In the most recent addition of Howard Brown's Research Breakfast Series, Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, a professor of psychology at Hunter College of the City University of New York and director of the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training, presented hot-off-the-field data to give a glimpse into the connections often made between methamphetamine and sex.

In "Methamphetamine and Sexuality among MSM: What's the Connection?" Parsons discussed an ongoing study of meth and other club drug use among gay/bi young adults, ages 18-29. The study follows 400 club drug users in the New York area over the course of one year, stratified by gender and sexual orientation. The morning's discussion focused mainly on the 100 gay/bi young men studied.

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The end of this school year may also mark the end of the DARE program in nine public and parochial schools, according to an article in The Pantagraph.

The program, in which, police officers teach about making the "right choice" in relation to drugs, smoking and violence will be replaced in some schools with two resource officers.

One officer will be assigned as a school resource officer for Bloomington elementary schools and the other will return to patrolling. This change would add a third resource officer since there already is one.

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BLOOMINGTON - When Rachael Ingalsbe graduated from the DARE program with her classmates Wednesday at Trinity Lutheran School, she likely was part of the end of an era.

Her fifth-grade class may be among the last graduates from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program operated by Bloomington Police Department.

Bloomington police plan to discontinue DARE at the end of this school year in eight public and parochial schools. Under the national program, police teach about making good choices regarding drugs, smoking and violence.

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Or Will They Have the Courage to Legalize Medical Marijuana?

Multiple sclerosis patient Julie Falco makes a compelling case that Illinois should legalize marijuana for medical uses.

Three times a day, Falco eats a small marijuana brownie to relieve tingling, numbness, spasticity, bladder problems, insomnia and depression. Pot works so well she has tossed out her prescription drugs.

"I'm in a better place physically, mentally and spiritually from taking this," she says.

Falco, 42, recently testified for a bill that would legalize medical marijuana. A Senate vote could come as early as today.

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Illinois' latest attempt to legalize medical marijuana is getting support from a surprising source-religious leaders.

"The moral issue is relief of suffering," said the Rev. D. Jay Johnson of the Union Avenue Christian Church in Litchfield, Ill.

Johnson is one of more than 40 state religious leaders named in a letter distributed to legislators as they consider changing Illinois law to allow use of marijuana for treating pain and nausea in medical patients. But opponents also are leaning on religious morality as a central part of their argument. They say that the real purpose of the movement is to legalize recreational pot, and that well-meaning clergy are being duped. "I think they're using the compassion of people who don't understand what the goal is," said Anita Bedell of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems, the group leading the fight against the bill.

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There is a bill pending in the state Senate titled SB 650. It proposes to legalize the medical use of cannabis.

I oppose this legislation.

One reason given for attempting this is to ease such things as nausea in cancer patients during treatment.

As a two-time cancer survivor, I am well acquainted with the physical reactions to chemotherapy and other drugs used in treatments. There are currently several legal treatments that minimize or eliminate much discomfort coming from chemo.

Allowing cancer victims to privately grow cannabis in there homes is not necessary and almost impossible to control.

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New Mexico just became the 12th state to pass a bill legislating the growth and use of medical marijuana. When the Illinois state Senate reconvenes this week, it will consider a similar bill, SB 650. Dan Linn heads the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

How do you think the bill will fare?

I don't think Sen. [John] Cullerton, who's a Democrat from Chicago and sponsored the bill, would have put his name on it unless he was confident it would go through. A lot of people are coming out of the woodwork...it's a public-health issue, and a lot of people don't realize that. It doesn't have to do with teen drug use or legalization.

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In response to the article, "Most Antioch high school board candidates want drug testing expanded," I would like to comment that such a policy of drug testing all students would not only be expensive and ineffective, but could also lead to more drug use.

Drug testing is not effective because it often severs the very relationships between adults and students that are effective at curbing drug use.

Last month, the American Association of Pediatrics released its opposition to random drug testing in its monthly journal.

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But Some High Schoolers See April 20 As A Day To Smoke Marijuana

One day, two very different stigmas.

Friday marked the eighth anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. Thursday was the 12th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings and the 14th anniversary of the deadly standoff in Waco, Texas.

Not a good time in American history, to say the least.

But, according to potheads and stoners nationwide, it's a great time to smoke weed.

Commonly referred to as "420" (pronounced "four-twenty"), April 20 is the unofficial get-high holiday for cannabis aficionados - or students simply looking for an excuse to skip school and smoke up.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois' latest attempt to legalize medical marijuana is getting support from a surprising source - religious leaders.

"The moral issue is relief of suffering," said the Rev. D. Jay Johnson of the Union Avenue Christian Church in Litchfield.

Johnson is one of more than 40 state religious leaders named in a letter distributed to legislators as they consider changing Illinois law to allow use of marijuana for treating pain and nausea in medical patients.

