ATLANTA - President Obama, confronting a national epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse, met here Tuesday with recovering addicts, doctors and law enforcement officials to underscore his determination to tackle a problem some critics say he left until too late in his administration. "We are seeing more people killed because of opioid overdose than from traffic accidents - I mean, think about that," Mr. Obama said at a meeting of the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit. "It has to be something right up at the top of our radar screen." [continues 985 words]
Re: "Straight talk about heroin - We've got the epidemic all wrong, Maia Szalavitz says," March 20 Points. All of the dangerous myths about heroin that Szalavitz points out are important. The drug war is built on lies and misconceptions. It is most important to discredit the myth that "Tough love is the only thing that works. Programs that distribute clean needles and overdose-reversal drugs prolong addiction." Addition is most often an adaption to overwhelming trauma. The majority of injection drug users were abused as children. This can cause lifelong self-hatred. Even the man who started drug prohibition, Harry Anslinger, admitted it: Addicts often "grow up in homes that are not homes, with parents that are not parents, [so] they seek escape. Girl or boy, this is a familiar pattern." [continues 55 words]
I saw the headline of a Yahoo News story that groups or gangs (Mexican? Criminal?) were accumulating marijuana in bulk amounts in Colorado and shipping the bulk amounts to "dry" states for a big profit. Do you know anything about this? - -EK Dude. Calm down. Maybe you are unaware of how the weed game works. You seem to have the "accumulating marijuana in bulk and shipping the bulk amounts to 'dry' states for a big profit" part, but maybe you don't understand that this is done by people from all walks of life, not just "Mexican criminal" groups. [continues 412 words]
Prison Reform Measures Have Helped Lower Rates of Incarceration Half of the Nation's Prison Population Has Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders For-Profit Companies Are Maneuvering for Contracts With Cash-Strapped States Nancy Reagan's recent death was a reminder of the shallow moralizing of the Just Say No anti-drug campaign she once championed. Thankfully, attitudes have changed. We're more attuned to the fact that untreated mental health issues are often a precursor to drug use. Nancy's slogan to fight peer pressure won't help much there. [continues 676 words]
Nancy Reagan's recent death was a reminder of the shallow moralizing of the Just Say No anti-drug campaign she once championed. Thankfully, attitudes have changed. We're more attuned to the fact that untreated mental health issues are often a precursor to drug use. Nancy's slogan to fight peer pressure won't help much there. Most people realize that the War on Drugs, begun under Nixon, has failed. And there's growing public awareness that we've let our jails and prisons become warehouses for people who need treatment - and who needed it long before they took a criminal turn. [continues 628 words]
Nancy Reagan's recent death was a reminder of the shallow moralizing of the Just Say No anti-drug campaign she once championed. Thankfully, attitudes have changed. We're more attuned to the fact that untreated mental health issues often are a precursor to drug use. Nancy's slogan won't help much there. Most people realize that the war on drugs, begun under President Richard Nixon, has failed. And there's growing public awareness that we've let our jails and prisons become warehouses for people who need treatment - and who needed it long before they took a criminal turn. [continues 417 words]
Grapevine Police Join Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative Nonprofit Organization Works With Local Police and Opioid Addicts Treatment Centers Are Better Than Jail We all learned about the effects of illegal drugs in health class, from TV and parents. We've watched fictional drug addicts on anything from Orange is the New Black to Elementary. We all know that drugs are bad, and drug dealers are even worse. We want both off the streets and away from kids. In those worst-case scenarios, a teenager becomes addicted to drugs. He or she gets arrested for drug possession and then has a criminal record. [continues 286 words]
If You Don't Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard, Then Probably Not Last week, I wrote about the need for research into the positive effects of marijuana. I chose this as my first topic because of how important I believe it to be. If I had to list in order of importance that would be issue 1A and issue 1B would be the decriminalization of marijuana. This is another area where progress has been made, but there is still much work ahead. [continues 456 words]
