It's hard to imagine that a year has passed since May 21, 2016, when I received the news that is every parent's worst nightmare. I was told over the phone by the RCMP that my only child, Robby, had passed away from an overdose. He was only 24, and a week later we learned from the coroner that he had died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Losing a child to an overdose is no different than losing a child to a disease such as cancer, or to a vehicle accident, or violence. You have joined a club that you never planned or wanted to be part of. Suddenly, the empathy you have felt for other parents' losses over the years has become a real and tangible thing in your own life. [continues 616 words]
Writing as a retired police detective, I heartily concur with your analysis of the drug war/drug prohibition. The smugglers ship a little extra toward their markets, knowing the authorities will confiscate maybe 20%. They also know when their mules are caught, they are easily replaced by men and women desperate for money. You must know that criminals love drug prohibition, since it guarantees them millions and billions in profits. If Thailand and other Asian countries want to strike fear and dread in the hearts of drug smugglers, join the growing number of voices across the planet that call to legalise/ regulate all drugs. The Mexican drug cartels are already vocal about how cannabis legalisation in Colorado is hurting their profits. HOWARD [end]
Brian Dalton (letter, 30 October) is right to believe that we are sleepwalking into Ukip having a say in the next government. We are likely to get to this position on a very low turnout because, as Conservatives and Labour have identical policies, and we don't want to vote for minor party, there is nothing we can vote for. The first question on last night's Question Time demonstrated the dilemma we face. The Home Office has produced a report suggesting the hard line on drugs is ineffective. Many believe (myself included) that while drug dealers should get stiff prison sentences those merely possessing and taking drugs should be treated as victims rather than criminals, in the same way that the police should treat abused 13-year-old girls as victims and not prostitutes. [continues 139 words]
THREE Tasmanian councils have joined the fight to establish a medicinal marijuana industry in the state. The Huon Valley Council yesterday said it had been approached by two Tasmanian companies within 24 hours that were fully funded to build a medicinal cannabis growing and production facility. General manager Simone Watson will meet Premier Will Hodgman to ask the Government to reconsider its opposition. The State Government launched a parliamentary inquiry into cannabis for medical purposes earlier this month. "Let's wait to see what comes out of that," Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said yesterday. [continues 146 words]
Recently, Denver South High School led a pre-emptive effort to tackle some of the questions around Amendment 64 and Denver's youth by hosting a discussion panel. The panel included a range of community members, from school-based health educators to special interest groups (both for and against Amendment 64), to members of Denver Health and the city attorney's office. The discussion was not only civil but also informative, even if slightly daunting from a parent's perspective. It highlighted that, although we have some sense of the dangers with respect to adolescent usage of marijuana, we as a community have neither put forth a uniform message as to why teenagers should refrain from using marijuana, nor have a concrete agenda as to how to handle the potential pitfalls (mental health, school-based regulation, or otherwise) related to its increased availability among teens in Denver. Where do we go from here? Carolyn Howard, Denver [end]
PICKENS - Employees of Pickens County schools will soon have to undergo random drug testing if the school board votes to follow the recommendation of its policy committee. The proposed policy could go to the board for approval at its Oct. 22 meeting. Plans to rewrite the district's drug policy were already in action before Saturday, when two employees were charged with multiple counts of distributing marijuana near a school. The employees were Kimberly Dawn Anthony, 43, and Daniel John Fahey, 48, Fahey resigned from his job as the district's school-to-work program coordinator, said John Eby, spokesman for the school district. Fahey was released from the Pickens County Detention Center Monday on $10,000 worth of surety bonds. Anthony, a computer keyboarding teacher at Gettys Middle School, was at the detention center Tuesday with bail set at $250,000. She is on suspension from the district. [continues 600 words]
Burlington residents fighting a public health clinic being built on Fairview Street are doing themselves, their city and, frankly their children who they trotted out for a photo opportunity, no favours. They are fighting a clinic, on a commercial strip well separated from the nearest residential streets, that will provide public health services such as sexual health, smoking cessation and dental care - and, if experience at a previous location speaks for anything, exchange one used intravenous drug needle for a clean one about every five days. Residents want to ensure their children will be safe from discarded needles - fair enough. But a needle exchange helps that by requiring a used needle to be handed in for safe disposal. [continues 155 words]
