The government can shell out billions more to shore up the border from drug smugglers and it will all be a waste("Cartels outrun, outgun the law at Ariz border," Republic, Wednesday). As long as there continues to be a voracious appetite in the U. S. for drugs, the cartels, seeing huge profits, will let nothing stand in their way, not even the mighty U. S. government. Don't bother calling the governor or your senator. There is nothing they can do until American young people curtail their drug habits or the United States legalizes drugs and stamps out the profit in the illicit trade. Or out of desperation, we could always resort to the Mayaysian method: simplly kill everyone involved in drugs--users and dealers. Debra J. White Tempe [end]
Regarding "Cartels outrun, outgun the law at Ariz. border" (Republic, Oct. 3): Is marijuana evil? Yes, of course, somewhat like alcohol and tobacco, but we permit the consumption of the latter two because to do otherwise would be an invitation to another illegal venture. For 21 years, I served as a federal law-enforcement agent on the Canadian and Mexican borders. I arrested smugglers, confiscated marijuana, Cuban cigars, heroin and other drugs. Having removed what I thought was a significant amount of drugs from our streets, I now sadly know I accomplished little beyond bringing a serious problem to the attention of a few caring people. [continues 141 words]
Elizabeth Kempshell wants to team up with state and local agencies to crack down on Mexican drug cartels. The new head of Drug Enforcement Administration's office in Arizona also wants to dismantle crime syndicates from top to bottom. Kempshell, 45, succeeds Timothy Landrum as special agent in charge. He was promoted to the field office in Los Angeles this year. Kempshell grew up in rural Georgia and went to an all-girls college to study nursing. She turned to law enforcement when her only brother was killed by a drunk driver. [continues 1470 words]
A recent Government Accountability Office report on drug interdiction in Mexico is so bleak you have to wonder, what's the point? From 2000 to 2005, the GAO says, the amount of marijuana flowing into the United States from Mexico increased 44 percent. Cocaine shipments to the United States increased 64 percent. Heroin production for U.S. consumption nearly doubled. The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that the total value of the illegal drug trade between Mexico and the United States at between $8 billion and $23 billion. [continues 543 words]
A recent Government Accountability Office report on drug interdiction in Mexico is so bleak you have to wonder, what's the point? From 2000 to 2005, according to the GAO, the amount of marijuana flowing into the United States from Mexico increased 44 percent. Cocaine shipments to the United States increased 64 percent. Heroin production for U.S. consumption nearly doubled. The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that the total value of the illegal drug trade between Mexico and the United States at between $8 billion and $23 billion. [continues 613 words]
Fed Report Details Thriving Business Behind Violent International Industry MARANA - Maj. George Harris watches from a front-row seat the increasingly sophisticated world of Mexican drug cartels as he skims his National Guard helicopter 200 feet above the southern Arizona desert. Harris commands an aviation unit for Operation Jump Start, a two-year mission that sent National Guard troops to help secure the U.S-Mexican border. Although stopping illegal immigration grabs most of the public attention, slowing the flow of illicit drugs is a critical part of the job. [continues 828 words]
Maricopa County has hired a new Arizona Meth Project director whose main objective is to raise $1.5 million to carry the project through its third and final phase. Launched in April, the project began its public-awareness campaign with gritty, in-your-face TV, billboard and radio advertisements to discourage youths from trying methamphetamine, "not even once." So far, the impact in Arizona has been anecdotal, with officials culling responses from the project's Web site and by telephone. An official survey to measure the project's effectiveness will take place in the next six months, said Amy Rex, the new Arizona Meth Project director. [continues 143 words]
The following is a conversation with Amy Rex, the new director of the Arizona Meth Project. 1. Tell us about some of your ideas for the Arizona Meth Project. Where do you hope to take the campaign and how do you measure success? Our primary plan for the Arizona Meth Project is that it continue to educate our youth about the horrors of meth so they aren't tempted to try it . . . (via) billboards, print ads and television spots. The radio spots are produced with local youth who have used meth. [continues 726 words]
The video showed a person constantly moving, stomping his feet and unable to sit still, all signs of a person on crystal methamphetamine. Methamphetamine user identification was the main topic at the second monthly public police meeting at Payson's Town Hall, attended by about 15 residents Wednesday night. "It can be snorted, smoked, injected, it can be taken just about any way they want," Jason Hazelo, drug enforcement officer with Payson Police said, of using meth. Hazelo reaffirmed what Payson residents have already been told, meth is the No. 1 drug problem in Arizona. [continues 370 words]
I am a graduate of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, the primary "demand-side" drug-control strategy of the War on Drugs, operating in 80 percent of our nation's school districts. Uniformed police officers teach fifth and sixth graders about the evils of drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse, focusing on increasing self-esteem and reducing peer pressure. I signed a pledge, which I later violated, to never join a gang or use drugs, and then I got a free T-shirt. [continues 822 words]