Dear Stoner: What's the best container for pot? I see all these expensive jars but have yet to find anything that works better than my $2 Mason jar. Quail Dear Quail: For some sad reason, many potheads fail to see your wisdom. Maybe people just get bored with Mason jars and want to switch things up after staring at the same container for years, but I really don't get it. Smoke shops and dispensaries alike use fancy jars with "pop and seal" technology, or stackable plastic containers with nothing more than a screw top, and while they might look a little cooler than a boring Mason jar, they don't come close to keeping the air out as well. I've had $20 pop-and-seal jars that let my weed get dry just as fast as a pill bottle, and since then I've stayed true to my mini-sized Mason. Still, it's a lot of fun to walk into a home-goods store like Bed Bath & Beyond or the Container Store and casually say, "I'm looking for something to store my marijuana." Even if you just want Mason jars, it's worth the look on an employee's face. [continues 233 words]
Young teens who smoke pot may wind up with brains that look strikingly different from those who start using marijuana later in their lives, a new study reports. Early pot use may alter the physical development of a young teen's brain. It seems to obstruct the natural process by which the body eliminates unneeded neurons and synaptic connections, the researchers reported. As a result, the brains of people who started smoking pot younger than age 16 tend to have fewer surface wrinkles and folds in the outer layer of the brain, also known as the cerebral cortex, said study lead author Francesca Filbey. She is chair of behavioral and brain sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health. [continues 635 words]
Young teens who smoke pot may wind up with brains that look strikingly different from those who start using marijuana later in their lives, a new study reports. Early pot use may alter the physical development of a young teen's brain. It seems to obstruct the natural process by which the body eliminates unneeded neurons and synaptic connections, the researchers reported. As a result, the brains of people who started smoking pot younger than age 16 tend to have fewer surface wrinkles and folds in the outer layer of the brain, also known as the cerebral cortex, said study lead author Francesca Filbey. She is chair of behavioral and brain sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health. [continues 634 words]
It is the age of the vape. On our streets and in (some) of our buildings, bros and girls of all ages are pulling on propylene-glycol-powered tubes, and in Washington, clouds of vapor are replacing the proverbial smoke-filled room. Last month, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego), a 39-year-old ex-military man, vaped on the floor of the House during a debate over banning e-cigarettes on planes. He lost his rhetorical point, and e-cigs were added to the list of banned devices on flights. Shortly thereafter, the e-cig vote appeared: Signs boldly proclaiming "I Vape I Vote" appeared at Donald Trump rallies in Texas. A few weeks later, on Feb. 24, Hunter became the first House member to endorse Trump. [continues 720 words]
Let me quote a few lines from a Vancouver Province newspaper editorial from Friday, March 5, 1965: "It began with a few pounds of heroin...seizure of 76 pounds of pure heroin at Laredo Texas. That amount of heroin diluted and broken into small lots for 'pushing' in the underworld market is estimated to be worth $56 million when sold to addicts... its legal worth in the pharmaceutical trade is about $30 an ounce. In their futile endeavors to prohibit the use of narcotics North American legislators are maintaining an illicit traffic that guarantees its participants $1,500 for every dollar invested. It is no wonder the dope trade is never at a loss for recruits. [continues 227 words]
City's Police Joining Efforts to Treat Addicts Instead of Jailing Them GRAPEVINE - Imagine a drug user walking into a police station and handing over his drugs and paraphernalia. But instead of police putting the addict behind bars, the would-be criminal is taken to a treatment facility to get help - without any charges being filed. That's the essence of a new nationwide initiative coming soon to at least one North Texas police department. Grapevine officials, stung by some drug-related deaths in recent years, said Wednesday that they will soon begin participating in the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, or PAARI. The program takes a more compassionate approach toward drug users by treating addiction as a disease rather than simply a crime. [continues 824 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - An election-year Senate fight is brewing over a bipartisan bill targeting heroin and opioid abuse that Democrats say needs another ingredient: more money. Senators voted, 89 to 0, Monday to begin considering the legislation, setting the stage for a showdown over an amendment by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, providing $600 million in immediate antidrug spending. Her proposal seems doomed for defeat by Republicans, who control the chamber and say Congress has already approved plenty of money for such programs that remains unspent. [continues 171 words]
