One man told the audience of overdosing five times on heroin before being arrested - a moment he calls the answer to his prayers. His mother recalled how she prayed over her son's hospital bed the night of his first overdose, and how she pledged not to let the drugs win. Another mother - this one not so blessed - told of learning too late that her daughter was using illegal club drugs. A Kane County judge said it was the death of another young person that prompted him to start a court anti-drug program that combines law enforcement and treatment. [continues 766 words]
I would like to take this opportunity to praise the Daily Herald for its outstanding series on the "Hidden Scourge" of illegal drug use, and especially Madeleine Doubek and the staff writers who contributed to its excellence. In addition, their hosting of the Tuesday, Jan. 29 community forum "Heroin and Club Drug Use" at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles is testament to the Daily Herald's commitment to be more than just a newspaper that reports the news, but a contributing member of our local communities. [continues 403 words]
It's about time. Drug abuse is nasty business. It's not pretty to watch. And writing about it as a newspaper is not something we do with glee. But it's about time that it be exposed for the problem it's become among our young people. It's time that we not hide it anymore but share our experiences and learn as a community to combat it. For many parents, a child's drug abuse - or leanings toward it - is something that is kept behind closed doors or ignored. Teenagers are quietly shipped off for treatment - a good step, to be sure - but the stigma and the silence remain. [continues 378 words]
The editorial on the Dec. 26 Opinion page titled "Novel drug treatment program" explained that special Drug Enforcement Administration agents will "arrest drug traffickers ... (and) work with the community to establish drug education and treatment programs to cut into the dealer's customer base." The budget for doubling this force of special agents to attack the drug problem nationwide - only $5 million. We agree that substance abuse treatment can be combined with probationary and other community-based services for an effective intervention, but the problem again comes back to lack of capacity for any meaningful long-term care. [continues 274 words]
With another year comes a new set of laws. Many of these laws are intended to shape our behavior, to deter actions that, if taken, could be very harmful to the individual and society as a whole. Anyone who deals the club drug Ecstasy in the state of Illinois will, as of Tuesday, face tougher penalties if caught. Also, motorists convicted of reckless homicide will no longer be able to use a loophole in the law to evade a lengthy license suspension. [continues 406 words]
When it comes to teenagers and drug use, progress is measured in small steps and long trends. Thus, there was reason for optimism in the results of the 2001 Monitoring the Future survey, a peek at teens' illicit habits that is conducted annually for the government by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. Responses from 44,300 teens in grades eight, 10 and 12 contained good news and bad. First the good. Teen smoking is down, falling to 10-year lows. Some 12.2 percent, 21.3 percent and 29.5 percent of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders, respectively, reported smoking in the 30 days prior to the survey. All represent drops over last year and significant drops from the highs of the last decade. [continues 107 words]
I am writing in response to the recent articles written on the addiction to heroin. They have really brought the reality to my eyes. The drug has definitely spread to the suburbs. It will get the most innocent people, the ones you least expect. It really is the saddest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. People are so concerned with things like pot and alcohol that they forget about the big drugs like cocaine and heroin. I have watched my own friend be taken down by the drug. She makes those late-night trips to the city; she has those withdrawals that kill. The girl next door who used to play Barbies and watch cartoons now cares only about getting one more high. [continues 257 words]
Not everyone is pleased with the progress being made in the war against terrorists in Afghanistan. International drug dealers are hoping for a very long war, because that means business will continue to be very good for them. Indeed, the illegal drug trade has been doing quite well since Sept. 11. The explanation for this is simple. Resources used for drug interdiction have been diverted to fight the war on terrorism. Ships and planes used to make drug seizures have been deployed to assist in terrorism patrol duties. Many Drug Enforcement Administration agents have been reassigned to terrorism-related duties. [continues 323 words]
