PASSAIC - In the last 12 months, the city's Housing Authority has put 30 families on an eviction list and more than 150 people on a "no-trespass" list as part of a tougher stance against drugs and crime on its premises.

And while some are lauding the program, others say it does nothing more than uproot families or tear them apart.

"I try to tell him don't go out there and get into trouble, but I can't control what he does," said Margaret Jackson, whose son, Calvin Stegal, 19, has numerous arrests for drugs and one arrest for beating up another tenant, according to Jose Colon, the authority's security director. Jackson sobbed when she learned she has been put on the authority's eviction list.

[continues 1038 words]

Group AIDS in Change for Drug Offenders

As federal government officials grappled with a plan earlier this month to reduce sentences for thousands of low-level crack cocaine offenders, they were being lobbied by Michigan residents in favor of the idea.

Lots of Michigan residents.

Michigan has one of the largest and most-active chapters of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a national nonprofit organization that works to repeal what many consider unfair drug and sentencing laws.

With 14,000 members nationwide, including 4,000 Michigan residents, and an annual budget of more than $1 million, the group packs a punch.

[continues 437 words]

To the Editor:

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs, not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

[continues 88 words]

No-Knock, You're Dead

A growing number of political pundits are questioning America's military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are beginning to draw parallels to lawmakers' much longer domestic war effort: the so-called war on drugs. The comparison is apropos.

For nearly 100 years, starting with the passage of America's first federal anti-drug law in 1914, lawmakers have relied on the mantra "Do drugs, do time." As in the Middle East, the human and fiscal consequences of this inflexible policy have been steadily mounting.

[continues 511 words]

Drug trafficking in Camden's Whitman Park may hit a speed bump, thanks to a partnership among Camden officials, residents and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Louis Street, in the heart of crime-ridden Whitman Park, will be converted into a one-way, southbound thoroughfare, to allow police to monitor drug dealers' activities more effectively and reduce traffic accidents. A date for converting the street has not been determined.

City Council adopted an ordinance to make the change on Dec. 11, but the measure grew from a year-long effort by police, Whitman Park residents and the prosecutor's office to address crime and safety concerns in the neighborhood.

[continues 362 words]

Killings of Mexican Entertainers Loudly Echo the Narco-Violence Throughout the Country.

This year should have been a peak for Mexican singer Sergio Gomez. His band K-Paz (pronounced cah-paz) de la Sierra released a monster hit; this December they were nominated for a Grammy. But Gomez never savored his triumph - he was found after a recent concert murdered in classic narco-trafficker style, bound, burned, bludgeoned and strangled. The killing, like those of a dozen other musicians since June 2006, broadcasts more loudly than ever the impunity of Mexico's drug cartels and the price all Mexicans pay for it.

[continues 650 words]

Two-thirds of Minnesota's high school seniors may be making pretty good decisions about alcohol, marijuana and seat belts. We have lots to do with at least one-third.

And, more than half of Minnesota's 12th graders are not big fans of their school.

Those are some of the key findings of a survey involving about 135,000 Minnesota 6th, 9th and 12th graders, released last week.

The Minnesota Departments of Education, Health, Human Services and Public Safety cooperated in the 2007 Minnesota Student survey, More than 300 Minnesota school districts participated on a voluntary basis.

[continues 401 words]

Unless Congress steps up to restore funding for regional drug task forces around the country, many of those units, including the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit (FCNEU), may be forced to disband or sharply curtail operations, according to a spokesman for the local unit.

For the past several years, the White House budget has "zeroed out" so-called Byrne Fund grants, the vital federal funding source for drug task force units around the country, said Detective Sgt. Jason Grellner, FCNEU commander.

[continues 682 words]

A defining moment came in the lives of seven people last week as the Eighth Judicial District Drug Court, the first certified in the state, graduated its first class.

In addition to the seven, 16 others moved up to Phase III and seven to Phase IV of the program which includes 125 people.

One of those moving up to Phase IV told a packed crowd in the Leake County courthouse that the program had saved her life.

"This drug court has saved my life, it has changed my life around," said Neshoba County native Janice Norris.

[continues 679 words]

Youth should not be using cannabis, but isn't there a conflict of interest when Marian Catholic High School says cannabis is bad ("Marian Catholic to test all students for drugs," Dec. 18) and Christ God Our Father, the ecologician, indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they all are good, on literally the very first page of the Bible?

Why does a Catholic school discriminate against the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis, which is safer than alcohol, and not test for alcohol use? Isn't this drug testing policy going to lead toward more life-long alcoholism problems in the long run?

Stan White

Dillon, Co.

[end]

If we really want to control marijuana and keep it away from kids, why not try a method that actually works?

President Bush recently touted new survey results showing a modest drop in teen use of marijuana and other drugs, but he failed to mention the drug for which prevention efforts have had the most spectacular success -- tobacco. If he had, he might have had to make some troubling comparisons.

