They are not like other mourners. They are raw. "Hysterical crying," said Jackie Berger, a florist. Some arrive at the other extreme, showing quiet resignation, even relief. "They knew this day was coming," said Frank Lettera, a funeral director. They are the parents and relatives of young men and women who died on Staten Island after overdosing on heroin. The grieving families are passing through the rituals of death in numbers never seen before: a record 72 suspected overdoses so far this year. That number far surpasses the previous record of 41, in 2014. [continues 805 words]
The man entered the Red Robin restaurant inside the Staten Island Mall two minutes after 6 p.m. on a Friday. He walked straight past the booths and tables and entered the men's room. A manager would find him there seven minutes later, lying on the floor with a needle and foaming at the mouth. His name was Jonathan Ayers, 27, and he was declared dead within the hour that evening, Sept. 9, apparently of a heroin overdose. Mr. Ayers's fatal overdose was the latest addition to a body count without precedent. So far in 2016, there have been 71 deaths that appear to be from heroin overdoses on the island, the Richmond County district attorney's office said, already on pace to more than double the record set two years ago. Nine people died of heroin overdoses in a recent 10-day period, prosecutors said. [continues 1789 words]
Medical marijuana patients were generally ignored when the Cannabis Patient Protection Act was up for debate this year. Instead legislators pushing this bill were more concerned with those who would benefit from restrictions on cannabis such as the pharmaceutical industry. The shortsightedness shown by those pushing this legislation may end up costing patients and others, including the state, in the long run. In 1974, medical researchers in Virginia discovered that the compound THC in marijuana killed cancerous tumors in lab animals. That research was reportedly withheld from the American public on orders of the DEA. However change is happening. Recently the National Cancer Institute reported, "Cannabis has been shown to kill cancer cells in the laboratory." Just imagine the benefits to patients and society if that research from 1974 had not been withheld from the public. [continues 108 words]
Re: Colorado's first year lucrative, Business, March 3 We are sandwiched between Alaska and Washington (not to mention Oregon and Colorado), states which have legalized marijuana in the last year. I am not a smoker, but B.C. would definitely benefit from the accumulation of new tax revenue from a change in the pot laws. This revenue could go to help with our ferry crisis, infrastructure decline, school necessities, health care etc. Why is this not happening? Shirley Wilson Pender Island [end]
My "back doctor" appointment went south. I had planned to praise the previously prescribed physical therapy, which had erased my back pain brought on by the onset of arthritis in my knee. I also intended to give away an extra unused prescription so that my doctor could give it to an indigent patient in need. In spite of my injury having occurred on my own time at home and not at work or in an automobile "accident," my insurance provided excellent coverage for my treatment and prescribed medications. [continues 572 words]
Change Policy and Look at Alternative Ways of Combating UK's Drugs Culture, Says Eliza Manningham-Buller The former head of MI5 believes the "war on drugs" has proved fruitless and it is time to consider decriminalising the possession and use of small quantities of cannabis. Eliza Manningham-Buller has backed calls for the government to set up a commission to examine how to tackle the UK's drug culture and consider the highly controversial move of relaxing the law. She was speaking at a meeting held by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform on Thursday where senior government representatives met experts from across the world to consider ways of combating the issue. [continues 318 words]
Do I understand correctly that there are in excess of 160 registered dispensaries in our fair city? (I saw that figure quoted by the representatives of the "industry" following the City Council meeting on Nov. 18). I hazard a guess that there are not that many regular drug stores, liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores or stores of any other such ilk in town. Are there truly so many "addicts", excuse me, "patients" in need of medical marijuana in the Springs? As with any other business, no one goes into it without some thought of profit. Why can these entrepreneurs assume success? Simple questions from a simple man who is naturally losing his thought faculties without the aid of drugs. Howard A. Wilson Colorado Springs [end]
Ventura County drug offenders could get less treatment and have to pay for it themselves if a proposal to ax all funding for the sweeping diversion program known as Proposition 36 is approved. Faced with a historic budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking legislators to eliminate $108 million for the program enrolling 36,000 drug offenders in California. So county officials are looking at new ways to comply with Proposition 36, the initiative state voters enacted in 2000 to divert nonviolent drug offenders into treatment and out of jail. [continues 737 words]
