Laws Limited Sale Of Drug Ingredient

Seizures of methamphetamine labs have dropped significantly in Kentucky and Indiana in the year after both states restricted the sale of products used to make the highly addictive drug.

In Kentucky, meth-lab seizures fell nearly 57 percent, according to the state's Office of Drug Control Policy.

"When we worked on the legislation, we talked about and we prayed and hoped for 50 percent, and we far exceeded that," said Van Ingram, branch manager of the agency's compliance section.

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Frankfort Girl's Parents Held On Murder Charges

A Frankfort couple face murder charges for allegedly killing their infant daughter with second-hand crack cocaine smoke.

A Franklin County grand jury indictment accuses Jaime Jockers and Michael McIntyre of smoking crack in the presence of 5-month-old Brooklyn P. McIntyre, who died on March 3 in her apartment at the Stivers Apartments complex, 505 Owenton Avenue, in Frankfort.

Toxicology results from the Kentucky State Police crime laboratory revealed the baby girl died from acute cocaine intoxication, Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Cleveland said yesterday afternoon.

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Plan Applies To Students In Any Extracurricular

Oldham County students involved in any extracurricular activity will be subject to random drug testing beginning next year, under a policy change the school board adopted unanimously last night.

It applies to students involved in clubs, academic teams and other activities approved by the district but not necessary to graduate.

"It's a societal issue we have to deal with," Board Chairwoman Linda Theiss said.

Random drug testing has been controversial in Oldham schools since the district began testing student athletes in 1998, but this latest change brought no public dissent.

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Student Activities Could Join Athletics

Oldham County's student athletes have been tested randomly for drug use since 1998, but the school board is considering whether to expand the policy to include students who participate in any extracurricular activity.

The board is scheduled to vote tonight on the proposed policy change, which could mean random testing for students involved in anything from the debate team to the pep club. If approved, Oldham's revised policy would go into effect next school year.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. -- As the new U.S. attorney in Eastern Kentucky, Amul Thapar will likely oversee high-profile cases against political officials, child molesters, drug rings and employers who circumvent immigration laws.

But his main priority, he said, is to ensure "people feel like they're getting a fair shake at every level of government, period."

A son of Indian immigrants, Thapar grew up in Ohio with a strong sense of patriotism, which inspired his ambition to study and eventually enforce the laws of the United States.

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Sheriff Gene Starks asked the Franklin City Commission Monday night to consider providing funding to help cover the cost of a school resource officer in the Simpson County School System.

A school resource officer works with the school system in handling situations with students, including those that may involve criminal offenses. The officer also works with students on other matters, such as drugs and alcohol and other problems they may be having.

In the local school system, the school resource officer is available for all five schools but works mainly with the older children at the middle and high schools. The position is separate from the DARE anti-drug use program currently conducted in the local school system by two members of the Franklin Police Department.

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Methamphetamine didn't always come with such a bad name.

Versions of meth have been used for medicinal purposes as far back as the early 1900s, according to Drug-Rehabs.org.

Drug-Rehabs.org is a Web site that helps people find rehabilitation centers throughout the United States.

The Web site stated methamphetamine was once available as Benzedrine, an over-the-counter inhalant. Methamphetamine was also used to keep soldiers alert during World War II, the Web site reported.

Eric Gregory, a certified prevention specialist for Lifeskills Inc. of Bowling Green, said meth was issued in soldier rations. Gregory said it kept soldiers awake for extended periods, up to 72 hours.

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Wayne Hoffman flipped vodka bottles, mixed exotic drinks and talked with many patrons perched on stools at a tavern in Texas where he bartended.

One night, one of his colleagues slipped Hoffman, then 25, a "new" drug called "crank."

Hoffman, already accustomed to snorting cocaine, said the homemade drug seemed "innocent" to him.

Only small physical changes to his muscular physique occurred, so no one could tell that Hoffman got hooked on methamphetamine.

Months later, he began bleeding internally - and praying that he would not die.

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Hockey players are often stereotyped as having a few teeth missing, but meth users are more likely to have this dental problem.

"Meth mouth" results in serious destruction caused by the harsh components in methamphetamine and users quickly abandoning oral hygiene.

Some of the main ingredients used in the production of meth, such as lithium and muriatic and sulfuric acids, are extremely corrosive.

Meth awareness and prevention Web sites report that when a person smokes meth, those substances heat up because of vaporization and the skin inside the mouth gets irritated and burned. This creates sores. A meth user's lack of attention to personal hygiene allows for infections in these sores.

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Erlanger Board Approves Project

Transitions Inc. has cleared a major hurdle in its quest to build a residential drug/alcohol rehabilitation center in Erlanger.

The Erlanger Board of Adjustment Monday night granted the Covington non-profit a permit to build the 100-bed facility on Pleasure Isle Drive.