Legalization's Coming, They Say, and So Are the Potential Opportunities FORT WORTH - There was a day when you'd have been considered under the influence to think that Texas might ever legalize marijuana. Lawrence Jenkins/Special Contributor "the 'Green rush' is going to happen," said San Antonio lawyer Daniel Mehler, who stood out in a pot-leaf-patterned suit at the cannabis expo in Fort Worth. But this weekend, an event dedicated to that very notion drifted into the Fort Worth Convention Center. [continues 419 words]
If the drugs seized by regional agents are any indication of what substances are flowing on the streets of Yuba-Sutter, then marijuana is booming and methamphetamine is making a comeback. The annual report for the Yuba-Sutter gang and drug enforcement team NET-5 offers a glimpse into local drug trends in the last few years. Methamphetamine continues to be the drug most affecting area residents, the report says, and the prevalence of the drug is slowly creeping back up after legislation effectively cut supplies five years ago. [continues 439 words]
Racism and Ignorance Are Behind Illicit Drug Prohibition The federal Liberal government's campaign pledge to legalize marijuana has come under scrutiny as the long-standing debate over drug prohibition continues. The focus of this debate is often on avoiding usage among youth, or on the health and social effects of cannabis. What is often overlooked is the racist roots of laws that prohibit the use of marijuana and other illicit drugs, which continue to disproportionately target poor people of colour both in Canada and the U.S.. [continues 926 words]
Billionaire warlords, who started as small-time weed smugglers, have swathes of Latin America under their bloody rule, and the chaos is creeping north. But, says IOAN GRILLO, they owe their power to white-collar crooks from the States, who first set up their deadly networks A chain of crime wars is currently strangling Latin America and the Caribbean, drenching it in blood. And the first link in the chain is found in the US. Specifically, in a Barnes and Noble bookshop in a mall in El Paso, Texas. [continues 2430 words]
MORE US adults are using marijuana now that some states have either decided to decriminalise the use of dagga or legalise the possession of it, a review published yesterday in the Journal of Addiction Medicine says. And data from the US National Survey of Drug Use and Health says marijuana use has increased significantly among US adults in the past decade. The trend seems to have begun before 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalise marijuana. Teen use has not increased but researchers warn "young people's perceptions of the risks of using marijuana have decreased, suggesting they might be more likely to start using marijuana in future". [continues 118 words]
I'm passing a joint at The Joint and pondering while on pot. Through hazy eyes I watched FoxNews coverage of the armed takeover of a federal building in Oregon, feeling helpless. I've decided to do something about it here in Trenton. I think I'm going to take over the front steps of the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Building and United States Courthouse located on the next block from The Joint on State Street. Ummm next week or the week after, hum, or when I get off this couch. (In my "Jay and Silent Bob" voice:) Dude... not in solidary with those fools in Oregon, but just the opposite. [continues 1386 words]
"They didn't even call me," says Dennis Peron, perched on one of the fold-up chairs arranged around his Castro District kitchen table on a recent evening. "Why not even call?" "They" are the people who are continuing Peron's work, his life's mission: to make marijuana legal. At 70, his hair white and his speech still rapid but softened by a stroke, Peron has been at it for almost 40 years - ever since he arrived in San Francisco fresh from Vietnam, his Air Force duffel bag stuffed with southeast Asian ganja. And his body bears the scars. [continues 824 words]
Mexican Border City Grapples With Possibility of Legalizing Marijuana Mexico's Supreme Court ruled this fall that individuals have the right to grow marijuana for personal use, but on the border many are divided over the issue. Some in this border city, which became a bloody battleground for rival drug cartels fighting for lucrative smuggling routes to the U.S., say they believe decriminalizing marijuana will reduce violence. "Drug trafficking would go down and there would be fewer people involved in violence," said Raul Parra, a nursing student in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua--on the U.S.-Mexican border across from El Paso, Texas. [continues 265 words]
WASHINGTON - On the stump, Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina regularly recount struggles within their own families over drug addiction. A viral video of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking about the overdose death of a close friend gave his campaign a boost in the Granite State. But even as they strike powerful emotional chords about the toll of drug abuse, a review of candidates' statements and policy outlines shows that few offer concrete proposals to combat the national scourge of opiate addiction. [continues 1108 words]