I have to comment on what I thought was irresponsible reporting on the Dec. 3 article headlined "How teens score heroin for $10 a bag." I know and appreciate reporters gaining all the information possible to properly report on an issue, but at some point a judgment call must be made. After reading the article, I learned how much illegal drugs cost, where to go to find them (even what train to take to get there), what code words to listen for, "Rocks, blows, weed." I even learned that I can get them 24 hours a day! [continues 130 words]
The article about heroin in the suburbs left me with a heavy heart. It seems that we have come full circle. We are reliving the 1970s all over again. We as a society have collectively forgotten the devastation that heroin usage leaves in its wake. I can't believe how stupid these kids are. What is so wrong with their lives that they must live life perpetually doped up? Is life that difficult? At least the kids you interviewed are still alive. My uncle got caught up in the first wave of heroin use in the '70s. He spent 20 years in jail, and died of AIDS. He was barely 40 when he died. [continues 133 words]
It was encouraging to see in the Daily Herald's drug series that Kane County authorities, most notably Kane County Judge James Doyle, the Kane County State's Attorney's office and probation and law enforcement, were not only acknowledging a drug epidemic in the suburbs, but had also implemented innovative programs to combat it, abandoning the typical lock 'em up mentality of prosecutors and judges in favor of treatment for addicts. I can only hope that officials in DuPage County will put aside the politics and start taking steps to work together to treat and not just incarcerate our addiction problem. Paula McGowen Glen Ellyn [end]
What goes through a young person's mind when he or she makes the decision to take drugs? Is there this internal dialogue? "Not me." "Didn't you hear about that senior? He died after overdosing." "Yeah, but that's not going to happen to me. These are safe drugs. They aren't going to kill me." "But did you hear about the girl who got kicked out school, lost all her friends, and got busted." "Yeah, but she couldn't handle it. I'm not that dumb." [continues 594 words]
In the snapshot, 1-year-old Keith Lane peers over the top of a small shopping bag at the camera. An inscription on the back reads, "Uncle Ron put you in a grocery bag when you were one year old and you fit! I love this picture and I love you. Love, Mom." Keith's mom, Denise Carroll of Elgin, laughed at the image. "He was a dinka-doo," she said. "Is he a cutie or what? He's a cutie patootie." [continues 3196 words]
It should have been a Christmas present, tucked under the tree in her mother's new Rolling Meadows home. Instead, Kelley's family gave the navy blue Ann Taylor suit -- selected because it complemented the young woman's auburn hair --to the funeral director, who dressed Kelley in it for her memorial service. Kelley McEnery Baker was 23 when she and her boyfriend, Patrick, died from overdoses of the illegal club drug Ecstasy two years ago. [continues 3222 words]
When his 17th birthday rolled around, Michael Rubicz knew what he wanted to do. Heroin. Before his birthday, the St. Charles teenager had vowed to add heroin to the list of drugs he has tried. So when he got together with his friends the night of his birthday, they all made good on that promise. Four years later, Rubicz and his friends are still trying to recover from that birthday celebration and the experimentation that eventually turned into addiction. [continues 2391 words]
Club drugs and snortable, high-grade heroin have taken hold of a segment of the suburbs' teen and young adult population, creating a hidden subculture filled with more addicts, more traumatized families and more deaths than they did just three years ago, experts say. More young people are trying the drugs, believing they are relatively harmless. They're not. Heroin and club drugs have contributed to at least 13 suburban deaths in just the past two years. Club drugs caused or contributed to the deaths of four Northwest and West suburban teens. And heroin overdoses are the suspected cause or a contributing factor in at least eight deaths in the suburbs in the past two years. One young adult had both club drugs and heroin in his system when he died. [continues 1751 words]
The events of Sept. 11 have left us all shocked and saddened. From the complexity of the events on Sept. 11, it is clear that the terrorists had been planning for quite some time. The question that is on the mind of many is, "What's next? Will they attempt to poison our air or water supply?" I think it is important that we all realize they already have unleashed poison on us. In the early 1990s, those who supply illegal drugs put a new strategy into place for heroin. They decided to greatly increase its potency, thereby making it possible to smoke or snort the drug rather than inject it. They then "marketed" it to unsuspecting young people in the West who never would have begun using heroin if they had to inject it. [continues 373 words]
Two people have been arrested for the murder of Eric Leo, a Chicago police officer, and maybe more to come, but who is really guilty? The situation, as I understand it, was drug related. Who created this situation? Every one of you out there who create the market for these drug traffickers, each and every one of you who think you are just socializing when you "do your drugs," you who think you are doing no harm when you take that puff of marijuana. Think again. Someone got you those drugs, and they broke the law while getting them and maybe, just maybe, if someone was in their way at the time, they, too, may have been killed. [continues 93 words]
