Program Designed For Middle-Schoolers

Glendale - Thirteen-year-old James Fischer thought he knew everything he needed to know about illicit drugs.

But since his school rolled out BlueKids.org, a Web-based program that quizzes students on the consequences of drug use, Fischer says he has learned valuable information.

"To tell you the truth, if I wasn't doing this program, I wouldn't take the time to look up this stuff," Fischer says in the computer lab at Glen Hills Middle School, where he and 114 other students were logged on to BlueKids.org.

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Guest's Actions Not Relevant, Appeals Panel Finds

MADISON - A Green Bay woman should not have been denied low-income housing because police caught a guest in her home smoking marijuana shortly before she applied for the aid, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

Only household members' conduct can be considered in applications for the federal rent subsidies program that issues housing vouchers for poor people, the 4th District Court of Appeals said in overturning a Brown County judge's ruling.

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The De Pere School Board on Monday quietly and quickly approved an updated code of conduct for co-curricular activities.

The board also approved random drug testing for students who participate in those after-school activities.

The panel further approved random tests for alcohol use at dance, proms or some other school events.

Random drug testing would be used for kids who participate in sports or more service-oriented extracurricular activities such as drama or science clubs.

Students who ask for parking privileges in the high school lot also would be required to sign an agreement to submit to random drug testing.

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On a November day just before Thanksgiving in 2005, Joan Rademacher, a 72-year-old woman with breast cancer, sat at a kitchen table in Madison with her hospice nurse, drinking tea and discussing the progression of the disease.

The bumpy, reddened skin that at first had been contained to Rademacher's chest had crept to her back and arms. It looked like a rash but was in fact the tumor spreading.

"Are you in pain right now?" asked Cathy Sutter, the hospice nurse.

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Heroin is becoming a dangerous trend in Walworth County, officials say.

"I would say it's a growing problem," said Sgt. Jeff Patek of the Walworth County Drug Unit. "In the last year, it is starting to become more prevalent."

Heroin used to be the drug of choice for "experienced" addicts, Patek said. Now, it's reaching a younger audience.

"It's a trend right now," Patek said. "Can I attribute that to anything? No. I have no idea why. But other agencies throughout the state are seeing the same thing."

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One of two marijuana cases filed against a Janesville man has been dismissed, but the second still is pending in Rock County Court.

The charge of delivery of marijuana that prompted an arrest warrant for Michael J. Lacey, 44, and a search warrant for his home, #### Academy St., upper apartment, was dismissed without prejudice because the informant in the case declined to testify, said Scott Dirks, an assistant district attorney for Rock County.

The original complaint accused Lacey of selling a small amount of marijuana, Dirks said, adding that he had no leverage to compel the informant to testify.

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A rave party hosted in the town of Trenton kept local law enforcers on heightened patrol Friday night and early Saturday morning.

An estimated 100 people from Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Iowa and surrounding areas flocked to the party at N8853 Highway A Friday night. The party - advertised on the Internet as "Total Mayhem '07" - resulted in traffic stops throughout the night and a slew of drug- and traffic-related charges filed against event attendees, according to Sheriff Todd Nehls.

At approximately 9:19 p.m., the sheriff's office received complaints of loud music coming from the party, and subsequently warned the event organizer that further violations would result in a municipal citations and possible criminal charges. Due to the size of the event and potential for illegal drug use, three deputies conducted aggressive patrol around the area.

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On Sunday, April 15, I was waiting at church for a long-time friend, who at 39 was lovely and sparkling with life. She had photos from my 60th birthday party she was going to give me, as she said by phone a couple of days earlier, but she never showed up.

On Monday morning I got the call that she had died between Saturday night and Sunday morning from a reaction to crack cocaine, leaving her adorable 5-year old son, her mother, and many of her friends stunned, shocked, and angry.

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Teens Face Up to 6 Years in Prison

Three Pulaski High School students have been charged with aggravated battery for allegedly beating a friend who they believe told police another friend sold marijuana at the school.

[redacted] appeared Thursday in Brown County Circuit Court for the balance of an initial appearance. They're accused of beating up a 17-year-old on April 23. [redacted] is also charged in the case.

The 17-year-old male was also a student at the school, according to a criminal complaint.

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Several Teens Avoid Expulsions for Drug Incidents

KAUKAUNA -- Parents of eight high school students and one middle school student suspended last week for possessing or distributing drugs agreed to voluntary withdrawals and suspensions to avoid expulsions.

Supt. Lloyd McCabe said two students were allowed to return to school Monday after weeklong suspensions. The length of withdrawals for the other seven students range from the beginning of the 2007-08 new school year to an entire academic year.

"Most of them (parents) were pretty accepting. They felt it was a fair process. They want their students to learn to do better, too," McCabe said.

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If the four letters printed in Thursday's Spectrum section reflect the majority sentiment, marijuana prohibition should be in its last gasps. Not so, judging by District Attorney Brian Blanchard's reaction to a letter of rebuke sent by four county supervisors regarding his choice to file felony distribution charges over an arrest at Harvest Fest 2006 ("Board Members Rip Marijuana Prosecution," in the April 10 Wisconsin State Journal).