But opponents also are leaning on religious morality as a central part of their argument. They say that the real purpose of the movement is to legalize recreational pot, and that well-meaning clergy are being duped.

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Educate Yourself About A Maligned But Useful Plant

When I was in college, my friends and I used to joke about hemp. I knew the crop could be harvested for its fibers and made into clothing and rope, but I also had heard that it was related to marijuana.

So I didn't know what to think when I recently received a bag of organic shelled hemp seeds in the mail, a complimentary sample from a Canadian company called Manitoba Harvest. I called the company, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to find out more.

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Peoria Heights Ordinance Could Keep Offenders Out of Jail and Money in the Village

PEORIA HEIGHTS - A new ordinance set to take effect in May will give Peoria Heights police officers the option of writing village code violations for minor drug offenses.

The local law, which mirrors a state violation for marijuana possession, means the village will reap more money from fines in such cases.

For the offender, the new ordinance also can mean a possible second chance. Unlike state charges, if a person pays the local fine, it is taken off his or her criminal records.

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Illinois Church Leaders Urge State Lawmakers to Approve Bill That Would Legalize Appropriate Use

CHICAGO -- Arguing that Illinois lawmakers have a moral duty to legalize medical use of marijuana, dozens of pastors and church leaders are urging them to allow doctors to recommend the drug for seriously ill patients.

The religious leaders say they feel compelled to support doctors who want to use whatever tools necessary to ease the pain of the extremely sick.

A petition was e-mailed to state senators late last month. The state Senate was expected to vote on the bill this week, said Sen. John Cullerton, the bill's author. If passed and signed into law, Illinois would become the 13th state to allow the use of medical marijuana.

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A medical marijuana bill sponsored by State Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has passed the Senate's Public Health Committee after considering written and oral expert testimony from medical professionals and patients, according to a release from the Marijuana Policy Project.

Medical marijuana policy experts said they expect the bill, SB 650, to go to the Senate floor for a full vote soon.

The bill would prevent seriously ill patients who use medical marijuana with a doctor's recommendation from being arrested. Currently, 12 states--including California, Rhode Island and New Mexico ( which just passed a bill through the House and Senate, according to mpp.org ) --have similar laws on the books, protecting those who have cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis C.

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Any student who has filled out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) can tell you that Question 31 asks whether you have ever been convicted of a drug crime.

Why?

Well, those who answer yes for such a conviction - including possession of small amounts of marijuana - are automatically stripped of their financial aid while murderers and rapists are perfectly eligible to get government loans and grants.

If you're as outraged as I am over this harmful and unfair penalty that has already affected 200,000 students, you'll be glad to learn that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is currently in a key position to do something about it.

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BLOOMINGTON -- A Bloomington woman was acquitted Thursday of selling heroin to a man within 1,000 feet of a nursing home facility.

The jury deliberated about 20 minutes before acquitting Keisha Rials-Parks, 26, of the 2200 block of Todd Drive.

She was accused of selling drugs July 24 to a confidential police source.

Prosecutors said the sale took place in an apartment on Tracy Drive near a rehabilitation center on South Main Street. The police source was a man cooperating with police in exchange for consideration in pending criminal cases in Champaign and McLean counties.

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We've all seen the images and heard the testimony of ailing Americans who gain relief from their chronic pain or discomfort by smoking marijuana -- who, in fact, have no other remedy at their disposal. People can't help chuckling over pictures of grandmoms and granddads smoking a "j" -- Cheech and Chong they're not. But of course there's nothing funny about these sufferers' need for medical marijuana -- for marijuana that has been prescribed for them by a doctor -- or the federal government's unmerciful threat to prosecute users even in states where it is not against the law.

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SPRINGFIELD -- During his 30 years as a Presbyterian pastor, the Rev. Bob Hillenbrand said, he encountered a number of folks whose treatment could have been enhanced by medical marijuana.

Hillenbrand, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Rockford, recently joined an effort to allow those with debilitating medical conditions to legally possess the drug in Illinois.

"I think there's a lot of ignorance about this," he said Monday. "I'm certainly not an expert myself, but I have heard quite a number of doctors say -- and I happen to agree with them -- that treatment like this might very well be in order."

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BELLEVILLE - Educators, counselors, court personnel and police met today at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snow for the Metro-East Coalition Against Methamphetamine Conference.

The coalition's goal is to stamp out methamphetamine to create safe families and communities.

"People just get engulfed with it," said Illinois State Police Sgt. Joe Beliveau, head of the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois. "All they can do is want more and more."

Drug users will do anything to get the drug, causing a spike in property crime in communities, Beliveau said.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Hopes of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois have gone up in smoke - for now.

The Illinois Senate, by a narrow 22-29 vote, turned down a bill that would have allowed doctors to prescribe the drug to patients suffering from painful, debilitating conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or epilepsy.

"This is disappointing," said Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, the sponsor of the bill. "I don't think people realize how popular this is in their districts. This is overwhelmingly supported."

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