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More than 300 convicted inmates have been released from Massachusetts state prisons in the US as a result of the September 2012 arrest and subsequent indictment of Annie Dookhan, who worked in a Department of Public Health state laboratory and allegedly falsified evidence used in criminal cases. Now the scandal has grown with the prosecution of another Massachusetts state lab chemist for tampering with evidence and stealing drugs seized as evidence. Sonja Farak, who worked at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was charged with tampering with four drug samples stored at the lab on 1 April. In two...

CNN) -- A deputy shot and arrested the suspect who authorities believe killed a West Virginia sheriff known for his tough stance on drug dealers, authorities said Wednesday. Mingo County Sheriff Walter E. "Eugene" Crum was eating lunch inside his marked patrol vehicle just blocks away from a courthouse when he was killed, officials said. The suspect, who is known to police, parked his car close to the sheriff's SUV and shot through the window twice, hitting the sheriff twice in the head, according to a state official who was briefed on the investigation. After a brief chase, the suspect...

A Leawood couple says heavily armed Johnson County deputies barged into their home last year, turning it upside down and detaining them and their children for more than two hours in a fruitless search for marijuana. “This is how we were awakened: banging, pounding, screaming,” the mother, Adlynn Harte, said Friday. “My husband opened the door right before the battering ram was set to take it out.” The father allegedly was forced to lie shirtless on the foyer while a deputy with an assault rifle stood over him. The children, a 7-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, reportedly came out of...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - - As of midnight, Rhode Island became the 15th state to decriminalize non-medical marijuana possession, meaning that anyone caught with up to one ounce will get a $150 ticket instead of facing a misdemeanor criminal charge. The softened penalty is the state's latest move to regulate use of a drug that has become more acceptable. The ball began rolling in 2006, when the General Assembly passed a law establishing a state medical-marijuana program, allowing patients to grow their own cannabis or get it from caregivers, or growers, certified by the state.

Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits. If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering. Cartel activity in the U.S. is certainly...

The Associated Press is out with an extensive piece today showing just how far Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated American society. The cartel problem is no longer a border problem, it's a problem for the entire country. Violent cartel members are carrying out crimes in our backyards with the potential to develop into something much worse. Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the...

Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia Woodward McLelland were shot to death in their home last night as reported by The Dallas Morning News: "A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity described the scene at the McLellands' home as an awful scene where the door appeared to have been kicked in. 'There are shell casings everywhere,' the official said. 'This is unprecedented. This is unbelievable. This is huge.'" Last month Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down outside the local courthouse by two men in tactical gear who remain at...

CHICAGO — Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the U.S. border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits. If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering. Cartel activity in the U.S....

Indiana State Police Troopers in Bloomington arrested a man Tuesday evening after children were present in an apartment during a meth lab bust. Troopers with the Indiana State Police Meth Task Force and officers with the Bloomington Police Department responded to the 1400 block of North Arlington Park and located a meth lab. Troopers also found reaction vessels, lithium, sodium, and other chemicals in the residence, according to a release. Two children were in the home at the time of the discovery – one was 4 years old and the second, troopers say, was less than 30 days old. It...

Wall Street sees opportunity in marijuana BELVIDERE, N.J. — Amid the whir of fans and the glow of soft white light, workers tended to bright green seedlings sprouting in a giant greenhouse. Located about an hour's drive from Manhattan in the hills of northwestern New Jersey, the facility produces basil, chives, oregano and other herbs that are sold in grocery stores around New York City. But if Ken VandeVrede has his way the facility will one day be growing a much more valuable plant: marijuana. VandeVrede is chief operating officer at Terra Tech, a hydroponic equipment maker based in Irvine....

As the New York Legislature considers a bill to allow medical marijuana, a couple of Rhode Island business journalists are reaping the profits. Anne Holland and Ron Perry founded Medical Marijuana Business Daily two years ago in Providence to cover the emerging industry of legitimate marijuana sales, as total black market business continues to represent the single largest cash crop in America at more than $35 billion. The trade in illegal marijuana - mostly for recreational use - trumps the second-largest cash crop, corn, at a mere $23.2 billion, of which $4.5 billion worth is exported from America's breadbasket to...