The Illinois Drug Education Alliance proudly applauds Gov. George Ryan's strong stand against illegal drugs in our state. He vetoed a bill that called for the study of the mind-altering drug cannabis sativa/hemp plant. This action demonstrates his commitment to the youth of Illinois, and to those of us who work in the drug prevention field, by maintaining a strong "no-use" message. The governor's veto sends not only a message to the youth of Illinois, but also to those who advance legalization tactics, that Illinois is not fertile ground for drugs. His veto demonstrates that the efforts of drug prevention workers are not in vain, but instead understood and appreciated. He shares with us the common goal for drug-free youth who can grow up healthy and safe. [continues 103 words]
That laws have been stretched to their constitutional limit by beleaguered law enforcement personnel is a matter of record. Witness the recent Supreme Court ruling against police use of thermal imaging of a home without a warrant. Until now, though, murder was pretty much murder, and everyone pretty much understood the parameters of the charge - death directly related to the act of another and some evidence of intent to harm. Throw all that out the window if a California murder charge is allowed to stand. [continues 170 words]
The July 27 editorial regarding the rise in emergency room visits for drug abuse certainly underlines the need for more effective drug prevention education. The question must be asked: Do we have a situation where one drug of choice is being replaced with another? How do the "pro-drug" commercials that are seen each day by teenagers fit into the picture? Pills for depression - pills to stop smoking - pills to control appetites. Then there are commercials for pills that don't really even state what they are for - just that you should ask your doctor if it might be right for you. The message is very clear: Got a problem? Take a pill. [continues 158 words]
Asa Hutchinson wasn't too thrilled last month when his 18-year-old son said he wanted to go to a rave. Hutchinson, a Republican congressman from Arkansas, was hand-picked just weeks before by President George W. Bush to take charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Hutchinson knew raves were connected with club drugs like Ecstasy, a hallucinogenic wrapped up in a small, $25 euphoria-producing pill. But his son persisted, and offered a surprising proposal. "He said, 'Dad, I'm just going for the music, and if you have any doubts about it, why don't you go with me?' " Hutchinson recalled Wednesday in a packed hotel ball-room in Oak Brook. [continues 648 words]
At the point an illegal drug is ingested, there is obviously no thought given to the risk just taken. Rather, it is the high that is anticipated. But then a temporary escape from life turns into a battle to stay alive. The heart starts to race, breathing becomes difficult. There is confusion and delirium - and an ambulance ride ahead. Everything bad that the user heard about drugs has come true. This is happening more and more, according to a report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Drug-related emergency room visits hit a record level last year, rising to 601,776 from 554,932 in 1999. [continues 323 words]
The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the federal government's role in protecting us from ourselves. It upheld the government's right to prohibit the distribution of marijuana for use in relieving symptoms and treatment effects of cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious illnesses. Administration officials applauded the ruling, suggesting that by preventing patients from obtaining this relief, they were somehow doing them a favor. When there are important benefactors to reward, however, our leaders will argue that big government should be kept out of our lives. This argument was employed to try to defeat Medicare in the 1960s and is being used today to block real health-care reform. [continues 175 words]
By rejecting a "medical necessity" defense for marijuana, the Supreme Court of the United States sentenced AIDS and cancer victims to certain slow and painful deaths. In an 8-0 ruling, the nation's high court approved a Justice Department injunction against a California cannabis cooperative that supplied medical marijuana to patients. The court rejected any medical necessity exemption to federal marijuana laws, ruling that "marijuana has no medical benefits worthy of an exception." Even if a state has legalized medical marijuana, the court ruled the federal government could continue to prosecute people who violate federal marijuana laws. [continues 220 words]
