Editorial: Sonja Farak; Massachusetts: The Boston Herald wonders why she admitted to stealing drugs from the lab for her personal use on a “fairly regular basis” for at least eight years - she exhausted the Amherst lab’s supply of methamphetamine, amphetamine and ketamine used to test against police evidence — and nearly exhausted the cocaine - she admitted to getting high before testifying in court - she manufactured and smoked crack while on the job - "and yet no one seemed to notice anything was wrong."... "And we thought Annie Dookhan was bad? Meet Sonja Farak, who “worked” at a state drug lab in a chemical haze for at least eight years, according to an alarming report by Attorney General Maura Healey, and in doing so compromised potentially tens of thousands of criminal cases."..."According to Healey’s report, Farak admitted to stealing drugs from the lab for her personal use on a “fairly regular basis” for at least eight years. She exhausted the Amherst lab’s supply of methamphetamine, amphetamine and ketamine used to test against police evidence — and nearly exhausted the cocaine. She admitted to getting high before testifying in court and she manufactured and smoked crack — while on the job. And yet no one seemed to notice anything was wrong. Now, it is nearly impossible to fathom that this state could experience two earth-shattering drug lab scandals attributed to the misconduct of chemists, both of which pose a legitimate threat to public safety."

 
EDITORIAL: The Boston Herald looks at one of the criminal justice system's worst nightmares: A drug lab technician who is habitually high on the job.

GIST:  "And we thought Annie Dookhan was bad? Meet Sonja Farak, who “worked” at a state drug lab in a chemical haze for at least eight years, according to an alarming report by Attorney General Maura Healey, and in doing so compromised potentially tens of thousands of criminal cases. Farak’s misconduct was previously known — she served 18 months for tampering with evidence — but the Supreme Judicial Court last year determined the state needed to more thoroughly investigate the timing and scope of her misdeeds. According to Healey’s report, Farak admitted to stealing drugs from the lab for her personal use on a “fairly regular basis” for at least eight years. She exhausted the Amherst lab’s supply of methamphetamine, amphetamine and ketamine used to test against police evidence — and nearly exhausted the cocaine. She admitted to getting high before testifying in court and she manufactured and smoked crack — while on the job. And yet no one seemed to notice anything was wrong. Now, it is nearly impossible to fathom that this state could experience two earth-shattering drug lab scandals attributed to the misconduct of chemists, both of which pose a legitimate threat to public safety."

The entire editorial can be found at:

http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/editorials/2016/05/editorial_high_on_the_state_job

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.

The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:

http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith

Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:

http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com;

Harold Levy;
Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;