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley and Navajo Nation first lady Vikki Shirley Co-chairs of the Arizona Meth Project Last week, we kicked off the second phase of the Arizona Meth Project's media campaign. This is a milestone because Arizona is the second state in the United States that has implemented this mass-media youth prevention and education campaign featuring an evolution of gritty ads that graphically depict the horrors of methamphetamine use and anchored by the memorable "Not Even Once" slogan. [continues 578 words]
GREEN VALLEY - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., on Friday announced her support for a permanent U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint south of Green Valley. Giffords said a checkpoint should remain where the temporary facility is located, north of Tubac on Interstate 19, rather than moving further north toward Green Valley. The Border Patrol has agreed to limit the size of the station, she said. The Border Patrol station was a contentious issue in the corridor between Sahuarita and Tubac. Senior citizens and business leaders feared a permanent station closer to Green Valley would force illegal immigrants and drug smugglers off the interstate and into their neighborhoods. [continues 184 words]
Prescription drugs used illegally can cause nausea, seizures, even death. The common misconception of prescription drugs is most people think since these drugs are prescribed by doctors, they're safe to use. However, the abuse of prescribed drugs is becoming more and more common. Dr. Cynthia Brennan of the Silver Creek Family Practice in Bullhead City said she has heard of a group of patients who go "doctor-shopping" or going from doctor to doctor for prescribed drugs. Other people often share medications with friends thinking drugs as prescribed by a doctor would be safe compared to illegal drugs. [continues 656 words]
Hazy hyperbole: People need to learn to tolerate other people's lifestyles. If others enjoy smoking marijuana and you don't, then don't do it ("The Bong Show," Ray Stern, August 16). But don't tell other people what they can and cannot do. There are plenty of people who use it for medical reasons, and although the article doesn't allude to it, you can bypass most of the harmful toxins by using a vaporizer or ingesting the cannabis through food. Cannabis is the most benign of "illicit" drugs. No one in history has ever died from the stuff. In fact, in many countries, the elderly attribute their long lives to it. Henry Anslinger, via the Internet [end]
Editor: I read with interest the responses to my letter. There is still a lot of controversy about marijuana. The fact that any drug has been used for a thousand years does not mean it does not have any potential medical problems. Any drug that is strong enough to instill changes in the body, may also adversely affect the body or mind. For someone to write that a "naturally" occurring plant should not be illegal is obviously ignorant of the many "natural" substances that occur in nature that are not necessarily positive. [continues 576 words]
Time to legalize: With regard to Ray Stern's story about expensive bongs ("The Bong Show," August 16), it was recently reported by the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime that 12.6 percent of all Americans between the ages of 15 and 64 admitted to using pot at least once in 2005. Since a large percentage of pot users would not admit to a complete stranger that they use pot, the percentage of pot users is probably much higher. [continues 153 words]
Pay $1,200 for a Water Pipe? Are You High? The glass glows dull red, like a campfire ember, above the gas torch. The young artist, sitting on a stool in front of a wooden bench with a metal top, works with confident, quick motions, creating a tube by fusing white glass sticks together around a one-inch-thick cylinder of graphite. James Lynch, 27, has an average build, short, light-brown hair and a goatee. He's wearing Birkenstocks, a black T-shirt, shorts, and sporty-looking didymium shades that mute the searing orange and blue light of the torch. He soon moves on to a spherical glass shape, holding it over the flame by pencil-thin rods of glass, his fingers inches away from potential third-degree burns. Gloves wouldn't allow him the kind of control he needs. [continues 5179 words]
Editor: Ira Gibel is absolutely right that we need to educate people about cannabis and all drugs. We should start by educating Ira. Cannabis has been used for thousands of years with no documented medical problems. Ira's comment that all drugs are considered guilty until proven innocent also shows his lack of knowledge. Most natural herbs are legally available and have never been subjected to FDA testing. Examples of commonly used herbs include echinacea, basil, oregano, and thousands of other plant substances. For the government, or anyone, to think they can make a naturally occurring plant "illegal" is the height or arrogance and stupidity. David Lane Santa Cruz, Calif. [end]
Editor: I've just read Ira Gibel's letter, People Need To Be Educated About Drug Use (Tuesday, July 31) and have to respond. Mr. Gibel is reaching for straws comparing cannabis (marijuana) to thalidomide. Thalidomide is one of the iconic tales of the pharmaceutical industry's push to introduce new drugs without proper oversight. Cannabis, on the other hand, has been used by humans for literally thousands of years, safely. In 1988 DEA administrative law judge Francis Young, after an exhaustive investigation, stated that cannabis "is one of the safest therapeutic substances known to man." [continues 175 words]
BISBEE -- If a justice of the peace determines at a preliminary hearing today that first-degree murder or related charges against U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett can move forward in Cochise County Superior Court, Corbett's attorneys could request that the case be removed to U.S. District Court in Tucson. Such a request would be made under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which makes federal law supreme over state law and which can be applied to federal agents charged in local criminal courts. [continues 535 words]
Inside Arizona