The increased use of so-called club drugs is a disturbing trend, because of the physical ill-effects they can cause in users and because their use is sometimes a gateway for harder drugs. Still, it's tough to generate much enthusiasm about the same old retaliatory response now being hatched in the General Assembly. The state Senate last week approved a measure that would make penalties for dealing club drugs, such as Ecstasy, the same as those for selling LSD, heroin or cocaine. [continues 168 words]
Robert Doyle knew his 23-year-old daughter, Dina, had been running with the wrong crowd and that she had been arrested for drug possession. But the Glendale Heights man says he didn't fully understand the depth of his daughter's troubles. That is, until last August when police confiscated the 1998 Chevrolet Corvette he had purchased only 14 months earlier, arguing it was linked to drug crimes. Now, nearly a year later, Doyle still is fighting to get the car back. [continues 1147 words]
If there were a foolproof way to keep young people away from alcohol, tobacco and other harmful drugs, everyone would be using those preventive measures, and it wouldn't be an issue anymore. Obviously, that's not the case. Drug use among young people generally has declined in recent years, but sizable numbers of adolescents still try cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs. For some, the flirtation is brief and experimental only. For others, the initial sampling leads to steady use or even addiction. [continues 133 words]
IQUITOS, Peru - (Associated Press) Drug interdiction flights over Peru have been suspended, U.S. officials announced Saturday, after the Peruvian air force shot down a seaplane carrying American missionaries. The crew aboard the surveillance plane urged Peruvian authorities to check out the flight, said the official, asking not to be identified. A second official said the plane was considered suspect because it was operating without a flight plan in airspace frequented by drug runners. Peru, which had the responsibility to identify the plane's intentions under a long-standing agreement, mistakenly decided that it was carrying drugs, the official said. [continues 843 words]
This letter is in response to the letter by Carpentersville Trustee John Noverini. As a parent of a child who has been through Drug Abuse Resistance Education, I believe the program can make a difference. My daughter, now 17, was taught much more than "winners don't use drugs." She also was taught the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and peer pressure, which I believe encourages and glamorizes drug usage more than any DARE class ever could. My daughter is carrying these lessons with her into adulthood. The DARE program also offers the children a chance to build a rapport with the police officers in a positive way. As a tax-paying citizen of the village, I believe the expense of the three new officers is justified. Susan Wilson Carpentersville [end]
In all the news coverage of teacher Wardella Winchester's abduction and murder, two important issues were missing: the war on drugs and gun control. Had cocaine not been illegal, it is likely Winchester would still be alive today. The war on drugs makes drug trafficking profitable - and dangerous. Alcohol and cigarettes don't inspire this sort of behavior. Moreover, Winchester would be no worse off - quite likely a lot better off if conceal carrying of handguns were permitted in Illinois. Her assailants apparently didn't search her; she was able to use her cell phone to call 911 from the trunk of their car. Frankly, a loaded handgun would have been a lot more useful to her. [continues 56 words]
During the recent budget meetings, the Carpentersville Village Board spent many hours reviewing the 2002 village budget, a budget that will increase spending by more than 18 percent. The board had the opportunity to save the taxpayers $69,074, but decided instead to fund a program that has been a failure since its inception. The program in question is the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program (DARE). There are many critics of this program who have been saying for years that the program is ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars. However, only recently, the people who head the DARE program nationwide have admitted their program is a failure. It does not work. [continues 202 words]
Why is it that our judicial system and weak laws allow the criminals infecting our society to continue to win? Carpentersville's Larry Clemons was investigated by police for over 10 years before he could be convicted of drug trafficking. Police describe Clemons as a wholesale distributor to many gangs. Clemons' weak minimal imprisonment of two six-year terms, which ridiculously run at the same time, and with likely early parole, will put this drug kingpin back on our streets in a few years, no doubt doing business as usual. The risks of being caught and severely sentenced is so unlikely with our weak and lenient judges and laws that the efforts of our police and community are defeated. The newspaper article identified Judge Grant Wegner's involvement. Hugh A. McGowan Elgin [end]
St. Charles has a drug problem. If you find it hard to believe, look at the police reports of the burglaries and armed robberies that are occurring - many of them to get money for drugs. And the drugs aren't the little puffs of pot many of us tried when we were young. Heroin is in town, along with alcohol, cocaine, Ecstasy and others. I don't know about you, but the heroin, potentially addictive on the first or second dose, scares me a lot. [continues 219 words]
