I disagree with those who say that legalizing marijuana would make life more difficult for the poor. I believe legalization would make life less difficult for the poor. The stage for legalization of marijuana will be rife with references to gateway drug and effects upon the poor, but in actuality the poor will be less affected by the prosecution of a petty crime like simple marijuana possession, which the middle class and rich are mostly able to avoid. The truth is the effects are much less than any one beer or wine sold by the gallons in grocery stores. It is difficult to defend the enormous costs of enforcement on a stretched law enforcement department by petty marijuana use. James Carraway, Addison [end]
Re: "Founding Fathers' role in pot law - They left sizable powers to states; as a result, we' ll learn from Colorado, says Tom Keane," Tuesday Viewpoints column. Columnist Tom Keane erred in calling Smart Approaches to Marijuana a "credible" organization. Their forced-treatment approach threatens to marry the prison-industrial complex to shady for-profit treatment providers. Just as people who drink an occasional glass of wine with dinner don't need mandatory substance-abuse treatment, the vast majority of marijuana users don't, either. [continues 114 words]
As drug warriors go, 69-year-old Suzanne Wills has been one of the most steadfast - just not on the side you might expect. And at long last, she's seeing major success. As of last week, marijuana is legal in Colorado. Washington state is next. She cheerfully predicts that other states will follow suit. "I'm optimistic," said the grandmother of seven, who lives in Far East Dallas. "The reform movement is really well organized now. We understand what works. And we have a lot of people with us." [continues 608 words]
To the folks who worry about young people abusing marijuana - don't. When the kids see a bunch of geezers smoking a joint, getting the mad munchies and getting high, they' ll run the other way. It's not going to be cool if Grandma and Grandpa do it. Kate French, Waxahachie [end]
They Left Sizable Powers to States; As a Result, We' Ll Learn From Colorado, Says Tom Keane Colorado's experiment with legalizing marijuana for recreational use shows the genius of the Founding Fathers - no, I'm not kidding. A federal system means something. The states that banded together to form the United States were independent entities that under the Constitution kept significant power for themselves. In one conception, they're "laboratories of democracy," a term drawn from a comment by Justice Louis Brandeis in a 1932 case that "a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." Colorado looks to be the pot field of democracy. On New Year's Day, it became the first state to make legal the recreational use of marijuana. It's not the only one on that path, but it is definitely breaking ground. We've all seen the images of buyers queued up to make their purchases, read impassioned commentary on both sides of the issue, and endured lame jokes about late-night munchies and Rocky Mountain highs. [continues 369 words]
There was recently a hoax article that went viral online claiming several people had died from overdoses in Colorado on the first day of legal marijuana use. Not knowing much about marijuana, I looked at some online medical research documentation to see what I could find out. It appears there is no recorded overdose death in the 6,000 years of human use of the stuff. Apparently there is no known overdose amount. Some researchers managed to kill some rats with it, but they used so much they could have just dropped it on them and achieved the same fatal result. [continues 74 words]
Political Leaders Owe Us Clarity of Thought The nation appeared to pass a tipping point last year on the marijuana question, with a strong majority in a Gallup poll suddenly on board for full legalization. A pollster hired by a pro-pot group came up with similar numbers in Texas. Other barometers suggest that the public has lost patience with the 42-year-old war on drugs. Attorney General Eric Holder, aghast at the warehousing of drug convicts in federal prisons, announced that the feds would no longer bring cases against possession-only suspects with no gang affiliation. [continues 424 words]
Its Effects on the Young, Drivers Raise Concerns On Wednesday, Colorado became the first state to allow legal sales of marijuana for recreational use. Washington state will do the same later this year, and other states might follow suit. Here are answers to some basic questions about marijuana and its effects on the body: How does marijuana work? A greenish-gray mixture of leaves, stems, seeds and flowers of the cannabis plant, marijuana's main active ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. It binds to the surface of nerve cells in high-density areas of the brain involved in feelings of pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, coordination and movement, and sensory and time perception. THC stimulates this communication network, resulting in a marijuana high. [continues 742 words]
