Cocaine

Howard County police announced yesterday that they have arrested nine members of a drug ring they believe sold between $200,000 and $300,000 worth of cocaine per month in Columbia during the past year. Authorities said they were seeking three more suspects. The arrests of one woman and five men from Columbia as well as three Baltimore men took place between Friday and Monday and culminated a 10-month undercover investigation into what police said was a drug organization operating in the villages of Harper's Choice, Long Reach, Owen Brown and Wilde Lake.

Four Columbia residents are facing cocaine-related drug charges following their arrest Tuesday night by county police.Police charged Phillip E. Barrows, 37, of the 5100 block of Brookway and Ronald Tyrone Johnson, 29, of the 6500 block of Fretchie Row with possession of paraphernalia and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute; and Mary Elizabeth Warren, 25, and James Kevin Nelson, 29, both of the 10500 block of Cross Fox Lane, with possession of...

Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar died as he lived, in a hail of gun fire as presidents rejoiced and the poor people ofMedellin mourned the murderous thug who used some of his drug millions to play the role of a peasant Robin Hood.It is the stuff of fiction but also the real-life story of a vicious criminal who killed hundreds of people, maimed thousands more through drug addiction, amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune, defied U.S. authorities and shook Colombian society and its government to its foundations.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Maxine Waters should have been wearing red. The woman was that hot -- as in burning up angry.But her purple outfit would have to do, as she minced no words in telling the group of students standing near a pool within a block of the U.S. Capitol about the allegations that the CIA funded a group of Nicaraguan contras who flooded her southern Los Angeles district with crack cocaine.Some -- but, significantly, not very many -- have called for a congressional investigation into the allegations.

A southwest Baltimore couple have pleaded guilty to federa drug charges for distributing cocaine here for a Philadelphia-fed drug ring operated by a Halethorpe mechanic and an Arbutus lawyer.Karen Nelson, 35, and her husband Glenn, 31, both of the 600 block of Wickham Road, entered their pleas Friday to Judge John R. Hargrove in U.S. District Court. Glenn Nelson works in the Baltimore Sun's transportation department.Prosecutor Andrew G.W. Norman said Karen Nelson, assisted by her husband, distributed between five and 49.5 kilograms of cocaine in the Baltimore area from July 1988 to March 1989.

A Baltimore man was arrested on cocaine and other drug charges after Westminster city police searched a home on South Center Street, authorities said. Leroy Williams Jr., 31 of Bland Avenue was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. He was released from the Carroll County Detention Center after posting a $10,000 bond, police said. Detectives from the Westminster drug unit seized crack cocaine, weighing scales, manufacturing materials and drug paraphernalia during a search of the home Friday evening, police said.

A Baltimore man was sentenced yesterday to more than 10 years in prison for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney's office. City police officers searched the home of Damon Kimbrough, 34, in May 2005 and found a gun, approximately 13 grams of cocaine and glass vials, used for packaging cocaine for distribution, according to a release from the office of Rod J. Rosenstein. During the search, Kimbrough indicated that the gun, drugs and vials were his. U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis sentenced Kimbrough to 130 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

A corrections officer at the Baltimore City Detention Center has been charged with cocaine possession, state correctional authorities said.Samuel L. Epps was arrested as he reported for work Thursday at 7 a.m. after he was searched by members of the Investigative Unit of the Division of Pre-Trial Detention and Services, who found a packet of white powder that later tested positive for cocaine. The investigation of Mr. Epps began after authorities received a tip, correctional authorities said.

Vaccines to help people recover from such addictions as nicotine, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines appear scientifically and medically achievable after doctors reported Monday that a vaccine to treat cocaine dependence had produced a large enough antibody response to reduce cocaine use in 38 percent of addicted individuals. Those results come on the heels of last week's announcement that the federal government will fund a large clinical trial of a nicotine vaccine based on earlier promising studies.