Salpointe Catholic High School is set to become the first school in Pima County to require the entire student body undergo drug testing.

The program will start in the fall, said Mike Urbanski, head of student services at Salpointe, 1545 E. Copper Street.

Urbanski said the program will be modeled after the one used at St. Patrick High School in Chicago, where hair samples have been used to test for drugs since 2004.

The test uses a strand of hair from each student, which is a more reliable test for longtime drug use than the more common urinalysis, according to the Web site for Psychemedics, the company that will run Salpointe's tests.

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A prisoner with no record of violence was beaten and stabbed to death in September after Arizona Department of Corrections officials placed him in a cell with a killer serving a life sentence. William Harris, 45, who was serving 3 1/2 years at the state prison in Florence, was stabbed three times, hit repeatedly on the head and choked, according to a Maricopa County Medical Examiner's report obtained by the Tribune.

The weapon, known as a shank, was 9 inches long and still sticking out of Harris' lower chest when his body arrived at the medical examiner's office, according to the document.

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It has become a familiar scene on the evening news across the country: Neighbors watch in stunned silence as police raid the house next door and the nice couple who for the most part kept to themselves are hauled away for running a methamphetamine lab in their basement.

Compared to marijuana, heroin or cocaine, methamphetamine, or meth as it is commonly known, is relatively new in the headlines. But this drug has had a tremendous and terrible impact in a short time. Once thought to be a problem affecting primarily America's rural communities, no community, no matter how large or how small, is safe from the allure and the destruction caused by methamphetamine.

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Washington Isn't Focused on the Real Threat of Cartels Joining Forces

The people elected the Democrats to fix what was broken in Washington. The fact that new Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi even considered assigning Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is frightening.

Hastings is the impeached federal judge who was taking payoffs from drug dealers at a time when the Colombians controlled Florida's drug trade. It took Pelosi almost a month to distance herself from Hastings. Pelosi's support of Rep. John Murtha for house majority leader is also telling. During the ABSCAM congressional corruption investigation, Murtha failed to make an affirmative rejection to a bribe by undercover FBI agents posing as Middle Eastern thugs.

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I'm writing about: "Drug deal in Mesa ends in gunfire" (Nov 1). No doubt the police will file this case as a "drug-related crime." Actually it's a drug prohibition caused crime.

When is the last time you had a story about a liquor dealer shooting his liquor distributor? Probably about 1933, the year they ended the disaster known as Alcohol Prohibition.

Our counterproductive drug prohibition polices give marijuana users, sellers and distributors no legal recourse to settle their disputes with each other--so they resort to violence, just like alcohol users, sellers and distributors did when alcohol was illegal.

Kirk Muse

Mesa

[end]

A U.S. judge is scheduled to decide if Dan and Mary Quaintance are drug dealers or church leaders with a national following.

They claim the marijuana they get from Mexico is part of their religion. However, the U.S. government argues their church is a cover for a criminal enterprise.

Religious freedom is a core belief in the United States, and the Quaintances, founders of the Church of Cognizance, say they're defending the right to practice their faith.

"In our church, we believe the cannabis plant is the teacher," Dan Quaintance said.

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Today are the midterm elections, when Congress and other elected officials around the country are judged based on their past performance, at best, and their campaign strategies, at worst. It's democracy, though, and it works. Or so one would hope.

But what our democracy misses, at times, is academics. And it appears now that our politicians are ignoring serious academic studies at the cost of millions of dollars, the destruction of our environment and the health and welfare of Americans.

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KINGMAN - The Mohave County Board of Supervisors will meet Monday to once again discuss the potential county funding of the fight against the methamphetamines epidemic.

The Board of Supervisors first discussed the funding for both the Arizona Meth Project and the MethSmart program at their Oct. 2 meeting. The Arizona Meth Project, being spearheaded by Maricopa County, and the MethSmart program, being proposed by the Arizona Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs, are both asking the county for assistance in funding to make the programs a reality.

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As a special assistant county attorney, I am all too familiar with the harm caused to our community by illegal drugs.

I have seen firsthand the tragic consequences which often occur when judgment is impaired by drug use. Domestic violence and vehicular tragedies are just two of the consequences of drug use that we in law enforcement have experienced. Our youth are especially vulnerable to the dire consequences of illegal drug use. Those who advocate the use of illegal drugs arguing for recreational use open a Pandora's box inevitably filled with tragedy. That's why I was both surprised and concerned when I learned that District 20 state Senate candidate Donna Gratehouse had advocated her support for a "study" which may have as its result a recommendation for legalizing marijuana for "recreational purposes." I would hope that Gratehouse would realize - as do law enforcement professionals, teachers, social workers and crime victims - - that there are great dangers posed by the recreational use of illegal drugs.

I suggest that information about the harmful affects of illegal drugs can be found at the Maricopa County Attorney's Web site, http://www.drugfreeaz.com. I recommend that Web site to Gratehouse.

Barnett S. Lotstein

Special Assistant Maricopa County Attorney

Phoenix

[end]

If you think you can beat drug and alcohol addiction on your own, it is probably safe to say that you have never reached that crossroad.

The same could be said if you believe that jail is the best way to treat an addict.

And if you believe that refusing treatment for addicts will make them leave your town, take a look around Payson.