Congratulations to Colorado for opting out of the federal government's 76 year old-not at all grand-experiment with marijuana prohibition. It has resulted in millions of people being denied a useful herbal medicine, building the largest prison system in the history of the world, corruption at every level of government and the rise of gangs of brutal thugs to supply the demand. All at a cost of more than a trillion dollars. In 2012 when Colorado and Washington were set to vote on legalizing marijuana the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness estimated that if the measure passed in only one state it would result in an annual loss to the drug trafficking organizations of $1.4 billion. [continues 54 words]
Well, it looks as though being able to use marijuana legally in Colorado is the big news maker of the new year. Although how state law can trump federal law is news to me. After reading the stories on the front page on new years day I was drawn to Jacquielynn Floyd's column in the metro section. The story was about the young drug addict who was killed while breaking into a neighbor's house while he was high on drugs. A sad story indeed. [continues 102 words]
The worst you can say about marijuana is that it produces intense, unreasoning panic. Not in users, but in critics, who fear that legalization will increase usage among young people. Those critics might make a better case if existing drug laws were keeping weed out of the hands of wayward kids. In truth, they're about as effective as a picket fence in a tidal wave. In a 2009 survey, high school students said they found it easier to get than beer. In 2011, 23 percent of 12th-graders said they had used weed in the preceding month. [continues 343 words]
For Kids, It's Not Just Harmless Fun, Says Ruth Marcus Marijuana legalization may be the same-sex marriage of 2014 - a trend that reveals itself in the course of the year as obvious and inexorable. At the risk of exposing myself as the fuddy-duddy I seem to have become, I hope not. This is, I confess, not entirely logical and a tad hypocritical. At the risk of exposing myself as not the total fuddy-duddy of my children's dismissive imaginings, I have done my share of inhaling, though back in the age of bellbottoms and polyester. [continues 597 words]
On Groundbreaking Law's First Day, Lines Long, Future Unsure DENVER - At 8 a.m. on New Year's Day, in an industrial area a few miles from downtown Denver, a former Marine named Sean Azzariti walked into a giant store and bought a bag of weed. Legally. To smoke just for fun, if he's so inclined. Azzariti's transaction - 3.5 grams of Bubba Kush for $40 and 50 mg of Truffles for an additional $9.28 - was the first in the state's grand experiment in legalizing marijuana for recreational use. [continues 514 words]
'It Could Be Crazy' As Pot Shops Plan Parties and Officials Cross Their Fingers DENVER (AP) - Police were adding extra patrols around pot shops in eight Colorado towns that plan to allow recreational sales to anyone over 21 starting Wednesday. Officials at Denver International Airport installed new signs warning visitors their weed can't legally go home with them. And at a handful of shops, owners were scrambling to plan celebrations, set up coffee stations, arrange food giveaways and hire extra security to prepare for potential crowds and overnight campers ready to buy up to an ounce of legal weed. [continues 601 words]
My New Year's wish is that public officials would stop pushing their religious beliefs and so-called "morals" on the community. The state of Texas is almost an embarrassment when it comes to how justice is administered. Despite all our guns, overflowing prisons and frequent executions, we still have one of the highest crime rates in the country. Drunk drivers who kill and rapists are given probation, and simple drug possession can put you in prison for years and ruin your life. People can be pulled over and strip-searched for no reason other than someone thinks they smell something. I really hope we have a serious dialogue about our laws and how justice is administered in this state, including decriminalizing drug possession. Tina Sanchez, Pleasant Grove [end]
Cato Wishes He'd Looked Closer at Suspicions That Officers Lied in Pot Case The Dallas Police Department's second-in-command has acknowledged he mishandled a case in which two officers were accused of lying about the circumstances of a major drug bust. First Assistant Chief Charlie Cato said last week that he should have more thoroughly looked into allegations that Officers Jon Llewellyn and Randolph Dillon concocted their account of what led them to a marijuana grow house in South Dallas. [continues 1180 words]
Economic High Touted, but Some Worry About Harmful Side Effects DENVER - Starting early next year, any adult with a craving or curiosity will be able to stroll into a strip mall or downtown shop in Colorado or Washington state and do what has long been forbidden: buy a bag of legal marijuana. After landmark votes made marijuana legal for recreational consumption, users in those two states will no longer need doctors' notes or medical reasons to buy the drug. Instead, they will simply show identification to prove that they are at least 21, and with the cautious blessing of state and federal officials, they will be able to buy as much as an ounce of marijuana and smoke it in their living rooms. [continues 510 words]
