As a soldier fighting against the national war on drugs, Arthur Sobey of Norfolk is suing for peace. Sobey, a leader in the fight to legalize marijuana for medical reasons, is one of two Nebraska plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit seeking to end the U.S. prohibition on the medical use of marijuana. The 20 year Army veteran and chronic pain sufferer monitors, from his Norfolk home computer, what he says is a $100 billion national war on drugs that is doing more harm than good. [continues 781 words]
Your editorial on drug treatment costs and the need to spend tax dollars on effective drug rehab programs (Top Problem, NDN 24 April) is the kind of probing editorializing that good newspapers engage in; looking behind the hype for less obvious factors bearing on the problem. Not many people know that everyone arrested for criminal possession of illegal drugs is automatically treated as if they are addicted to the drug found in their possession. In lieu of jail or prison time, first time offenders are frequently offered drug rehab to cure their so-called "addiction" problem. [continues 145 words]
Dear Editor, Your editorial on drug treatment costs and the need to spend tax dollars on effective drug rehab programs (Top Problem, NDN 24 April) is the kind of probing editorializing that good newspapers engage in; looking behind the hype for less obvious factors bearing on the problem. Not many people know that everyone arrested for criminal possession of illegal drugs is automatically treated as if they are addicted to the drug found in their possession. In lieu of jail or prison time, first time offenders are frequently offered drug rehab to cure their so-called "addiction" problem. [continues 145 words]
The Omaha Housing Authority wants to award minigrants to low-income resident groups that organize drug- and crime-fighting activities in their back yards. Up to $2,000 would go to OHA tenant associations that develop ways to enhance public safety and quality of life in their neighborhoods. In all, $30,000 would be available for the minigrant program. The new initiative is but one element of a $704,080 grant the OHA is hoping to secure to fight drugs and crime in public housing in 2000 and 2001. The grant proposal was approved Thursday by the OHA board. [continues 250 words]
The question of whether police in Nebraska are skirting the State Constitution by not sharing drug-forfeiture money with public schools could be decided this summer. Lawmakers on both sides of the controversy agreed Tuesday to conduct a study before a final vote is taken on a bill that would end the practice. However, the compromise called for the bill to advance to the third and final round of legislative debate. From that position, Legislative Bill 44 will serve as a reminder to police that the Legislature is serious about the issue, said State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha. [continues 240 words]
It sounded too good to be true in January when the Republican-led Legislature and the new Democratic governor vowed to cooperate on a common agenda. The upstart governor faced lawmakers who in recent years had fought with a governor from their own political party. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats in Washington were slugging it out over impeachment. But fears of political paralysis proved to be unfounded. On education, crime-fighting, job training and other issues, lawmakers and Gov. Tom Vilsack struck deals for which both sides could take credit. [continues 868 words]
When people claim to be serious about something, they are frequently challenged to "put your money where your mouth is." I issue such a challenge to all law enforcement agencies in Nebraska. If you give a darn about the children of Nebraska, quit taking their school money. Arthur Sobey, Norfolk, Neb. [end]
So law enforcement is holding out on funds for Nebraska schoolchildren? This isn't surprising considering that law enforcement agencies in other states are using the same federal shell game to keep drug-war asset-forfeiture money for themselves. When people claim to be serious about something, they are frequently challenged to "put your money where your mouth is." I issue such a challenge to all law enforcement agencies in Nebraska. If you give a darn about the children of Nebraska, quit taking their school money. [end]
Iowa's first drug-in-the-workplace report says that about 1 in 25 workers tested last year showed evidence of drug use. According to the report by the Iowa Public Health Department, private employers in 1998 conducted 31,740 drug tests on workers or job applicants, and 1,379 - or 4.3 percent - indicated traces of drugs. The report is the first of what will become an annual statistical accounting required by state law. The report does not include results of federally mandated tests of workers in the transportation industry. Tests for alcohol use also are not included. [continues 60 words]
This is one in a series of World-Herald articles looking back on the 20th century. When Nebraska law officers confiscate large bundles of cash linked to drug dealing, the state's constitution directs that half the money go to schools. But that rarely happens. Instead, police funnel the drug money through the federal government, which takes a 20 percent cut and returns the rest to the local law-enforcement agency that confiscated the money. Schools get nothing. It's an end run around the state constitution, but it's allowed under federal rules for handling assets seized from drug dealers. [continues 1483 words]
Marijuana eases pain and quells nausea in cancer patients and others, but research is needed to find alternatives to smoking it, an advisory panel to the federal government said Wednesday in a report that reignited the national debate over medical marijuana. Contradicting administration policy that marijuana has no medical value and can lead to using harder drugs, a panel of experts found that marijuana is not addictive and said there is no clear evidence that smoking it leads to consumption of heroin, cocaine or other narcotics. [continues 292 words]
Lawmakers And The Governor Also Will Resume Their Talks On An Education Package; Coming Up Having cleared its first self-imposed deadline, the Legislature this week once again turns to its crusade against methamphetamine even as budget talks begin to get serious. Both majority Republicans in the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack have vowed to approve a comprehensive $3.3 million plan that boosts law enforcement efforts, as well as treatment and education. There was some initial disagreement, but the two sides hammered out an agreement that is rocketing through the Legislature. The Senate approved the treatment and education initiatives unanimously last week, and the House is set to dramatically toughen penalties for making and selling the drug. [continues 407 words]
