Although it's legal for adults, alcohol still is the No. 1 problem drug in America.

At least 40 years ago, Kansas University experts such as the late Dr. Raymond Schwegler stressed that for every emergency caused by a student using illegal drugs, there were 14 or 15 more because of the intake of alcohol.

Clearly, that hasn't changed.

"We talk often about the various 'drugs', such as LSD, and the negative impact they can make on our society, but we overlook the fact that alcohol is just as much a 'drug' and is far more invasive and abused than anything else, because it is so easily accessible," Schwegler told a Journal-World staff member.

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Lawrence Company Expanding To Meet Needs Of Teens

Marijuana and alcohol use among adolescents is a growing concern in Douglas County.

Binge drinking by youths is higher in Douglas County than the statewide average, according to the 2008 Kids Count survey.

About 80 percent of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services treatment admissions in Douglas County last year were for marijuana use, followed by alcohol.

A 2008 Kansas Communities That Care survey found that 42 percent of high school seniors in Douglas County said they had used marijuana at least once, compared with 35 percent statewide. Sixty-five percent said they used alcohol, compared with 72 percent statewide.

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Graduation from fifth grade is a bridge-crossing time for students in Hays.

Those leaving fifth grade in the public schools are promoted to middle school, and those at Holy Family Elementary are looking forward to being the oldest students in the school the following year.

That's why Hays has chosen fifth grade as the targeted age group on which to focus its D.A.R.E. -- Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- program.

"I think it's a good time to talk to the kids about positive choices," said Tom Meagher, principal of Wilson Elementary School, which had its D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony Thursday in conjunction with its fifth-grade promotion.

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TOPEKA - Kansas is now one of nine states in the country that have criminalized the illicit use of salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic herb.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed legislation banning the possession, use or sale of the drug, which has long been legal in the U.S. and used in shamanistic rituals in southern Mexico.

About 20 other states are considering making the drug illegal as well.

Landscapers often use the broad leaf for ground cover. Smoking or chewing a concentrated extract of the plant produces hallucinations, a perception of overlapping realities, dizziness and impaired speech, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

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He's often demonized as existentially lazy, obtuse and prone to erratic fits of violence. He might look just like one of us - and indeed is a great number of us, many with families and stable jobs.

He was recently described by John P. Walters as a "vicious criminal terrorist," and he and his forsaken friends litter our penal system, their lives and careers forever ruined on account of their victimless pastime. What could an honest, tax-paying, otherwise law-abiding citizen possibly do in this country to earn such a fate?

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Schneider Says Case Got Out of Hand

Stephen Schneider said if the Kansas Board of Healing Arts had conducted its investigation into his Haysville medical clinic swiftly, he might not be facing federal criminal charges.

"I think there have to be some changes made, so things don't get out of hand like they did with me," Schneider said Friday morning, following his return home after four months in jail.

Schneider said that if the board had handled its investigation properly, he might have been exonerated through a medical review, alleviating the need for criminal prosecution.

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Kansas has joined a growing list of states to outlaw an old hallucinogenic drug called salvia divinorum.

With Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' signature earlier this week, Kansas became one of at least nine states to place restrictions on the drug. Nearly 20 other states are considering similar legislation.

The broad leaf is often used by landscapers as ground cover, but its concentrated extract can be chewed or smoked to feel its effects. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, salvia causes hallucinations, a perception of overlapping realities, dizziness and impaired speech. It has long been legal in the United States and used in shamanistic rituals by groups in southern Mexico.

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Proposed Drug Court Could Save Taxpayers Money

Robert Houston had refilled his month's prescription of Xanax nine days before, but he had only three pills remaining. "That you only have three pills left tells me you're abusing your Xanax," Lyon County District Judge Lee Fowler said late last month.

"Yes, sir," Houston said.

"Well, we're going to send you back to jail for 30 days," Fowler said. "You need to get serious about this plan."

This "plan" is drug court in Emporia, the first program of its kind in Kansas. Similar drug courts across the United States have helped keep nonviolent drug offenders from returning to the criminal justice system and have saved taxpayers millions of dollars as an alternative to prison.

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WICHITA -- Federal prosecutors asked a federal judge Friday to issue a gag order to silence a Haysville physician and his wife indicted for operating a "pill mill" linked to at least 56 overdose deaths.

In court papers, the U.S. attorney's office asked for a restraining order to keep physician Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, from talking to the media. Prosecutors also asked that the judge extend that order to include the Schneiders' family members and Siobhan Reynolds, president of the Pain Relief Network, a patient advocacy group.

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On March 28th, this paper published an article in which the writer convicted Dr. Schneider and his wife prior to trial, condemned the Kansas Board of Healing Arts as negligent for failing to stop the Schneiders, and characterized myself and my organization, Pain Relief Network, as advocating public suicide by patients who have been victimized by the US Government's heavy-handed attack on the Schneider clinic.

This government action has deprived of medical care hundreds of Kansans, many of whom are critically ill, have complex medical problems, and are now left desperate and terrified.