(AP) - A chewable African plant that investigators in Texas believe may be linked to terrorism groups has quietly caused a lengthy investigation in Houston and produced multiple arrests. The Austin American Statesman reported Sunday that Muslim civil rights groups are questioning whether the Texas Department of Public Safety has crossed a line. The agency last year included the olive-shaped leaves known as khat on a statewide threat assessment. Khat is grown in the Horn of Africa. State investigators say plant sales are suspected to benefit Africa-based terrorist groups, but there is wide disagreement over the strength of that link. [continues 339 words]
Re: "Americans' gamble - Views on casinos, pot may not be so progressive, says Ross Douthat," Tuesday Viewpoints. All prohibition laws are unjust and unethical because they do not allow free choice, a founding principle of Jesus, other religious leaders and the U.S. Constitution. Such corrupt legislation attracts morally bankrupt people to enforce it. Once and for all, prohibition is evil. It punishes nonviolent adults for making a safer health choice. Cannabis is safer whether used for social or medicinal reasons. Many cases highlight the cruel practices and ineffectiveness of undercover narcotics operations in our schools. CPS destroying families over a safer choice is flat out treasonous use - - contrary to conscience, morality or law - of our tax dollars. [continues 107 words]
Re: "Americans' gamble - Views on casinos, pot may not be so progressive, says Ross Douthat," Tuesday Viewpoints. All prohibition laws are unjust and unethical because they do not allow free choice, a founding principle of Jesus, other religious leaders and the U.S. Constitution. Such corrupt legislation attracts morally bankrupt people to enforce it. Once and for all, prohibition is evil. It punishes nonviolent adults for making a safer health choice. Cannabis is safer whether used for social or medicinal reasons. Many cases highlight the cruel practices and ineffectiveness of undercover narcotics operations in our schools. CPS destroying families over a safer choice is flat out treasonous use - contrary to conscience, morality or law - of our tax dollars. [continues 109 words]
How Much State Reaps Could Affect Mood on Legalization Elsewhere DENVER - A pro-pot jingle in Colorado last year went like this: "Jobs for our people/ Money for schools/Who could ask for more?" Nearly a year after Colorado legalized recreational weed, voters get the chance to decide exactly how much more - in taxes. On Tuesday, voters decide whether to approve a 15 percent pot excise tax to pay for school construction, plus an extra sales tax of 10 percent to fund marijuana enforcement. [continues 500 words]
4 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH 3 Americans Die, 2 Others Seriously Injured in Counter-Drug Flight BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A small plane on a U.S. counterdrug mission crashed Saturday in a remote region of northern Colombia, killing three Americans and a Panamanian National Guardsman and seriously injuring the other two Americans aboard. The Havilland Dash 8 was flying over the western Caribbean when it lost radio contact with the U.S.-sponsored multinational task force in Key West, Fla., that runs drug interdiction in the region, the U.S. military said. [continues 262 words]
U.S. Can't Allow Legalization at Home While Fighting It Abroad, Says Andres Oppenheimer The U.S. decision not to challenge Washington and Colorado's plans to legalize marijuana makes the U.S. drug policy look like a textbook case of political hypocrisy: How can the U.S. government give a green light to legalization at home while continuing to fight it abroad? Last month, the U.S. Justice Department issued a ruling telling federal prosecutors not to interfere with the two U.S. states that have passed laws allowing the recreational use and sale of marijuana starting next year. The ruling has been hailed by pro-legalization forces as historic, since marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under federal laws. [continues 618 words]
Project Uses Phone Data Going Back Decades for Law Enforcement For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans' phone calls - parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency's hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. The Hemisphere Project, a partnership between federal and local drug officials and AT&T that has not previously been reported, involves an extremely close association between the government and the Dallas-based telecommunications giant. [continues 788 words]
Officials This Week Will Propose Final Rules on Limited Sale of Marijuana SEATTLE - For some laboring in Washington state's fledgling marijuana industry, last week's announcement by the U.S. Justice Department was a policy shift more nuanced than bold, more a flashing caution signal than a green light. The department's long-awaited statement on legalized marijuana in Washington and Colorado offered neither outright support nor opposition. Instead, the four-page memo to federal prosecutors set boundaries on what the feds would tolerate from the two states that are creating recreational markets for adults. At the same time, the memo made it clear that all marijuana remains illegal under federal law. [continues 158 words]
