On Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Knight Auditorium, Kathryn McCarthy, Assistant U.S Attorney and Public Corruption Unit Chief for Michigan’s Eastern District, spoke about the war on drugs. Her presentation was titled “Contemporary Drug Policy.”
McCarthy graduated from Wayne State Law School in 1988 and has over 20 years of experience in Michigan. She spent five years as Chief of the Controlled Substance Unit for Michigan’s Eastern District, two years as a special prosecutor, and has overseen hundreds of cases. McCarthy still finds her job interesting after all these years, because every case is different and is handled as such.
McCarthy’s office only deals with drug cases that are high profile; they are not interested in arresting small users, but rather mass producers and transporters.
“I mainly deal with border drugs, international drugs, legal drugs that are being misused, and cases of medical marijuana,” McCarthy said.
There are two types of investigative techniques her offices use to catch these criminals. One type is historical investigation, which is common knowledge, such as search warrants. The second type is proactive investigation, in which individuals are more discreet in the manner that they investigate possible offenders. This type of investigation uses non-detectable methods.
“I thought it was interesting she knows special agents in some cases that she was involved in. [It’s also interesting] how they do not deal with lower level users, because that’s not their concern,” said freshman Adrian Harris.
Statistics report that about 10 percent of Americans are addicted to drugs or alcohol, and drug areas are normally found in increased crime areas.
“The purpose of the war on drugs is to keep such substances away from the youth in America,” said McCarthy.
She pointed out that our brains aren’t developed enough at a young age. So where do the youth obtain drugs?
Believe it or not, the idea of drugs coming in from Canada is not uncommon. In fact, because of all the high security the Mexican border possesses, bringing drugs in from Canada is actually a safer decision for drug traffickers.
“The facts that McCarthy presented opened up my views on the war on drugs,” said freshman Chelsea Gouine.
The George Romney Institute for Law and Public Policy aims to bring a speaker to Adrian College once a month for students to have the opportunity to educate themselves about the criminal justice system.