I do not condone "drinking and driving," but the reasons for the plan Premier Redford wants to put in place have everything to do with "money", and little to do with solving the problem. Income from fines, towing, and impounding vehicles will be enormous. To get up and running, and begin raking in this money, taxpayers will be funding studies, a database for police, administration fees, court time and buying the roadside equipment needed by police to enforce the new law. Take the money we are about to waste and increase the number and frequency of Check Stops. Get the real offenders off the road. The new law is nothing more than a cash cow. Don't be fooled by the smoke and mirrors. It's all about the money. D. Howard (We might not agree with the new law, but we believe the intention is to get drunk drivers off the road.) [end]
Backers of an initiative to legalize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries - and even head off a federal crackdown - are putting together an initiative targeting the November ballot, the second time in as many years that cannabis advocates have asked the electorate to decide weed-linked issues. "There isn't a uniform regulation or structure or rule, so the question is, 'How do we do this in a way that tightens regulations over medical marijuana?'" said Roger Salazar, a political strategist for the campaign, called Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana. [continues 366 words]
For years, there have been regular pushes in the Legislature and at the ballot box to legalize or decriminalize marijuana consumption, possession and cultivation. This year was no exception: Earlier this month, legislation aimed at allowing local authorities to decide whether to prosecute growers for misdemeanors or felonies was rejected in the Assembly. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for marijuana advocates, who see legalization and decriminalization as inevitable. But marijuana as a political and legal issue is not going away. The crux of the issue is not the medical efficacy of marijuana it's been legal in California since 1996 with the approval of Proposition 215 - but the larger social question of whether punishing people for marijuana-related offenses is sound public policy. [continues 664 words]
"There is no question that the use of medical marijuana in this state is being abused by those with recreational, profit-driven and even criminal motives." As chairman of the House committee that has overseen the bulk of the medical marijuana bills this session, I have heard arguments from those who use it, those who abuse it and those who are most affected by it. After hours of testimony, one thing has become clear. Medical marijuana has become a billion-dollar industry that Montana can ill afford. [continues 530 words]
With this legislative session approaching its midpoint, I am beginning to receive more and more questions from concerned Montanans about how lawmakers plan on solving the growing medical marijuana problem in our state. As chair of the House committee that has overseen the bulk of medical marijuana bills this session, I have heard arguments from those who use it, those who abuse it and those who are most affected by it. After hours of testimony, one thing has become clear. Medical marijuana has become a billion-dollar industry that Montana can ill afford. [continues 528 words]
In her last full meeting as mayor (the torch will be passed to Vice Mayor Jan Arbuckle in December), Lisa Swarthout presented Mayor's Awards, a tradition dating back more than 10 years. She awarded AJA Video the Community Business Award, Center for the Arts the award for nonprofits, and the Mayor's Award to Grass Valley Downtown Association Executive Director Howard Levine. "He exemplifies community service and is the first one to step up to the plate," Swarthout said. Grass Valley leaders decided to explore two tracks regarding medical marijuana -- creating an ordinance to allow dispensaries and another ordinance banning them outright. [continues 284 words]
I am writing in regard to the editorial "Keep Bayanet." This piece was sorely lacking in many areas, in regard to the "War on Drugs." First, the fact that state and local governments are spending millions of dollars to eradicate a plant that has hundreds of different functions to society is the real crime. Marijuana has proven itself to be effective in treating a wide variety of medical disorders without the toxic side-effects that come with legal prescription drugs. Yet it remains illegal because pharmaceutical companies are not able to patent it (and thereby, profit from it). Additionally, marijuana prohibition was propped up by the oil industry, as hemp oil could feasibly eliminate the need for all fossil fuel usage. [continues 169 words]
The Milan City Council couldn't come to a conclusion during a special meeting Monday on how to deal with state-level legislation that legalizes medicinal marijuana for individuals with certain health issues. Much of the gray area up for discussion seemed to materialize by way of apparent contradictions between state and federal drug laws, and choosing which ones to enforce. Many aspects of the situation were hotly contested, with debate lasting beyond the special meeting and extending into the regularly scheduled City Council session. [continues 482 words]