But Global Survey Shows Prescription Painkillers Kill the Most LONDON - Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug used worldwide, but addictions to popular painkillers like Vicodin, Oxycontin and codeine kill the most people, according to the first global survey of illicit drug abuse. In addition to cannabis and opioid painkillers, scientists analyzed abuse of cocaine and amphetamines in 2010, largely based on previous studies. Ecstasy and hallucinogens weren't included because there wasn't enough data. The researchers found that for all the drugs studied, men in their 20s had the highest rates of abuse. The countries with the highest rates of abuse were Australia, Britain, Russia and the United States. The study was published online Thursday in the journal Lancet. [continues 232 words]
Crime Officers Ask to Come in and Count on Suspects Not Just Saying No Police say Shelton Green and Crashunda Wrenn had plenty to hide. Specifically: 82 credit cards, 55 driver's licenses and ID cards, 39 Social Security cards, 16 personal checks, six Medicare cards and three passports, according to an affidavit. After officers received a tip about the South Dallas house where the items were stashed, all they had to do was knock on the door and ask nicely to go inside, police say. [continues 892 words]
His Go-It-Alone Approach on Drug Sentencing Could Alienate Congress, Fears Kimberly Priest Johnson Jamaican drug gangs were terrorizing South Dallas in the early 1990s when laws took effect nationwide requiring a minimum of five years in prison for anyone convicted in federal court of possessing an ounce or more of crack cocaine or relatively small amounts of other narcotics. A lot has been said and written since then about how mandatory federal drug sentences have caused our prisons to burst at the seams and wasted billions in taxpayer dollars, but little has been done. [continues 661 words]
We're used to heavily armed SWAT officers in body armor swarming dangerous buildings and overwhelming violent suspects. But raiding the Garden of Eden? After receiving two - TWO! - complaints that the scary green-thumb types at a Kennedale sustainability garden may be growing marijuana, Arlington SWAT descended on the Garden of Eden, handcuffed folks, disturbed plants and finally left - without finding a single marijuana plant. No word on whether anyone took a bite of an apple. Police said the operation took 45 minutes. The garden's website said it lasted hours, plants were destroyed, and eight adults were held at gunpoint. "Once it was determined it was secure, they were taken out of handcuffs," explained police Sgt. Christopher Cook. "Typically we wouldn't do that, but they were compliant." Not to mention, apparently, innocent. [end]
New Tack on Low-Level Offenses Is the Right Approach Attorney General Eric Holder's overhaul of federal drug prosecutions concedes a fact that the public grasped long ago: The nation's 42-year-old "war on drugs" has devolved into an overwrought, unaffordable policy jumble that helped turn America's prison system into a vast human warehouse. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world -- about seven times that of Western European nations and nearly half of all federal prisoners are doing time for drug-related offenses. With just 5 percent of the global population, the U.S. incarcerates about a quarter of its prisoners. [continues 409 words]
Arlington SWAT officers raided a garden commune this month but didn't find marijuana, only code violations. Authorities received two complaints that those living at the Garden of Eden were growing and distributing marijuana in the 7000 block of Mansfield Cardinal Road, police Sgt. Christopher Cook said. Cook said police worked with the city of Kennedale as they completed a search of the property Aug. 2. Several people were handcuffed briefly, the city says, before being released and allowed to continue tending the sustainability garden. [continues 153 words]
2 of Its Biggest Guns Just Went Silent - and About Time, Says Leonard Pitts It's been a war on justice, an assault on equal protection under the law. And a war on families, removing millions of fathers from millions of homes. And a war on money, spilling it like water. And a war on people of color, targeting them with drone-strike efficiency. We never call it any of those things, though all of them fit. No, we call it the war on drugs. It is a 42-year, trillion-dollar disaster that has done nothing - underscore that: absolutely nothing - to stem the inexhaustible supply of, and insatiable demand for, illegal narcotics. In the process, it has rendered this "land of the free" the biggest jailer on Earth. [continues 510 words]
WASHINGTON - Two decisions Monday, one by a federal judge in New York and the other by Attorney General Eric Holder, were powerful signals that the pendulum has swung away from the tough-on-crime policies of a generation ago. Those policies have been denounced as discriminatory and responsible for explosive growth in the prison population. Critics have long contended that tough mandatory minimum sentence laws for low-level drug offenses, as well as stop-and-frisk police policies that target higher-crime and minority neighborhoods, have a disproportionate impact on members of minority groups. On Monday, Holder announced that federal prosecutors would no longer invoke the sentencing laws, and a judge found that stop-and-frisk practices in New York were unconstitutional racial profiling. [continues 710 words]
