An increase in drug overdose deaths involving the use of multiple drugs at the same time has authorities concerned.

"It's not something new, but it's something we are tracking and seeing more of," said George Butler, a drug investigator from the Carroll County State's Attorney's Office.

Of 13 people who died of drug overdoses in Carroll County during 2006, seven had traces of multiple drugs in their systems, according to data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner provided by the state's attorney's office.

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Delegates Vote Against Making Second-Time Felons Eligible for Parole

After a fierce debate in which some lawmakers raised concerns about the effectiveness of the nation's war on drugs, the Maryland House of Delegates defeated by one vote a bill to allow some second-time drug offenders to become eligible for parole.

Lawmakers opposing the measure, which failed 68-69, said it would reward drug dealers and gang members while making communities more dangerous.

"They are going to get more lenient treatment under the provision of this bill," said Del Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader from Southern Maryland. "I suggest our citizens are not willing to hand down rewards for drug dealers who are preying on our children. This is bad policy, serious bad policy."

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So, like most Tuesday nights, a bunch of us gathered at a local gym to play basketball. It keeps us in somewhat decent shape, and for a few hours we get to pretend we're still 19-years-old. Our bodies tell us differently, but those aches and pains are another story.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Afterward, as we nursed our ankles and knees, we discussed politics, the state of affairs in Iraq, the horrible actions of our mediocre and minuscule President, how we're fishing in the shallow end of the gene pool for a successor and, of course, how the United States is headed to Hell in a hand basket.

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Across our inner cities, the code of omerta has spread from organized crime to ordinary citizens. "Stop snitching" has become a motto to live-or die-by, as John Dowery Jr. discovered.

John Dowery Jr. was happy to be working again.

He had recently spent 11 months cooped up, a prisoner in his own home. In November 2003, two officers investigating the sound of gunfire in East Baltimore had arrested him after a car and foot chase.

They said that Dowery, who had been riding in the back of a blue Mitsubishi, had jumped out of the car, placed a loaded .38-caliber handgun on the ground, and tried to flee. A 36-year-old heroin addict with a felony drug conviction, Dowery was facing federal prosecution and the prospect of up to eight years without parole.

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A new crop of undergraduate student senators was voted into office yesterday, and a handful of them are poised to push a reduction of drug penalties through the university's most powerful policy-making body next year.

Anastacia Cosner, president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, campaigned on her desire to see penalties for marijuana use reduced from an A-level violation according to the Code of Student Conduct to a B-level violation, essentially putting it on par with the penalties students receive for on-campus alcohol consumption. She said she will be will be preparing to address the issue next fall.

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Before her arrest three years ago, the first thing Leslie Miller did when she woke up each morning was reach for her bong and take four or five tokes of marijuana.

She wasn't trying to get high, but simply to make it through the day without the back spasms and debilitating headaches that she said have tormented her since a serious car accident nearly 20 years ago.

"You don't get high," Miller said of her use of the drug, "and at the same time you feel better because you're not taking a narcotic."

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The Baltimore City Health Department is considering asking the Hampden Community Council for a new site for a needle exchange program for users of intravenous drugs, primarily heroin.

Exchange program director Lamont Coger said the current site in the 3800 block of Buena Vista Avenue has been used infrequently by drug users since the site was approved by the community council last November after two months of debate.

Cogersaid he doesn't have a specific area in mind for a new site, but would like it to be closer to Falls Road, where he thinks the program would be better received by intravenous drug addicts.

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Ms. Michael from the Neighborhood Advisory Committee on Feb. 14 asked Times-News readers to join a campaign to "take the focus off of attempts to legalize drug use." What focus? I am the lone public voice in the tri-state area for regulatory licensing for adult drug use. To my knowledge there is no local group advocating "legalizing" drugs. I do know with certainty there's no such thing as a drug-free community, anymore than there is a sex-free or food-free community. Leisure drug use is a fact of life. I disagree with her drug-free mindset because it fails to provide adults with choices. It's also one of the silliest, hypocritical concepts of the past 30 years, with tragic consequences for our society. There's no reason why hardworking adults shouldn't consume marijuana anymore than they shouldn't drink beer or coca or tea. And, all moderate people tend to have "healthy" lifestyles, regardless of conservative legislative moralizing.

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African-Americans are disproportionately harmed by mandatory-minimum drug sentences, with blacks comprising nearly nine out of every 10 offenders sent to Maryland prisons on such terms, according to a report being released today by a Washington think tank.

The report by the Justice Policy Institute, a research organization that supports alternatives to prison, is to be discussed at a House of Delegates committee hearing today. The committee is considering a bill that would repeal some of the state's mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.

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Let me get my MJ stance out of the way first: We should loosen our regulations on marijuana and study it more. The problem today is because marijuana is a controlled, dangerous substance, only the government can do research on it. Thus, their research will be biased. So it's a cycle of abuse that usually ends in a stalemate. I would much prefer to deal with a stoner than a drunkard, because alcohol is a depressant and cannabis is a non-addictive, mild hallucinogen. It's insane the government states cannabis makes you aggressive.

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As a retired police officer, I fully support Rebecca Ogle's call in her Feb. 20 op-ed "Sensibility on cannabis" to reduce penalties for simple possession of marijuana on the campus. During my 18 years of service, I was dispatched to zero calls for service generated by the use of marijuana. What else does one need to know?

