FIGHTING DRUG ADDICTION

A Closer Look

Drugs in Pearl River County have been a thorn in the side of law
enforcement and the courts for many years, but thanks to an aggressive
stance by authorities on a local as well as on the state level, the efforts
are paying off.

Donald Butler, interim director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics,
said aggressive enforcement efforts by the Picayune and Poplarville police
departments, the Pearl River County Sheriff's Office and the District
Attorney's Office are helping to curb the problem.

"I think we're making progress," he said.

One of those efforts is a task force comprised of Stone and Pearl River
counties and headed by the MBN, Butler said.

"They have made a lot of good cases and I think we're seeing the results of
this," he said.

While there is no prevalent drug in the county, Butler said marijuana,
crack cocaine, methamphetamine and ICE or "smokeable methamphetamine" seem
to be the drugs that cause the most problems for law enforcement agencies.

"We have made great strides in the enforcement in that area," he said.

Butler said there are several alternatives for misdemeanor drug suspects
besides jail, including house arrest and drug courts, but believes there is
only one alternative for major violators.

"I believe a good stiff sentence in the jail is the place for 'em," he said.

Butler said judges such as Judge Michael R. Eubanks and R.I. Prichard III
are doing a good job of making sure offenders receive stiff sentences.

"They meet our justice," he said.

Butler said the costs of putting a drug offender behind bars is a
tremendous tax burden on the taxpayers and said his agency recognizes that.
But the alternative, he said, is more crime.

"A very large percent of the inmates incarcerated now - between 80 and 85
percent - they're in there in regards to a drug-related crime," he said.

Butler said the MBN saw over a 70 percent increase in case production over
the past year due to a reorganization of structure under Gov. Haley Barbour.

"We're going to continue to stress for very aggressive enforcement of the
drug laws," he said.

He said more of a cooperative atmosphere between the public officials in
the county and the MBN have led to better enforcement of the drug laws.

"We have more cooperation there than we do in a lot of counties," he said.

Education and treatment key

Pearl River County District Attorney Claiborne "Buddy" McDonald said the
effort with respect to drugs is three-pronged: prevention through school
programs; treatment for those who become addicted; and enforcement for
those who do not seek help.

"By the time they get to us, most of them are pretty much on the bottom of
the rung, so to speak, in that they're out of control with respect to being
able to control their addiction," he said.

McDonald said his office sees three types of offenders: those who are in
possession of drugs; and those who are selling drugs either to support
their habit or to make money.

McDonald said his office works with the two police departments in the
county as well as the MBN and enforcement efforts include those arrested
for drugs during traffic stops to multi-state drug trafficking offenses.

There are several considerations the judge weighs when an offender goes to
court, McDonald said, including how the offender got where he is and what
is the best way to deal with him if he is an addict.

"Of course, by the time he gets to that point, punishment is a factor
involved in this," he said.

Judges have a wide variety of options in sentencing drug offenders,
McDonald said, including drug treatment courses and programs such as Homes
of Grace and ACT.

The judge usually requires the offender to go to Narcotics Anonymous after
they complete one of the programs, McDonald said.

Faith-based programs also work very well because they provide support and
have someone who is willing to work long-term with the person, McDonald said.

McDonald said while programs, treatment courses and prison are viable
solutions, it all comes down to the addict wanting to get help and that
usually comes when he has lost everything - family, job, health and friends.

"A lot of people, you can have a thousand programs and you can have all
kinds of sentences, the only solution is for the person to realize they
have to quit using narcotics," he said. "That's an individual's decision
and something that can't necessarily be forced on them."

Medical issues often arise as a result of drug addiction, such as Hepatitis
C, AIDS and tuberculosis, McDonald said.

There is a desperate need for a resident drug rehabilitation facility for
juveniles and adults in Pearl River County, McDonald said.

"These are expensive and there is not a lot of money being spent on drug
rehab at the present time," he said.

New laws help fight problem

One bright spot in combating the recent crush of methamphetamine is a new
state law that goes into effect July 1.

Under the law, which Sen. Sid Albritton was responsible for writing the
language for, takes pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient used in the
manufacture of the drug and places them behind-the-counter, behind a locked
case or under video or personal surveillance. It also limits the number of
prescription medications a person can get and photo identification has to
be shown when purchased.

Albritton said customers are limited to buying two packages at a time and
package size cannot exceed three grams.

The law is patterned after a law passed last year in Oklahoma but is not as
restrictive, Albritton said.

"It (the Oklahoma law) took all cold medicines except for liquid and some
gel caps out of regular stores and if they have ephedrine or
pseudoephedrine, they can only be sold out of a pharmacy by a pharmacist or
a pharmacy tech," he said.

