In Response To The Dec. 22 Letter, "Reform Of Rockefeller Drug Laws Long Overdue":

I thought Gov. Eliot Spitzer's feeble attempt to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws this year was a shame. Now, on top of that, his attempt to show compassion this holiday season fell way off of the mark.

Spitzer's single pardon to an individual set free 10 years ago, coupled with the fact he did not grant one clemency, was nothing more than a safe political move.

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You don't hear much about the nation's "war on drugs" these days. It's a has-been, a glamourless geezer, a holdover from bygone days. Its glitz has been stolen by the "war on terror," which gets the news media hype and campaign trail rhetoric. Railing against recreational drug use and demanding that offenders be locked away is so '90s.

But the drug war proceeds, mostly away from news cameras and photo-ops, still chewing up federal and state resources and casting criminal sanctions over entire neighborhoods. Four or so decades into an intensive effort to stamp out recreational drug use, billions of dollars have been spent; thousands of criminals, many of them foreigners, have been enriched; and hundreds of thousands of Americans have been imprisoned. And the use of illegal substances continues unabated.

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The Governor's Working Group on Methamphetamine Use has submitted recommendations in categories ranging from treatment to law enforcement.

The 55-page report was turned over to Gov. Jim Gibbons this week.

One of Gibbons' first acts as governor was to form the group, which includes educators, treatment providers and citizens as well as law enforcement. Among them are his wife, Dawn, who has been active in the battle against meth since before her husband's election.

She said Nevadans "must unite to ensure that this devastating drug is not in our homes, schools or communities."

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AS he drove slowly along the streets he first traveled more than 40 years ago, when he was still a young parole officer who wished he could do more than just check in and move on, David Kerr was looking for a sign.

"It's been a while since I've seen one," he said about the signs that are meant to mark the 1,000-foot perimeter around all schools within which the penalty for dealing drugs is mandatory and more severe than elsewhere. "The problem is, there are schools everywhere. 'Entering Newark, Drug-Free School Zone,' that's what the signs should say."

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A police detective should not be able to waltz into the property room at the Madison Police Department and remove evidence related to criminal cases he has little or nothing to do with.

This is especially true when the evidence is heroin.

Investigators believe Madison Police Detective Jeffery Hughes got away with removing bags of heroin from the property room at least 10 times. The evidence so far suggests he may have been obtaining the drugs for personal use.

Nobody seemed to pay much attention until Hughes crashed his car into a guardrail Nov. 20 on Interstate 39-90 near Edgerton while off-duty. He was badly injured.

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As two of the French experts interviewed for The Sun's recent series on buprenorphine, we were dismayed that the major public health benefits of French policy were not properly reflected ("The 'bupe' fix," Dec. 16-Dec. 18). We feel that the response by The Sun's public editor to the criticism of the series by several leading public health professionals demonstrates a continuing disregard for the evidence ("How Sun took on bupe," Dec. 23). In 1994 in France, heroin overdoses claimed more than 500 lives - most of them injecting drug users who often shared needles. Opioid substitution treatment and needle exchange programs were not available.

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Alabama Schools Differ In Whether To Notify Parents Of Legal, Substance Use Trouble

MONTGOMERY | Some universities in Alabama are using an exception to the federal student privacy law to involve parents at signs of student trouble involving drinking or drug use.

The University of Alabama, the University of North Alabama and Jacksonville State University notify parents of alcohol or drug policy or legal violations by their underage students.

The University of West Alabama and Auburn University do not notify parents if their child runs afoul of campus or civilian laws or policies, but West Alabama is considering changing that policy.

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Oroville resident and founder of the Drug Endangered Children's program, Sue Webber-Brown, was recently invited to meet with President George Bush.

She is one of 12 people who received a special invitation to speak to the president about their work in drug prevention programs.

President Bush hosted meetings on "Teen Drug Use" on Dec. 11, and he had a press conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to White House concerning the results of the "Monitoring the Future" study conducted by the University of Michigan.

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As a person in recovery from addiction, I can speak to the devastation addiction brings.

By the time I was in junior high, I was using drugs daily. This continued until I was in my mid-30s.

By then I had given up custody of one of my two children. I had given up a promising career and given up hope of being in a healthy relationship. I had nearly given up on life several times.

By 1994 I was addicted to heroin. I remember feeling that my addiction was not out of control because I had a roof over my head and I had retained custody of my other child.

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There has never been a drug as powerful, addictive and quick to destroy lives as methamphetamine.And before you quit reading this editorial because you believe meth use doesn't impact you, consider:

. 63 percent of Idaho felony drug court participants indicate meth is their drug of choice.

. 1 in 36 Idaho men are in prison or on probation or parole. 75 percent of offenders with a drug problem say that meth is their drug of choice.

. $66 million is the amount the state of Idaho spends annually to house inmates who admit to having a meth problem.

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You don't hear much about the nation's "war on drugs" these days. It's a has-been, a glamorless geezer, a holdover from bygone days. Its glitz has been stolen by the "war on terror," which gets the news media hype and campaign trail rhetoric. Railing against recreational drug use and demanding that offenders be locked away is so '90s.