Officer Howard J. Wooldridge (ret.)

Education specialist

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

[end]

After reading the Feb. 21 article "Officials debate extending aid" and the accompanying editorial, it is necessary to address The Diamondback's omission of several important issues. Without taking any position on whether punishing drug offenders by denying them financial aid is just, I would like to remind everyone that there is no pot of money in Annapolis labeled "Drug Offenders' College Fund." This money would have to come from the pockets of students with financial needs the state is already unable to meet.

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The RHA narrowly passed a resolution to decrease penalties for dorm-room marijuana use at a meeting last night - a triumph for many activists who rallied behind the proposition with fervor since its failure last year.

In its closest vote of the year - 20 to 17 - the organization approved a recommendation that, if approved by the Resident Life department, would lower the punishment for marijuana possession in dorms from potential housing termination to the same citation underage students receive for being caught drinking.

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Our View: The RHA took an important step towards representing student interests by voting against the wishes of Resident Life. Staff Editorial Posted: 2/28/07 During the past several years, a core group of supporters has single-mindedly pursued the lessening of marijuana penalties on the campus. The latest effort by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy was supported by the RHA last night, which voted in favor of reducing penalties for marijuana possession in dorms.

We rarely mention the Residence Halls Association directly in this space, but we do comment on many of the same issues it considers. When it is the case, however, that we directly oppose the actions of university administration, the RHA has consistently spoken out on the opposite side, to the sincere detriment of students.

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An alleged fight over drug turf has left a Temple Hills man dead and resulted in a murder conviction for his assailant.

Lamont Michael Brown, 33, of the District was convicted of first degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony in the death of Andre D. Williams, 29, of Temple Hills on Monday in a Prince George's County Court.

The shooting took place on Jan. 29 as the result of a dispute over drug territory, according to Prince George's County Police. At approximately 2:30 a.m., Brown and Williams were arguing over drug territory, during which time Brown told Williams not to sell drugs in the area of the 3100 block of Good Hope Avenue in Temple Hills.

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Patients, Addicts Mix Opiate With Other Drugs, With Potentially Lethal Results

Methadone, a potent opiate once used almost exclusively to treat heroin addicts, is increasingly being prescribed by doctors as a pain medication and abused by drug users searching for a cheap, easy way to get high, physicians and federal drug officials say.

The drug, which comes in pill or liquid form, recently has come under scrutiny in the death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. A doctor in Studio City prescribed methadone to Smith for pain treatment before she was found dead Feb. 8 in her Hollywood, Fla., hotel suite.

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The Rockville Police Department offers its DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program to city schools as part of an effort to discuss the negative impacts that drugs, alcohol and tobacco can play on the lives of young people. As part of the course, the students write essays on what they learned and why they think drugs, alcohol and tobacco would be harmful to them. Two winning essays from Meadow Hall Elementary School, which graduated more than 50 fifth-graders from the DARE program in December, are below. The youngsters won a stuffed DAREn the Lion, the mascot for the program. The traditional DARE program had not been taught by Rockville police officers for four years. In that time, DARE revised its approach and curriculum and officers Nikki Hawkins and Jan Seilhamer were trained in the new course. Twinbrook Elementary was the first to benefit from the new program in the fall, and Meadow Hall was the second. Other schools will join the program this ye! ar.

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Removing federal restrictions from state financial aid payouts removes punishments beyond those dictated by the legal system.

Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez has introduced a bill to the Maryland state legislature that would remove certain state funding from being bound by federal restrictions. On the surface, this may seem uncontroversial, but the ramifications are huge. Currently, federal law bars drug violators from receiving financial aid from the state of Maryland - this bill opens the door.

We are in full support. Editorial pages nationwide, including The Diamondback's, have been set aflame by debates on the righteousness of the U.S.'s drug, but truly, this is not the issue at hand. Federalist arguments aside, we frame our opinion on the bill from the view that it is nonsensical that a person convicted of a crime is being punished again - beyond their original sentence - by being barred from financial aid.

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ANNAPOLIS - Students expressed support yesterday for a bill that would ease federal restrictions preventing convicted drug offenders from receiving financial aid, saying in a hearing that students denied federal money for college should still be eligible for state financial aid.

An estimated 2,700 students of the 1.4 million who applied for aid were denied federal money for school because of drug convictions according to the organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy, but a bill introduced by Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery) seeks to ignore the federal denial and allow state aid. The state currently automatically denies any applicant who was denied federal aid.

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Are you high right now?" Stephen Colbert asked Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who appeared on the Jan. 8 episode of The Colbert Report. This question is the standard response to any proposal intended to reform insensible drug policies. So, in answer, I am not high right now, nor am I a stoner. One does not need to be personally affected by unjust policies in order to see why they must change.

On Feb. 27, the Residence Halls Association will vote on a proposal to move possession of a small amount of marijuana from an A-level violation to a B-level violation in the Residence Hall Rules. A-level violations include offenses such as setting fires, breaking into a dorm room and use of a weapon. Immediate housing termination is the standard punishment for these offenses because, except for marijuana possession, all of them significantly harm other students and/or their property.

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