SPRINGFIELD - Dawn Roberts could go to prison for five years for hitting someone in the face with a pie because: A: That person was the governor. B. That person was a senior citizen. C. That person was in a public place. If you answered B or C, you are right. Because Roberts' political protest took place in the Carbondale Civic Center, a public place, she faces aggravated battery charges for smashing a pie in Gov. George Ryan's face last year. She also could have been charged with aggravated battery rather than plain old battery because Ryan, age 66 at the time, is a senior citizen and the law grants seniors special protection. His status as governor, however, provides no special treatment in this case. [continues 678 words]
Associated Press --The "crack baby" phenomenon is overblown, according to a study that suggests poverty and the use of cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs while pregnant are just as likely as cocaine to cause developmental problems in children. Blaming such problems on prenatal cocaine use alone has unfairly stigmatized children, creating an unfounded fear in teachers that "crack kids" will be backward and disruptive, according to the study, an analysis of 36 previous studies. "I'm not trying to be Pollyanna-ish and say there are not problems" with cocaine use by pregnant women, said Dr. Deborah A. Frank, an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston University who led the analysis. "I'm saying there are many more serious risks to children's development." The analysis appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. [continues 464 words]
WASHINGTON - (Associated Press) A day before the Supreme Court was to hear arguments on the issue, Republican lawmakers sparred on Tuesday with the leader of a group advocating the medical use of marijuana. "What's really going on here is people are trying to legalize smoking marijuana and they're using cancer and AIDS patients as a prop," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., at a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee's criminal justice subcommittee. Rob Kampia, the executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said his organization "believes that sick people as well as healthy people should not be put in jail for using marijuana. [continues 351 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. - (Associated Press) A few years ago, an author writing about death asked ailing AIDS patient Michael Alcalay how he was accepting dying. "I'm not accepting it," Alcalay retorted. Alcalay is alive today thanks in part, he believes, to doses of marijuana that helped him keep his medicines down and appetite up as he fought the disease. On Wednesday, Alcalay will be in the audience as lawyers try to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that federal anti-drug laws shouldn't prevent marijuana from being given to seriously ill patients for pain relief. [continues 587 words]
The war on drugs is beginning to look much like the war in Vietnam. Victory is elusive, and the public is beginning to lose confidence. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that 75 percent of Americans think the country is losing the war on drugs. They are particularly frustrated with efforts to stem the flow of drugs from Latin American nations. A great majority of those polled feel overseas drug traffickers can never be brought under control. [continues 390 words]
I am writing in regard to the March 2 article titled "Drug charges against cancer patient dropped." Now I understand that Mr. Peterson has cancer and is terminally ill, and my sympathies go out to him. But, there are a few things about this case and article that are bothersome. First off, marijuana is illegal and although not the most dangerous drug in the world, it's still illegal. I don't have sympathy for anyone who is arrested for having marijuana on their person while traveling as a passenger or driver in a car in the middle of the night, as was the case with Peterson. [continues 488 words]
A man who was charged in January with possession of marijuana, though he had a note from his doctor saying he smoked it to help deal with cancer, won a reprieve in court Thursday. Rather than asking Jerry Peterson, 45, of St. Charles, to plead guilty to the drug charge and go through the motions of having the court waive the fines and costs - as it did in a prior case of his - Kane County prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge on Thursday. [continues 806 words]
Jerry Peterson is dying. It is a fact the lifelong Fox Valley resident has come to accept over the last two years, after the melanoma cancer he thought he had beaten 12 years ago came raging back. It now courses throughout his body. "They're surprised I'm still around," he said, his glaucoma-riddled eyes squinting as he smiles. "But I've been living with it for so long, I've always thought I'd die of it." It has been a bad two years for Peterson, 45, who now lives in St. Charles. [continues 1407 words]
