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Authorities said Thursday morning that they’ve arrested 41 members of the Barragan Drug Trafficking organization, which they say has been importing 200 pounds of pure crystal meth a month into the United States from Mexico and distributing it throughout Washington and across the country. Five local men were among those busted over the last 36 hours, authorities announced at a press conference this morning in Tacoma. In Woodland, police and drug agents served search warrants at 620 Bozarth St. and 733 Second St. and arrested Epifanio Barragan Estrada, Francisco Manuel Ruiz Chavez and Jesus Larios Ruiz. Their ages and other...

Update: Despite efforts from Fox News to facilitate this dying girl's wish to have her father at her bedise when she passes, the imovable, cold-hearted, beauraucratic, red tape of the Jucidiary, Bureau Of Prisons and U.S. Attorney are intransigent in their unwillingness to bend the "rules" to allow this to happen.

Dad Allowed to Take Leave From Prison to See His Dying Little GirlThursday, March 27, 2008 OMAHA, Neb. — A 10-year-old Nebraska girl with terminal brain cancer had a simple last wish: to have her dad by her side as she lay on her death bed. On Wednesday, seemingly against all odds, Jayci Yaeger's wish came true. Her father, Jason Yaeger, who has been locked up in a South Dakota federal prison on methamphetamine charges, was allowed to see his daughter for what may be the last time. He was furloughed after a barrage of letters and phone calls from...

A little girl fights for her life, and her last wish is to see her father. But that wish may not come true. "They didn't expect her to still be here. She's fighting, day by day, minute by minute," said Vonda Yaeger, mother. 10/11 has followed the story of 10-year-old Jayci Yaeger as she battled brain tumors. Now doctors say she is about to lose that fight. Her last wish is to spend what time she has left with her father, but he is in a federal prison for drug charges. Less than six months ago, Jayci was energetic, fun...

Washington Stat Ping! I attended a Town Hall meeting yesterday with one of our local Washington State Legislators who lead off the 3 hour discussion with a long rambling story of a constiuent of his that was doing a followup UA test after a DUI conviction, and he said that since the night before the pee test she had used Nyquil and Theraflu, which he said both contain pseudoephedrine, the next day she popped positve via Urinalysis for methamphetamine. That sounds questionable to me, so I tried running it through Snopes with no luck, but I have never heard anyone...

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican drug traffickers are the main suppliers of methamphetamine to the U.S. and produce enormous quantities of the drug despite government crackdowns, according to a recent U.S. Justice Department report. Mexico's efforts to restrict imports of precursor chemicals needed to make the drug, and a number of high-profile drug busts, have not led to lower meth production, the report said. "Despite heightened chemical import restrictions in Mexico, methamphetamine production in that country has increased since 2004, and Mexico is now the primary source of methamphetamine to U.S. drug markets,'' the National Drug Intelligence Center's 2008 report...

A drug sting at a St. Cloud gas station late this morning spun out of control, with the suspects unleashing an angry dog on an investigator, authorities said. The investigator shot and killed the dog, and one of the suspects was tasered before he could be apprehended, police said. The three men, one from White Bear Lake and the other two from Inver Grove Heights, were all in custody in the Stearns County jail. According to police: Shortly before noon, members of the Central Minnesota Drug and Gang Task Force bought 2 ounces of methamphetamine for $4,000 in a gas...

Under fire, Mike Huckabee countered mounting criticism from GOP presidential rivals Thursday by playing the woe-is-me card - and then hitting back by suggesting they lack substantial agendas of their own. "Everything but the kitchen sink is being thrown at me," the Republican leader in Iowa polls complained at nearly every stop. "If the only thing some of these candidates have to run on is what's wrong with somebody else, they must not have much of a platform to talk about." The former Arkansas governor recently soared from behind the pack of GOP presidential candidates to overtake Mitt Romney in...

Costly treatment for drug addiction spurs heated debate ...The treatment, called Prometa, is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an addiction therapy, nor has it undergone extensive scientific testing... [ Snip ] David Smart turned to Prometa when he hit rock bottom eight months ago. Smart had lost everything -- his wife, his family, his job and his home... [ Snip ] "I had tried everything and nothing worked for me," said Smart, 41, of suburban Tacoma, Wash. "But Prometa has." Mario Acosta Jr. also tried Prometa but relapsed within days of completing treatment... ... He took...

Federal authorities said Friday they shut down two major Mexico-based drug operations that were using Atlanta as a hub for trafficking marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine up the East Coast. By late Friday, 88 suspects had been indicted and criminal complaints — charges brought until an indictment is returned — had been brought against another 25.

