The fact that nearly a quarter of Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner's assets are stocks of pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co., Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer helps explain why he votes against medical marijuana whenever the opportunity arises ("Sensenbrenner's Assets," Expresso, June 21).

His next chance comes in a few weeks when Congress once again considers budget language forbidding federal agents from raiding medical cannabis patients and providers in the 12 states that have legalized it, one up from last year. Previous attempts in Republican-dominated Congresses have come up short, thanks to drug-industry buddies like Sensenbrenner and his Wisconsin GOP colleagues Tom Petri and Paul Ryan.

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MANITOWOC - First-time offenders of the city's new marijuana and drug paraphernalia ordinance will have to account for hefty bond amounts after Monday's Manitowoc Common Council meeting.

In June, the council moved to make possession of marijuana an ordinance violation instead of a misdemeanor charge in circuit court.

Under the recently adopted rules, first-time offenders caught with less than 8 grams will receive a city ticket. Those caught with more than 8 grams of marijuana will face a misdemeanor charge, and second and later offenses will be handled in circuit court, District Attorney Mark Rohrer said in February.

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At their state convention Friday and Saturday, Democratic leaders identified some of the Republican legislators they hope to defeat in the 2008 election.

Rep. Jim Kreuser, D-Kenosha, the Assembly minority leader, said Democrats will target the Assembly seats of Republicans Karl Van Roy of Green Bay, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls, Brett Davis of Oregon, J.A. "Doc" Hines of Oxford and Jim Ott of Mequon, among others. Democrats are three seats shy of controlling the 99-member Assembly,

"We're going to fight tooth and nail to get those three seats," Kreuser said.

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Madison police responding to a landlord's report of tenant problems found a residence on the Far East Side that was converted into a "grow house" for marijuana.

About 300 marijuana plants were seized Thursday from the home in the 1500 block of Droster Road, police said. Members of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force put the value of each plant at between $800 and $1,000.

Authorities are now looking for the people who rented the property.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said that like other grow houses found across the country, the single-family home on Droster Road was being used strictly for growing pot.

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Emotions ran high Friday as Nicholas Pulver was sentenced to serve two years in prison and two years on extended supervision followed by two more years of probation for crossing the center line on Highway 22 and causing an accident that killed Markesan resident Lee Grams in 2004.

More than 50 family members from the Grams and Pulver families were present for the sentencing and tears were shed on both sides.

Pulver addressed Grams' family for the first time shortly before the sentence was handed down by Judge Daniel George.

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Sliwinski Cites Legal Technicality During Proceeding Over Theft of Drug Money Planted by FBI

A Milwaukee police detective who was fired after being caught taking drug money in an FBI sting is asking a court to order more than three years in back pay and benefits, due to a state Court of Appeals ruling.

The appeals court said the detective was wrongly denied the right to fully cross-examine the federal agent involved in the sting, according to a filing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

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Five suspects currently facing charges as part of sting operation

Phillips Police Chief Dave Sonntag announced that 17 Price County residents have been arrested during the course of a major drug investigation to reduce the amount of trafficking within the city.

"This investigation began as soon as I took this position," Sonntag said. "The city council, high school students, senior citizens and other community members had raised concerns about the drug problems in the community."

Sonntag took office in 2004 and said he immediately began the operation to build inroads into the drug subculture within Phillips.

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Common Council Passes Ordinance

MANITOWOC - Possession of marijuana is now an ordinance violation, and first-timers who get caught with the drug face a city citation rather than a misdemeanor charge.

The Common Council decided Monday to make the change from the current system, which charges all offenders in circuit court, leaving them with the possibility of $1,000 in fines, six months in jail and a six-month driver's license suspension.

"This is not a decriminalization of marijuana," Alderman Paul Tittl said. "Some people are misunderstanding this."

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While your article on salvia was generally well-balanced, the essential question of why the drug should be banned was never really addressed.

Contrary to Dr. Miller's assertions, there is little evidence to suggest that salvia is addictive. While the effects are certainly powerful, very few users consider them pleasant or euphoric and the absence of any cited evidence to the contrary is telling.

In addition, while the drug does indeed act upon opiate receptors, it does so in a way completely different from other opiates known to be addicting, such as morphine or oxycodone.

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The idea that Democratic Rep. Sheldon Wasserman's bill to ban the manufacture and sale of salvia divinorum is "all about protecting our children" would astonish Aristotle, not to mention Thomas Jefferson.

Those individuals believed it to be the duty of parents to protect children from dangerous substances. Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills," wrote Jefferson. Who protects the children from all the dangerous substances under the kitchen sink and in the garden shed?

