Mendocino County's Decriminalization Of Personal Use Has Fueled Backlash Against Surging Production

UKIAH -- A campaign is under way to repeal a landmark Mendocino County measure that decriminalized the personal use of marijuana, a first in the United States when the local initiative was passed by voters in 2000.

Measure G won by a 58-42 percent margin and was seen then as a way for local people to use up to 25 marijuana plants per individual for medical reasons without fear of prosecution.

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FORT WORTH -- Nine people are gathered in front of Associate Judge Ellen Smith's bench to discuss the future of a family.

A Tarrant County prosecutor is there, along with a Child Protective Services social worker and attorneys for the father, mother and children. In the middle stands a fidgeting 28-year-old woman from Arlington hoping to get her children back.

Smith is told that the mother is trying to clean up her act: She attends counseling sessions, works the midnight shift as a waitress and sees her kids every weekend. But recently the mother stumbled: She tested positive for cocaine.

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In '08, State Will Add Type Of Salvia To List Of Banned Substances

Green, leafy and innocuous, salvia divinorum looks like it would be more interesting to a gardener than a police officer.

But the plant's unique hallucinogenic properties have turned "the sage of the diviners" into a botanical target caught in a crossfire between politicians, spiritualists and scientists over whether it's a drug that should be banned or an herb that should be freely available for research and personal use.

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EDITOR: I couldn't help but notice the influx of articles published in The Press Democrat regarding marijuana in the last few months.

I really never thought of marijuana as being a dangerous drug, whether used as a recreational drug or as a treatment for those who are ill and use it to relieve pain and discomfort. This in and of itself does not concern me.

What does concern me is that there is a trend. Guns and violence surround the act of growing and distributing this drug. People get killed, violent acts occur, there are police chases including one -- involving a semi-automatic weapon -- that began in Windsor and ended in Forestville. One young man was beaten and put in a coma. Are we all feeling safe now? How do you feel about the guy next door growing marijuana even though he may be doing it with good intentions? Should he be allowed to do this even though it puts you, your children or grandchildren at risk?

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Port Huron isn't just saving money when cutting the DARE program (DARE fans hope program is spared, Dec. 18). It is stopping a program that nearly every study, including government studies, shows is a failure and may be causing more drug use than no program at all.

Isn't there a conflict of interest in spending money for something that doesn't work and teaches lies, half truths and reefer madness propaganda? Isn't there a conflict of interest when DARE teaches that cannabis is bad and the Bible teaches God created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on literally the very first page of the Bible?

DARE is great for police, their unions and job security. However Port Huron shouldn't be spending $730,000 so police can have "relationships" with children.

Dillon, Colo., Dec. 21

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U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon has helped to secure $1.1 million in federal funding to help state and local officials fight methamphetamine production and abuse.

"Strong state and federal laws are making an impact on meth production, but we still have too many meth labs in Tennessee," said Gordon. "Last year, Tennessee had more meth lab seizures than all but four states. Law enforcement needs better ways to detect clandestine meth labs and more resources to educate the community about the dangers of meth abuse."

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SACRAMENTO - President Bush has signed into law a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, to help clean up methamphetamine labs and the toxic mess they leave behind.

Bush signed HR365 late last week. The proposal requires the Environmental Protection Agency to set guidelines for federal aid to state and local authorities charged with cleaning up former meth lab sites.

"Meth use is a critical problem for so many parts of the country, including the Central Valley," McNerney said. "Frequently, meth labs are located in residential neighborhoods. Innocent people could be put at undue risk from the toxic residue that remains after meth production in that home or hotel room is abandoned."

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Even a "Successful" Eradication Program in Afghanistan Would Do No Great Harm to the Illegal Drug Trade -- But it Would Do Great Damage to the Government

WASHINGTON -- The power to destroy does not carry within it the power to control. A century of failed colonial rule and the American misadventure in Vietnam etched that lesson on global consciousness for a time. It has taken the huge problems that affluent, nuclear-armed nations are encountering in the miserable ruins of Afghanistan and Iraq to drive it home anew.

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Several Interested To Be Executive For Task Force

CROWN POINT - A high-ranking area FBI agent has applied to head a local law enforcement agency that pumps $3 million annually into the area's war on drugs.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Mark Becker said Monday he has applied to become executive director of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

Becker said he has heard others, including at least one well-known political figure, intend to apply for the job.

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Presidential candidate Barack Obama smoked marijuana, drank alcohol and used cocaine when he was still in high school.

A recent letter writer is outraged and wonders: Where is the outrage of others?

He even predicts disaster befalling our nation should a former alcohol and drug user become president.

George W. Bush is a convicted drunken driver, an admitted alcoholic who didn't get dry until he was into his forties and a cocaine abuser while a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.

So I don't know, maybe the writer does have a point.

Greg Francisco, Paw Paw, Mich.

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HONOLULU -- Just last week, a Big Island patient placed his baggie of pot, along with his medical marijuana ID card, on the X-ray machine as he boarded a commercial flight to Honolulu. Federal Transportation Security Administration screeners let it go, both coming and going.