Peace, hope, love, goodwill, light in the darkness-they're what every winter solstice holiday has ever been about, but also sadly sometimes as elusive as a hungry child's faith in Santa. Elusive because the world can be harsh, and because we too often don't register the dissonance inherent in riding to elaborate diamond-studded holiday celebrations in plush chariots to celebrate giving and goodwill while taking from those with less so we can have more. It's an age-old thing, the dark quicksand that power becomes, and it has mostly determined who eats well and who doesn't, and which freedoms and rights and medicines we have access to and which we don't. But hope and light and goodwill are age-old, buoyant and resistant too, and so we kiss under the mistletoe that is now a plastic relic of what was once a valued medicine. North American mistletoe and mistletoe berries are poisonous, but the leaves of other varieties have historically been used to ease anxiety and headache, and to promote sleep and stimulate the immune system-uses which science supports; in Europe mistletoe extract injections are used as a cancer treatment. [continues 507 words]
The week of November 16 is National Addictions Awareness Week, and we're in sore need of awareness to not only the heartbreak of debilitating addiction and the homeless, but also to the infinitely more common and closeted addictions of those checking our groceries, cutting our hair and writing our prescriptions. Functional addicts to legal, illegal, hard and soft drugs fill our suburbs and office towers, and they're finding willpower alone-and often willpower together with all the available psychological supports-to be insufficient to help them walk away. [continues 608 words]
On my mind this week, in the wake of Stephen Harper's re-election, are the realities facing some of those most marginalized among us--the drug addicted, to be specific. We now have a model of an effective approach to reducing harm among addicts--Vancouver's safe injection program, InSite. But the Harper government has repeatedly tried to shut it down, and Minister of Health Tony Clement has called it an abomination. They believe harm reduction strategies to be a misallocation of tax dollars. [continues 613 words]
Your editorial ("The drugs scourge", July 23) rightly concludes that "there are no short-term solutions" to the multiplicity of problems experienced by heroin and other drug-users. Having worked with Scottish colleagues, including those in the parliament and government over the past year, we are well aware of the progress being made with the development of the recent drug strategy Road to Recovery. But not only is there no short-term solution, there is also the risk of unintended consequences coming from some policies that may at first seem intuitively appealing. Methadone substitution treatment is a good example. It has powerful evidence to support its use and, indeed, even expansion to help more people in need. However, the evidence suggests policy-makers and professionals over the years have taken their eye off the ball about putting in place the other necessary support services (for instance, in relation to employment and housing) to help people through the recovery process. [continues 126 words]
Our government has been busy ramping up its health and safety efforts in recent months, proposing changes to food and drug safety laws (now thankfully on pause), and passing new impaired-driving laws. I'm all for successfully keeping those who still think it's OK to drive drunk off the road, but I'm not sure the new wider net that has been cast will be strong enough to stand up in court, big enough to fully address impaired driving or porous enough to avoid being a catch-all for things not relevant. [continues 655 words]
A police search of the halls and parking lots at Twin Lakes High School turned up nothing Wednesday. And that's a good thing say both police and school administrators of the random sweep for drugs. "I look at it as a positive," said Monticello Police Chief Jim Reynolds, whose department partnered with law enforcement agencies from White, Carroll and Cass counties to perform the searches. "At least they're not bringing it to school, as far as we can tell." [continues 357 words]
There's something wrong at Health Canada when a spokesperson says it can't do anything about a powerful hallucinogenic sold in variety stores. Salvia is a herbal extract that causes hallucinations so overwhelming that even experienced drug users say they wouldn't do it a second time. But it's legal to import and sell in Canada. Health Canada says it will act if there is "evidence of a significant risk to health and safety." Salvia may not be toxic in itself, but hallucination-driven behaviour is certainly dangerous. [continues 138 words]
Mental Illness Medications Go To Pot Why do we sneeze at herbal and vitamin solutions to what ails us and tend not to fear synthetic medicines, even though the latter cause more injuries every year by far? The mentally ill die an average of 25 years earlier than the rest of us, but most of us quickly dismiss this disparity as something to do with their mental illness rather something to do with, say, the medications they are being treated with-even though these medications are in many cases are known to cause, among other things, obesity and diabetes. I'm not urging those suffering from mental illnesses to go off medication that is working well, but I am advocating looking beyond developing yet another new drug to addressing this problem. [continues 544 words]
