Allowed Migrants, Pot To Cross Border From the beginning, Richard Lawrence Pineda, a veteran immigration inspector, denied working for a ring that smuggled immigrants and drugs. When Pineda was arrested in a San Ysidro parking lot a year ago, he maintained his innocence to the FBI agent who searched and handcuffed him. During his federal trial, Pineda took the stand to testify in his own defense. Yesterday, his denials changed to an admission of guilt. Facing a lengthy prison sentence after a jury convicted him in April, Pineda said he finally was willing to admit wrongdoing. [continues 629 words]
Here's a closer look at a few of the items in Texas Gov. George W. Bush's drug policy plan: Help countries such as Bolivia, Colombia and Peru promote crop substitutes, providing an additional $15 million over five years. Improve intelligence and surveillance to catch drug smugglers before they reach U.S. borders. Continue working with Mexico on drug interdiction. Increase funding for interdiction by $1 billion over five years, and counter-drug intelligence by $50 million over five years. [continues 258 words]
More than 10,000 fully mature marijuana plants were eradicated by law enforcement officers Thursday in Sequoia National Forest on the Tule River Ranger District south of Camp Nelson. The street value was estimated at $41 million. Officers located the crop during an aerial reconnaissance of the area, the U.S. Forest Service reported. When officers arrived on the scene the following day, more than half of the plants had already been harvested, according to the forest service. A search of the area turned up most of the missing plants hidden in the surrounding forest. Also located near the scene was a three-story bunkhouse with processing supplies and accommodations for at least 10 people. No suspects were found during the raid. [end]
California Med-Pot-Activist Fights Charges In High-Profile Trial. Midway through his landmark medical marijuana case, Steve Kubby and his wife Michele took advantage of a trial an unusual recess in an unusual way, with unusual results. The trial, which has attracted the attention of major television networks and newspapers, opened in September, with the Kubbys represented by a legal team headed by two of California's fiercest "marijuana attorneys," David Nick and Tony Serra. Serra is a legendary Bay Area criminal defense lawyer whose commitment to justice was memorialized in an epic movie, starring James Woods, called "True Believer." [continues 1258 words]
A Sept. 22 Sun Herald article headlined "Crime keeps black men off voter rolls" pointed out that 29 percent of Mississippi's African-American men are forbidden to vote because they've been convicted of a felony. Just as with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, the overwhelming majority of these felonies are committed as a result of rival drug gangs fighting over turf or settling scores with those who have cheated them. Although current studies and reports about "drug crime" tend to cast a bad light on poor black men, we should remember that it was white men who engaged in precisely the same behavior during alcohol prohibition. (The fact that all the alcohol-gang violence occurred in white neighborhoods was, I believe, the primary reason behind repeal of prohibition.) [continues 597 words]
Oct. 7, 2000 - It's bad enough that prosecutors had to plea-bargain to a misdemeanor for Officer Joseph Bini, the Denver cop whose botched search warrant indirectly cost Mexican immigrant Ismael Mena's life in September 1999, but allowing him to cop an "Alford plea" is an outrage. Bini, who pleaded Thursday to a count of first-degree official misconduct, put the wrong address on an affidavit for the no-knock drug raid during which SWAT officers shot Mena. An Alford plea means Bini isn't admitting guilt but fears conviction at trial. [continues 488 words]
Maribeth Forrest served three years in prison for a drug violation, so she wanted to make certain she followed the law for registering as a medical marijuana patient. Forrest asked her doctor of six years, Gary Greenly, to fill out a form attesting that she would benefit from medical marijuana because of chronic pain from a series of car accidents. Greenly turned the form over to state narcotics authorities last month, just as the medical marijuana provision mandated when it became law in June. [continues 574 words]
Gore Talks Tax Cuts At Rally In Florida CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration Friday of firing blanks in the war against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens. "Unfortunately, in the last 7 1/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," Bush said. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy and without meaningful success." [continues 706 words]
Lezley Gibson has either been smoking some pretty strong stuff of the prosecution grossly exaggerated its street price at ?40. Either way she is living in the wrong part of the country. Here in southern wales, possession of eight grams would automatically lead to a caution for a first offence - and a whole ounce (28g) of cannabis can be purchased for less than ?55. Justin Brett, Gilwern, Gwent [end]