But the drug war proceeds, mostly away from news cameras and photo ops, still chewing up federal and state resources and casting criminal sanctions over entire neighborhoods. Some four or so decades into an intensive effort to stamp out recreational drug use, billions of dollars have been spent; thousands of criminals, many of them foreigners, have been enriched; and hundreds of thousands of Americans have been imprisoned. And the use of illegal substances continues unabated.

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Christmas may have come early this year for the families of thousands of federal inmates with crack cocaine convictions, thanks to recent actions by the U.S. Supreme Court, President George W. Bush and the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Back in the 1980s at the height of the crack epidemic in urban America, our nation's leaders labored under the misconception that the less expensive form of cocaine was much more addictive than its powder form, based on the testimony of an "expert" government witness. Distorted visions of crack babies overtaking inner cities danced in their heads, much to the detriment of fair and reasonable public policy.

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People like Gary Don Holt should be able to get out and do a little hunting.

Holt, of High Point, is, however, a convicted felon, and under current federal law, he can't even handle a gun legally unless he is pardoned for his 1986 marijuana-possession conviction. That should be easy, considering that Holt, a furniture warehouse supervisor, has been a good citizen since he broke the law as a 21-year-old and pleaded guilty.

That pardon, however, won't come from Gov. Mike Easley who, according to a recent story on The Associated Press wire, has denied all of Holt's requests for mercy. It's typical of Easley, who has pardoned only five former felons in his seven years in office. Former Gov. Jim Hunt, by comparison, pardoned more than 200 in his previous eight years.

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Board to Disclose Policy on Random Student Drug Testing at Next Month's Meeting.

HILLSBOROUGH -- The public can voice opinions on plans to implement random student drug testing at Hillsborough High School next month before the Board of Education makes a final decision about it.

Scheduling conflicts had caused Board of Education members to move the public hearing from this month to the 7:30 p.m. work meeting on Jan. 3. School board member David Kanaby, chairman of the board's Policy Committee, said the board's attorney is drafting a policy for the random drug testing which, if approved, would be implemented in the 2008-09 school year.

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After months of debate and discussion, USD No. 353 Wellington made it's first school drug testing policy a reality.

On Thursday, Aug. 9, members of the school board unanimously passed the current policy with a 6-0 vote.

Debate on who would be tested, how, how often, and what would be tested for was up in the air, but after two poorly attended public meetings were held, the school board came to their decision.

School board President David Peck said there was little opposion to the testing policy, seeing as it has already been established at other schools around Kanas including El Dorado. He said students and parents openly welcomed the policy as an extra way to keep everyone safe.

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On Dec. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court gave judges some discretion in sentencing for crack cocaine offenses. One day later, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, intending to narrow the stark disparity between sentences for crack versus powder cocaine, revised sentencing guidelines in order to make them retroactive.

Why should anyone care about a bunch of drug users -- crack users at that -- who might receive two years off their sentences? It matters because of the racial inequities in our system.

It takes the possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine (picture more than two cups full) to earn a five-year prison sentence. It takes only 5 grams of crack cocaine (picture half a teaspoon) to earn a five-year sentence. It is much easier for crack cocaine users to be sentenced to five years of prison. In fact, 85 percent of all federal prisoners in custody for crack cocaine are African American, and the overwhelming majority of them are there for the nonviolent offense of simple drug possession.

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His Duties Will Take on an International Focus

WASHINGTON -- Cedar City native Scott Burns was officially sworn in as second in command of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy on Friday, giving the former Iron County attorney even more responsibility in reducing drug use in America.

Burns, whose official new title is the deputy director of the office, will work closely with the office's director, John Walters, known as the "drug czar," and fill in for Walters as needed.

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With every passing year the drug problem seems to get worse. The U.S. government responds by pumping billions more dollars into the war on drugs. Federal spending for this "war without end" is more than twenty times what it was in 1980 and still the drug traffickers appear to be winning. Despite more than six billion dollars spent on "Plan Colombia" alone, cocaine production has actually increased in that country. Now the Bush Administration is asking for $1.4 billion more to aid the Mexican government's drug crackdown through the "Merida Initiative."

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Every politician, like most of the rest of us, has a terrifying secret that he fears would turn the public against him if the word got out. In Mike Huckabee's case, it is his record.

Aside from a few very lamentable lapses in judgment, Huckabee's scorecard for 10 1/2 years as governor actually is not one that should turn too many voters off.

He was an obliging follower when Democratic lawmakers came up with progressive solutions to the state's manifold problems in education and healthcare and he sometimes offered his own, like school consolidation.

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Few communities force elected officials to submit to drug tests. But a number of cities have explored the possibility, usually in the wake of drug scandals involving local leaders.

More often than not, the proposals are soundly rejected, for two reasons: A strong case can be made that the mandatory drug testing of officials violates the Fourth Amendment's ban of unreasonable searches and seizures. And policies that encourage officials to get tested on a voluntary basis can be a charade that wastes time and tax dollars.

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