Re: Walking backwards into a wall, July 12. Senator Larry Campbell's opinion is right on the mark. I recently witnessed an outstanding and otherwise law-abiding citizen lose his career and see his life put in turmoil because his employer discovered he smoked marijuana. Marijuana use is against the law. Those who choose to use it can suffer serious consequences far disproportionate to their offence. Surely crime-fighting resources can be better spent dealing with real crimes and real criminals that truly threaten us, our families and neighbours. [continues 95 words]
Kathleen Parker's 7/10/07 column urging the legalization of marijuana asserts "responsible use of a weed that at worst makes people boring and hungry " should not be criminal. Unfortunately, she has not done her homework. Decades of world-wide scientific research reveal contrary facts about marijuana. In 1974, hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee presented testimony from many eminent scholars of the world including professors from Oxford, the University of Paris, Cairo University, Berkeley, Columbia and the Karolinski Institute of Sweden. [continues 267 words]
News that medical marijuana user and activist Grant Krieger has been sent to prison on a trafficking charge is no real surprise, but it is profoundly disappointing. Krieger has a marijuana licence for his multiple sclerosis (MS), and in March of this year the judge had ruled his sentence be delayed until details around access to his medicine behind bars was ironed out. But as of last week, Alberta's solicitor has general turned down the judge's earlier request that Krieger have access to marijuana while serving his sentence, even though he has legal permission to use pot as medicine. [continues 664 words]
Well, Well, Well I need to chime in on the drug conversation, at least with respect to the only illegal drug I know anything about. Recent news of the safety of marijuana relative to alcohol and tobacco is, of course, not really news. Nor is the truth that Health Canada's medical marijuana program has mostly failed those who wish to use marijuana as medicine. Most of us know that our current government has no intention of resurrecting the Marijuana Reform Bill, which intended not to legalize possession but to decriminalize it and replace jail sentences for possession of small amounts with fines. [continues 680 words]
A total of 38 meth labs were taken down last year in the Lafayette district, which includes White County. Although the Indiana State Police report that statewide they dismantled fewer methamphetamine labs in 2006 than they did the previous year, White County remains an exception going from five labs in 2005, to 11 in 2006. State police say that doesn't necessarily mean that manufacturing of the drug has grown - just that more labs are being reported. "Out of the 11 meth labs that were found in White County, probably six or seven were active," said Trooper Jerry Holeman, Methamphetamine Suppression Officer for the Lafayette district. "The others were either what we call dump sites, which is basically trash from a lab. [continues 550 words]
Everybody must get stoned. Well, okay, maybe not everybody ..Shortly after I got myself sufficiently worried about the link between teen-marijuana use and schizophrenia, I learned that THC is more effective than the leading drugs used for treating Alzheimer's. It has an upside relevant to me then, as I'm into prevention. One recent study showed marijuana prevented the plaque-depositing, memory-impairing enzyme AChE from doing its dirty work almost completely, where tactrine and donepezil (drugs used to inhibit the enzyme) did so only seven and 22 per cent of the time respectively. [continues 601 words]
Regular Searches Key Part Of Prevention Strategy With drug-related problems on the rise in Metro high schools, administrators are turning to the regular use of drug-sniffing dogs as another tactic to keep the drug trade out of schools. This month, a trained dog and its handler scoured the hallways, parking lots and classrooms of 11 Metro middle and high schools looking for trace scents of illegal drugs or alcohol. And while most Midstate school directors say they use canines occasionally, Metro officials say they plan to keep running the random, unannounced searches regularly to see if the threat of getting caught helps curtail the flow of illegal drugs. [continues 752 words]
Here's a look at how Midstate school districts are responding to drug problems in their schools and what they're planning for this school year. Drug dogs: This year, officials have started using drug dogs on a regular basis for random, unannounced searches at middle and high schools. Testing: There have been informal discussions about drug testing, but there is no policy allowing for drug tests, except during a physical required for athletes, Ralph Thompson of Metro schools said. [continues 655 words]
A huge bust in York Region could have a major effect on the local drug trade. Last week, York Regional Police busted a massive drug trafficking operation, arresting 41 people and hauling away a huge amount of drugs, cash and weapons. The three-month investigation, dubbed Project Home, led to 152 charges against suspected dealers and drug buyers on charges including drug production, possession and trafficking. The seizure includes 700 grams of cocaine, 922 grams of marijuana, 1,116 ecstasy tablets, nearly 800 prescription pills, and 180 grams of Psilocybin (magic mushrooms). Officers also confiscated three guns, including a sawed-off shotgun and more than $60,000 cash. [continues 105 words]