Citing and releasing those caught with small amounts is a good idea, William R. Kelly writes As someone who studies the effectiveness of criminal justice policies, I rarely can applaud a specific policy in Texas. But I could do just that for a new pilot program taking shape in Dallas. The Dallas City Council is considering a program of ticketing rather than arresting individuals caught in possession of 4 ounces or less of marijuana. The procedure, known as cite and release, involves the police issuing a ticket to the offender, much like the procedure used for traffic violations. The ticket is a promise to appear in court on a particular date and time. [continues 580 words]
Drug overdoses are driving up the death rate of young white adults in the United States to levels not seen since the end of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago - a turn of fortune that stands in sharp contrast to falling death rates for young blacks, a New York Times analysis of death certificates has found. The rising death rates for those young white adults, ages 25 to 34, make them the first generation since the Vietnam War years of the mid-1960s to experience higher death rates in early adulthood than the generation that preceded it. [continues 1223 words]
What's with all of these new cultivation bans popping up all over the place? - -Russ Tick You can thank the state Legislature for this. In the zeal to pass some sort of statewide comprehensive medical cannabis regulations last year, it somehow overlooked a provision stating that if cities and counties didn't have their own laws in place by March 1, the state would assume control. So now we have a flurry of bans, and not just for growing pot. Cities are banning all sorts of cannabis business, from storefronts to delivery services. [continues 405 words]
An investigation involving several law enforcement agencies ended in police seizing nearly 250 pounds of marijuana from three men, including a California sheriff's deputy, last week, York County District Attorney Tom Kearney said Monday. Police laid out dozens of bags of marijuana, fanned-out $100 and $20 bills, a handgun and other items during a news conference Monday at the Penn Township municipal offices. The evidence was seized during the West Manheim Township drug bust. Kearney commended the York County Drug Task Force and Penn Township, Springettsbury Township, Hanover Borough and York Area Regional police departments for working together on the investigation that resulted in the arrest of the California deputy and two other men. [continues 747 words]
America has been awash in Prohibition-era nostalgia of late, with speakeasy-style bars, artisanal moonshine and "bootlegger balls" proliferating from New York to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Los Angeles, where revelers in period dress will pack that city's 1930s Union Station to ring in the New Year. But in her new book, "The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State" (W. W. Norton), the historian Lisa McGirr tells anything but a nostalgic story. The 18th Amendment, she argues, didn't just give rise to vibrant night life and colorful, Hollywood-ready characters, like Isidor Einstein, New York's celebrated "Prohibition Agent No. 1." More enduringly, and tragically, it also radically expanded the federal government's role in law enforcement, with consequences that can be seen in the crowded prisons of today. [continues 983 words]
Yuba County Deputy on Leave After Being Jailed in Pennsylvania A Yuba-Sutter drug task force agent is suspected of illegally transporting 200 pounds of marijuana while on vacation in Pennsylvania. Officials said Yuba County sheriff's Deputy Christopher "Mark" Heath, 37, was arrested Monday by the York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit in York, Pa., on suspicion of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance. He was booked into jail in York County and released Tuesday night after posting $1 million bail. York County sheriff's Lt. Gregory Ickler said Heath contacted a bail bondsman Tuesday and likely paid a bond of between 5 and 10 percent. There was no inquiry into where the funds came from, he said. [continues 414 words]
A federal appeals court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case of a Texan suing the Drug Enforcement Administration for using his 18-wheeler without permission for a drug cartel sting that ended in Houston with an informant fatally shot while driving the truck. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, is scheduled to take the case in February. Lawyers for Craig Patty are hoping the court will reverse a decision by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal that Patty should get nothing from the DEA for secretly using his truck, which was shot with bullets, including those that killed Lawrence Chapa, who was behind the wheel. [continues 526 words]
DENVER - The $3.5 billion U.S. marijuana market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the growing facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover such things as tracking individual plants, package labeling and advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 724 words]