Now that multiple sclerosis sufferers Lezley Gibson and Thomas Yates have been acquitted by juries of cannabis offences after admitting that they possessed and used cannabis to relieve their suffering ("MS patient cleared on cannabis possession", 29 September), the Misuse of Drugs Act has become inoperable against such people. The Government has been advised twice to change the law: once by the Lords' Scientific Committee and once by the Police Foundation report. there is no longer and need to wait and see what happens to tortured mice. The Government must now listen and act to change the law. Mick Humphries, Taunton [end]
Actor Martin Sheen, Whose Son Charlie Has Been Addicted To Drugs, Fights A California Proposal That Would Make Treatment, Not Jail, The Primary Response To Illegal Drug Use LOS ANGELES - This November, television's favorite president, The West Wing's Martin Sheen, will test his star status when voters in California decide whether to end imprisonment for most users of illegal drugs. Proposition 36, the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act, asks Californians to make treatment, and not prison, the state's primary response to illegal drug use. [continues 660 words]
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Oct. 6 - George W. Bush this morning launched a harsh critique of the Clinton administration's drug policy and offered his own plan to pour $2.8 billion over five years into improving and creating new drug prevention and treatment programs. In a speech at the Jane Boyd Family Resource Center here, Bush reeled off a litany of statistics showing that drug use has skyrocketed in the past 7 1/2 years. Among other things, he said teen drug abuse has increased each year and heroin use has doubled. In addition, he said, the percentage of high school seniors who smoke marijuana every day is at its highest level in 20 years, while daily use of marijuana by eighth-graders has increased by 700 percent. [continues 463 words]
A delegation of Baalbek-Hermel officials on Friday discussed with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri the production of fruit and vegetables as an alternative to drug crops. According to the head of the Substitute Cultures Program, Hassan Makhlouf, the project is aimed at producing quality fruit and vegetables such as jojoba, caper buds, nuts and other commercially viable crops. The scheme is designed to encourage the impoverished farmers of Baalbek-Hermel to stop growing drug crops such as poppies and cannabis. [continues 109 words]
Shoes Can Hide Secret Stash Thick-soled shoes at the cutting edge of hip youth fashion this year are causing consternation for U.S. Customs because of their most unique feature: a secret compartment ideal for stashing contraband. Sha Sha Shoes are the rage among clubbers, skateboarders, ravers and hot rodders who love the garish designs, iridescence and industrial soles. A top selling point is a tiny compartment beneath the insole that manufacturers call the "G-Spot." In an alert to inspectors nationwide Wednesday, Customs Commissioner Ray Kelly warns that Sha Sha Shoes have been used as a hiding place for club drugs such as Ecstasy. [continues 285 words]
The institution that makes drugs and dealers dangerous and violent and rich is the drug war. It is prohibition that allows these "dangerous" dealers to exist in the first place. After all, the government has declared war on them, their black market businesses and their black market goods. If the government wants a war, they've sure got one. One thing is going to separate the dealers from their huge black market profits -- and it isn't the government's war -- it is decriminalization, legalization, regulation and an end to the government's domestic war on citizens. [continues 219 words]
The Ruling Says Phoenix High School Was Wrong To Strip Him Of His Office After He Had Marijuana At School MEDFORD -- A Jackson County judge has reinstated a student body president at Phoenix High School who was found on campus with marijuana. Judge Phil Arnold said administrators had no authority to punish Keanon Ferguson beyond the standard five-day suspension for a first-time drug offense because the school's rules did not address wrongdoing by elected student leaders. "To craft a punishment which is outside the rules, after the infraction has been committed, is not a fair and consistent enforcement of the rules as required by Oregon law," the judge wrote in a ruling issued Thursday. [continues 302 words]
Only two of the first 50 people to be dealt with by the experimental NSW Drug Court successfully completed its addict-treatment program, a report has disclosed. The report finds that 38 of the first 50 drug offenders who elected to take the treatment program - rather than go to jail - were ejected from it, mostly because they relapsed into illegal drug use. Another 10 were still in the program, which mostly relies on methadone or abstinence to treat offenders. The Drug Court was established in Western Sydney in February last year for a two-year trial to see if its alternative approach could lower criminal re-offending by drug users. [continues 384 words]
Everyone expects law enforcement to keep our streets safe from drunken drivers and to fight the use and distribution of illegal drugs. But should that protection come by any means necessary? Is fighting crime worth sacrificing the rights of privacy and freedom from illegal searches guaranteed by the Constitution? These are questions the U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering as it determines whether drug-search roadblocks orchestrated by Indianapolis police in 1998 are constitutional. On Tuesday, the court heard arguments in this case which pits privacy rights against the interests of law enforcement and is expected to issue a ruling by June. [continues 490 words]
