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Posted on 08/13/2005 3:39:11 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Spurred by new laws restricting the sales of cold remedies such as Sudafed, which contain pseudoephedrine, a necessary component of popular meth-cooking recipes, police and prosecutors across the country have been arresting convenience store clerks -- sometimes on charges that carry substantial prison sentences. In one Georgia case, authorities made mass arrests of immigrant store clerks and owners, but it's starting to look less like a criminal conspiracy and more like culturally naive foreign-born merchants simply trying to sell their merchandise.
It's all a big waste of money, says the Drug Policy Alliance, which issued a press release this week calling for money spent prosecuting and imprisoning store clerks to instead be spent on treatment for meth addicts. "Convenience store clerks have become the latest casualities in the war on drugs," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "Selling lighter fluid, cold medicine and other legal items shouldn't get someone decades in prison."
But that's what 49 rural northwest Georgia store clerks and owners, 44 of them Indian immigrants, are facing in the wake of a federal sting called Operation Meth Merchant, the brainchild of US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia David Nahmias. Nahmias sent various undercover informants into the stores seeking items that could be used to make meth, then indicted the clerks on charges that could net them 20 years in prison. Nahmias told the New York Times he was convinced the clerks were guilty.
But as preliminary motions in the cases are filed, defense attorneys have been able to argue convincingly that the clerks and store owners often didn't understand that the informants were trying to tell them they wanted products for cooking meth. "They're not really paying attention to what they're being told," said Steve Sadow, one of the lawyers. "Their business is: I ring it up, you leave, I've done my job. Call it language or idiom or culture, I'm not sure you're able to show they know there's anything wrong with what they're doing," he told the Times.
"This is the first time I heard this -- I don't know how to pronounce -- this meta-meta something," said Hajira Ahmed. Her husband is one of the 49 arrested. He sits in jail awaiting trial on charges he sold cold medicine and antifreeze.
The Indian store clerks simply didn't understand the drug slang used by the undercover informants, defense lawyers said. When one told clerks he needed cold medicine, matches, and camping fuel to "finish a cook," the clerks thought that he was talking about a barbecue. Defense attorneys were able to point out that government documents defined the phrase in a footnote, suggesting that if it had to be explained to attorneys familiar with enforcing methamphetamine laws, it was hard to expect socially isolated store clerks to know its significance.
"This is not even slang language like 'gonna,' 'wanna,'" said Malvika Patel, who spent three days in jail after being arrested in a case of mistaken identity. "'Cook' is very clear; it means food." And in this context, she told the Times, some of the items the government wants stores to monitor would not set off any alarms. "When I do barbecue, I have four families. I never have enough aluminum foil."
The experience has soured some of the immigrants on their newly adopted homeland. Patel's husband, Chris, who Americanized his name on arrival, told the Times his wife's arrest made him think of selling his three stores and going back to India. "We are from so much cleaner society where we are from in India," he said. "We didn't even know what drugs were."
It's not only Indians in Georgia, but also Middle Easterners in Arizona, more than 30 of whom were arrested in a similar sting recently. And just plain white folks in Oklahoma. And with some 40 states having enacted or about to enact legislation restricting the sale of cold medicines as part of the war on meth, there will be more to come.
There has to be a better way, says the Drug Policy Alliance. "Putting store clerks in jail and breaking up families does nothing to deal with the problems associated with methamphetamine abuse," said Piper. "The hundreds of thousands of dollars it will cost to imprison these clerks would be better spent on drug treatment."
Her husband is one of the 49 arrested.He sits in jail awaiting trial on charges he sold cold medicine and antifreeze.
Thank god this dangerous menace is off the streets why that arragent basterd was so brazen about selling anti freeze and cough medicine thath e was selling it right off the shelf out in the open almost like itwas legal or something!
they shoud just shoot him in the back of the head and make his family pay the cost of the bullet /sarcasm
and lets not forget this oldie but a goody to Clerk Convicted Of Selling Meth Ingredient (10 Bottles of Cold Medicine Could Bring 10 Years) feel safer now?
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
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"In one Georgia case, authorities made mass arrests of immigrant store clerks and owners, but it's starting to look less like a criminal conspiracy and more like culturally naive foreign-born merchants simply trying to sell their merchandise."
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
This is "...government of the people, by the people, and for the people???"
Just another feel good law that won't do a bit of good.
This is really stupid. The WOD has become the new excuse for the nanny state.
"When I do barbecue, I have four families. I never have enough aluminum foil."
I think this says it all. Do these LEOs really think that REAL meth-heads go in and tell the clerks WHY they want to buy whatever it is they are buying to make their drugs? Do they really think that?
This is about the most blatant form of entrapment I've ever heard. Did they at least purchase mass quantities, or do the charges hang on just the bogus druggie lingo used during the buy?
More and more it seems our law enforcement has stopped pursuing the troublesome criminals and terrorists amoung us and has turned to the pursuit of cigarette smokers, seat belt scofflaws, and now, bamboozled grocery clerks.
These guys know exactly what they're doing. They're not only selling the ten bottles of cold medicine to one guy for his meth, but they got the Chore Boy copper mesh pads and the glass pipes with the rose right under the counter for those discriminating customers who still prefer crack.
Here in Puget Sound, the Koreans run the psudoephedrine trade. They have for a decade. And they know what they're doing.
What's your proof they know? Clerks should stock whatever items sell well. National Enquirers and packs of Big Red gum are also right next to the register as well. Are those used for making meth too?
We've lost our minds. Our country has lost it's mind. How many more lives to be sacrificed for the "war on drugs".
The NRA is just barely, starting, to begin considering the dangers of the War On (some) Drugs. Until now, as far as I have been able to ascertain, they were Rah Rah supporters of the WO(s)D, but the Prinz decision seems to have finally gotten through to them.
This is a travesty. A publicity-hound prosecutor in Georgia is behind most of these arrests.
"It make me want to take back all the nasty things I said about the ACLU and write them a check."
Resist that urge!
Past time to change the law.
Well, they know now. Try to buy 5 boxes of certain cold medicines at a reputable store like Walgreens or Osco even in states without any laws restricting the sale- you won't be able to do it. All of these sleazy convenience stores had these medicines behind the counter long before any laws were passed- they knew the drug addicts would steal them- and not because they catch more colds. Ask one of these convenient store clerks for a Chore Boy pad and he'll pull it out from under the counter. And if it happens to be a store where you're a regular customer, take a look at the clerk's look of amazement when you ask for a product that only drug addicts purchase at his store.
The second part is doubtful. The first part is utterly absurd.
Okay, back to the liberdrugian discussion.
My former officemate had such a resistance build up to pseudoephedrine, he required massive doses. I hope he (or his local merchant) hasn't been thrown into prison for his medical/pharmaceutical needs!
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