Some Critics Say Sentencing Changes Don't Go Far Enough WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder's prison proposals drew praise from criminal justice experts Monday, but some critics said the proposals do not go far enough to begin overhauling a costly and broken law-enforcement system. In an effort to reduce the population of the nation's overflowing federal prisons, Holder directed his 94 U.S. attorneys across the country to stop charging low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences. [continues 403 words]
AG Says Charges Will Be ' Better Suited' To Actions of Nonviolent Offenders WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences. The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison reform package that Holder will reveal in a speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco, according to senior department officials. He is also expected to introduce a policy to reduce sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals. [continues 800 words]
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) - Uruguay's unprecedented plan to create a legal marijuana market was approved by 50-46 in the lower house of Congress just before midnight Wednesday after 13 hours of debate. The measure goes to the Senate, where passage is expected to make Uruguay the first country in the world to license and regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana for adults. Legislators said that legalizing marijuana would help fight organized crime and that the global war on drugs had been a costly and bloody failure. [end]
Without Financial Backup, Officials Have Stopped Prosecuting Federal Cases SIERRA BLANCA - As they walk through the front door, visitors to the Hudspeth County sheriff 's office in this broke and scruffy high-desert town get punched by the overpowering odor of marijuana. During a recent week, the sheriff stored about 5,000 pounds of pot, contraband seized at the nearby U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint from the parade of road trippers, occasional celebrities and other outsiders ordered to stop there as they buzz through West Texas. [continues 1641 words]
Attitudes Evolving Quickly Even As Concerns Are Raised WASHINGTON - It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of the Reefer Madness propaganda movie to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No." The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously "didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did. Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug - for medical use and just for fun. [continues 371 words]
Counties Say They Can't Prosecute If U.S. Doesn't Help Pay for Pursuing Offenders FALFURRIAS - On an October afternoon in 2009, a Dallas man arrived at a highway checkpoint about an hour north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Inside the gas tank of his pickup truck, agents found 99 pounds of marijuana. When the Border Patrol called the Drug Enforcement Administration, the agency said it was not interested because the bust wasn't big enough. So the 32-year-old suspect was passed to the local sheriff and pleaded guilty to drug possession in state court. He got a suspended sentence and paid a fine. [continues 691 words]
realize that they may partake of their favorite herbal remedy without going paranoid that they'=C2=80=C2=99ll be incarcerated for such a harmle ss pastime? Good for you, Colorado, for showing courage in this area. If problems do arise that a ton of money can'=C2=80=C2=99t handle, then just reinstat e prohibition. Also, hemp makes a very useful, sustainable material that may help with the conservation of those beautiful forests. Good luck in this experiment! Scott Hesselbacher, Garland [end]
Re: "=C2=80=C2=9CACLU: Blacks arrested for pot more than whites" Use abou t the same, but group cites profiling in 2010 figures,=C2=80=C2=9D Wednesday ne ws story. The probable result of a marijuana arrest is a plea bargain that results in a felony record. A person with a felony record can be legally discriminated against for the rest of his life. He can be refused employment, housing, education, government benefits and the right to vote. He may well spend his life powerless and in poverty. The age group most likely to use drugs and to be arrested is 18- to 25-year-olds. In 2010, 33.4 percent of whites and 27.6 percent of blacks in that group reported using marijuana in the past year. That same year, police arrested 716 blacks compared to 172 whites per 100,000 for marijuana possession, further impoverishing a disadvantaged minority. Texas follows the national pattern. [continues 87 words]
Use About the Same, but Group Cites Profiling in 2010 Figures WASHINGTON - Black people are arrested for possessing marijuana at a higher rate than white people, even though marijuana use by both races is about the same, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a study released Tuesday. File 2012/Getty ImagesThe guiding principle is "use of marijuana is a crime," says Jim Pasco of the National Fraternal Order of Police. The ACLU's analysis of federal crime data found marijuana arrest rates for blacks were 3.73 times greater than those for whites nationally in 2010. In some counties, the arrest rate was 10 to 30 times greater for blacks. In two Alabama counties, all those arrested for marijuana possession were black, the ACLU said. [continues 358 words]
80,000 Expected for Smoke-Out in Light of Colorado's Legalization DENVER - As tens of thousands of people gather to celebrate and smoke marijuana in Denver, police will be out in force. But it's not the pot smoking they're concerned about at the yearly event, billed as the nation's largest April 20 celebration. Instead, police say they're focused on crowd security in light of attacks that killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. [continues 420 words]
