Jim Snider admits that when he was younger, he made some choices that negatively affected his life and his future.

But now, he has built a career on attempting to prevent young people from walking down the wrong path in life.

Mr. Snider, 57, has been the on-site prevention specialist in the Rossford school district through the Wood County Educational Service Center for five years.

Before coming to Rossford, he had interacted with students of all ages in the Eastwood, Elmwood, Lake, and Otsego school districts during his nearly 25-year tenure of working in the field of adolescent chemical dependency and prevention.

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Some students want to puff, puff - but others are opting to pass on the UT Chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.

Although the group won't be an official organization at UT until mid-summer, about a dozen students met on Monday to discuss UT's marijuana policy.

"We're not asking for anything extreme like legalization now," said President of the UT Chapter of SSDP Chris Wallace, a freshman majoring in film. "All we're asking for is it to be equal with alcohol because it's a standard."

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NEWTON FALLS -- School officials decided to try a bit of strategy to expose drug use in the high school Friday, but their efforts went to pot.

Principal John Crowder requested that officer Mike Laswell and his police dog, Gator, sweep the school Friday morning after employees heard students talking about Friday as a sort of drug holiday.

Friday's date was April 20 -- 4/20 -- which is a number of some significance to marijuana culture. Pro-marijuana groups called for April 20 to be a day of celebration as a ''reminder of the absurdity of cannabis prohibition.''

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Fairfield Plan Would Allow Parents To Volunteer Kids

FAIRFIELD - An "opt in" clause might widen the pool of Fairfield middle- and high-school students who could be randomly drug-tested under a policy being considered by the board of education.

For months, the board has been discussing whether to require all seventh-through 12th-graders to submit to year-round random drug testing if they want to participate in sports, band or any other club.

This new idea could affect even more students.

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Editor, the Gazette:

Today, there is a big problem with drug abuse. Not only is it in Ohio, but around the world. It has been becoming an issue and I want it to stop.

I know many people who have abused drugs. There have been, so far, two people who have been killed and I'm pretty sure that has been from drug abuse. I don't get why we even have them and why people do them. It's just becoming a habit and it needs to be cured.

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The time has come - 4:20. For those who smoke marijuana regularly, this is a holiday.

Junior political science major Dan Weckesser thinks this is a popular holiday because it's an opportunity for members of a subculture to bond over what goes against the norms of the rest of society.

"It is a chance for people to celebrate what they love and for people to find out how normal and functional marijuana smokers are for the most part," he said.

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More than 20 people gathered in the Butler Hall conference room at the downtown YMCA last week for the Ohio American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) public forum discussing the war on drugs.

The forum, the second in a four part series, was called "Double Penalty: Barring Financial Aid and Education to Working Class Students."

Graham Boyd of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project and Cleveland State University professors Edward McKinney and Dr. Michael Williams facilitated the forum.

Boyd said that the war on drugs is inconsistent with the notion that Americans can achieve success through higher education because "if you want to get financial aid to go to college, you can murder somebody and you're still eligible. You can rape somebody, kidnap somebody, commit arson... but if you get caught violating the nation's drug laws, then you aren't eligible for financial aid."

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More Franklin County students report regularly using marijuana than smoking cigarettes for the first time in the nearly 20-year history of a local drug-use survey.

But it's not that marijuana use is up; it's actually down from a peak in 1997, according to the Primary Prevention Awareness, Attitude & Use Survey of about 78,000 public- and private-school students released yesterday.

Rather, tobacco use has plunged.

"In high school, cigarette use has been about cut in half," said Paul Weener, chief executive officer of DiagnosticsPlus, the Pennsylvania company that conducted the survey for the local Education Council.

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I just read the article about Fairfield School District wants to do drug testing. That would be great but they have to do it to all students. Not just the ones in sports, clubs, etc. There would be a problem with this with all parents in the district and I don't blame them if they complain and get angry.

I know what it is like to have children in school. If my children were in sports or clubs and they would have to take a drug test, I would definitely have a big problem with it. To keep drugs and alcohol out of the schools, consider doing a drug test for every student in grades 7-12. That way you are not targeting one group of students, but the whole student body.

Dorlene DePew,

Harrison

[end]

April 13, 2007 After all government says about cannabis (marijuana/the devil weed), how do citizens know government is telling the truth about meth ("Rootstown meth labs leave lasting effects," Record-Courier, April 9)?

According to government, cannabis is the biggest problem in North America. Just ask the U.S. drug czar. Today's pot is more like cocaine, causing cancer and all.

Cannabis is a Schedule I drug, while meth is only a Schedule II drug; so meth must not be a big deal, right? What's the truth?