- - Police Say Gun, Ganja Found At Home Two men said yesterday that they were badly beaten by joint services ranks at their Nottinghamshire, Linden home, arrested and then released. Police in a press release issued yesterday evening said the men were in police custody assisting with investigations into the discovery of an unlicensed 12-gauge shotgun and a quantity of marijuana at a house at Nottinghamshire around 23:45 hrs on Thursday. However, when this newspaper spoke with the men at the Linden Hospital Complex, they were with their relatives seeking medical attention and were not under police guard. [continues 381 words]
But, Despite Protections Under State Law, Access to Drug Remains an Issue The number of medical marijuana patients in Hawai'i has grown 87 percent in the past two years, with the biggest gains on Maui and the Big Island. According to the state Department of Public Safety, 4,200 patients were registered state-wide as of June 30, with 444 more signing up since then. One reason for the increase is that more doctors have been certifying patients for the program, according to Keith Kamita, head of the department's Narcotics Enforcement Division. Still, a relatively few physicians account for most of the state's medical marijuana patients, he said. One Big Island doctor, for example, accounts for about half of the total certified patients statewide. [continues 1332 words]
PA'IA, Maui -- The head of a medical marijuana advocacy group on Maui and six other men have been charged with running a drug trafficking ring. The suspects were arrested Tuesday following a two-year investigation surrounding the Patients Without Time organization located on Baldwin Avenue in Pa'ia, said Capt. Gerald Matsunaga of the Maui Police Department. As part of the investigation dubbed Operation Weedkiller, Maui police, assisted by other county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, recovered more than 335 plants, nearly 16 pounds of marijuana, a small amount of hashish and more than $14,000 in cash from several homes and businesses, he said. [continues 778 words]
Initiative to Require More Treatment Ventura County is laying plans to deal with hundreds if not thousands more offenders bound for drug treatment if a little-noticed measure known as Proposition 5 passes on Election Day. A special panel of county and court officials met Monday, as it's been doing monthly since July, to discuss the possible repercussions of the initiative dubbed the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, or NORA. The initiative has drawn comparatively few television commercials or polling. But with less than a year to prepare for implementation of the sweeping measure, drug treatment agencies in the state's large counties are laying groundwork. [continues 500 words]
Life without heroin didn't look good to Melinda Greene. The Ventura woman used the narcotic for 16 years, turning over her children for others to raise and serving time in prison. Then in mid-2005, her body shrunken to 98 pounds as she mourned her fiance's death, the forces collided. She was tired of her addict's life when authorities gave her the choice of treatment or two more years in prison for heroin possession. "I gave up," she recalled. "I said, I'm through.'" [continues 1521 words]
Roderick Moore Previously Convicted Of Drug Counts In Caddo A former Shreveport police officer who was convicted in Caddo Parish for supplying strippers with drugs in exchange for sexual favors has admitted to seven drug charges in Bossier Parish. Roderick "Ricky" Moore pleaded guilty as charged Friday in Bossier District Court to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, methadone, marijuana, oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam and lorazepam, according to the Bossier district attorney's office. Two days prior, the 53-year-old pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. [continues 308 words]
Re: 'Legit grower takes helm at pot club' (Daily News, June 19) As a "legal" medical marijuana user, I applaud the courage of these people who are taking on the "establishment," in order to provide relief to other sufferers. I know all too well the problems medical marijuana users face, from being unable to access the medication that works, to being forced to utilize "legal" drugs, to being ostracized by the community. When you consider that marijuana is a very benign medication compared to oxycontin or morphine, with far fewer side effects and much less cost, it baffles me why so many people are against it. [continues 66 words]
A MAN who grew a ?10,000 cannabis farm escaped with a ?150 fine after claiming that smoking the drug eased his cravings for heroin. Today, a top politician slammed the sentence as "soft" while a leading town detective called for consistency in punishing drug criminals. John Arnold, 42, appeared at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court after police uncovered his stash of cannabis plants during a search on his former home in Jesmond Gardens. Our picture shows the ?10,000 crop of 41 mature plants that were found during a police raid on the property on January 11. [continues 433 words]
ASHEVILLE- Youth in Western North Carolina appear to have a serious prescription drug problem. More WNC high school students reported taking prescription drugs without a doctor's permission than students in any other region of the state. About 25 percent of WNC high schoolers said they have used medicine such as OxyContin, Percocet, Adderall or Xanax for recreational use one or more times during their life, compared to about 17 percent in the central and eastern regions of the state, according to a 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by N.C. Healthy Schools. [continues 1284 words]