TBI Searchable Registry Lists Convicted Offenders If you're wondering whether anyone in your neighborhood is involved in methamphetamine manufacturing, there's now a Web site to search for convicted meth offenders. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation last week made a searchable "Meth Offender Registry" available at http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/methor. The Web site lists by name and by county anyone convicted in Tennessee of charges related to manufacturing meth, a highly addictive stimulant that's often made in homemade "labs" using dangerous combinations of household chemicals. [continues 227 words]
Georgian Wasn't Charged; Says He Was Targeted Because He's Hispanic A Rutherford County Sheriff's deputy confiscated $9,400 from a Georgia subcontractor on suspicion of drug activity but never returned the money even though investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing, a lawsuit against the department claims. The subcontractor, Juan Ibarra, further alleges in the civil suit that he believes he was targeted because he is Hispanic. According to the suit filed recently in District Court, Deputy Kenneth Barrett stopped Ibarra, 37, of Smyrna, Ga., for speeding on Nov. 10, 2004, and confiscated all but $20 of his money under the Tennessee Drug Control Act. A search of the car showed no sign of illegal activity, and Ibarra was neither arrested nor cited for anything but speeding during the stop, records show. [continues 230 words]
The maximum penalty for making or distributing crystal methamphetamine is now life imprisonment. That's the same maximum penalty as for making or distributing crack cocaine or heroin. Look how well that's worked. The announcement of new penalties this week by the federal justice and health ministers is a good first step in sending a message, particularly to the many young and "amateur" producers and sellers of crystal meth. It's a step police, users' families and antidrug advocates welcome, because it gives public profile to a terribly destructive drug problem. [continues 343 words]
What will it take to turn things around in Avondale? Several residents, business owners and others say it will take a lot - from encouraging better parenting to adding even more police to finding ways to restore lost hope. "We can't just talk with young people about what changes should be made. We have to listen to them about what they need and also find out from them how much are they willing to invest in themselves. We are dealing with a large concentration of guns and drugs matched against a cadre of young blacks facing unemployment, lack of education, criminal records and no hope for the future. [continues 899 words]
Researchers have found that marijuana-like chemicals in the brain help animals and people under extreme stress suppress pain and keep going despite a severe injury. "This shows for the first time that natural marijuana-like chemicals in the brain have a link to pain suppression," said Daniele Piomelli, a professor of pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine , and senior author of a study published yesterday in the journal Nature. "Aside from identifying an important function of these compounds, it [the study] provides a template for a new class of pain medications that can possibly replace others shown to have acute side effects," said Piomelli, who directs the Center for Drug Discovery at the school [end]
While it may be humorous to your reporter, to the Fulton County District Attorney's office, drugs --- and the lives they destroy --- are no laughing matter ("A really cold case: Fulton tries to prosecute dead man," Page One, June 7). That is why the Atlanta mayor, chief of police, the U.S. attorney, the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, I and others convened a summit recently to launch a major, coordinated assault on illegal drugs in our community. [continues 155 words]
Educators from across the region turned out Tuesday to hear the White House's deputy drug czar discuss the latest research supporting random student drug testing. In addition to addressing the legal issues behind drug testing, the meeting provided information on $10 million in federal grants available for such programs. "We know from countless studies that any time drug use in a school building goes up, performance on standardized tests goes down," said Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of National Drug Control Policy. "This is to help kids - to allow kids to grow up healthy and drug-free." [continues 503 words]
Good Things Happening For developing a special game for students to review Drug Abuse Resistance Education lessons and for including DARE in the fifth-grade science and health curriculum, Margaret Murph has won the organization's 2004 Educator of the Year award. Murph, a teacher at Heritage Hill Elementary School in the Princeton City School District, received the award July 29 at the DARE Association of Ohio's awards banquet in Akron. She was nominated by Springdale DARE officer Jeff Witte. [continues 63 words]
Clarksville police are trying to raise enough money by week's end for drug education T-shirts for fifth-grade graduates of Drug Abuse Resistance Education. For the first year since D.A.R.E.'s implementation in Clarksville-Montgomery County schools in 1989, officers don't have the money to buy the students T-shirts. The shirts reward kids for completing the course and pledging to stay drug free, while sending an anti-drug message to other kids, Clarksville police say. [continues 270 words]