Transitions Executive Director Mac McArthur said Transitions planned today to close the deal to buy the property, which is just off Madison Pike.

"I'm relieved. I'm delighted that this part of the struggle is over," he said Monday night.

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Event Intentionally Held On 4

Marijuana. Mary Jane, Pot, Weed, Chronic, the good ol' green stuff - people know what it is.

The question is whether or not it should be legal.

The Campus Activities Board will be hosting "Heads vs. Feds, The Great Debate - Marijuana Legalization" at 7 tonight in DUC Theater.

Steven Hager, editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, will represent the "Heads" advocating the legalization of marijuana.

Bob Stutman, a retired DEA agent, will represent the "Feds" advocating the criminalization of marijuana.

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Other Driver Has Previous Marijuana Charge, Open Alcohol In His Car

Alcohol and drugs may have been a factor in a head-on collision yesterday that injured the wife of Lexington Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon, police said.

A Lexus sport utility vehicle driven by Margaret "Missy" Scanlon collided with a Toyota Camry about 3 p.m. yesterday on Walnut Grove Lane, just off Winchester Road in rural Fayette County, Lexington police officer Todd Kleinjan said.

Kleinjan did not identify the driver of the Camry, but said he had been charged with possession of marijuana. An open alcohol container also was found in the man's car, but police were still trying to determine whether the force of the accident could have opened the container.

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Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation. Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive.

Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. More dangerous synthetic drugs like methamphetamine are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. If you think drug users don't know this, think again. Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find out how to thwart a drug test.

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I'm writing about Editor Rebecca Dial (mailto:editor@cknj.com)'s column: "Sometimes an 'easy out' is the best way" (April 14, 2006).

It seems to me that to solve our nation's drug problems, we should model the drug policies of another nation with little or no drug problems. I suggest that we model the Czech Republic's drug policies.

The Czech Republic is the only nation in the world where adult citizens can legally use, possess and grow small quantities of marijuana. (In the Netherlands, marijuana is quasi-legal - not officially legal.)

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Dozens of students gathered beside the White Hall Classroom Building yesterday to get fired up about reforming marijuana laws.

The students came for a membership rally held by the UK chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Lexington lawyer and politician, Gatewood Galbraith, spoke to students about the legalization of marijuana and their rights as citizens to understand and be an active part of government.

"I like coming out here and getting the students riled up," Galbraith said. "I represent a lot of them in court later on so I like to take opportunities like this to talk to students and teach them about marijuana and about their rights."

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As much as we hate to admit it, there's a drug problem in our community. It might not be as horrendous an issue as some other communities deal with, but any problem at all is bad.

A neighboring school district is considering a drug and alcohol testing policy for students in extracurricular and co-curricular activities. At least one school administrator said he feels a testing policy would actually help students say no to the temptations of drugs and alcohol.

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In 2000, a Federal law came into effect that brought a whole new set of worries to students convicted of certain drug offense. They can be stripped of their eligibility for financial aid.

Since then, more than 175,000 would-be students have been denied financial aid under that prohibition in the Higher Education Act, according to the American Civil Liberties Union Web site.

Since then, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit that challenges the drug provision of the law that blocks financial aid to students with drug offenses.

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With the ongoing war on terror taking up a significant portion of news budgets across the United States, another war within our own borders has gone largely ignored in the public eye. Our generation has been inundated with anti-drug campaigns for years - from "This is your brain ... this is your brain on drugs" to "A very special 'Fresh Prince.' "

As we entered our teenage years, the majority of us were probably scared of drug use - scared of the physical effects and the social and legal consequences. But now that we've all grown up, it would be safe to assume that a large majority of us have either tried drugs or been around when others have.

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More Pike County students will be randomly drug tested next year - and they could be tested more often.

Until this week, a maximum of 20 percent of students could be drug tested in Pike County schools. Tuesday, Pike County Board of Education members changed the policy to a minimum of 20 percent.

Eugene Sisco, with ASAP Consulting, asked the board to make the change in order to "broaden the pool" of students who can be tested and allow the district to maintain a grant that pays for the program. Sisco said he expects to complete a full analysis of this year's testing results within a couple of weeks.

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Democrats Revive Educator-Sponsored Bill Stalled In Senate

FRANKFORT -- The House yesterday took another crack at pushing through a bill that's aimed at curbing bullying in schools.

The proposal -- sponsored by Rep. Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, and supported by various education groups -- has languished in a Senate committee because some senators have deemed it unnecessary.

The bill would require schools to have a plan in place to deal with disruptive students. Many school districts already have enacted such policies.

With the original bill stalled, the House tacked the measure onto a bill requiring teachers to take drug tests. That legislation was sponsored by Republican Senate President David Williams.

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