'It's Only Beginning' As the child of a drug addict, Angela Coronado couldn't trust her mother to show up at school events or take her shopping. "Our relationship was really nothing," said Angela, 17. Her mom, Tina Benavente, began smoking methamphetamine heavily in the beginning of the decade and by 2002 was drifting on the streets trying desperately to score more of the drug. She took Angela and her two younger brothers to live in a motel room with their grandmother so they wouldn't be homeless with her. "I was so far gone into drug use, that's where most of my check was going," Benavente said. [continues 2446 words]
Like a lot of folks in this country I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck I am required to pass a random drug test, which I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a drug test. Shouldn't one have to pass a drug test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for them? [continues 71 words]
While legitimate concerns prevail among patients and dispensaries involving the reliability of California's medical marijuana ID card program, a thorough discussion of the ongoing confusion must include the motives behind the federal government's refusal to cooperate with the state. The federal government's stance hinders medical research, stalls meaningful legislation and clings to marijuana prohibition. Repealing marijuana prohibition allows all states to comply with approved medical protocol and accepted standards of distribution for medical marijuana. Why is the federal government stalling? According to FBI estimates, upward of 80 percent of all drug arrests are exclusively marijuana: Taking marijuana out of the drug war equation leaves 3 million to 4 million addicts of heroin, cocaine or meth. [continues 88 words]
Repealing federal marijuana prohibition would allow all states to comply with approved medical protocol and accepted standards of distribution for medical marijuana. Why is the federal government stalling? According to FBI estimates, upwards of 80 percent of all drug arrests are exclusively for marijuana: Taking marijuana out of the drug-war equation would leave fewer than 3 million to 4 million addicts of heroin, cocaine or meth across the entire nation. Anti-marijuana forces are left with an inflated battle cry regarding authentic levels of addiction and quantities of illegal drugs crossing U.S. borders. The federal government is clearly addicted to marijuana prohibition; consequently, its policies reflect an indifference to the will of the people and the medical necessity of patients. John Wilson Lafayette, LA [end]
Nobel laureate Professor Milton Friedman said in 1991, "Under prohibition of alcohol, deaths from alcohol poisoning, from poisoning by things that were mixed in with the bootleg alcohol, went up sharply. Similarly, under drug prohibition, deaths from overdose, from adulterations, from adulterated substances have gone up." He remains resolutely against prohibition and not on libertarian but economic and moral grounds. You would do well to listen to this voice of reason. Richard Wilson, Bicester, Oxfordshire [end]
A new University of Hawai'i medical study suggests a link between methamphetamine use and cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Use of the highly addictive stimulant, also known as crystal meth, batu and ice, killed 52 people in the Islands last year and brought notoriety to the state as one of the top methamphetamine trouble spots in the United States. Dr. Khung-Keong Yeo, one of the researchers involved in the study, said the results were no surprise, as there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of how the illegal drug can ravage the body and cause behavior and psychiatric changes. [continues 358 words]
President Bush's health care plan must include safe and legal access to cannabis therapy, or it is of little use to me and the majority of patients at Americans for Safe Access. ASA, at www.safeaccessnow.org/ , is not asking for government subsidies like the tobacco industry. In fact, it would please ASA if the president would do what he could to stop the surge of Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. John Wilson Lafayette [end]
The Editor, Sir: There in the darkness of the cool Jamaica night, veiled, are an old man and woman crouched over with a lighter, a spoon, and the poison in the middle. I took a second look, and it was my cousin whom I didn't recognise. The other, was also a friend of mine. From what I have observed, Jamaica is equipped with facilities which house addicts for a stint of anywhere between six months up to a year. Though this process is an integral key in the fight against dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine, it is only one quarter of the answer. [continues 168 words]
I respectfully challenge the Times' editorial coverage of the meth problem. A docudrama, moving youngsters to tears, is touted as an effective tool of prevention and endorsed by members of law enforcement. I disagree with your summation, as do the members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). I invite the Times to critique a video from LEAP at http:/leap.cc/. Listen to ranking members of state and federal drug task forces telling audiences why they no longer support the war on drugs. LEAP's video provides rational insights for responsible solutions to drug abuse rather than a flashy sequel to "Reefer Madness." [continues 78 words]
