drugs

Drug Task Force Close to Expanding

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:53:16 +0000

A drug task force in south-central Kentucky is on the verge of expanding into a third county.

The Bowling Green daily News reports the Barren-Edmonson County Drug Task Force is poised to add Allen County as a partner. The task force is based in Glasgow and investigates drug crimes in Barren and Edmonson counties.

Task force director Jeff Scruggs says the partnership has received approval from city and county governments in Allen County. The final steps are filing and registering paperwork to officially add the third county to the agency.

Beshear Signs Regulation Banning New Forms of Synthetic Pot

Associated Press — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:42:52 +0000

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has stepped up the fight against synthetic drugs by signing emergency regulations banning newly identified forms of synthetic marijuana.

Beshear's action Tuesday is the first time an administrative regulation has been used to outlaw synthetic substances, which mimic the effects of cocaine, marijuana and other illegal stimulants.

In the past, Kentucky lawmakers have passed laws banning drugs known as "bath salts" and synthetic marijuana.

The governor says his regulation will allow the state to keep pace with "backyard chemists" who try to skirt the law by slightly altering formulas of such dangerous substances.

McConnell Wants More Resources to Fight Drugs in Hardin County

Associated Press — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 09:27:04 +0000

Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is urging White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske to include Hardin County in the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. That would mean more federal resources to combat illegal drugs in an area that has seen a significant increase in drug related crimes.

In Tennessee, a Mixed Bag When it Comes to Crime Rates

Kevin Willis — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:05:34 +0000

Drug crimes in Tennessee have risen to their second-highest number in eleven years. That comes despite the fact that overall crime rates in the Volunteer State are dropping. On the one hand, Tennessee has experienced four years of general crime declines. On the other hand, the Tennessean reports that drug-related incidents are on the rise throughout the state.

Six Million Dollar Settlement Announced

Dan Modlin — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:51:31 +0000

The office of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says $6 million has been recovered from Merck and Company in a lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies. Its the latest in a series of settlements over so-called "average wholesale price" cases. The suits allege that defendent drug companies published false and inflated average wholesale prices for their products, which didn't bear any relationship to the prices actually charged to customers.