Albritton said bills from all over the nation were studied and the best
elements dealing with pseudoephedrine were taken for the Mississippi law.

"We passed other legislation to combat the methamphetamine problem, but
this bill dealt specifically with the pseudoephedrine and ephedrine issue,"
he said. "We wanted the most productive but least restrictive law that we
could come up with," he said.

He said the state law puts more restrictions on tablet forms where
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine is the only active ingredient in order to
relieve the burden of having to lock up all cold medications.

"What it's done is it's going to make it harder for them to be able to buy
the pseudoephedrine that's used to manufacture meth," said Lt. Chris Lott
with the Pearl River County Sheriff's Department.

Lott, who is certified through OSHA and the Network Environmental Services
for the clean-up of methamphetamine labs and as an instructor, said the
medication will either be kept in a locked cabinet or behind the counter,
the person wanting it will have to show identification and the store
selling the medication will have to keep a log for a year.

"At any time during the year, someone from the Bureau of Narcotics or
narcotics division can go to the store and request to review their logs of
who's buying pseudoephedrine," he said.

Lott said a person who has purchased more than 250 dosage units in one
month, either from one store or different stores, he can be charged under
the new statute.

"This is going to be a huge help," he said.

Lott said the precursor chemicals list now includes any two items that can
be mixed to make a precursor.

"They put some pretty open literature in there where as they come up with
new methods to manufacture methamphetamine, it's covered on the enforcement
side as long as there is an expert witness," he said.

McDonald said children in the presence where methamphetamine labs are being
operated also is problem in the county.

"A lot of times you'll see these children there ... running around in a
diaper," he said. "They're running around in a place almost naked where the
officers are going in with breathing apparatuses and hazmat suits because
they don't want to get the stuff on them."

McDonald said while punishment has to be part of the formula, the solution
is "to get people off drugs and keep people from getting on drugs," he said.

"Once they get far enough along to be in the criminal justice system, that
aspect of it has failed and you have to start from scratch," he said.

McDonald said the county is in need of a third circuit court judge. A bill
in the legislature to provide a judge was derailed primarily because of
financial problems in the state, but the district attorney's office did get
another assistant district attorney.

"If we had the third judge, we may also be able to try drug court, which
are being started in areas of the state," he said. "I would like to try
that in our district, but the problem we have right now with only two
judges, their time is totally wrapped up in trying to handling the
enforcement they have right now."

McDonald said they will try again next year to get a third judge.

There is help for addicts

Chief Deputy Aaron Russell Jr. with the Pearl River County Sheriff's Office
said his office deals with drugs on a consistent basis and the consequences
it leaves.

"One of the hardest aspects of it is dealing with drug-related deaths," he
said. "When that occurs, often times the surviving family members are
looking for answers, they're looking for somebody to blame."

The sheriff's office has formed working relationships with surrounding
agencies inside and outside the county in order to share information and
stop dealers who are trafficking drugs across county lines.

He said the drugs the department sees the most are marijuana, cocaine,
ecstasy and methamphetamine, and added that prescription drug abuse also
has become an epidemic in the county.

There are several programs for people seeking help for drug addiction
around the Pearl River County area. One of those is the ACTS (Alcohol
Chemical Treatment Series) program at the First United Pentecostal Church
of Picayune.

The national faith-based program, which is in every state and 12 countries
and endorsed by the United Pentecostal Church International, has been at
the church for about 10 years, said the church's pastor, Rev. Wayne Wilson.

Wilson said within recent years, the Mississippi Department of Corrections
has begun using the program.

"If a person comes through the judicial system ... and if they have to do a
drug program, they cannot be made to come to our program, being it's
faith-based, but normally they're given a choice," he said.

Wilson said they work closely with the Pearl River County District
Attorney's Office, area judges and probation officers.

"Basically we're considered a county drug program," he said.

Wilson said offenders are usually offered the state program which is held
at Parchman or the ACTS program in Picayune.

Those who choose the ACTS program are given probation with the
understanding that they must complete the program, Wilson said. "They have
got to through our program the way our rules, our guidelines are set up,"
he said.

The program has received a letter of recommendation from the Pearl River
County Circuit Court that stated the program has had a 93 percent success
rate, which Wilson said is due to follow-up

Participants must undergo drug testing, and those results are made
available to judges and probation officers, Wilson said.

The program has been so successful that it has introduced into the Pearl
River County Jail, where it is held on Tuesday nights. The program also is
held on Wednesday nights at First United Pentecostal Church of Picayune.

The class currently has about 40 participants, and more are on a waiting
list, he said. "I am told that there are probably 90 that would like to get
in it right now," he said.