Americans once again are embroiled in a debate over how to solve the drug epidemic that plagues our communities. Some favor a heavy emphasis on arresting drug traffickers, while others argue for reducing drug demand. Unfortunately, that supply vs. demand debate goes on and on while mothers are losing children to drug overdoses, drug-related violence cripples entire neighborhoods, and drug lords count their profits in billions of dollars. Any strategy that overemphasizes either supply or demand is doomed to failure. The complex drug trade, in which the elements of both supply and demand are seamlessly interwoven, can be solved only through a combination of tough law enforcement and prevention with education. Neither strategy works in isolation, and neither is the sole answer to the problem. [continues 591 words]
MARION, Ill., Oct. 6 - Gov. George W. Bush today accused the Clinton administration of fighting illicit drugs "without urgency, without energy and without success" and proposed $2.7 billion in new grants in the next five years to combat narcotics and provide drug treatment. For the third consecutive day, Mr. Bush tailored his campaign to focus on ways to help parents protect their children from influences outside the home. This time his focus was not Hollywood entertainment or sexually graphic and violent Internet sites, but illicit drugs. [continues 744 words]
Government Agrees To Indians' Demands LA PAZ, Bolivia -- The Bolivian government agreed Friday to a broad range of demands by Indian peasant leaders, buckling under the pressure of three weeks of road blockades that paralyzed the economy, caused food shortages and threatened to force the resignation of President Hugo Banzer. The government met the most important demands of the Aymara-speaking peasants after Indian leaders threatened to surround La Paz and starve the capital in a replay of a bloody Indian rebellion in 1781. Government ministers agreed to prop up corn prices, reverse a land-titling process that would have raised taxes and revert government water rights back to Indian peasants. [continues 420 words]
Meeting Focuses On Alternatives To More Prisons LINCOLN, Neb. -- Calling methamphetamine a cheap poison that is destroying lives and communities across the country, Govs. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho and Mike Johanns of Nebraska said Thursday that the fight needs to focus on abuse prevention, not punishment. About 70 people, including judges, police officers and substance-abuse counselors from Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico and American Samoa met in Lincoln to discuss ways to reduce demand for illegal drugs. Kempthorne opened the two-day conference by calling drug abuse one of the most difficult and pervasive problems facing the country today. [continues 238 words]
Police raided a home one block from Los Gatos High School on Friday and found a flourishing garden of marijuana in the back yard, officers said, worth an estimated $40,000 on the street. Police arrested Steven Lindhal, 24, when he returned to his home at 188 Villa Ave. Lindhal was booked into a Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of possessing, cultivating and selling marijuana. Los Gatos/Monte Sereno police Sgt. Tim Morgan said officers received a tip Thursday about the house. In addition, the house was declared uninhabitable by a city building inspector who determined there were heating gas violations as well as faulty wiring. [end]
Former Drug Users Warn Of The Dangers At Conference A crowd of young people saw first-hand what a potentially fatal disease can do to two men who once lived the high life. Former drug users George Deguerre and Bob Swan had a thought-provoking story to tell 250 aboriginal youth at the Keepers of the Bloodline HIV/AIDS Conference Thursday at Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie. Deguerre, a Metis man diagnosed with HIV three days short of his 40th birthday, and Bob Swan, who suffers from AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), say they want to reach out to the youth - to tell them about the disease that attacks their immune system with a vengeance. [continues 487 words]
Although formal drug charges were filed Friday against the husband of a Milwaukee alderman, it may be months before it is determined whether a vice detective was improperly transferred for initiating the investigation that eventually led to the suspect's arrest. The charges filed against John Davis Odom are at the heart of allegations made by Officer Octavio Delgado in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit says Delgado was transferred by Police Chief Arthur Jones for reporting an informant's allegation that Odom was involved with cocaine. [continues 571 words]
