On this Labor Day, I'll tell you what's not working: our courts and our judges

Michael J. Demeritt, left, and Jason L. Brewer (Rochester Police photos)

Just last month The Rochester Voice pointed out that while it's great the justice system is going after big pharma for its reckless marketing of synthetic opioids, it means nothing as long as the feds allow a porous southern border that beckons murderous cartels to ply their deadly trade in fentanyl, meth and other hard drugs.

Last month it was announced that pharmaceutical giant Endo will be paying some $450 million to mitigate the damage it did with its deceitful marketing of fentanyl, and just this week Johnson and Johnson agreed to send some $40 million to New Hampshire for its deceptive marketing practices.

But it's not only the southern border that's broken, it's our courts, where liberal-minded judges - they probably call themselves forward thinking - let drug dealers off scot-free over and over again.

If this were a three-legged stool, the effort to stop the millions of people dying from drug overdoses would be a lost cause, because you need to toughen drug trafficking penalties, tighten border security and continue to hold big pharma accountable.

Right now we're only doing one of those ... so the stool falls and the deaths continue to tear at the fabric of our society.

If it weren't for an Aug. 28 DUI saturation patrol two area drug pushers would still be out on the street selling their deadly wares. They were found to have $10,000 worth of fentanyl on them when they were arrested on Highland Street in Rochester.
While participating in the state and federally funded enforcement effort, State Trooper Geoffrey Miller conducted a traffic stop on a 2011 Ford Explorer along Highland Street after observing erratic operation, according to a DOS press release soon after the arrests.
Miller later identified the occupants of the Ford as Michael J. Demeritt, 42, of Farmington, formerly of Rochester; and Jason L. Brewer, 39, of Milton Mills.
During a roadside investigation, troopers observed Brewer throw a bag suspected of containing illicit drugs toward a wooded area that was adjacent to the location of the traffic stop.

A state police K9 unit later found the bag near a tree line. Inside was around 100 grams of suspected fentanyl.

Demeritt was charged with transportation of controlled drugs and control of a premises/vehicle where controlled drugs are kept
Brewer was charged with possession of controlled drugs with intent to sell and falsifying physical evidence
Interestingly, it was just four months ago to the day that Brewer pleaded guilty to a single charge of drug possession in connection with a Sept. 10, 2020, arrest by Rochester Police.

The arrest on Winter Street by Rochester Police occurred as part of a joint effort with the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force on a bail violation.

After Marshals released Brewer to Rochester Police, they performed a search on a backpack in his possession at the time of the arrest, which revealed a quantity of methamphetamine, fentanyl and Subutex, a schedule III drug developed to help treat opiate addiction.

The 2020 case was finally disposed of April 5 with Brewer having two of three charges nol prossed (not prosecuted) as part of the deal, while getting a year in jail sentenced for a single drug possession charge that could have carried a seven-year sentence. He'll serve no additional time however, as he had already served a year in jail awaiting trial.

Interestingly, Brewer got the exact same deal a few years ago from federal prosecutors, according to an April 30, 2019, story in The Rochester Voice.

That case revolved around a traffic stop on I-95 near the Hampton tolls on July 13, 2016, when a New Hampshire State Trooper observed Brewer commit multiple motor vehicle violations while driving northbound.

The trooper executed a traffic stop of Brewer's car, which also carried a passenger, Timothy Kondroski.

During the traffic stop, the trooper observed evidence of drug possession. While the trooper questioned Brewer and Kondroski, Kondroski fled and darted across four lanes of the interstate highway toward the barriers that divided the cash tolls from the open road tolling lanes, according to safety officials..

The trooper chased Kondroski, yelling at him to stop and eventually caught up to Kondroski at the barriers, which Kondroski was attempting to climb over. During the chase, Kondroski's sneakers fell off. When retrieving them from the roadway, the troopers found a bag containing approximately 35 grams of heroin. A second bag containing approximately one ounce of cocaine was recovered from inside one of Kondroski's sneakers.

Kondroski and Brewer both eventually admitted to buying the drugs in Lawrence, Mass. Kondroski further acknowledged that he paid $2,700 for the drugs and intended to sell them.

Brewer pleaded guilty in that case on Aug. 1, 2017, and was released after serving his sentence while awaiting trial.

Kondroski, meanwhile, was sentenced on Jan. 8, 2018, to 54 months in prison.

Meanwhile, in December 2020 Demeritt was arrested in Nashua and charged with being an armed career criminal and felon in possession of a firearm, which could have landed him in prison for 22 years

Both of these men could have been incarcerated well into the 2040s, but misguided judges saw fit to "give them another chance" and "another."

Why do we have statutes on the books if weak-kneed judges won't follow them?

Where's the mercy for almost a million American who have died of drug overdoses since 1999, for the 351 Granite Staters who died from overdoses in 2020, a year in which Straffrord County had the highest OD death toll in the state at 2.64 per 10,000.

Until we tighten the screws at the southern border and on drug dealers the deaths from fentanyl will continue unabated.