OFFICIALS: DRUG ARRESTS IN MISSISSIPPI INCREASE IN '04

JACKSON - Cooperation among state and local law enforcement agencies
is increasing the number of drug arrests in Mississippi, officials
say.

Gov. Haley Barbour said Thursday that Mississippi had 39 percent more
drug arrests in the first half of 2004 than during the same period a
year ago.

"That's the right kind of start," said Republican Barbour, who took
office in January.

Earlier this year, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics was absorbed
into the state Department of Public Safety. Directors of both groups
say the change has increased cooperation to build cases against drug
dealers.

During a news conference at the DPS' headquarters in Jackson, the
agencies displayed some of the illegal drugs confiscated in raids:
dirty white chunks of methamphetamine from Gulfport and Hattiesburg,
green Ecstasy pellets from Richland, plastic-wrapped blocks of cocaine
from Yazoo County.

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.

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.