link local users with suppliers in Richmond, Washington and Newport News.

"What we've been able to do is go up the ladder by bringing in people
convicted of street-level dealing and finding out their supplier," said
Mike McKenney, Northumberland County commonwealth's attorney and one of two
lead prosecutors with the regional jury.

The jury can subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify under oath,
imparting knowledge that's rarely gained in the public courtroom, McKenney
added.

McKenney gave the hypothetical example of ordering someone on probation for
a drug conviction to appear before the grand

jury because medical tests revealed he had used drugs in violation of parole.

"It's a good tool to open doors that previously we couldn't open," he said.

The five counties have been working together during the past five or six
years to combat drug trafficking by trading officers to make undercover
drug buys and assist in drug busts.

But, despite a steady flow of arrests that crowd court dockets over the
years, officials say drug use continued apace as new dealers stepped in to
take over when the old ones left for jail.

Fear of the grand jury's investigative power, though, seems to have at
least slowed that procession.

"We don't see people rushing back in to replace the people we're
incarcerating as quickly as before," McKenney said. "The information is out
on the street that our police officers and prosecutors are working through
the grand jury and using every tool available.

"I think it's done a good job of making the people who do narcotics know
the environment is not friendly."