The identities and career paths of the police officers involved in Saturday's fatal shooting of an unarmed bridegroom in Queens began to slowly come into focus yesterday, revealing a handpicked team of officers responsible for several hundred arrests between them without ever having fired a round in the line of duty. The first to open fire Saturday is a 28-year-old black man of Haitian descent who lives with his mother in Brooklyn. One officer is white, a 12-year veteran, who has made by one account more than 600 arrests. And a third, the youngest, recently transferred to the team after four years working in Midtown Manhattan where he was known for his wit, street smarts and dry sense of humor. [continues 1026 words]
It is an upside-down kind of police work, the opposite of the men and women in blue on sunny streets. There is no uniform, and often no gun, no badge, no bulletproof vest, no radio car with lights and sirens. Instead, officers drive rental cars and are armed with city-issued money and a two-drink limit. Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Interactive Graphic A Fatal Police Shooting in Queens Undercover police work in the city's nightclubs is a dangerous and vulnerable assignment, the sort of work assigned to the new citywide Club Enforcement Initiative. That unit is under new scrutiny after a police shooting outside a Queens strip club shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday. [continues 934 words]
It is known in police parlance as "contagious shooting" -- gunfire that spreads among officers who believe that they, or their colleagues, are facing a threat. It spreads like germs, like laughter, or fear. An officer fires, so his colleagues do, too. The phenomenon appears to have happened last year, when eight officers fired 43 shots at an armed man in Queens, killing him. In July, three officers fired 26 shots at a pit bull that had bitten a chunk out of an officer's leg in a Bronx apartment building. And there have been other episodes: in 1995, in the Bronx, officers fired 125 bullets during a bodega robbery, with one officer firing 45 rounds. [continues 1342 words]
Conservationists have every right to be outraged about the harm to the environment that results from marijuana growth. I share their anger, but my anger is directed at federal legislators who refuse to do little more than throw recreational hikers and arrest warrants at a chaotic marijuana policy that rewards growers while trashing the environment on Mount Diablo. Love it, hate it or show indifference about marijuana policy in the United States, but know this: Marijuana is not the problem. Prohibition is the problem: It artificially inflates the price of marijuana, making it worth its weight in gold. And just like strip miners on American Indian land, drug war profiteers will continue raping the environment because prohibition makes doing so very profitable. [continues 88 words]
I applaud Karen Hayes and the Campbellsville/Taylor County Anti-Drug Coalition for its efforts in alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention in the community. Karen's recent article regarding marijuana was very appropriate. Yes, it is true, a person probably won't die from smoking a joint. However, marijuana remains a gateway drug for many of our young people. Teens don't usually begin their drug use by using cocaine, methamphetamine or ecstasy. Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are the drugs of choice for our young people. [continues 216 words]
When news broke a fortnight ago that two undergraduates had been arrested in connection with a nude, acid-fueled spectacle in the corridors of Quincy House's C-entry, one could have been forgiven for checking the calendar. Yes, it was 2006, not 1966 -- yet once again, the banks of the Charles were playing host to psychedelic excess. Thirty-eight hits' worth of excess, to be precise -- the number that the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) allegedly found in the room of Soren J. Siebach '08, as first reported in a February 25 article on the Crimson's website. The other arrestee, whom HUPD has not yet named, was hospitalized for drug treatment after assaulting two officers; naked and "acting in an aggressive and threatening manner," in the words of police logs, he initially eluded capture because his skin was too sweaty to seize. [continues 4218 words]
Stratford's police drug-enforcement unit drug bust of Jan. 30 was good news in the battle against ever-increasing crime and vandalism in Perth County. Police Chief Jerry McEwin and his force are to be congratulated. A quick but incomplete glance through the local papers revealed a few incidents which helps describe the magnitude of the problem facing our community. On Dec. 2, 2005, Perth OPP stopped a car driving 116 km/h in an 80-km/h zone. In the trunk were found cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy pills, hash oil, cash and a handgun. [continues 367 words]