The female Texas trooper who performed a roadside cavity search on two Irving women has been indicted by a Dallas County grand jury. The two women from Irving are suing Trooper David Farrell, Trooper Kelley Helleson and the director of the Department of Public Safety for what they call an unconstitutional search without probable cause. The Department of Public Safety terminated Trooper Kelly Helleson. Dallas County District Attorney spokeswoman Debbie Denmon confirmed on Monday that a grand jury indicted Helleson on two counts of sexual assault and two counts of official oppression. NBC 5 contacted Helleson's attorney for comment. "The...

s I posted earlier, the 17-year-old Houston resident was shot to death Tuesday by a police SWAT team during a drug raid on his family's home. It's increasingly looking like yet another paramilitary drug raid gone horribly wrong. The father of a 17-year-old killed by a police officer who was looking for drugs at his home said the shooting was unprovoked. [...] The elder Castillo said his son was awakened by the pleas of his 20-year-old sister, Ashley. When the younger Castillo turned toward Falks, he said, the officer shot him in the face. "My son heard her say, 'Don't...

The Supreme Court has ruled that police use of a drug-sniffing dog on a homeowner's porch is a violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. [...]

Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush could have "conceivably been put in jail” for their drug use, ruining their lives and impacting their getting elected to office. "Look, the last two presidents could have conceivably been put in jail for their drug use and I really think - look what would've happened, it would've ruined their lives. They got lucky. But a lot of poor kids, particularly in the inner city, don't get lucky and they don't have good attorneys and they go to jail for some of these things and...

SEATTLE -- The passage of I-502 made things difficult enough for the humans tasked with creating and enforcing the laws for legal marijuana. Now, try explaining the difference between "personal use" and "intent to sell" or the gray area between state and federal law to a dog. That's why many law-enforcement agencies around the state, including the Seattle Police Department and Washington State Patrol, will no longer be training their drug-sniffing dogs to alert for marijuana. “Moving forward, it makes most sense not to train dogs to alert to marijuana as that would likely lead to unwarranted investigatory detentions of...

Violence along the southern border has gotten so out of control that both Mexican and American journalists have stopped reporting it out of fear that drug cartels will retaliate against them and their families. This means Americans will be kept in the dark about the crisis along the porous and increasingly dangerous Mexican border. We certainly can’t expect the truth from the government. Remember that the nation’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, insists that the region is “as secure as it has ever been.” This delusional assessment has been repeated by Napolitano over and over again in a seemingly...

The Obama administration is demanding the nation’s two biggest shipping companies police the contents of Americans’ sealed packages, and a FedEx spokesman is warning that the move “has the potential to threaten the privacy of all customers that send or receive packages.” FedEx and UPS are in the Justice Department’s cross-hairs for not flagging shipments of illegally prescribed drugs the companies say they had no way of knowing were in their possession. Criminal charges could be coming against the carriers, even though the government has not alleged any deliberate wrongdoing by the companies. FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald said his company...

Westchester County Republican Assemblyman Steve Katz was pulled over yesterday morning for speeding and hit with a possession charge when an officer recognized the distinct smell of marijuana. "He was alone and cooperative," said the police, who ticketed him for a small baggie and going 80 in a 65 mph zone. Katz was oddly arrested twice for allegedly mishandling dogs when he worked as a veterinarian, but both cases were dismissed. Last year, he voted against legalizing medical marijuana, although maybe this will be his Portman moment. The assemblyman sits on Assembly committees for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, as well...

In his column of March 12, 2013, my beloved friend wrote on the issue of legalized marijuana in the state of Colorado. On his radio show, he justifiably bemoaned readers of his column who had written comments questioning his sanity and their relationship over this one issue despite years of being Prager groupies. I will not do any of that. But for only the second time in our long relationship, Mr. Prager, you are dead wrong on a topic … but I still love you. We Baby Boomers grew up in a generation where marijuana made the jump from the...