Coloradans who went to the polls two years ago may experience a bit of deja vu when they vote next month. Amendment 20, allowing medical use of marijuana, was on the ballot in 1998 as Amendment 19. But the vote was not counted. Just weeks before the election, then-Secretary of State Vikki Buckley ruled that proponents lacked the 54,242 valid signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. Backers sued after the election and in September of last year, a judge ruled that proponents had gathered enough valid signatures and that the proposal should be placed on this year's ballot. [continues 843 words]
But Prop. 36's Advantage Dips With a month remaining until the election, forces backing an initiative that would decriminalize drugs by prescribing treatment instead of prison for most nonviolent drug offenders have both the money and -- so far -- the votes in their corner. The California Campaign for New Drug Policies has raised nearly $3 million, more than 13 times the amount its chief opponent has collected. The most recent Field Poll numbers show Proposition 36 leading 55 percent to 27 percent, with 18 percent undecided. [continues 532 words]
Editor's note: Fred Hopson and his girlfriend Shannon Scott were arrested Aug. 4 in Park County for growing marijuana. Hopson insists that he has to use pot to treat severe headaches that he suffers as the result of an accident. He is under a doctor's care for his condition. On Sept. 28, Hopson and Scott were granted a 60-day continuance by the courts, effectively delaying his case until after the November election, when medical marijuana is on the ballot. The two could face federal prison incarceration and the forfeiture of their Alma house to the Park County police and Summit County Drug Task Force. [continues 1882 words]
Dear Summit Free Press: There is a lot I could say about the violent arrest of Fred Hopson and Shannon Scott, as reported in the Free Press ("Medical Marijuana arrest of Breckenridge man," by Doug Malkan, Sept. 1). I will, however, limit myself to the two most salient points. First, the incredible, military-style violence used in this attack was not a fluke or an unusual event. It is STANDARD PROCEDURE in all police actions involving claims of "drugs." This is true nationwide, not just in Park County. People who find this shocking, as they should, need to realize that this is what you sign on to if you apologize for the insane drug war against the people of America. If you want to change it, it will do no good at all to complain about this one incident. You must join the opposition to the drug war and drug prohibition in general. [continues 297 words]
He called for spending $2.8 billion more over five years. In Florida, Gore campaigned on his targeted tax-cut plan. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - George W. Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration yesterday of firing blanks in the war against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens. "Unfortunately, in the last 71/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," said the Republican presidential nominee. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy, and without meaningful success." [continues 820 words]
Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration Friday of firing blanks in the war against drugs and proposed to increase spending by $2.8 billion over five years to curb illegal drug use, particularly among teens. "Unfortunately, in the last 7 1/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," Bush said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy, and without meaningful success." Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore teamed up with his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, at an outdoor rally of several thousand people at Orlando, Fla. [continues 639 words]
LIMA, Peru - The good news on the Andean coca-war front: The price of coca leaf, the raw material used to make cocaine, is soaring, as buyers fear that a coming crackdown in neighboring Colombia will cause shortages. The bad news: Higher coca prices are likely to tempt some Peruvian farmers to turn away from such substitute crops as specialty coffee and pineapples and return to the illicit but more profitable coca. That would be a serious setback to the U.S.-led Andean drug war, in which a reduction in Peru's coca-growing is considered the biggest victory. [continues 560 words]
A QUARTER of William Hague's shadow cabinet last night admitted to having smoked cannabis, reigniting the debate over Tory policy on soft drugs, write Michael Prescott and Eben Black. The five senior Conservatives who confessed to breaking the law all said they had tried cannabis in their student days and denied dabbling with the drug since. Privately, many expressed fury with Ann Widdecombe, the shadow home secretary. They said it was her new policy of =A3100 fines for anyone with even small amounts of cannabis that had prompted media inquiries about their student habits. [continues 713 words]
WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators opened a criminal investigation of the White House drug czar's office this spring after uncovering evidence that contractors improperly inflated advertising costs for the $1 billion national anti-drug campaign. Robert Hast, head of the congressional General Accounting Office's elite criminal fraud unit told the House Government Reform criminal justice subcommittee Wednesday that GAO auditors uncovered evidence involving an estimated $8 million in inflated charges submitted in 1999 involving government advertising contracts. The charges involve inflated billing for work done on the anti-drug contracts, payments of bonuses to executives, and improper travel charges. Hast said a former employee of the giant New York advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather also gave investigators testimony of other improprieties. [continues 489 words]