At least four of the six victims of possible drug overdoses in Lower Manhattan appear to have used a combination of heroin and cocaine, the police said yesterday. It remained unclear whether the drugs were tainted with a lethal ingredient, or if the potency was high enough to be deadly. On Tuesday, the police and health department officials announced that at least six people had died, possibly from drug overdoses, in Lower Manhattan in a five-day period, and that tainted drugs might have been involved. There were no new cases added to the list yesterday. [continues 216 words]
The police and health officials are investigating the deaths of six people who they say appear to have overdosed on heroin in Lower Manhattan in the last week, prompting fears that a lethal batch of opiates is being sold in New York City. The victims include two 18-year-old college students found unconscious in an East Houston Street apartment on Friday, as well as homeless men. The police are investigating whether the six people possibly obtained tainted drugs from the same source, and health workers and police officers have been sent into the streets to warn the public. [continues 1141 words]
New Police Sub-Station A Possibility City of Amory officials want to meet with West Amory citizens to discuss more policing in that neighborhood in an effort to stop loitering and drug activities. West Amory resident John Hilliard appeared before the Board of Aldermen at their regularly scheduled meeting last Tuesday night telling them about some of the problems he experiences, almost daily. Hilliard lives beside the gymnasium at West Amory Elementary School and he says: "There's a big problem. Dope is destroying the children over there." [continues 578 words]
Why has Jasper County continued to lead in the state, and the state lead the nation, in meth labs? Could it be because our sheriff's office is undermanned, underpaid and underequipped? The majority of meth labs are found outside city limits where they can be operated unnoticed. The smell isn't detected as easily in the country as it is in town. Ninety percent of crimes committed in the cities of Jasper County are drug-related, and the drug is meth. [continues 241 words]
INDIANAPOLIS -- Police investigators must have reason to suspect that a crime has been committed before they can search curbside trash for evidence, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled. The justices set limits on both police powers and privacy rights in their 5-0 decision Thursday. People cannot reasonably expect their trash to remain private once it is set out for collection, the court held, but that does not give police the freedom to search it indiscriminately. "The citizen expects that trash to be collected and has effectively ceded all rights in it," Justice Theodore Boehm wrote in the 11-page ruling. But, he added, "Allowing random searches, or searches of those individuals whom the officers hope to find in possession of incriminating evidence gives excessive discretion to engage in fishing expeditions." The case involved a July 2002 state police search of two trash barrels on property belonging to Patrick and Susan May Litchfield of rural Marshall County. The couple's address was on a list provided by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration of Indiana residents who had received shipments from a gardening supply store that had advertised in High Times, a magazine about marijuana culture. [continues 143 words]
Young Aborigines in Arnhem Land are spending up to two-thirds of their income on cannabis after the drug exploded in popularity across Top End indigenous communities in the late 1990s. A new study into the high rate of cannabis use in Arnhem Land found that drug-related financial pressures had led to widespread violence and intimidation among families, with Aboriginal communities spending about $1 in every $6 on cannabis. The study by the Menzies School of Health Research found cannabis had also added to existing patterns of other substance abuse in Arnhem Land, including petrol-sniffing and amphetamines. [continues 438 words]
Halphen joins other officers in wake of Thursday's shooting. Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen was the first officer to confront the shooting suspect whom three officers later opened fire on Thursday near a busy intersection. The three officers, whose names are being withheld, were tested for drugs and alcohol and placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation. Halphen also was tested but returned to the office Friday, doing business as usual, Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale said. [continues 773 words]
David Daniels calls it a sickness. As president of the Yugul Mangi council in southeast Arnhem Land, he is worried about the strong demand for drugs in Top End Aboriginal communities and the amount of money changing hands. And he should know. One of his nephews is an alleged dealer. "It's easy money out here," Mr Daniels said. "Real easy money. The blokes who sell it are making a fortune." With cannabis taking hold in remote communities, the dealers are making a killing. Drugs, like food and everyday supplies, sell at much higher prices than in metropolitan areas. [continues 435 words]
MIAMI -- A former Haitian anti-drug chief and an owner of a Haitian freighter pleaded innocent to drug charges Monday as U.S. investigators probe official protection for Colombian cocaine shipped through the Caribbean nation on its way to Miami. Former anti-drug chief Evintz Brillant is charged with conspiracy, while freighter owner Elin Napoleon is facing four drug and conspiracy counts. Both face possible life sentences. Brillant, 32, is accused of conspiring with former Haitian national police commander Rudy Therassan. [continues 240 words]