The felony case against Chris Lankford continues to go forward, absorbing scarce tax dollars. The next move comes on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in Room 1A of the courthouse, 215 S. Hamilton St.

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Marijuana is a monumental problem with our youth. Adolescents are in critical developmental stages and THC in marijuana interferes with judgment and motivation. Evidence indicates reaction time is impaired and driving is dangerous under the influence of marijuana. We are concerned with the minimizing and "relaxed" attitude about marijuana. I believe state laws should focus on rehabilitation, not incarceration. Education, prevention and treatment save lives and promote change.

We must focus on increasing awareness and modeling healthy living to our young people.

Shelly Dutch,

owner and director, Connections Counseling AODA clinic,

Madison

[end]

Community Approach Urged For Parents, Schools

In a season of proms and other adolescent rites of passage, there comes perhaps a natural focus on telling kids "don't."

Don't use drugs. Don't drink. Don't get in the car with a drunken driver.

These warnings are important, experts say, as is keeping tabs on where your children are and with whom they're spending time.

But prom season is just one opportunity to initiate dialogue about underage drinking and drug use, experts say.

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As a conservative, I'm disgusted by the idea that America will punish people for eating, drinking or ingesting an all-natural plant.

What is even more disgusting is that America spends more on the "war on drugs" than we spend on homeland security. Uncle Sam seems more interested in arresting Tommy Chong than Osama bin Laden. Locally, law enforcement has more resources dedicated towards chasing illegal gardeners than they have patrolling the Internet for child predators.

We need to stop worrying about adults who choose to consume a plant and instead focus on our real enemies. The war on marijuana is a failure and it is time for some serious changes.

Ben Trapp, Madison

[end]

It is true that lessening the severity of Wisconsin's anti-marijuana statutes would be a useful first step toward creating a sensible drug policy. Nationally, billions of dollars are wasted and hundreds of thousands of people are arrested each year for the victimless crime of pot use.

Realistically, there should be no penalties at all for responsible adult use of cannabis. Marijuana is probably the most benign substance to ever be criminalized by a government.

In the 1920s, America engaged in a particularly disastrous effort to regulate the production, distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition fomented bloody turf wars between organized criminal gangs, which rushed to fill the lucrative illicit demand. Organized crime flourished and became an entrenched phenomenon in the U.S.

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Drug laws are racist, and the proof is in the number of blacks in prison. Marijuana became illegal when blacks started smoking it at the jazz clubs in New Orleans years ago.

Drug laws in this country will not change until the World War II generation is gone because of the propaganda such as "reefer madness" that brainwashed so many Americans. Politicians today know the truth about marijuana, but if they become pro-marijuana, they risk losing the vote of the generation that made the United States the great country it is and risk being voted out of office.

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I know of no certain way to destroy illegal drug traffic except to take the profit out of it. If marijuana were sold at government-licensed outlets (like liquor in the South), at a price below that charged by drug pushers, the pushers would vanish and might even need to find honest work.

Persons buying marijuana through an approved outlet can be contacted by authorities to see if they want help in kicking their habit. Drug traffickers have no interest whatever in rehabilitating their clients.

Should the government sell health-destroying, career-destroying drugs to the public? My answer is no. The only thing worse would be criminals selling such drugs to the public. Well, guess what?

F. W. Nagle, Madison

[end]

Pens without ink cartridges turned up in the daughter's car. The girl lied, stole and lost weight. Despite the efforts of her family, she was lost in an addiction to heroin.

"This young person could be anyone's son or daughter in any area high school," said a Lake Country mom. The mom came forward with her family's experience to help others recognize signs and seek help. She requested anonymity to protect her family and to keep the promise of anonymity so important to addiction programs and support groups for families of addicts.

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A bill currently under consideration in the state Legislature's Colleges and Universities Committee would prevent convicted drug dealers from receiving state financial aid. Assembly Bill 151, introduced by Rep. Eugene Hahn, R-Cambria, would mirror a federal law that places similar restrictions on federal financial aid eligibility. With limited state education funds, Mr. Hahn claims the bill is necessary to ensure law-abiding students are the ones receiving financial aid.

Despite Mr. Hahn's feigned concern for fiscal responsibility, we have a hard time believing this would do anything substantive for the state's finances. In 2005-06, the state distributed $90 million in aid to students. In a study analyzing the effects of the more severe federal financial aid restrictions, Students for Sensible Drug Policy found that 1 in 400 applicants were denied aid. If similar numbers held true for this bill, Mr. Hahn's proposal would not even save the state half-a-million dollars - without even considering implementation costs.

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Recent news reports about candy-flavored methamphetamine illustrate an inescapable law of the drug war's black market, to whit: Hit one popular drug hard enough to affect supply, and the professional dealers will always come back with something much worse. We have seen it all before: Cocaine begat freebase which begat crack which begat methamphetamine. "Ice" will be next. It may have felt good to knock out the majority of the ad hoc meth labs, but it's only opened the market to vicious and over-funded drug gangs in Mexico and to "products" such as candy-flavored meth. The principle holds for other drugs as well. In fact, poisonous alcohol was common during Prohibition.

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