The question begs to be asked, "If the drug court's operation is a success, why are people still waiting for services?" This situation can be addressed today with private treatment providers. The state's "socialization of addiction treatment" has created a cottage industry controlled by the courts for the benefit of the politico. Politics as usual. While waiting for services the addicts continue to drink, drive, use illegal drugs and pose a significant danger to the community. Effective community services will never be able to compete in the marketplace as long as the voters elect those who prefer wasteful government programs over effective private enterprise. Current judicial leadership in Greene County does not serve, rightly, the best interest of the public in this case. Dennis L. Howard Advanced Substance Abuse Counselor Director, Community Safe Program, Springfield [end]
When it comes to drug and alcohol testing, employers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, employers are responsible for workplace safety and encouraged by WCB to make safety "job No. 1." Failure to ensure workers are free from the influence of alcohol or drugs on the job is one important way to ensure a safe workplace and is particularly important for "safety-sensitive" workers, such as those using heavy equipment or driving trucks or trains. [continues 659 words]
NEW YORK -- Parents know how difficult it is to get teenagers to listen. Compound that with the temptations that abound for teen drug and alcohol abuse and parents can have a daunting problem on their hands. But now, they're getting parenting tips from an unlikely source: the U.S. government. As part of its $200 million anti-drug program, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has created a new campaign of ads. For the first time, ONDCP's anti-drug ads address parents and friends rather than the potential user. [continues 703 words]
I am a 26-year-old single mom of three beautiful girls. Two of my girls attend St. Alphonsus elementary school. I deliver papers in that area at 3 a.m. and I am scared about how many hookers, drug dealers, needles, broken light bulbs used for crack and used condoms there are all over that area and in the apartment building right across the street. The hookers and drug dealers surround my van banging on the windows, trying to sell me weed and sex. [continues 96 words]
Local Law Enforcement Say Laws Would Help Them Some Lawmakers, retailers and law enforcement aren't expecting much backlash from the slew of proposed laws to deter methamphetamine makers in Tennessee. The highly addictive stimulant spread into the region in 1998 and has since gained popularity, including in Montgomery County where 16 meth labs were discovered last year. Each of the approximately 30 bills' cost and practicality are being reviewed in a state legislature joint committee this week and next week -- and many of which might not make it past the committee, said committee member Maggi Duncan. [continues 652 words]
Clarksville police officers are going to earn money to pay for T-shirts for graduates of their drug awareness program one tip at a time. Tip-a-Cop will be at Logan's Roadhouse from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to raise money for for schools' Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. This year, funding for D.A.R.E. T-shirts was cut. Police say the shirts are needed as a reward and to help send a public anti-drug message. [continues 187 words]
Years ago, people with mental health problems were often sent to the state mental hospital in Columbia. "Bull Street" carried a connotation of being crazy and unable to function in society. Most of the Bull Street complex has been closed because of age, said Anna Dozier-Kelly of Georgetown, chairman of the S.C. Mental Health Commission. "Stigma is a big problem," she said. "People call them crazy. Even though they may have a behavior problem, they're still people who need help," she said. "We try to ease the stigma" of mental illness. [continues 1705 words]
Taxpayer Sandra Browning doesn't want to pay for the health care costs of methamphetamine users. She heard about the increased cost of East Tennessee inmates' dental work to repair damage caused by the cheaply made synthetic drug that affects the central nervous system. Browning said a seminar sponsored by Premier Safety to educate people about the dangers of meth will be a great way to increase awareness, so people will know the indicators of meth and assist law enforcement. The class, scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, is open to the public. It will focus on the hazards of meth, the risks of exposure and how to recognize the labs. [continues 442 words]
A drug task force in Kentucky is getting money from the federal government even though its spending practices are under FBI investigation. The Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force in Hopkinsville, Ky., will get $745,125 in grant money this year from the Department of Justice to fight methamphetamine use. On May 12, the FBI in Louisville served a subpoena to Cheyenne Albro, task force director, for records pertaining to the group's past use of grant funding. Patrick Bashore, special agent in the Louisville FBI office, confirmed Friday the task force remains under investigation but did not provide further details. [continues 255 words]