I am an enrolled, card-carrying, President Bush- and war-in-Iraq-supporting conservative. You might expect me -- a lawyer, former prosecutor and law chairman of the Bronx County chapter of the state Conservative Party -- to oppose legislation allowing the medicinal use of marijuana. You would be wrong. Many conservatives like me strongly support the medicinal use of marijuana, mostly because we have seen firsthand how medical marijuana can help desperately ill people. My brother-in-law, John Holmberg, was a decent, hardworking man who was making plans for his future. He was working for the Postal Service by day and studying to become an engineer at night when his dreams and his life were cut short at the age of 40, in March 2002, after a two-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. [continues 401 words]
David Crosby, the veteran rock musician who has long spoken of overcoming the drug abuse that led to his imprisonment and liver transplant, was arrested early yesterday in a Times Square hotel after an employee found marijuana, a loaded pistol and two knives in his bag, the police said. Mr. Crosby and the band he is currently touring with, CPR, had performed at the B. B. King Blues Club and Grill on 42nd Street on Thursday night, and in Wayne, N.J., on Friday night. He had checked out of his room at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel on Broadway, but left behind a suitcase, and an employee searching it for identification found about an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers, a hunting knife, a folding knife and a .45-caliber handgun, the police said. [continues 453 words]
Many years ago, I wrote to support legalizing drugs with federal and state control on the order of ABC stores but with physicians regulating the drugs and the treatment. Drugs would become so cheap that illegal trafficking wouldn't be profitable. After the proper facilities were set up with very cheap drugs for most and free for the needy addicts and drug therapy for all, the illegal trade would dry up. This would eliminate the need for many drug-regulating bureaus and thousands of policemen. [continues 212 words]
Case Related To 9-11 Under Seal MIAMI - An Algerian waiter who may have served Sept. 11 hijackers. Drug informants who dished out dirt on the upper echelon of a Colombian drug cartel. An interstate prostitution ring. All of these are examples of cases moving through the federal court system either completely or partially in secret. And while some secrecy has always been part of the process, defense attorneys, civil libertarians and news media say the federal courts are going too far in closing their work to the public, particularly in terrorism and drug cases. [continues 641 words]
MIAMI -- Two jurors were sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison for taking bribes to acquit two reputed cocaine kingpins in the biggest vote-buying scandal of its kind. Gloria Alba and Maria Penalver admitted tainting the verdict for Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon nearly eight years ago in the only known federal trial with more than one corrupt juror. Alba pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for taking $300,000 of a promised $1 million. Penalver, who pleaded guilty to obstruction conspiracy, received about $20,000. [continues 588 words]
Re: methadone clinic opinion of Linda Morris [Nov. 2]: While the scenario presented by Morris certainly warrants some compassion, this one isolated case does not constitute at all the placement of a methadone clinic anywhere in Horry County. With a minimum amount of research, one can easily see just what a deterrent these clinics can be and are, not only for the community, but for the people who are supposedly assisted by methadone. In sworn testimony given by Michael J. Chitwood, chief of police, before Sen. Susan Collins in Bangor, Maine, in August, Chitwood clearly demonstrates abuses of methadone in his community and the state of Maine. [continues 227 words]
The problem of substance abuse did not happen in one week nor is it going to be solved in one week. Each school across the Coast has different projects to educate our children on the dangers of drug abuse. A very creative event called "black out" took place Monday at Long Beach High School. A guest speaker talked to the students about the dangers of drinking and driving and told them that every 15 minutes a person dies due to a drunk driver. Every 15 minutes throughout the day a student was pulled out of class and their face was painted white; wiping them out. The students who were wiped out could not talk or be talked to. The students really got involved. These efforts are to be commended. [continues 257 words]
Cannabis should be assessed for its benefits and risks like any potential medicine, says Marlborough's medical officer of drug and alcohol services. Blenheim GP Rod Bird was commenting in response to a Green Party national survey showing one third of doctors believe they should be able to prescribe cannabis for medical purposes. The survey of 500 registered doctors, 45 percent of whom responded, showed 10 percent of doctors had patients they felt could benefit from medicinal cannabis, 20 percent had patients they knew used cannabis medicinally and 32 percent would consider prescribing cannabis if it were legal to do so. [continues 478 words]