A controversial Church of Scientology treatment used on World Trade Center emergency responders is being used in Utah to "detoxify" cops who raided methamphetamine labs in the 1980s and 1990s. The Utah Meth Cops Project is treating around a dozen former and current police officers at taxpayers' expense, using a regime devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard at a Bio-Cleansing Centers of America facility in Orem, Utah. State Attorney General Mark Shurtleff brought the project west after seeing it used to treat emergency workers in New York who were injured working at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001,...

CENTERTOWN, Tenn. - Seven men now face life in prison after a drug bust by police in a Warren County town. Authorities tracked down members of an international meth smuggling ring and moved in to make a bust, but one of the suspects jumped into a car and tried to run an officer over. Police then opened fire. One of the suspects was injured by shattered glass. All of the men were arrested and police said all the suspect are here illegally from Mexico.

HERNDON, Ky. (AP) - Burglars may have caused the chemical leak that led to the evacuation of an elementary school and residents, and they may have suffered chemical burns, officials say. Anhydrous ammonia leaked from a 30,000-gallon tank that had ruptured Monday at Agri-Chem Inc., an agricultural supply company. The chemical is used as a fertilizer, but it also is an ingredient in methamphetamine. State police and fire officials found that the fence surrounding the tank had been cut, and a valve looked like someone had tampered with it, the company said. "It looks like two people; we found their...

I saw a woman at the store near my house last Wednesday morning after I got off work. The moment I saw the woman, I knew she was on Meth. Her face was covered with black sores; she was pale, scrawny, dirty, and absolutely wild-eyed. She was practically dancing in place. Her speech was a jumble of pressured and confused babble; her movements were grandiose and repetitive. She constantly rearranged the items she placed on the checkout counter. At one point she looked right at me. Her expression was chilling. She managed to pay for her groceries, but then loitered...

A local company thinks it's found a way to help fight meth. CDEX Inc. has developed a device which can instantly detect trace amounts of the drug. Right now it's being tested in Greenlee County, northeast of Tucson. "When you pull the trigger, UV light comes out of the lamps," says Wade Poteet, the principal scientist behind the scanner. In an instant the scanner knows if a substance is meth or not. It detects traces of the drug down to one tenth of one millionth of a gram on clothes, skin, and other surfaces. The sheriff's department showed us how...

Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will host an historic 24-hour online "conversation" with voters called "Vertical Day, starting at 10 a.m. CT / 11 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 24 and ending at 10 a.m. CT / 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 25, it was announced today. To officially kick-off the special event, Huckabee will host a live web-cast for bloggers and interested media at 11 a.m. CT / 12 Noon ET. (RSVP details below.) The goal of "Vertical Day" is to focus on the issues in order to attract a large wave of potential supporters...

"Life or Meth" DVDs are heading to all of Idaho's secondary schools to use in education programs to combat the growing methamphetamine problem in the Gem State and retired teachers are paying the freight. State statistics show Idaho is in the top ten nationwide in methamphetamine abuse. Alarmingly, chocolate and strawberry-flavored methamphetamine wrapped like candy has been found in Idaho and the Idaho Education Association is sounding the alarm. The group's "Retired Task Force" is delivering "Life or Meth" DVDs to representatives of every secondary school in the state. Sherri Wood with IEA tells SVO teachers can use the DVD...

A new kind of methamphetamine that has a strawberry flavor and bright pink coloring was seized for the first time in Carson City during a search of a Como Street apartment on Saturday, an official said. "(We are) concerned that this new type of meth will be more attractive to a younger crowd and may surface in schools," said Sgt. Darrin Sloan, commander of the Carson City Sheriff's Department's Special Enforcement Team. "Parents and teachers, please be aware of this new kind of drug that is making its way into our culture." Sloan said SET officers served a search warrant...

EFF BINGAMAN, SENATOR, SENATE For Immediate Release Bingaman: Albuquerque Receives Funding to Combat Meth Contact: Jude McCartin (202) 224-5521 September 13, 2007 WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today announced that the Albuquerque Police Department has been awarded a $446,454 federal grant from the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to help fight methamphetamine use. Funding will be used to help combat the manufacture, use, and distribution of meth, and to collaborate with other entities in the prevention and treatment of meth abuse. ``The funding awarded today will help the Albuquerque Police Department continue its efforts...

Health officials in New York City say new statistics show an increase in syphilis infections among men and women. However, this is a small-scale example of a problem that is happening nationwide, they say. Unsafe-sex practices are being blamed for bringing the disease's old health dangers back to life after a drop in the 1990s. The New York Times reports that 260 cases of syphilis were recorded by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in the first quarter of this year, including ten cases of female infection. That is more than twice the number for the same period...