Drug Overdose

She's known simply as Pastor Alice, and the last time she saw Keith Ray Jr. alive was in early September 2007. He was lying in a gutter on a Remington Street, struggling with a Baltimore officer who was trying to put handcuffs on his wrists. Ray kept screaming at the officer, calling him a "punk." His friend, 22-year-old John Mooney, pleaded with Ray to shut his mouth: "Just be quiet, be calm, be calm." The pastor was walking home with groceries, and she paused at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

A generation ago, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke urged lawmakers to consider abandoning the criminal justice model for dealing with the country's rampant drug problem and to focus instead on treating people for their addictions. He was roundly criticized for the idea, and America went on to prosecute a fruitless "war on drugs" that two decades later it is still clearly losing. But last week, city health officials announced a small but significant victory in that struggle that may yet vindicate Mr. Schmoke's more humanistic approach to the scourge of substance abuse.

A woman convicted of manslaughter in the methadone poisoning death of her toddler was sentenced yesterday to a mental health facility after waiting four months for an available bed. Vernice Harris, 31, is expected to be transferred from the Baltimore Women's Detention Center to Second Genesis, a drug and alcohol treatment center, on Sept. 8, according to prosecutors. Harris has been in jail since January, when she was charged in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Bryanna, who overdosed on methadone.

MELVIN B. LANE, 85 Magazine publisher Melvin B. Lane, former publisher of Sunset magazine and a Stanford University trustee, died Saturday in Atherton, Calif., of complications from Parkinson's disease. Mr. Lane, former co-owner and publisher of Lane Publishing Co. and Sunset Magazine and Books, was a major force at his alma mater, playing key roles in the creation of Stanford's long-range land-use plan, the Center for International Security and Cooperation and the Woods Institute for the Environment.

During their first two weeks out of prison, former convicts have a nearly 13 times greater risk of death than the general population, according to a study published today of more than 30,000 former inmates. The leading cause was overdose of illegal narcotics, the researchers found. Though the study did not look at the reason for the high number of drug overdoses, the researchers surmised that the stress of release and the ex-prisoners' reduced tolerance to drugs after their sentences were major factors.

AN 11-YEAR-OLD suspected heroin dealer was arrested in East Baltimore last week with the drugs and $189 in cash on him. The arrest occurred on Lt. Timothy Devine's shift, and in 20 years on the job, the police veteran said, he had never seen a drug dealer so young. Lieutenant Devine may be the exception -- because the 11-year-old drug dealer is not. In the past decade, city police have arrested 32 11-year-olds and nine 10-year-olds on felony drug charges. These are not runners and lookouts, the youngest recruits in Baltimore's drug trade.

Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield died from cocaine use, according to an autopsy report. The report, released by Michigan's Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner's office on Monday, states that Hatfield's cause of death was "acute cocaine toxicity." The 63-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer was found dead in his Kalamazoo hotel room Nov. 5, less than an hour before he was scheduled to kick off a Midwest tour with partner Bill Medley. Initial reports said he died in his sleep of a heart attack.

In Baltimore City Man in police custody dies of apparent drug overdose A 29-year-old Northwest Baltimore man died in city police custody of a suspected drug overdose early yesterday after being arrested on drug possession charges, authorities said. Daric Bishop of the 5600 block of Woodmont Ave. died at Sinai Hospital about 12:40 a.m. Police said they believe Bishop swallowed drugs during or before his arrest. Bishop was arrested after he swerved a BMW in front of officers trying to pull over a Nissan Pathfinder about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 4800 block of Beaufort Ave., police said.

A 42-year-old man who apparently was seeking medical attention for a possible drug overdose died Monday night shortly after an altercation with Anne Arundel County police that might have been sparked by miscommunication. Michael Cofiell stumbled into a 7-Eleven store on Furnace Branch Road in Glen Burnie shortly before 8:30 p.m. Monday, complaining of chest pains and asking for medical help, police said. When paramedics arrived, the man gave indications that he had been using drugs, police said, but then he ran away.

Howard County needs a drug czar to raise the profile of the county's drug-fighting efforts and to better coordinate prevention and treatment programs, County Executive James N. Robey said at a candidates forum yesterday. "There are a lot of overlapping services. I want to create a position in the Department of Health to oversee all drug programs," Robey said at Owen Brown Interfaith Center. The job would be at the level of a deputy health officer. The proposal is the latest effort in the fight against substance abuse since the release in January last year of the Delta Project study -- a comprehensive assessment of the county's often-neglected substance abuse problem.