Former Kansas A.G. Says Treatment of Drug 'Absurd'

Topeka -- The push to legalize medical marijuana got a big lift Friday when former Attorney General Bob Stephan announced his support and urged Kansans to get behind the effort.

"The state should not pre-empt the role of the physicians when it comes to deciding what is best for ill Kansans," said Stephan, a cancer survivor and the longest serving attorney general in state history.

But lawmakers said there was little chance of legalizing medical marijuana, at least in the 2008 legislative session that starts in January.

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Stephan Wants Patients Protected

Former Attorney General Robert Stephan plans to speak out Friday about what he believes is the need to legalize the medical consumption of marijuana in Kansas.

The state's chief law enforcement officer from 1979 to 1995 will participate in a news conference in the Statehouse hosted by Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition, which seeks legal protection for patients who use marijuana as part of a treatment program and for physicians who recommend the drug to patients.

Laura Green, director of the coalition, said in an interview Tuesday that laws relating to medicinal use of marijuana are on the books in more than 30 states. A dozen states rigidly shield patients from prosecution when consuming cannabis for medical purposes.

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WASHINGTON -- News that Al Gore's 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was busted for pot and assorted prescription pills has unleashed a torrent of mirth in certain quarters.

Gore-phobes on the Internet apparently view the son's arrest and incarceration as comeuppance for the father's shortcomings. Especially rich was the fact that young Al was driving a Toyota Prius when he was pulled over for going 100 mph -- just as Papa Gore was set to preside over concerts during a 24-hour, seven-continent Live Earth celebration to raise awareness about global warming.

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Washington -- In January 2002, in Juneau, Alaska, Joseph Frederick had the sort of idea that makes a teenager seem like one of nature's mistakes. Last week, after five years and the attention of 13 federal judges, Frederick became a footnote in constitutional history.

His case illustrated how the multiplication and extension of rights lead to the proliferation of litigation. It also illustrated something agreeable in a disagreeably angry era -- how nine intelligent, conscientious justices can civilly come to strikingly different conclusions about undisputed facts.

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School Districts Differ On Random Drug Testing Of Students

DE Soto Is Studying The Idea, But Other County Districts, Including Shawnee Mission, Say They Don't Plan To.

Although the De Soto School District is considering random drug testing of students, other Johnson County school districts, including Shawnee Mission, express no interest in such a program.

De Soto is exploring a proposal to require random drug and alcohol testing for middle and high school students who participate in athletics or other school activities, or high school students who use school parking lots.

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Rumors circulating nationwide about flavored methamphetamines have not yet been confirmed by lab tests. Until they know with certainty, however, law enforcement, school officials and anti-drug groups across the country are taking it seriously.

The Carson City, Nev., Sheriff's Office is credited with the initial seizure of flavored meth known as "strawberry quick."

Sgt. Darrin Sloan, who leads the Special Enforcement Team in Carson City, said that the new meth came to light during a buy set up with an informant who had worked with sheriff's officers on about 10 cases. The informant said that he could buy what he called "pink meth" from one of the suspects the SET was investigating.

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Students who are convicted drug users may be unable to afford college. Two KU students speak out against the Higher Education Act denying federal aid to offenders.

Getting caught smoking a joint could cost a college student thousands of dollars in federal financial aid.

That's why Carrie Wallace, Lawrence senior, and Dana Maher, Omaha, Neb., senior, are trying to raise awareness about a provision in the Higher Education Act that denies federal aid to convicted drug offenders. Wallace and Maher are trying to form a student organization in connection with the national Students for Sensible Drug Policy organization.

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Dozens of El Dorado USD 490 fifth graders graduated Thursday evening from the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. Ceremonies were held in the auditorium at El Dorado Middle School.

Darryl Smith, women's basketball coach at Butler Community College, addressed the crowd at the graduation ceremony. Smith talked to parents and students about the power of proper motivation and why drug and alcohol abuse is a subject with no gray area.

"You can't do it!" Smith said. "Nothing good comes from it."

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Deaths From Drug Use -- Efforts To Hold Dealers Responsible Are On The Rise

A Kansas man faces first-degree murder charges in the fatal overdose of another man in a Hays motel.

"This is a product liabilities act for illegal drugs. If you have product liability for legal items, why not for illegal items?" Daniel Bent, a former U.S. attorney in Hawaii who drafted a drug-dealer liability act No one is accusing David Knapp of intentionally killing Frank Brown.

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Thank you for the article ("Few funds for parolee drug abuse treatment," March 25 Eagle) and editorial ("Fund it: Walk the talk on parolees," April 1 Opinion) regarding funding drug treatment for parolees. A new study released by the National Institutes of Drug Abuse revealed that less than 10 percent of inmates who need treatment get it.

At a time when Kansas is considering improving services in this area, and is doing so in the area of re-entry, the Kansas Legislature is considering a registry for meth offenders as an amendment to the sex offender registry bill passed last year. Fortunately, a few legislators have efforts under way to ensure that, at minimum, judicial discretion is preserved.

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First Amendment Rights Should Be Defended, but Can Easily Be Abused.