Re: "A Smarter Use of Time" Dallas should try citations over jail for pot," Dec.14 Editorials. According to FBI figures, national crime clearance rates in 2013 were abysmally low. In several cases in Dallas County in recent years, there were tragic consequences because officers did not respond quickly enough to calls. Police officers lose several hours of availability while transporting and booking suspects for nonviolent crimes. Suspects spend an average of 10 days in jail at a cost of about $60 per day. Only three Texas counties have adopted the cite-and-summons option since 2007: Travis, Hays and Midland. In all three, authorities encourage officers to use it. [continues 91 words]
DENVER -- Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1060 words]
At 9:10 a.m. Friday, the intercom blared at the federal prison here as Weldon Angelos walked the track on this sprawling campus of drab gray buildings in California's Central Valley. The booming voice of a prison official called an inmate to the main office. About 25 minutes later, the official came on the intercom again, summoning another prisoner. Angelos knew exactly what was happening. The prisoners had heard a rumor the night before that President Obama might grant early release to certain drug offenders before he left Washington for the holidays. Angelos was excited, anxious. This was it. The lucky inmates on Obama's list were being called inside to take phone calls from their attorneys, who would tell them the good news. [continues 1532 words]
Growing Market Cannabis Industry Canceling Out Efforts for Low-Carbon Footprint Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1078 words]
Colorado Pot Facilities Used As Much Energy As 35,000 Homes in 2014. Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most powerhungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover issues from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1053 words]
Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 948 words]
Third Time This Year Obama Has Commuted Terms Under Initiative President Obama commuted the sentences of 95 drug offenders Friday, more than double the number he granted this summer, in an effort to give relief to drug offenders who were harshly sentenced in the nation's war on drugs. It is the third time this year that Obama has used his unique clemency power to release federal drug offenders, whose harsh sentences have contributed to the phenomenon of mass incarceration. The commutations are a centerpiece of the president's effort to make the most significant changes in the nation's criminal justice system in decades. He and former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. have spoken passionately about the need to fix what they say is a broken system - one they argue has subjected too many nonviolent inmates to decades behind bars, disproportionately hurting minority communities. [continues 1185 words]
Dallas Should Try Citations Over Jail for Pot David Brown is Dallas' police chief and, as such, admits he has mixed feelings when the question is whether his officers should write citations instead of booking into jail those arrested for small amounts of marijuana. You can see how this might be. The cop in Brown sees minor busts as one more tool to develop informants or just information that might lead to bigger busts. Every arrest is potential leverage over a suspect, even if it's just an ounce or two of weed. [continues 399 words]
We all remember the days when El Cajon was dubiously labeled the world's crystal meth capital for its many clandestine labs. These small-scale operations in motor homes, trailers and apartments cooked up a product that was about 50 percent pure, sometimes even less. And it was expensive. Those days are all but forgotten now, dwarfed by a new phenomenon. Today's meth is manufactured in huge quantities in giant warehouses in Mexico known as "Super Labs," which are supplied by Asian chemical distributors and staffed by university-educated chemists and engineers. [continues 719 words]
GOP Candidates Move to Treatment Vs. Jail, but Racial Impetus Is Seen. More than 40 years after Republican President Richard M. Nixon coined the phrase "war on drugs," many GOP presidential candidates are calling for an end to one of its central tenets - by agreeing with Democrats to treat low-level drug offenders rather than incarcerate them. The Republicans are selective, however, about who is deserving of their compassion. Several GOP presidential contenders have advocated treating the nation's growing heroin epidemic as a health crisis, not a criminal one. But most stop short of advocating the same approach to other drug laws, notably those involving marijuana and crack cocaine, which disproportionately affect African Americans. [continues 1337 words]
Culture Change Seen As Authorities Target Big Hauls, Weapons NEW HAVEN - A West Haven man charged with conspiring in a marijuana trafficking scheme in New Haven will stand trial in federal court in December. Jesse Wrubel was charged by a federal grand jury in February 2014 for being involved in a marijuana trafficking scheme involving 60 pounds of marijuana and three stolen firearms. His co-defendant, Matthew Voloshin, has elected to plead guilty and awaits sentencing. The two have been detained since Feb. 7, 2014. [continues 935 words]