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Oct. 6 - The Bolivian government today agreed to a broad range of demands by Indian peasant leaders, buckling under the pressure of three weeks of road blockades that paralyzed the economy, caused food shortages and threatened to force the resignation of President Hugo Banzer. The government gave in to the most important demands of the Aymara-speaking peasants after Indian leaders threatened to surround La Paz and starve the capital in a replay of an Indian rebellion in 1781. [continues 821 words]
Gore Spokesman Says Arrests Are Up, Overall Use Down CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Calling the Clinton-Gore administration's record on combating illegal drugs "one of the worst public policy failures of the 1990s," George W. Bush pledged to spend $2.8 billion to reproduce the drug-fighting efforts of his father's White House. "In the last 71/2 years, fighting drug abuse has ceased to be a national priority," Mr. Bush said at a campaign stop. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy and without success." [continues 420 words]
Maybe it's the money. Texas prisons cost $2 billion a year to operate. Maybe it's the size. Texas has seen its prison population soar to the largest in the nation. Maybe it's the embarrassment. It does not reflect well on the presidential campaign of Gov. George W. Bush that one in 20 adult Texans was in prison or jail or on probation or parole on his watch. No matter the motivation, the time was right for the remarkable pronouncement this week by key lawmakers. [continues 617 words]
The anti-drug bureaucracy (hypocrisy) describes one of the "most troubling" effects of marijuana is its' euphoric "high". Euphoria is defined by Webster's as "a strong feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being". The same dictionary defines depression as a feeling of "sadness and gloom". By their own admission, aren't these anti-drug "professionals" acknowledging that marijuana has a beneficial medicinal use and since it makes a depressed person feel euphoric, wouldn't that by definition be an effective treatment for depression? [continues 266 words]
MALACCA: The Chinese community's priority for material wealth has been blamed as the main cause of its youth succumbing to Ecstasy pills. State Wanita MCA chief Datin Kian Sit Har said the preoccupation with wealth caused the community to neglect inculcating good moral values in children. "Chinese families in general are busy making money while schools emphasise education," she said when launching the movement's "Say No To Ecstasy" campaign at the Mahkota Parade yesterday. She added that parents had to take time and find out why their children resorted to the pills and also what pressures they faced. [continues 113 words]
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush cast drug abuse as a moral issue Friday and said he would pursue both vigorous law enforcement and more community-based treatment and prevention. During a campaign trip to Iowa, the Republican presidential contender said the Clinton administration has not made the drug war a national priority. "Drug policy has been pursued without urgency, without energy and without success," he said. While acknowledging it has "leveled off" the past few years, he blamed the Clinton administration for increases in teen drug use between 1992 and 1997. "This was one of the worst public policy failures of the 1990s," he said. [continues 476 words]
Remember that crime prevention slogan, "Take a bite out of crime"? Well, in Lebanon, Tenn., the police just took a bite out of an innocent man instead. At 10 p.m., Wednesday evening, about the only thing 64-year-old John Adams was interested in doing was relaxing in his easy chair and catching a bit of TV; little did he know that a handful of Lebanon police officers were standing outside his door getting ready to cancel his show. The various accounts, as presented by the local CBS affiliate, NewsChannel 5, and the Nashville Tennessean, jive on the fatally short order of events: After hearing knocking at the door, John's wife, Loriane, went to answer. There was no reply when she asked for identification. As she stood there, the door was kicked in and five officers stormed the house, immediately cuffing Loriane. [continues 477 words]
Local community columnist John Michael Flint should get his facts straight before telling us that California will get a "big boost" if hard drugs are decriminalized by Proposition 36 this November ("Rehab better than Prison," The Modesto Bee, Opinions, Sept. 20). His misleading oversimplification of the initiative says little about what this dangerous initiative would actually do. We are very concerned about making sure that those addicted to drugs aren't just thrown in jail and forgotten. A revolutionary treatment program called drug court has already helped us put people back on the right track using sensible, effective and proven methods. [continues 679 words]
