Son of Surgeon General Surrenders in Drug Case

The son of U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders surrendered Monday to face a charge that he sold cocaine to undercover agents. He was released after posting $2,500 bail.

Kevin Elders, 28, is accused of selling an eighth of an ounce of cocaine to undercover police July 29 at a Little Rock park for $275.

Police had issued a warrant for Elders’ arrest Wednesday, a week after his mother suggested at a National Press Club luncheon that legalizing drugs could reduce the country’s crime rate and the matter should be studied.

Dr. Elders’ spokesman declined to comment Monday, referring reporters to her son’s attorney, Les Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth declined to comment.

The felony charge against Kevin Elders carries a possible sentence of 40 years to life in prison, police Lt. Charles Holladay said.

A police affidavit said the eighth of an ounce of cocaine was known as an “8 ball.” It alleged that Elders delivered a plastic bag wrapped in tinfoil to the undercover officers. The cocaine was inside the bag, the affidavit said.

In a two-sentence statement on Friday, Elders said she supports her son.

“We’ve told our son that we stand by him as family. In the meantime, he’s asked us to refer all questions to his attorney,” the former Arkansas health director said in the statement, read by spokesman Mike Russell in Washington.

In her comment about drug legalization, Elders said: “I do feel it would markedly reduce our crime rate if drugs were legalized, but I don’t know all of the ramifications of this, and we need to do some further studies.”

She later said she was speaking for herself, not for the Clinton Administration. A White House spokesman emphasized later that Clinton opposes legalization of illicit drugs.

Her son’s troubles followed allegations last week by police and neighbors that a Little Rock rental house owned by her husband, Oliver, was a hangout for gang members. A drug task force asked the real estate company managing the property to evict the tenants. Kevin Elders lives elsewhere.