A New York man who spent 29 days in jail after police mistook the homemade soap in the trunk of his rental car for cocaine has worked himself into enough of a lather to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. Alexander J. Bernstein, 32, alleges that troopers from the state police barracks at Fogelsville conspired to fabricate evidence that he was transporting drugs, and knew that the field test they used on the soap wasn't reliable. He says in the suit that he was forced to pay thousands of dollars in court costs and legal fees, and missed Thanksgiving with his 17-month-old son before the charges were dropped. Bernstein, who is seeking a jury trial and damages in excess of $150,000, also complains in the suit that investigators have refused to admit that they were wrong. [continues 673 words]
Twenty Three States Allow Medicinal Use of Marijuana. Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy launched a campaign Wednesday hoping to bring awareness to veterans' need for responsible marijuana use for service-related injuries. The campaign, named "Operation Trapped," aims to "collect a single used prescription bottle from every state veteran who wants a safer alternative" and present the collection of bottles at a news conference on Veterans Day 2016 in Austin. The coalition includes multiple chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and other groups. [continues 268 words]
Five cartel lookouts huddled beneath thick desert brush one night last month. Suddenly, they realized they'd been spotted. The scouts, who are paid to study the movements of authorities and guide drug traffickers through the Arizona desert, dropped their heavy backpacks and bolted across rocky terrain near the quiet neighborhoods and golf courses south of Casa Grande. Using covert tactics, a border-crimes team stationed at a makeshift headquarters watched as the lookouts made their getaway. "They have night-vision capabilities and they're lightning fast," said Department of Public Safety Capt. Dave Nilson, who fielded constant radio traffic as he led the operation targeting traffickers in Vekol Valley. [continues 1878 words]
Ohio's Ballot Initiative on Marijuana, If It Passes, Would Make It the Largest State by Population to Allow Recreational Use of the Drug Voters across the country are considering ballot measures on Tuesday on a range of contentious issues from tax hikes and hunting rights, to minimum wage increases, campaign finance and marijuana legalization. In Mississippi, voters are deciding on a constitutional amendment opposed by Republican leaders that would allow residents to sue over school-spending shortfalls and give courts more say over public education funding. [continues 704 words]
Re: "Wrong on Rights - Mexico deserves sanctions for appalling abuses," Thursday Editorials. This editorial draws attention to a problem that should have been addressed long ago. Congress passed the Merida Initiative in 2008 after lobbying by Bell Helicopter, Sikorsky Helicopter and the Mexican government, ostensibly to stop cocaine and heroin from reaching the U.S. border. Seven years later, no effect has been seen in price, purity or availability of cocaine and heroin in the United States. The Mexican government has received more than a billion dollars mostly for transport helicopters, surveillance aircraft, nightvision scanners, secure communications equipment, forensics and polygraph equipment. Until now, the flow of money has not stopped regardless of the horrid human-rights abuses in Mexico that it facilitated. The Merida Initiative is not only a waste of money, it undermines our credibility as a moral nation. The State Department withholding $5 million is a welcome first step. Suzanne Wills, Dallas Drug Policy Forum of Texas [end]
Pop Singer and Select Ohioans Will See Green If Initiative Passes Two things you probably haven't been paying a lot of a attention to lately: Election Day in Ohio. (It's not 2016 yet.) Former boy-band star a and reality TV spouse Nick L Lachey. (It's not 2003 anymore.) m Well, settle in, be because you have some catching up to do. On Tuesday, Ohio residents go to the polls to decide whether marijuana should be legal. If they vote yes, the Cincinnati native and long-ago leading man of "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica" will automatically become one of the top weed kingpins of the Buckeye State. [continues 1226 words]
NEWTON, N.H. - When Courtney Griffin was using heroin, she lied, disappeared and stole constantly from her parents to support her $400-a-day habit. Her family paid her debts, never filed a police report and kept her addiction secret - until she was found dead last year of an overdose. At Courtney's funeral, they decided to acknowledge the reality that redefined their lives: Their bright, beautiful daughter, only 20, who played the French horn in high school and dreamed of living in Hawaii, had been kicked out of the Marines over drugs. Eventually, she overdosed at her boyfriend's grandmother's house, where she died alone. [continues 905 words]