If you chafed against your parents' control when you were a teenager, the latest research says you were lucky. At the time, you may have felt more oppressed than fortunate. But a study released this week by an anti-drug research center found that the hands-on parents who kept close tabs on their children were most effective at keeping their kids away from drugs. The study, by the National Center on Addiction and Substance abuse, divided parents into three different styles. "Hands-on" parents consistently took 10 or more of such actions as: eating dinner with their children, banning music with offensive lyrics, imposing curfews, knowing their children's whereabouts, assigning regular chores and turning off the television during dinner. Twenty-seven percent of teens reported hands-on parents. [continues 298 words]
Perhaps you who read these words can help provide answers to a serious national problem that produces an abundance of political speeches, but too few solid answers: our "war on drugs." It is not a war on drugs, but a skirmish. If we really had a war on drugs we would have better solutions to what is a significant cause for alarm, and a tragedy in the lives of too many families. In their zeal "to do something," and to appear to be doing something, public officials too often have abdicated studying the issue and voted for whatever legislation sounds "tough on crime." [continues 662 words]
They taste and smell like marijuana. There is even a picture of a cannabis leaf on the package. But Ecstacy-brand Cannabis Free cigarettes are, as their name claims, cannabis-free. They don't have marijuana in them, nor do they contain nicotine or tobacco. They are herbal cigarettes. So why, then, is the word "cannabis" even included in the name of the product? That's exactly what Roselle school and police officials want to know. They're outraged the cigarettes are sold in town and fear the product glorifies drug use. [continues 651 words]
No one, including appellate court justices, likes to free a felon with a long history of offenses. Thus, it had to be with some dismay that the 2nd District Appellate Court overturned the drug conviction and eight-year prison sentence of Lorenzo Allen, an Elgin man with multiple felony convictions on his record. Dismayed or not, however, the appellate court made the only decision it could have under the circumstances, given grand jury testimony by Elgin police Officer Daniel Rouse that can only be described as pure fiction. [continues 337 words]
John Ashcroft has the experience, integrity and the educational background to be our next U.S. attorney general. He is the first attorney general-designate in U. S. history who has served as state attorney general, governor and U.S. senator. He has and will continue to enforce the laws. As Missouri attorney general, he led the National Association of Attorneys General. As governor, he signed into law a measure requiring first offenders to serve a minimum of 40 percent of their prison term, second offenders must serve 60 percent and Class X offenders (three felonies) must serve 80 percent of their prison term. [continues 99 words]
A drug few people had heard of two or three years ago is taking an increasing toll among its users, and some prosecutors now want to toughen penalties for those caught selling it. The instinct to protect young people from dangerous drugs is only right and natural. Whether that goal will be served by the current proposal is open to question. Prompted by DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, House Minority Leader Lee Daniels is recommending that the consequences for those who sell Ecstasy and other so-called "club drugs" be made just as severe as the punishment meted out for those who sell cocaine, heroin and LSD. [continues 318 words]
In the wake of three suburban teens' fatal overdoses, lawmakers are prescribing stiffer prison terms for dealers who peddle so-called "club drugs." Illinois House Republican Leader Lee Daniels introduced a measure Friday that puts the sale of club drugs such as Ecstasy on the same level as cocaine, heroin and LSD. The proposal also makes it easier for prosecutors to charge dealers with drug-induced homicide should a death result from their illegal drug sales. DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett first approached Daniels with the proposed crackdown after noting a 20 percent increase in prosecutions dealing with such drugs in the past three years. [continues 663 words]
The Dec. 19 Daily Herald article on the possibility of criminal charges related to an overdose death in Naperville (charges have since been filed) is a prime example of the manner in which America's drug problem is compounded by the very laws meant to address it. Zero-tolerance approaches to addiction discourage addicts from seeking help. Drug users are reluctant to call 911 when a fellow user overdoses for fear of being charged with a crime. Likewise, tough-on-drugs attitudes prevent the type of honest discussion necessary to facilitate voluntary treatment. Would alcoholics seek treatment if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? [continues 170 words]
