A 37-year-old Detroit man who sold the fentanyl-laced heroin that killed a Birmingham high school junior and a Madison Heights man last May was sentenced Thursday to 30 1/2 years in prison.

The sentence imposed on James E. Coleman by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff was at the top of the federal sentencing guidelines.

Coleman -- accused of selling the drugs that killed 17-year-old Lauren Jolly and 30-year-old Daniel McElmurry -- pleaded guilty in November to avoid a possible life sentence.

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FLINT- Marijuana cigarettes stacked in a prescription-labeled plastic tub were displayed Thursday during a news conference held by proponents of legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Flint voters will decide Tuesday whether to exempt those who possess or use medical marijuana under a doctor's care from being charged with a crime - although state and federal drug laws still would apply.

The news conference by Flint Citizens for Compassionate Care featured George McMahon of Texas, who receives 30 marijuana cigarettes a month through a federal program coordinated by the University of Mississippi.

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With Flint facing a largely symbolic vote on legalizing marijuana for medical use, the voice of a key group is officially missing.

That is the community's physicians, as the Genesee County Medical Society has taken no stance on Tuesday's ballot issue that would amend city ordinances, nor has it been asked to do so by backers of the measure. Several interpretations can be placed on the hands-off treatment, but one minimal assumption is unavoidable: Local doctors do not see legalized marijuana advancing the cause of medicine.

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The Oakland County Jail is again officially over its inmate capacity, triggering a process that could lead to prisoner sentence reductions and early releases.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard issued an inmate overcrowding emergency declaration on Wednesday, Feb. 14. If prisoners are released early, it would be the sixth time since August 2005 that the county has reduced inmate sentences due to inmate crowding.

The jail is currently housing about 1,859 inmates, which is 31 over its capacity of 1,828.

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WASHINGTON -- Recent legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives charges the Environmental Protection Agency with developing guidelines to assist state and local authorities in cleaning up former methamphetamine lab sites.

U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, co-sponsored and voted for the bill.

Stupak said the legislation would help communities across Michigan clean up meth labs and the toxic mess they leave behind.

"Methamphetamine labs are often found in residential settings like houses, apartments or hotel rooms," Stupak said. "Because the chemicals used in making methamphetamine are so volatile, the toxic residue left behind can threaten the health of whoever occupies that space next.

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A Howell man learned Thursday that he will spend at least 51 months in prison for sharing his prescription pain medication with a 36-year-old man who died in 2006 as a result of taking the drug.

Kenneth Roger Hopkins, 33, dressed in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, turned to the victim's family and apologized for any hurt he caused them.

Hopkins was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections for sharing his prescription painkiller Fentanyl with David Maybee, 36, on Jan. 6, 2006. Prosecutors say the drug contributed to Maybee's death.

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'New factories' In State Will Destroy Lives, Not Build Them

They say not to give advice - because those who need it won't take it and those who'll take it don't need it. But I want to offer this simple message to Michigan politicians, taxpayers, and voters anyway:

No state ever imprisoned its way to prosperity.

National statistics for 2004 show 483 Michiganders incarcerated for every 100,000 Michiganders. Other Great Lakes states get by with far less imprisonment: In Minnesota it's only 171 per 100,000; Pennsylvania, 329; New York, 331; Illinois, 346; Indiana, 383; Wisconsin, 390; and Ohio, next highest, just 391.

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From the tongue-in-cheek headline to the lack of investigation into the issue, Marjory Raymer's article, "Flint pot vote mostly symbolic," [Feb. 5, page A1] repeatedly dismissed scientific studies, political support of the issue and all consideration for the affected communities.

The "pot vote" is actually a medical marijuana initiative that will allow Flint's registered voters to decide if patients under a physician's care in Flint should be exempt from the provisions of the code making it a criminal offense.

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FLINT -- The three days Charles Snyder III spent in jail after being accused of a laundry list of drug crimes strengthened his resolve to seek legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Snyder, 29, of Flint, is one of the driving forces behind an initiative that would change Flint law to allow the possession and use of marijuana with a doctor's approval -- theoretically, at least.

The issue goes before Flint residents in a Feb. 27 election, but the vote is largely symbolic because pot usage -- recreational and medicinal -- would still be illegal under both state and federal laws. And they trump local ordinances.

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When we have uninformed police officers teaching that cannabis use is against the law no matter what -- students are told anyone regardless of age using cannabis is a criminal and must be turned in.

More than 750,000 Americans were arrested for cannabis use last year, 3 million since President Bush has been in office. Michigan's prisons are overflowing -- we spend more on them than on education.

The 70-year-old cannabis prohibition has dimmed the thinking ability of our elected leaders, our highest educators, our most revered spiritual healers.