Three wealthy out-of-state businessmen have contributed another half-million dollars each to support the California ballot measure that seeks to dramatically change how the criminal justice system handles nonviolent drug users. New York financier and philanthropist George Soros, Cleveland insurance executive Peter Lewis and Phoenix adult-school president John Sperling each gave $548,339 to the Yes on Proposition 36 campaign in the most recent reporting period, ending Thursday, the Secretary of State's office said. The three have given nearly $900,000 each to support Proposition 36, which would mandate drug treatment instead of incarceration for anyone arrested and convicted of being under the influence or in possession of drugs, including harder substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. The measure would allocate $120 million to fund the new treatment programs. [continues 276 words]
The young men come into the Carlton surgery looking so afraid. The doctor finds the shame on their faces painful to behold. Sometimes, they cannot even look the doctor in the eye, even though he is gay, too. Grown men, heads down, acting like they have come to see the headmaster. A couple of years ago, Jonathan Anderson's medical practice was diagnosing a new HIV case every three months. These days, there is a new diagnosis every few weeks. There is a new gay HIV crisis. Last week, Victoria recorded a 41per cent rise in HIV diagnoses for the first six months of 2000 compared to the same period in 1999 - a 67per cent rise for gay men alone. [continues 765 words]
IMMIGRATION and anti-narcotics officers have smashed the first Sri Lankan drug syndicate known to operate here. The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) and Singapore Immigration and Registration (SIR) netted four suspected drug traffickers and 12 others suspected to be immigration offenders. In this joint swoop on Friday, Operation Twin Peaks, they also seized nearly 3 kg of cannabis worth an estimated $40,000 on the street. On Wednesday, the SIR told the CNB that a foreign drug syndicate was looking for buyers. The ring was found to be operating out of hotels in Geylang, at Lorong 18 and Lorong 22. [continues 254 words]
Drugs that harm and those that heal were central campaign trail themes Friday, as Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush attacked the Clinton administration's anti-drug policy, and his Democratic rival, Al Gore, promoted his plan for giving senior citizens prescription price relief. Bush, the Texas governor, slashed the administration's record on fighting drugs, calling it "one of the worst public policy failures of the 1990s." He pledged to re-energize the nation's anti-drug efforts if elected with $2.7 billion in increased spending over five years. [continues 711 words]
During an appearance on MTV, Vice President Gore recently made a number of insensitive comments regarding the medical use of marijuana. He said, "I do not believe that marijuana has any medical benefit." Gore condones the situation in which sick and dying patients, like Cheryl Miller (www.cherylheart.org), are forced to either languish in pain, or risk arrest by breaking these archaic laws against marijuana possession. I would have expected much more compassion from a man who recently claimed that his sister, a cancer patient, was "prescribed" marijuana to relieve her suffering. MTV introduced Gore with a film clip that characterized the him as a rebel, who rode a motorcycle and even "smoked the herb." Cheryl Miller, however, has never used marijuana for "fun." [continues 114 words]
The Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214 board Thursday night approved a districtwide voluntary student drug-testing policy. The move is aimed at allaying the concern of parents who fear their children are experimenting with drugs, district officials said. Last year, the voluntary student drug-testing policy was piloted at the Forest View Alternative School, Vanguard School and at Wheeling High School. At Wheeling High, 25 students took the urine test to determine drug usage. Those students who tested positive may be tested weekly or monthly. [continues 132 words]
Court Secretary Admits Charge In Drug-ring Case A former secretary for Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court admitted yesterday that she tipped off heroin dealers about the arrest of a teenager who was carrying their drugs. Cheryl Hruby, 44, of North Ridgeville, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to distribute heroin throughout West Side neighborhoods. She was among 18 people accused of running a local link in a nationwide drug ring. Across the country, more than 200 people were arrested and accused of selling heroin that came out of Nayarit, Mexico. The Los Angeles-based group set up houses in cities from Bakersfield, Calif., to Nashville, Tenn. [continues 256 words]
THE Australian Federal Police will face a parliamentary inquiry despite seizing record amounts of illicit drugs in the past year. The AFP collected more than a ton (1161kg) of illegal drugs in 1999-00, but concern over staffing levels, morale and funding prompted the inquiry. Sources told The Sunday Telegraph 289 officers had left the force between July 1999 and June 2000 because they were disillusioned over budget cuts. And it is understood the AFP is already between $20 million and $50 million over its budget this financial year. [continues 318 words]