Foes Point to Perils, Say U.S. Won't Necessarily Follow Trend to Ease Laws WASHINGTON - After working for marijuana legalization for 23 years, Allen St. Pierre said, he pinches himself every day as he watches events unfold across the United States. Since 1996, 18 states have approved marijuana for use as medicine. But lobbyists scored their top achievement in a generation in November, when voters in Washington state and Colorado approved recreational use by adults. Thirteen states have decriminalized possession of marijuana, removing the possibility of jail time. [continues 449 words]
Most No Longer See Use As Immoral, Poll Finds WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, a new poll shows, with the change driven largely by a huge shift in how the baby boom generation feels about the drug of its youth. Fifty-two percent of adult Americans back legalization, according to the survey released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. The finding marks the first time in more than four decades of Pew's polling that a majority has taken that position. As recently as a decade ago, only about one-third of American adults backed legalization. [continues 263 words]
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the ability of police to use drug-sniffing dogs outside homes. The case concerned Franky, a Labrador retriever who detected the smell of marijuana outside a Florida house used by Joelis Jardines. Based on Franky's signal, the police obtained a warrant to search the house and found a marijuana-growing operation inside. Jardines moved to suppress the evidence, saying that using Franky to sniff around his residence was an unreasonable search barred by the Fourth Amendment. The Florida Supreme Court agreed, and so did a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. [continues 300 words]
Texas Shouldn't Fool With Drug Testing for Welfare The folks busily drafting legislation in Austin are not unemployed or in need of welfare. Otherwise, it's doubtful we would see bills such as SB 11 or HB 1582. Or SB 21. HB 1583. HB 1244. HB 1281. All aim to require the drug testing of Texans needing some form of government assistance - either welfare or unemployment benefits. This newspaper wholeheartedly endorses efforts to deter people from using drugs, and we embrace more efficient use of taxpayer money. But history has shown that these bills are not likely to do either. There is no data to suggest that people in need of government assistance are more likely to be drug users. There is no disturbing trend of increased drug use among those on unemployment. These are bills in search of a problem. [continues 418 words]
Charges Stem From Alleged Body Cavity Searches in Traffic Stop Two Department of Public Safety troopers were indicted Monday by a Dallas County grand jury after two women alleged roadside searches during a traffic stop included the penetration of their vaginas and anuses. Kelly Helleson is the trooper accused of performing the searches with the same latex glove. She was indicted on two counts of sexual assault and two counts of official oppression. The trooper who called Helleson to conduct the search, David Farrell, was indicted on a charge of theft by a public servant. [continues 462 words]
Texas has been compassionate in passing the "911 lifeline law" to encourage people under 21 to call for help if they suspect someone is suffering from alcohol poisoning. I commend Julia and Scott Starkey for trying to make people aware of this law in the face of their own unimaginable tragedy. Rep. Eric Johnson has introduced HB1743 to extend protection to someone who tries to save the life of a person who has overdosed on another drug. Several states have similar laws. Washington passed its "Good Samaritan" law in 2010. Two years later the University of Washington conducted a study of the results. It found that police likely would not have made an arrest when someone called for help regardless of the law. However, 88 percent of opiate users would be more likely to call 911 in an overdose situation when they knew the law protected them. Young people should never die because their friends are afraid to call for help. Joy Strickland, Dallas, founder and CEO of Mothers Against Teen Violence [end]
Re: "Ex-DEA chiefs: Nullify state pot laws now - They fear domino effect; U.N. also urges action," Wednesday news story. Peter Bensinger has more reason than most to fear that "if the federal government doesn't immediately sue [Colorado and Washington], it will risk creating 'a domino effect' in which other states legalize marijuana, too." After his stint with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bensinger partnered with another ex-drug czar, Robert DuPont, to found Bensinger, Dupont & Associates, a large drug testing company. They have lobbied for bills that would increase business, such as drug testing welfare recipients. Any law that would hurt the bottom line is an anathema. There are many industries that will lose revenue if the states are allowed to change their marijuana laws. None are more directly affected than the drug testing industry. Suzanne Wills, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Dallas [end]