Citing the results of the annual Monitoring the Future survey, Bush noted that drug use has declined from its recent peak in 1996, but sidestepped the longer-term picture that doesn't look nearly so rosy.

[continues 585 words]

OPIUM SEASON: A Year on the Afghan Frontier. Joel Hafvenstein. Lyons. 336 pages. $24.95.

The author describes the dangers of helping ease Afghan farmers out of the opium business.

This real-life story, which provides a chilling sense of deja vu, offers a perfect example of the old saying: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. It's a lesson author Joel Hafvenstein relearns as a condition of employment in perhaps the "dirtiest job" in foreign service -- as a contractor in the Taliban/Khan-ruled poppy fields of Afghanistan.

[continues 394 words]

Willie Mays Aikens is a part of baseball lore. As a member of the 1980 Kansas City Royals, he became the only man to hit more than one home run in two games of the same World Series.

But 27 years after his feat, Aikens languishes in a federal prison in Jessup, Ga., brought low by cocaine addiction and a federal law that mandated long prison sentences for crack cocaine offenses.

From a face on a baseball card, Aikens is now a poster child for what some jurists and civil rights activists say is the absurdity of the difference between the way federal law treats people convicted of crack cocaine offenses and those found guilty of crimes involving powder cocaine.

[continues 1157 words]

If the rationale for drug testing students is it will reduce drug use in high school, then I think administrators and teachers should lead by example and submit themselves to the same tests.

Since all of the "druggies" will be weeded out of the private schools like Marian Catholic High School and "forced" to attend public high schools or be home schooled, I suppose it would make perfect sense not to allow any teachers or staff who work with these students to be treated any differently. After all, these folks are the role models students spend their days with.

[continues 136 words]

The county still lacks a comprehensive anti-crack strategy. And it has chosen a new drug treatment agency based largely on anecdotal data.

"Crack is whack," the drug-addled star singer, Whitney Houston, once famously told a television interviewer.

Amen to that, say area law enforcement officials, who expressed concern last week about the potential early release of scores of crack cocaine offenders from prison.

Many said they feared that the more than 400-plus inmates from the Triad who may see their sentences reduced could pick up precisely where they left off, selling and using the viciously addictive drug.

[continues 708 words]

Joshua Blackburn, a Six-Year Veteran, Is Accused of Stealing More Than 40 Kilograms From an Evidence Locker.

The Orange County district attorney's office said Wednesday that California Highway Patrol Officer Joshua Blackburn could spend more than 25 years in state prison if he is convicted of stealing more than 40 kilograms of cocaine valued at $1 million.

Judge Cheryl Leininger set bail at $4 million during Blackburn's first court appearance Wednesday. She also required Blackburn to show that any money used to post bail was earned through legitimate sources.

[continues 187 words]

Local television producer Jimmy Rickel has taken a bold step to answer former Congressman Dan Hamburg's challenge to put Measure G up to a vote.

Measure G is the county voter initiative that declared prosecuting the cultivation of marijuana would be the lowest priority for county law enforcement, and in no case would local law enforcement arrest and no district attorney would prosecute anybody for growing 25 or fewer marijuana plants.

It was approved by 58 percent of the voters in November 2000.

[continues 274 words]

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed legislation on Wednesday lifting a ban that for nearly a decade has prevented city officials here from using local tax money for needle exchange programs.

Officials of the District of Columbia Health Department said that with the ban lifted, they would allocate $1 million for such programs in 2008.

Since 1999, the nation's capital, which reports having the highest rate of AIDS infection of any major city in the country, has been the only city barred by federal law from using municipal money for needle exchanges. A recent report by the city showed that intravenous drug users' sharing of needles was second only to unprotected sex as a leading cause of H.I.V. transmission.

[continues 130 words]

MANSFIELD -- Meth-amphetamine presents special risks for law enforcement.

"Meth labs are extremely dangerous and volatile given the chemicals and methods used to manufacture the drugs," METRICH Commander Lt. Dino Sgambellone said. "Meth abusers exhibit extreme chronic effects and are prone to paranoia and violence among other physical characteristics."

Meth use can be highly addictive, even lethal. Its effects are similar to those of amphetamine but are more damaging to the central nervous system. Meth can be smoked, snorted or taken orally, but it's most frequently injected. The user experiences an intense rush.

[continues 694 words]

At a special meeting, the Willits City Council voted to send a letter to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors urging them to place a measure on the June 2008 ballot to repeal Measure G and in support of the recently passed county ordinance restricting marijuana cultivation.

Few members of the public attended the Thursday, December 20 evening meeting and only Vice Mayor Larry Stranske, Councilman Greg Kanne and Councilwoman Tami Jorgensen were present representing the council. The vote was unanimous.

[continues 137 words]