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Kudos to bright Our Turn author Meredith Gage. Drug abuse is bad. The War on Drugs makes the problem worse. Our grandparents learned that with alcohol prohibition. Locking up people who's only "crime" is putting the wrong substances into their own bodies doesn't help anyone - -- except those whose jobs depend upon maintaining a perpetual War on (Some) Drugs.

Ralph Worick

Portage

[end]

As campaign director of Proposal 1, I would like to respond to opponents' misguided statements from the article "Flint pot vote mostly symbolic [Feb. 5, Page A1].

Flint City Council President Darryl Buchanan, who opposes the initiative, says that he can't speak about this from a medical standpoint. If this is the case, then on what grounds can he oppose this medically centered proposal?

Mr. Buchanan thinks that allowing doctors to recommend medicine to help sick and dying patients somehow sends the wrong message to kids about drugs.

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ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Many high school students assume drug abuse is widespread among their peers.

A $100,000 federal grant will be used to show Kenowa Hills High School students how that assumption is often misleading.

Peer pressure has many teens presuming drug and alcohol use is common, said Nancy Harper, project director of Alcohol Education, Research and Training, or ALERT, a U.S. Health and Human Services anti-drug program.

The one-year ALERT grant will fund a survey, a school-wide anti-drug campaign and counseling services.

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WASHINGTON - Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, applauded Wednesday's House passage of the Methamphetamine Research Remediation Act, H.R. 365. The measure focuses on the clean up of former meth labs - sites that have lethal contaminants. These meth labs, most often found in residential settings, are contaminated not only with meth, but also other toxic residues associated with the drug's production - polluting the inside of the structure as well as the water and septic systems.

In Michigan, meth lab incident seizures declined by 16 percent after the state's methamphetamine law went into effect on July 20, 2005. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Michigan reported 224 seizures from July 20, 2005 to April 30, 2006, compared to 267 over the same time period one year earlier. Upton is a cosponsor of the Methamphetamine Research Remediation Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 426 to 2.

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To the Daily:

I would like to commend Jared Goldberg's outstanding column (The war on common sense, 01/23/07). I especially noted the quote from former Commissioner of Narcotics Harry Anslinger: "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

That quote was from 1937.

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FLINT - The three days Charles Snyder III spent in jail after being accused of a laundry list of drug crimes strengthened his resolve to seek legalization of marijuana for medical use.

Snyder, 29, of Flint is one of the driving forces behind an initiative that would change Flint ordinances to allow possession and use of marijuana with doctor's approval - theoretically, at least.

The issue goes before Flint residents in a Feb. 27 election, but the vote is largely symbolic because pot usage - recreational and medicinal - would still be illegal under both state and federal laws. And they trump local ordinances.

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It seems everyday I read stories like that in the Daily News about the recent drug bust in Midland and Gladwin Counties ("Big drug bust in Gladwin County," Jan. 12). Every day, in virtually every city across the country, we have busts like this. Occasionally we will arrest a major trafficker or make a large seizure but the stories continue to roll on.

So, are we any closer to ending this new Prohibition, this War On Drugs?

As a former Chief of Police trained by both the FBI and DEA I have watched for years as these busts continue unabated. Every bust of a trafficker, whether of a major player in the illicit drugs trade or a street level hustler, merely creates an opening for some new entrepreneur to step up and gain a foothold in an extremely lucrative trade with customers eager to buy, often regardless of product quality or purity.

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Another person has been shot six times and is dead. He's the latest casualty in the war. This casualty, however, is not from the war in Iraq. This casualty is from the war at home, the war on drugs. ("Undercover officers fatally shoot drug suspect," The Ann Arbor News, Jan. 24)

Let's compare them. They're both wars in which the body counts continue to rise with no clear exit strategies in sight. They're both wars that our government tries hard to "sell" us, even though we know the strategies are flawed. They're both wars that many Americans think we can't win. The stakes, in both, are extremely high.

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Tim Pearcy's and Zak Kusz's Jan. 9 letters contain considerations to perpetuate marijuana prohibition that are flawed with outdated reefer-madness propaganda.

Historically, even government studies discredit the gateway theory. Arguments that marijuana causes cancer are mistaken since there are no dead bodies to show for it. International studies indicate, in some cases, that citizens who smoke marijuana are safer drivers than citizens who have not smoked marijuana.

Marijuana prohibition negatively effects people's lives in countless ways. Legalizing marijuana would allow police to focus on crime, eliminate control of marijuana on the black market, provide taxation benefits, government credibility, medicinal use and free up prison space, among other things.

With sincere, thorough research, those letter writers are likely to think differently in the future.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

To the Daily:

Jared Goldberg is to be commended for raising awareness about the racist roots of marijuana prohibition (The war on common sense, 01/23/2007). If health effects instead of cultural norms determined drug laws, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause death from overdose, and neither does it share the addictive properties of nicotine. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells for abusers are as inappropriate as health interventions are ineffective as deterrents.

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