MONTGOMERY, Alabama - With a first name like "Trip," an Alabama senator was bound to prompt jokes by pushing a bill mandating drug testing for legislators.

But Sen. Trip Pittman says he's serious.

"It's a fairness issue," the Republican from Daphne said.

Pittman said he proposed legislative drug testing after some lawmakers criticized a bill he introduced to require welfare applicants with a misdemeanor or felony drug conviction in the last five years to take a drug test. Anyone who failed three times would be denied benefits, but their children could receive them.

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Re "'Reefer Madness,' revisited" (Phillip Tutor column, Jan. 2): Star commentary editor Phillip Tutor is correct pointing out that "tobacco isn't marijuana. Marijuana isn't meth. Alcohol (a drug, by my definition) isn't cocaine."

In fact, cannabis is safer than all those substances, although the government labels cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances.

Cigarettes kill more than 1,000 Americans daily. In more than 5,000 years of documented use, the God-given plant (see the first page of the Bible) cannabis hasn't killed one person. That's safety on a biblical scale.

A sane reason to continue cannabis prohibition doesn't exist.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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Legal Marijuana Isn't 'Public Enemy Number One,' But It Is Complicated

A premise: Never in American history has the hypocrisy of the nation's stance on substances that affect our behavior been so apparent as it was Wednesday morning.

Two days ago, untold numbers awoke with the mother of all hangovers, expected but unwelcomed remnants of their alcohol-fueled New Year's Eve revelry. It had the news value of another sunrise.

That same morning, people in Colorado lined up, in the cold and snow, to be the first to legally buy marijuana for recreational use in this country. Unlike our Jan. 1 hangover epidemic, the pot sales drew national media attention. Which example bothers you more? Alcohol affects people - their bodies, their moods, their behaviors, their lives. It creates "mean" drunks and "sloppy" drunks. It's embedded in criminal statistics. When overused, it destroys families and marriages and, at its worst, it kills. But it is legal and socially acceptable in most circles.

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MONTGOMERY - At some point during last spring's legislative session, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama conducted a survey of physicians on their attitudes toward medical marijuana, apparently at the request of the House Health Committee

That much is agreed on between MASA and medical marijuana advocates. They differ on what that survey showed.

Over the last week, medical marijuana advocates have been carpet-bombing officials with MASA and the state with form emails urging the release of the survey, which to date has not been publicly released.

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Federal Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York says documents called "statements of reasons" are an optional way for a judge to express "views that might be of interest." The one he issued two months ago is still reverberating.

It expresses his dismay that although his vocation is the administration of justice, his function frequently is the infliction of injustice. The policy of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses has empowered the government to effectively nullify the constitutional right to a trial. As Lulzim Kupa learned.

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MONTGOMERY (AP) - At some point during last spring's legislative session, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama conducted a survey of physicians on their attitudes toward medical marijuana, apparently at the request of the House Health Committee

That much is agreed on between MASA and medical marijuana advocates. They differ on what that survey showed.

Over the past week, medical marijuana advocates have been carpet-bombing officials with MASA and the state with form emails urging the release of the survey, which to date has not been publicly released.

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Advocates Say Survey Shows Doctor Support

At some point during last spring's legislative session, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama conducted a survey of physicians on their attitudes toward medical marijuana, apparently at the request of the House Health Committee

That much is agreed on between MASA and medical marijuana advocates. They differ on what that survey showed.

Over the past week, medical marijuana advocates have been carpet-bombing officials with MASA and the state with form emails urging the release of the survey, which to date has not been publicly released.

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At last, we can celebrate a couple of breakthroughs in the quest for equal justice in America.

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Aug. 12 that he was instructing federal prosecutors to no longer seek mandatory minimum sentences in some nonviolent drug offense cases, it marked a huge step forward.

"Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason," Holder told the American Bar Association in San Francisco.

Holder's announcement is really about the failure of the so-called War on Drugs. Since the 1970s, it has needlessly destroyed many lives and ravished whole communities. The federal prison population alone has expanded by 500 percent, according to the Sentencing Project. The overall prison population now exceeds 1.5 million.

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For all who believe in colorblind justice - and want to see fewer African American and Hispanic men caught up in the system - there are two recent items of good news: a judge's ruling ordering changes in New York's "stop- and-frisk" policy and Attorney General Eric Holder's initiative to keep nonviolent drug offenders out of prison.

First, stop- and-frisk. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is having a hissy fit over U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin's finding that the policy amounted to "indirect racial profiling." On his weekly radio show, he wouldn't even say Scheindlin's name, calling her "some woman" who knows "absolutely zero" about policing. In an op-ed for The Post, Bloomberg went so far as to accuse Scheindlin of being "ideologically driven."

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If U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and members of Alabama's Republican controlled legislature are in agreement on something, it must be a really good idea.

That's why we hope the initiatives by both will be successful in taming prison populations in both the federal prison system and in state prisons.

According to a report recently released by Bureau of Justice Statistics, both the federal prison system and Alabama state prisons have seen an increase in their number of inmates, bucking the national trend of decline.