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado

[end]

I'm writing about Michael Boop's thoughtful letter: Government has been lying about marijuana (April 3).

When the government lies about or grossly exaggerates the harm and dangers of marijuana the children will find out either through personal observation or personal experience. Then they will make the logical conclusion that the same people are lying about or exaggerating the dangers of other drugs like meth, cocaine or household inhalants.

This is a recipe for disaster.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

Former police detective Howard Wooldridge offered students in Page Hall a stern warning Tuesday: It's time for America to reform its drug laws.

Dressed in a beige cowboy hat, jeans and a white T-shirt that read, "Ask Me Why Cops Say Regulate Drugs," Wooldridge spoke in front of nearly 40 people at an event sponsored by The Libertarian Studies Organization and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

He drew from personal experience as an 18-year police veteran near Lansing, Mich., and used government statistics in an attempt to illustrate the damage prohibition has caused to millions of lives. He said former President Richard Nixon's war on drugs has not reduced their use or availability.

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Survey Finds Decline Over 7 Years

Sixth-grade student Da'Quan Palmer knows the dangers of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

"When I was in fifth grade, teachers showed us some bad lungs," the 11-year-old Two Rivers Middle School student said with a disgusted look.

"We learned a lot in fifth grade because they showed us a lot of nasty stuff," added his classmate, 12-year-old Karrie South.

And apparently, they aren't the only two students in Covington Independent Schools who have been paying attention.

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In regard to "Jail issues divide commission" (April 2), this is an issue that has really began to work my nerves.

It is ridiculous that the county pays, or should I say waste, $500,000 a month, to Butler County to house inmates, due to overcrowding. Furthermore, if Cincinnati police, along with Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis and his deputy dog sheriffs, would only ticket, and not lock up anybody for every minor violation (30 days incarceration for a marijuana joint), maybe the jails would not be overcrowded.

Grace Tapplar-Cole

Springdale

[end]

High-Profile Lawyer Tries To Recover From A Turn To Drugs

Ken Lawson has heard this story before.

It's about a drug addict who is so desperate to stay high he cheats people, lies to his family and breaks any rule until his life is in ruins.

Lawson, one of Cincinnati's best-known defense lawyers, used to spend hours every day listening to clients share some version of this hard-luck tale. He always wondered why they would risk everything for a handful of pills or a bag of powder.

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ROOTSTOWN -- On the street it is called crank, chalk, ice, crystal and quartz. But methamphetamine, by any name, and the process by which it is manufactured subject the "cooks" who manufacture it and those who track down and clean up clandestine meth labs to hidden health dangers.

The drug is popular because it is easy to manufacture -- recipes are readily available on the Internet -- and can be injected, ingested, snorted or smoked, according to William Franks, commissioner for the Stark County Combined General Health District and a faculty member at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

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Registry Rules Wrap Ailing Patients, Pharmacists In Red Tape

Pharmacist Jim Ricket used to frequently recommend cough medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

Now, bottles of the stuff are expiring at his Kenstar Pharmacy in Grove City.

That's likely because Ohio lawmakers put the over-the-counter drug behind the counters of pharmacies and other retailers nearly a year ago. A federal law doing the same took effect last fall.

Many people don't want to go through the hassle of waiting in line, filling out a form and showing ID, Ricket said.

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The Canton Rotary Club heard Friday from a speaker who wants to scrap the nation's drug laws. He wants to end the illegal drug trade by putting the government in charge of regulating the sale of drugs just as it does alcohol and tobacco products.

The Rotarians were polite, as one would expect them to be. Some were in agreement with speaker Howard Wooldridge's message because I heard them say so in small conversations around the room. Most were noncommittal. There was no vote taken on the members' sentiments after Wooldridge finished his speech.

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To Norwalk school board members, administrators and community members:

I know you have people in place trying to formulate an approach to the abstinence and sex education. I absolutely support an abstinence based education, and it is the desire of parents and students that this be the new curriculum implemented for health education in our school system.

A health curriculum that inspires students to focus on the importance of self respect, values, self control, positive attitudes, setting goals and reaching them. They will find themselves making wise choices not only about sex but positive choices for their future.

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A decision on drug testing in Norwalk schools is one step closer after a divided discussion at Wednesday afternoon's work session.

The board met to discuss the findings of the exploratory committee on random drug testing.

The board will vote on the issue at the next board meeting, April 17.

All members of the board agreed that educational efforts to reduce drug and alcohol abuse need to be stepped up drug education at the high school is minimal at best. When it came to random drug testing, most board members seemed skeptical.

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