FLEMINGSBURG -- Learning about police methods and how the public can help law enforcement is being encouraged through a public forum Oct. 20 at Simons Middle School in Flemingsburg.

According to the Crime in Kentucky 2009 report produced through Kentucky State Police, Fleming County had more than 40 arrests for non-narcotic dangerous drugs, in addition to 16 marijuana, four cocaine and one synthetic narcotics arrests in 2009.

Arrests have been made through drug raids, tips from the public and incidental discovery of drugs during traffic stops and accident investigations, police said.

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BIG BEND, Texas -- Hundreds of miles from the nearest big town, on a sandstone cliff by the Rio Grande, Mexican hands have left a few small trinkets for sale and glass jars for money. Unattended, the items are like offerings. There are no people in sight anywhere, on this rocky side of the border or in the tall reeds of the other.

The items for sale are souvenirs from the harsh desert sold from a Mexican to an American, paid for entirely on the honor system. The shallow, muddy river is not so much a border between two countries as it is a place where the United States fades into the blue desert mountains of Mexico.

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Kentucky's two illustrious candidates for the Senate seat to be vacated by Jim Bunning, Mr. Paul and Mr. Conway, are arguing over financing the War on Drugs. Mr. Paul says that Federal money should not be given to the states to fight what is essentially a local problem.

Mr. Conway believes that the War on Drugs cannot be fought on the local level without Federal help. That Federal support for local drug task forces is key in fighting the war.

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Kentucky is one of many states grappling with overcrowded prisons. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study conducted by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs.

There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does, too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in antisocial behavior.

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Kentucky's inmate population -- now at roughly 21,000 -- is growing at a faster rate than any other state's, and the need for action increases every day.

As The Courier-Journal's R.G. Dunlop reported last Sunday, almost all state-run prisons and many jails are operating at or above capacity. Kentucky's corrections budget approached $500 million this year. And relying on private prisons to pick up inmate overflow, which is no less expensive than using state-run facilities, has managed to create even more problems.

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Madison and Clark district courts will host a pilot program to treat drug addiction, the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts announced Wednesday.

Madison District Judge Earl-Ray Neal will oversee a Drug Court program for misdemeanor offenders in the 25th Judicial District, which covers Madison and Clark counties.

Neal is volunteering his time to conduct the biweekly Drug Court sessions, and credited judges Brandy O. Brown and Charles Hardin for their help with the program.

"Drug Courts in Madison and Clark counties at the juvenile and felony court level have been a shining example of Kentucky's success in specialty courts," Neal said. "This expansion will allow us to reach a greater number of people and to reach them earlier in their addiction."

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A proposal to start random drug testing of Shively city employees is facing opposition from a majority of the Shively City Council.

Mayor Sherry Conner proposed the idea, which is expected to be considered for a vote at Monday's council meeting.

It would require 69 of the city's 81 employees to submit to drug testing for controlled and illegal substances and participate in annual classes about the dangers of workplace drug use and its potential impact on co-workers. The city's dozen public works employees hold commercial drivers' licenses and already submit to ongoing random drug testing.

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Federal Judge Dismisses Some Claims

LOUISVILLE - A lawsuit against Hardin County Schools and the city of Vine Grove stemming from a 2007 search of Brown Street Alternative Education Center students was dismissed Wednesday after a settlement was reached by parties involved the day before.

The suit, filed by former Brown Street student Nicole Pendleton, claimed a September 2007 "strip search" of a bus load of students was unwarranted and violated civil rights and state laws regarding assault, false imprisonment and invasion of privacy.

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If parents didn't have enough to worry about with the ongoing pain pill epidemic, two new drugs have hit the streets and are causing serious hallucinations and even deaths.

Teens don't have to sneak into a medicine cabinet or find the nearest drug dealer, when two potentially deadly highs from plants are easy to acquire- and one could be growing right out the back door.

The Carter County Drug Task Force had its regular meeting recently while handing out literature concerning the use of Salvia Divinorum and Jimson Weed.

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A program that gives people convicted of drug offenses a second chance is celebrating its 20th anniversary nationwide and is seeking local volunteer opportunities.

Madison Circuit Judge Jean C. Logue, who heads up the Clark and Madison County Drug Court, said the program is seeking additional volunteer community service opportunities for participants in the program.

"We're always looking for good volunteer jobs," Logue said. "They help here at the courthouse, and we sent some people to help the city with cleanup from the ice storm."