Many Americans with chronic pain don't receive the treatment they need because of "misapplied" fears about addiction, an expert in the field told an ethics conference Saturday at Creighton University in Omaha. Those fears include doctors' and patients' concerns that the use of narcotic painkillers would lead to substance abuse, and doctors' worries about legal problems, said Dr. Steven D. Passik, a psychologist who is director of oncology symptom control research at the Indiana Community Cancer Care Center in Indianapolis. [continues 292 words]
Grand Island, Neb. - A California woman involved in a Grand Island area drug-trafficking ring had her sentence shortened in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. U.S. Attorney Tom Monaghan said Wednesday that Judge Richard Kopf sentenced Mary Ann Rounsavall, 48, of Fontana, Calif., to seven years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. She had been convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and money laundering. At the time of her sentencing in 1996, the government filed a motion to shorten the otherwise mandatory federal sentencing guideline range of 30 years to life in prison. She was sentenced in 1996 to the statutory minimum of 20 years in prison. [end]
Fighting Meth And Debating Tax Cuts And Education Gov.-elect Tom Vilsack and Iowa's top Republicans agree that the methamphetamine fight, tax cuts and education will be the top priorities on the table for next year's agenda, but they disagree on how taxes and education will be handled. Vilsack and legislative leaders from both parties discussed the coming session during a meeting with Iowa reporters Friday. The governor-elect and party leaders said they expect a less partisan session in the Iowa Legislature, but they also said there will be disputes on key agenda items pushed by Republicans, who control the Legislature, and Vilsack, the first Democrat to govern Iowa since 1968. [continues 815 words]
John Cronin (Nov. 22 Pulse) missed the mark when he criticized a World-Herald editorial on marijuana as "medicine." How many medicines do Americans take by smoking? I can point to more than 12,500 independent scientific studies housed at the University of Mississippi. Not one of those studies gives smoked marijuana a clean bill of health. The voters in five states who declared marijuana to be medicine were responding more to the millions of dollars poured into the drug legalization movement by billionaire George Soros than to Cronin's foggy governmental conspiracy. [continues 98 words]
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday overturned the drug conviction of a Blair man who said police broke the law by searching his garbage and later serving a search warrant at his house at night. Patrick Fitch, 32, was sentenced to two and one-half to five years in prison for possession of drugs with the intent to deliver after Blair police raided his home the night of April 19, 1996. In an unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court agreed with Fitch that police should have served the search warrant during the day unless officers showed some compelling reason why a nighttime search was necessary. [continues 381 words]
I liked your editorial "Drugs, alcohol: The same thing?" June 25th. Addressing issues like this is the essence of responsibility. I didn't however like your answer to your own question, "Why fight it?" with "it" being the distinction between the drug alcohol and other currently illicit drugs. There is a clear and compelling reason to educate all Americans to the concept of one drug policy that covers all drugs. Alcohol is a drug. It is recognized as a drug by every medical body that has weighed in on the issue, and is now referred to as a drug by all federal agencies that deal with it. The drug alcohol causes over 85% of our drug-related crime, and over 90% of our substance abuse/addiction problems. My question back to the Daily News is "Why continue the charade that allows those who use alcohol recreationally to pretend it isn't a drug? [continues 371 words]
I liked your editorial "Drugs, alcohol: The same thing?" June 25th. Addressing issues like this is the essence of responsibility. I didn't however like your answer to your own question, "Why fight it?" with "it" being the distinction between the drug alcohol and other currently illicit drugs. There is a clear and compelling reason to educate all Americans to the concept of one drug policy that covers all drugs. Alcohol is a drug. It is recognized as a drug by every medical body that has weighed in on the issue, and is now referred to as a drug by all federal agencies that deal with it. The drug alcohol causes over 85% of our drug-related crime, and over 90% of our substance abuse/addiction problems. My question back to the Daily News is "Why continue the charade that allows those who use alcohol recreationally to pretend it isn't a drug? [continues 375 words]
Rejecting Health Worries, Nebraska Indians See Cigarettes As Their Path To Prosperity MACY, Neb. -- The thrumming green machines in the new factory here are the hope of the Omaha Indian tribe. Early sales are encouraging, and soon the tribe will be tripling production. ``Our dream,'' said Jerry Montour, the factory's consultant, ``is to have like 100 people working here at one time.'' And who would quarrel with that? As it turns out, many might. The Omaha tribe is manufacturing cigarettes. [continues 923 words]
ATLANTA (AP) State Sen. Ralph David Abernathy III, son of the pioneering civil rights leader, was fined $500 after he was found with a small quantity of marijuana, a customs official said Wednesday. Abernathy, 38, whose father, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy Jr., became head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain in 1968, was stopped Monday after he drew the attention of a drugsniffing dog at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. Abernathy was found to have been concealing about 6.9 grams of marijuana, enough for several cigarettes, said Michael J. Vanacore, an official with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Atlanta. [continues 51 words]
Inside Nebraska