There is no detox center and no drug treatment facility, but the number of people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction is on the rise.

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Voters: Beware of unintended consequences and vote "no" on Proposition 301. If this proposition passes, it would deny hundreds of people the opportunity for drug treatment and would clog our prisons with more non-violent addicts.

A study was done recently in Nebraska for the Department of Correctional Services (reported in /The Republic/). It showed that the get-tough meth law that took effect there last year, combined with normal expected growth in the prison population, will require many additional prison beds and will cost millions.

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Please vote "yes" on Proposition 301, which would tighten probation-eligibility standards for those convicted of certain meth crimes.

Currently, meth-users are sentenced to probation and substance-abuse programs but many times do not start or complete the programs. They are scheduled for court dates to explain why, but they do not appear.

"Failure to appear" warrants are issued but go unnoticed. Many times the warrants get lost in the system. Just like all the "failures to appear" associated with the meth user, the current system is a failure. It depends on the user making an effort. That's not going to happen.

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"Double D" knew he had to sober up when he tried to jump in front of a train.

And even though he'd realized his drug and alcohol problem was out of control, he couldn't stop -- not until it drove him to pursue his own death.

"I lived the better part of my life as an active addict," said Double D, who asked that his real name not be used to protect his identity. He has now been sober for more than two years. "I was not just addicted to meth, but to other substances as well, all of which were just as dangerous in their own way. Each one held a different grip on my life."

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Editor:

I'm writing about the article, "$52 million of marijuana confiscated this summer," published Oct. 6.

I'm sure that many marijuana growers and sellers are thankful to the Gila County Narcotics Task Force for these latest marijuana busts and others like it.

Without operations like this, marijuana would be worth what other easy-to-grow weeds are worth -- very little.

Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other so-called "drug warriors," the easy-to-grow weed is worth more than pure gold - -- and completely tax-free.

Any marijuana growers, sellers or traffickers arrested will soon be replaced. They always are.

Kirk Muse

Mesa

[end]

In the crowded list of measures on the Nov. 7 ballot, Proposition 301 is barely drawing notice.

But it could land those convicted of first-time possession of methamphetamine in jail or prison.

Arizona voters in 1996 passed an initiative that made it all but impossible for first- and second-time drug possession defendants to be sentenced to jail, steering them instead to probation and drug treatment.

Now, citing the rise of methamphetamine use, backers of Proposition 301 want voters to make an exception among drug defendants.

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Proposition 301 is not a new approach in dealing with methamphetamine users.

In fact, it essentially rolls back the clock to the pre-1996 era when judges could sentence first-time meth offenders to jail or prison.

Back then, meth wasn't the huge drug menace that it is today. But it is quickly replacing marijuana as the nation's most-used illegal narcotic, according to U.S. Justice Department data and surveys.

And in Arizona, crime statistics provided by the FBI and the state show that meth is linked to three of every four crimes. Moreover, a five-year study by the University of Arizona reveals that hospital admissions related to meth exceed those related to cocaine use.

[continues 365 words]

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on drugs in local schools. Wednesday's story features an upcoming town hall meeting and other ideas and problems that will be discussed.

Safford High School kicked off random drug testing for all students participating in extracurricular activities this fall, following a similar move by Thatcher and Pima high schools.

There is yet to be an official drug-testing policy across the state, but the Arizona School Boards Association adopted a document on drug testing in 2004 on which local schools are basing their policies. Each school takes a slightly different approach in disciplining offenders.

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TUCSON, Ariz. -- A Pima, Ariz., couple has stepped down as leaders of a church that considers marijuana a sacrament and deity.

Dan and Mary Quaintance say pending federal charges against them have made it impossible to properly lead the church. In February, the two were arrested in a car that contained 172 pounds of marijuana in the New Mexican town of Lordsburg near the Arizona state line.

The Quaintances are facing 40 years in prison if convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and intent to distribute marijuana. Dan Quaintance, 53, said the church is now fractured, explaining that the 45-member congregation that he and his wife founded in 1991 no longer has its spiritual leaders. The Quaintances are scheduled to go on trial October 30 in Las Cruces, N.M., though they hope the case will be dismissed before the end of the month. They're awaiting a decision from U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera on whether she'll dismiss the case on the grounds that religious freedom should allow them to use the illegal drug.

[continues 183 words]

KINGMAN - The Mohave County Board of Supervisors is considering funding for two proposed meth education projects, one county-based and one statewide.

Chairman Pete Byers said the proposals he has read for both projects have been worthwhile. If they can manage it, he said he would like to try to give funding of some sort to both.

One of the proposals is from the Boys and Girls Clubs in Mohave County. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Arizona are proposing a program for meth education that ties into their SMART Moves programs.

[continues 732 words]

Two Step Aside, Saying Charges Hinder Duties

The founders of an Arizona church that considers marijuana a sacrament and deity have stepped down as leaders, saying pending federal criminal char-ges make it impossible to fulfill their roles.

The Church of Cognizance continues to function in Southeastern Arizona with about 45 members, said 54-year-old Dan Quaintance, who along with his wife, Mary, 51, is facing 40 years in prison if convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and intent to distribute more than 100 pounds of marijuana.

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