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'Pill Mill' Operator Indicted in Deaths; State Was Slow To Act

HAYSVILLE -- Stephen Schneider knew the high volume of drug overdoses among his clinic patients was attracting the wrong kind of attention.

A piece of the proof emerged in 2006 while Schneider underwent questioning by attorney Larry Wall, who filed a malpractice lawsuit against the physician on behalf of a deceased patient. The interrogation was lengthy and, at times, heated. But the owner of the high-traffic, pain-management clinic was ready.

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Some seem surprised that I advocate the legislation that is supportive of medical marijuana. Let me make it clear that I do not advocate the legalization of marijuana or any other controlled substances.

This marks the 25th year since I first publicly supported medical marijuana and the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug (Class I -- no medicinal value; Class II -- medicinal value).

I find it almost unbelievable that our federal government would continue to let its citizens suffer from various diseases when the properties contained in marijuana would alleviate that suffering. Frankly, I don't know how those in the federal government and the Drug Enforcement Administration can sleep at night when they choose to ignore mounting evidence that marijuana relieves suffering from many diseases.

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Few public figures are willing to stand up and advocate using marijuana for medical reasons. Former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan is one of those people.

His opinions on the subject deserve attention because as attorney general he was the highest law enforcement official in the state. He also is a cancer survivor and suffered through seven years of chemotherapy. He has a special understanding of the pain and nausea brought on by treatments.

On Monday, Stephan was back out front defending medical marijuana when he spoke to the Senate Health Care Strategies Committee. He is supporting a bill that would help people who use marijuana because of medical problems. The bill would not legalize marijuana but would provide a defense for those with a chronic or debilitating disease if they have a written statement from a doctor that using marijuana could help them.

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Officials Argue Bill That Would Make Medical Marijuana a Defense

Junction City Police Lt. Mike Life viewed consideration Monday of medical-marijuana legislation as a wacky ploy to seek legalization of pot in Kansas.

"Marijuana is not medicine," Life said in testimony to the Senate Health Care Strategies Committee. "There is a well-financed and organized pro-drug legalization lobby whose strategic ploy is to appeal to your compassion for sick people."

Former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan, on the other hand, said he couldn't imagine how federal government officials slept at night knowing pot could alleviate pain of people battling severe disease.

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TOPEKA - Several people urged lawmakers Monday to approve a measure that would allow some patients to use a note from their physician as a defense for possessing marijuana.

Opponents, including law enforcement, the Pharmacy Board and the Kansas Medical Society, questioned the plant's efficacy in treating symptoms of disease such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

The measure, SB 556, dubbed the Medical Marijuana Defense Act, would allow people with diseases such as glaucoma, cancer or multiple sclerosis to use a note from their doctor as a defense to possessing marijuana and related paraphernalia.

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Senate Health Committee To Discuss Medical Conditions As Defense

A Senate health committee will hear testimony today on a bill that would allow certain medical conditions as a defense against prosecution for marijuana possession.

Under the Kansas Medical Marijuana Act, people with a debilitating disease could present to the judge a "written certification" from their doctor attesting to the relief marijuana provides.

"(This bill) doesn't legalize marijuana, it doesn't decriminalize it," said Laura Green, director of Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition. "It just allows a person who has a serious debilitating medical condition who gets arrested for marijuana to bring it up to a court."

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Topeka - A House committee on Thursday postponed voting on a bill that would require drug testing at major traffic accidents.

Several committee members said more work was needed on the proposal.

Under House Bill 2617, people involved in accidents that resulted in serious injuries or fatalities would have to submit to drug tests.

Currently, such a test, frequently a blood sample, can be ordered only if there is reasonable suspicion of drug use.

The new proposal was prompted by the death of Amanda Bixby, 19, who was killed in a wreck last year. Her parents, Dennis and Denise Bixby, of Tonganoxie, said the person who struck Amanda should have been tested for drugs.

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Federal court officials in Kansas are going over crack cocaine cases that may require resentencing because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in December and changes in sentencing guidelines made last year.

At least two Douglas County cases are to be reviewed.

"This is only a sentencing matter; it's not going to change the conviction," said David Phillips, who oversees federal public defender offices in Kansas.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court sent the cases of Maurice Trotter and his brother, Mardell Trotter, back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th District, which includes Kansas.

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A bill introduced in a Senate committee Monday would allow judges to consider a medical condition as defense of marijuana possession.

Under the proposal, those with a debilitating illness arrested for the drug's possession could present in court a doctor's written certification that marijuana would offer therapeutic benefits.

"This is simply an issue of compassion," said Laura Green, director of the Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition that helped draft the measure.

The bill would not legalize or decriminalize possessing the drug.

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Five area legislators were in town Saturday for an opportunity to interact with the public, and two hot topics were medical marijuana and the coal-fired plant debate.

Sen. Terry Bruce, along with Reps. Mark Treaster, Jan Pauls, Mike O'Neil and Bob Bethell visited the Hutchinson Community College campus for the first of three local legislative forums, where citizens peppered the lawmakers with questions.

One of the first questions submitted in the forum requested legislators' opinions on medical marijuana, and whether they would favor the issue if they received more letters of support from the public.

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