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Regarding the recent article on banning salvia divinorum in Wisconsin:

Unlike alcohol, which destroys lives; or addictive nicotine that makes you a slave to the tobacco industry; or LSD, which lasts for 12 hours or more, here is an herb whose effects last a matter of minutes. It doesn't produce a rush or euphoria. It's not addictive, and it makes users feel anti-social, so it's hardly going to become a fad among teenagers (unless, of course, you heighten its intrigue by making it illegal).

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Before the drug crusaders wheel out the usual hysterical lies in their attempts to outlaw salvia divinorum, it is worthwhile to notice that no serious problems have been associated with salvia divinorum to date. There are no deaths, no desperate addictions and no robberies, assaults or murders connected to salvia.

Of course, prohibitionists who advocate a salvia ban need no evidence of risk or harm to spew out dire warnings. If it is a drug and some people like it, it must be dangerous.

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Editor Dudes:

Thanks for the front page article on Salvia. It must be AWESOME. I can hardly wait for your articles on how to cook up methamphetamine, purchase heroin and make crack cocaine. Party on Garth. Party on, Wayne. Schwing.

- -- Bill Sumner, Madison

[end]

I'm not surprised to see a letter criticizing Al Gore for excessive electricity use in light of his stance toward global warming, "Gore should answer for excessive energy use" (May 28). While there is no disputing the reality of global warming, Gore's record on another "inconvenient truth," the likewise indisputable science of medical marijuana, like his overuse of energy, also raises questions about his overall credibility and trustworthiness.

While campaigning for president in 1999, Gore, an admitted pot smoker before entering politics, briefly appeared to support medical marijuana, citing his late sister's participation in a Tennessee state program in 1984 that provided marijuana to cancer patients.

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A member of the sage family, Salvia divinorum is a cousin of the popular flowering salvia found in many American gardens.

Salvia divinorum is native to dark, damp, shady areas in Oaxaca, Mexico, where it has been used for centuries by Mazatec Indians during mystical rituals, and to treat headaches and diarrhea.

It was first described in 1939 in a report on Mazatec shamans, and wasn't identified as a psychoactive drug until the 1990s.

But, unlike its benign cousins, Salvia divinorum contains a powerful hallucinogenic called salvinorin A, which is described as being as potent as LSD, and "essentially the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogenic drug," according to Dr. Bryan Roth, a biochemist and neuroscientist who directs the National Institute of Mental Health's Psychoactive Drug Screening Program.

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A big yellow sign on State Street reads: "Salvia sold here. Get it while you can."

Many who pass by are perplexed. To the middle-aged and older, salvia is a perennial flowering plant found in many local gardens. But a growing number of young people, even middle schoolers, know salvia as an unregulated drug that delivers a powerful high.

Salvia divinorum, related to but different from the backyard salvia, is a perennial herb of the mint family native to the Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico. It contains a powerful hallucinogen considered by some to be as potent as LSD, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Carrie Kulinski vividly recalls her chat with a student last year.

Why did he want to drink alcohol? He didn't want to, he told her, but he thought everyone else was, so he should, too.

That's why Kulinski, the Janesville School District's coordinator of drug and alcohol programs, wants to emphasize this message:

Not all kids drink. In fact, the percentage of those who do is slowly declining.

The latest survey of Janesville students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 bears that out. In the survey taken in March, 59 percent of seniors said they drank beer in the previous year. That continues a downward trend since 76 percent said they did in the 1994 survey.

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Dear Editor: A recent column, "Dying people shouldn't be denied basic liberty," makes many good points, but before physician-assisted suicide is considered, other options should first be available, like legal access to medical marijuana.

Cannabis has shown the ability to make life bearable again for the chronically and terminally ill. Patients whose quality of life has greatly degraded, despite all modern medicine can offer, might find the will to live if cannabis were a legal option. Families would gain additional time together.

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A federal grant will give the city's high schools something they haven't had before: a comprehensive program to combat drugs and alcohol.

The district announced the grant Tuesday. It amounts to nearly $1 million over three years.

The money will pay for two drug/alcohol counselors, a part-time clerk, a supervisor, staff training and materials. It also will pay for Project SUCCESS, or Schools Using Coordinated Community Efforts to Strengthen Students.

Project SUCCESS aims to reduce pro-drug attitudes among students and their parents and stem drug abuse and and behaviors such as cutting class, fighting and talking back to teachers, according to the district's grant application to the Department of Education.

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What can be done about the price of gas? It's simple -- alternative fuels will replace carbon-based fuels in the future. What about now?

In "Popular Science Monthly", dated March 1941, Ford displays a car that runs on ethanol distilled from hemp, and the car itself contains hemp composites. What happened? Certain individuals stood to lose fortunes in industries they dominated such as carbon fuels, paper products and chemicals if hemp was cultivated.

Hemp is more cost effective than corn for ethanol, can grow almost anywhere, does not need insecticides or fertilizer and has little to no end waste product. It is the money tree.

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