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Lauderdale County schools spent nearly $13,000 last year in student drug testing.

It's an expense that's worth the money, officials say. Still, it hits the pocketbook hard, especially when the state doesn't provide any funding for the testing.

While school administrators across the state agree that student drug testing is beneficial, it is cost prohibitive for many school districts.

Most Shoals area school districts perform random drug tests. It's an expense some school officials say simply isn't optional.

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A conversation the other day with a human resource director at a well-established local business revealed startling information that should not be ignored.

Perhaps we already knew it, but filed the information away under "it does not affect me today so I'm not worried."

Well, it's time to worry.

This human resource director is the point person for hiring for her company, and she was not in the best of moods on this particular day. She said she interviewed an applicant a day earlier. In her words, he was a perfect fit. He had the skills, a great attitude, appeared to be intelligent and eager to work.

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Rep. K.L. Brown to Continue Working to Regulate 'Pre-Need' Funeral Packages

Every year, Rep. Koven L. Brown, RJacksonville, introduces at least one bill intended to crack down on problems he sees in the funeral industry.

It's a topic Brown, the namesake of K. L. Brown Funeral Home in Jacksonville, knows well. But it's not always easy to sell those bills to others in the Legislature. Earlier this month, a House commit tee failed to approve a Brown-sponsored bill that would regulate "pre- need" funeral packages - packages that funeral homes sell to customers years before their death, and sometimes fail to deliver on when the time comes. It was the second year Brown's bill got shot down.

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Alabama has good reason to consider taxing and regulating marijuana. The days when our federal government can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal.

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Efforts to legalize marijuana have been in overdrive since November, when a majority of residents in Colorado and Washington deemed that the plant's consumption should be legally on par with alcohol.

Now, several other states have followed suit in considering similar proposals, and Alabama is among them with House Bill 550.

The bill is modeled after Colorado's regulatory model, and its introduction in Montgomery earlier this year signals that genuine debate over marijuana reform has finally arrived in the buckle of the Bible Belt. This is great news for Alabamians, since responsible marijuana policy will bring the state enhanced public safety, an alternative natural medicine and a potential fortune from both industry and tax revenues alike.

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Two mothers accused of giving birth to babies who tested positive for illegal drugs have been charged with chemical endangerment of a child, an official said.

O n Wednesday, Limes tone County Sheriff's investigators arrested Angel Nichole Queen, 32, of 27035 Persimmon Tree Road in Limestone County, records show. When Queen gave birth to her son Jan. 30, both she and her son tested positive for methamphetamine, Limestone County Chief Investigator Stanley McNatt said. While being interviewed by investigators, Queen admitted she had used meth a few times during her pregnancy, McNatt said. The Limestone County Department of Human Resources reported the incident to the Sheriff's Department.

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The notion of alcohol consumers piously demanding that others stop using pot probably makes you think of the beer-swilling World War II generation berating weed-smoking hippies during the 1960s. Now, thanks to the United Nations, that caricature gets an update -- and the hypocrisy is at once amusing and depressing.

You may have read the headline-grabbing news that in advance of its conference on drug policy this week, the U.N. issued a report urging the United States government to block Colorado and Washington state from moving forward with voter-approved laws that allow adult citizens to use marijuana as a less harmful alternative to alcohol. What you may not have heard is that on the very same day the U.N. released that report, U.S. ambassador Joseph Torsella slammed his U.N. colleagues for drinking too much on the job. Apparently, binging at the U.N. is so commonplace and excessive that it is hindering the organization from conducting its most basic work.

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We recently recognized Red Ribbon Week in Troy. A highlight was the opportunity for the mayor and city council to hear several youngsters from our community share their essay about the harmful effects of alcohol and drug abuse. They explained how substance abuse ravages lives and destroys families. It was very encouraging to hear them share about the things they do, and the activities they pursue, as alternatives to the addiction caused by the use of alcohol and drugs. These kids knew what they were talking about. They realized the wisdom in making the right choices for their lives. We were so proud of them.

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The world is becoming more and more tolerant towards recreational drug use, and the US is behind the world trend.

Pot, for example, is legal in Amsterdam, and drug possession across most of Europe is treated with greater acceptance and softer punishments than in the US. Closer to home, we have examples of how attitudes about drug use are a changin': up in Vancouver, Canada, "heroin shooting galleries" exist to assure safe injections of illicit drugs.

And, even in the US, there are pockets of greater tolerance: in the Fall 2012 elections, for example, the states of Colorado and Washington legalized recreational marijuana use.

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Opp may seem like an unlikely place for a group working to get medical use of marijuana legalized to meet, but that's exactly what happened Sunday.

"Why Opp?"

"Why not," Christopher Butts, the 42-year-old co-president and board chair of the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition said.

"We had 12 to 14 people come by, and we're talking to a reporter. Nobody knows about us, so we have to go where we can."

Like Butts, 44-year-old Ron Crumpton uses marijuana to alleviate chronic pain. He suffers spinal stenosis because of injuries he received while serving in the U.S. Navy. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) prescribed for his pain caused the perforation of his ulcers, and he subsequently had a portion of his stomach removed.

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