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Members of a committee charged with developing a drug testing policy for students in the Caldwell County School District are shifting their focus toward a new group of students.

School Health Coordinator Will Brown, the head of the committee that began its research about two years ago, updated school board members on the group's progress this week.

Initially, the committee had focused on developing a random drug testing policy for students involved in extracurricular activities, such as athletics, band and school clubs.

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Chautauqua Speaker Brings Different Viewpoint On Marijuana To Campus

Gatewood Galbraith is a free man. As a matter of fact, he is the last free man in America.

He said so.

He also said that Kentucky is a police state. He said marijuana has saved more lives than any other medicine in the world. And he said that our nation is in more peril than at any time in its history.

Galbraith, if it weren't already obvious, likes to say a lot of things. In fact, he's made his name, and likely his career, from it.

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If there is one thing Steve Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, and Bob Stutman, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, can agree on, it's that smoking marijuana might not be the right choice for college students, but it's about responsibility.

"Make sure you make getting that education the most important priority while you're at this institution," Hager said Tuesday night in Memorial Hall at "Heads vs. Feds," a legalization debate hosted by the Student Activities Board. "If you don't, you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." After Stutman was introduced as "the most famous narc in America" and Hager as "the most famous pothead in America," each was given 15 minutes to argue his case for or against the legalization of marijuana.

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Marijuana, Weed, Green, Pot, Grass, Herb, Reefer, Chronic, Mary Jane, Ganja or Dope.

No matter what you call it, marijuana, or at least its legalization, is one of the most divisive issues facing the country today. Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Memorial Hall, the Student Activities Board plans on bringing that discussion to campus as they present "Heads vs. Feds," a legalization debate between Steve Hager, long-time editor of "High Times" magazine, and Bob Stutman, a former New York state Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

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Attorney General Eric Holder spoke of "a nation of cowards" last week and his words were parsed, dissected and scrutinized by some in the media as an affront to Americanism, but Holder is absolutely correct.

Without a doubt we are a nation of cowards and cowardly in many walks of life. What do you call a 10th-grade dropout who becomes the street-level drug dealer? What do you call the college dropout who forsakes his or her education with no legitimate prospects beyond the 'hood? Hero?

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Once again, a bill that seeks to punish prior use of a controlled substance with an automatic DUI conviction is before the Kentucky legislature.

Like its predecessors, Senate Bill5 cleverly attempts to bootstrap an ill-advised rule regarding all drugs onto a rule created for the purpose of measuring alcohol impairment. Under SB5, a driver who tests positive for traces of marijuana can be convicted of "driving under the influence" even if that driver is unimpaired at the time of arrest.

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This column was filed before Sheriff Lott abandoned efforts to charge Michael Phelps with a crime in connection with the incident. -- Editor.

WASHINGTON -- Drink and drive and it's grrrrrrrr-eat! Smoke pot and your flakes are frosted, dude.

So seems the message from Kellogg, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with Michael Phelps after the Olympian was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in South Carolina.

That's showbiz, of course, but the cereal and munchie company had no problem signing Phelps despite a prior alcohol-related arrest. In 2004, Phelps was fined and sentenced to 18 months probation and community service after pleading guilty to driving while impaired.

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While the Senate debates the federal economic stimulus package, local drug task forces are optimistic at the prospect of receiving more money for their offices than in recent years.

The $819 billion measure passed last week by the House of Representatives includes $3 billion to be allocated over a two-year period toward the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, the only source of federal funding that multi-jurisdictional drug task forces receive.

The Senate version of the stimulus bill, which is currently under debate, contains a one-time allocation of $1.5 billion.

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Before you venture into Ciudad Juarez, brace yourself to hear Texans tell you that you're crazy.

Visiting friends in neighboring El Paso a few days before Christmas, I was immediately warned, "Don't even think about going into Juarez."

Just across the shallow creek known as the Rio Grande from El Paso, one of the safest cities of its size in the nation, Juarez is a city under siege, the worst victim of Mexico's growing wars between drug cartels.

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His Son, Ex-wife And Two Others Also Plead Guilty

A Clay County marijuana grower who gained notoriety in the late 1980s by posing with his plants for a Herald-Leader photo has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to U.S. Attorney James A. Zerhusen.

J.C. Lawson, now 53, pleaded guilty to conspiring to grow pot in the Big Creek area of Clay County in the summer of 2006. Lawson's ex-wife, his son, another relative and a partner, Douglas Imhoff, 50, also pleaded guilty.

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