The case of Frederick v. Morse, otherwise known as bratty pothead v. anal principal, is in the Supreme Court, making a mockery of the judicial system.

In 2002, Joseph Frederick, a high school senior in Juneau, Alaska, unfurled a 14-foot sign that proclaimed, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus!" in front of passing news cameras at a school field trip to the Olympic Torch Relay. After his school principal, Deborah Morse, tore down the sign and gave him a 10-day suspension, Frederick sued the school on the grounds that, under the first amendment, his right to free speech had been violated. He won.

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At the same time that the Kansas Department of Corrections is emphasizing efforts to help thousands of parolees succeed after release from prison, it is funding substance abuse treatment for only a fraction of them.

Although experts say that generally two-thirds of offenders have a history of substance abuse, the department has provided no money for community-based substance abuse treatment for two budget years in a row.

So substance abuse -- one of the biggest problems among offenders and a threat to public safety -- is receiving some of the least funding from the department at a time when the investment might count the most, experts say.

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The Legislature's definition of an inherently dangerous felony resulted in a scaled-up murder charge against a Hays man charged with causing an overdose death.

David S. Knapp, 46, 2400 E. Seventh, No. 15, was charged Thursday in Ellis County District Court with first-degree murder in the death of Frank Allen Brown. Brown, 46, Gorham, was found dead in a room at Budget Villa motel on Oct. 31. According to the complaint filed in court, Knapp allegedly provided fentanyl to Brown, leading to Brown's death from an overdose.

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Regarding "Morrison backs ban on drug paraphernalia" (Feb. 1 Eagle): Why throw more public resources into a useless effort? The ban proposed by the Wichita NAACP and supported by Attorney General Paul Morrison would not only be very costly but completely ineffective.

As almost any middle school student knows, countless everyday items can be utilized as drug paraphernalia.

Are we going to outlaw toilet tissue and canned beverages, for instance? The paper tube from a roll of toilet tissue and an empty beverage can are but two common items that can easily be modified to serve as pipes for the smoking of a variety of drugs.

If a person wants to use illicit drugs, that person will find a way. The lack of conventional paraphernalia is no deterrent to the determined drug abuser.

For the sake of all Kansans, please let our legislators concentrate on more meaningful issues.

C.A. Riley,

Wichita

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There is no doubt that methamphetamine is a highly addictive drug that has serious health effects for the user and the community.

This year's proposal to combat meth is SB 14, a bill requiring persons convicted of manufacturing meth (as well as growing marijuana) to register on the KBI's offender Web site. It's oddly similar to pending legislation in 14 other states.

This bill is a feel-good initiative for legislators and a poor use of taxpayer dollars. It will do nothing to educate the public about the dangers of meth, and it won't deter anyone from trying it.

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Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison is supporting a legislative push by the Wichita Branch NAACP and a statewide task force to ban the sale of drug paraphernalia in Kansas.

"He wholeheartedly supports banning all drug paraphernalia," said Ashley Anstaett, communications director for Morrison's office. "He prosecuted one of the first drug paraphernalia cases in 1981."

The recommendations by the NAACP and the Drug Paraphernalia Task Force aim to strengthen current law by defining drug paraphernalia more specifically and stiffening penalties for violators, among other provisions.

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Tianesha Robinson was about four months pregnant last fall when she was jolted with a Taser stun gun while resisting arrest during a traffic stop.

After experiencing cramps for several weeks, the 33-year-old Wichita, Kan., woman miscarried. Her family insists there is a connection between the miscarriage and the roughly 50,000-volt shock that subdued her, though doctors said the link would be more clear had she miscarried immediately after the shock.

That kind of uncertainty is fueling debate about the safety of the devices.

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Dramatic Drop Attributed To New Law Restricting Cold And Allergy Medicine

Law enforcement officers reported no methamphetamine lab busts in 2006 in Douglas County -- the first time in at least the past five years.

The decline is part of a statewide trend.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation statistics released this week show that seizures of methamphetamine labs, supplies and equipment were down across the board in 2006.

The decline came even after a new state law requiring counties to report meth lab seizures took effect last year.

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On Friday, the Crawford County Attorney's Office and District Court sent a message to methamphetamine manufacturers: You break the law, you go to jail.

William P. Murr was sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, manufacture of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine and possession of felony drug paraphernalia. The office asked for 12 years, but because of Murr's age and "need to support his family," the court sentenced him to eight.

We applaud the work of the Crawford County Attorney's office in prosecuting this case. As County Attorney John Gutierrez told the court, "manufacturing methamphetamine is a threat to society." By putting Murr in jail, the county has not only taken one manufacturer off the street, they have made the area safer around the building where he was making the drug.

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America's futile effort to arrest its way out of our drug problems has cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion since 1970, and it drains $69 billion a year -- every year -- from our treasury. It funds terrorists and clogs the court system, yet our kids report that it can be easier for them to buy illegal drugs than beer or cigarettes.

As a child growing up in Wichita, I learned to spot a failure when I saw one. And this one's a whopper.

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