But life isn't always that easy for participants in the state's medical-marijuana program, prompting freshman Rep. Joe Bertram to sponsor four bills loosening marijuana regulation. Some travelers have had their pot confiscated; others have been arrested.

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Law Enforcement Authorities Back the Ban by Saying the Dispensaries Attract Crime.

Merced County officials passed a law this week permanently banning medical marijuana dispensaries across the unincorporated county.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to support the law, which mirrors ordinances already adopted by the cities of Merced, Los Banos and Atwater.

Though there are no marijuana dispensaries in Merced County, officials said during Tuesday's board meeting that dispensaries have proven troublesome in other communities. Besides attracting crime, they can lower nearby property values, disrupt nearby businesses and increase illegal drug use and demands on police, county planning officials said.

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If the Democrats are looking for a compelling candidate to run against Jim Douglas, I suggest they put forth Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand. His position on our wrong-headed, Draconian drug laws demonstrates that he is not only a clear-thinking person but one who's willing to take a principled position, despite the potential fallout. I would like to know more about his thoughts on global warming and our illegal, unprovoked invasion of Iraq.

Meanwhile, congratulations to those attorneys who signed Friday's "War On Drugs" petition in The Times Argus.

Strat Douthat,

Montpelier

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BOSTON - During some of the bloodiest years of the drug wars of the 1980s, crack was seen as far more dangerous than powdered cocaine, and that perception was written into the sentencing laws. But now that notion is under attack like never before.

Criminologists, doctors and other experts say the differences between the two forms of the drug were largely exaggerated and do not justify the way the law comes down 100 times harder on crack.

A push to shrink the disparity in punishments got a boost last month when reduced federal sentencing guidelines went into effect for crack offenses. Then, earlier this month, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets guidelines for federal cases, voted to make the reductions retroactive, allowing about 19,500 inmates, most of them black, to seek reductions in their crack sentences.

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The Bush administration's decision to conduct a review of security, governance and economic development in Afghanistan reflects an overdue recognition that, six years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the country remains dangerously unstable. With Taliban attacks on the rise and the opium poppy crop increasing, Afghanistan is on the way to becoming a failed state, a narco-state or both.

The easy part of the policy review should be identifying past mistakes. An obvious error was the light military footprint that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted to maintain after the Taliban were chased into Pakistan. The ratio of peacekeeping forces to population in Afghanistan is a tiny fraction of what it was in Bosnia or Kosovo.

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LANSING - Michigan's November 2008 ballot could be a bit crowded, possibly including proposals to provide universal health care and allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

Those proposals, among others, took procedural steps forward Wednesday with action by a state elections panel.

Other possible petition drives in the works would create a part-time Legislature in Michigan and require a statewide vote to raise certain taxes.

Most of the proposals are in preliminary stages. In most cases, organizers still have to collect the more than 380,000 valid signatures required to put proposals to change the state constitution before voters.

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Panel Says Jury Wrong to Rely on Police Testimony About Defendant's Intent to Sell

Police officers who have only limited experience dealing with people who possess marijuana legally do not have a sufficient basis to determine whether such persons intend to sell it, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled Friday.

In a unanimous opinion, Div. Three reversed Christopher James Chakos' conviction for possessing marijuana for sale based on a lack of evidence, saying the police officer upon whose expert testimony the conviction was based had no expertise in differentiating between individuals who possess marijuana lawfully for their own consumption, and those who possess it unlawfully with the intent to sell.

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OROVILLE -- After an hour-long deliberation Friday afternoon, a jury found a Chico man not guilty of charges he cultivated marijuana and stored it illegally.

It's thought by attorneys to be the first case tried in Butte County Superior Court under California Senate Bill 420, which allows people with medical marijuana prescriptions to form a cooperative or collective to grow for their recommended use.

Brett Eric Johnsen was on trial for what Butte County authorities said was an illegal garden growing in his house on West First Street. Butte County sheriff's officers found the garden May 30 upon entering Johnsen's home on a search warrant. They reportedly found plants hanging from a bedroom ceiling and an elaborate garden filled with flowering marijuana in the basement.

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Dear Mayor Moeller:

While the Times Herald's article stated your community's support for our program, Shannon Murphy did not research DARE's successes and I would like to set the record straight. I would appreciate your sharing this information with your City Council for their consideration.

Here are only a few of Murphy's omissions regarding DARE-America's history:

Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency: DARE grads are less likely to use inhalants, crack cocaine and smokeless tobacco.

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PALESTINE - Have you ever seen that Above The Influence commercial where a young Hispanic girl is talking on the phone to her friend? Basically, she comes out of her house and says the following: "Hey girl, que pasa? Last night was crazy, from what I can remember. Hold on, slow down chica. A picture of me? You have to send it to me right now." At this point she takes the phone away from her ear and looks at what we're supposed to assume is a revealing or embarrassing picture of her. She puts the phone back up to her ear and says, "This must be from Saturday night. I was so high." Kids gathered around her look at their cell phones and at the girl, while a presumably cool dude in a white tank top stares at her like he's disappointed.

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