National Drug Control Policy Director John Walters Meets Reporters At The National Press Club In Washington Monday To Discuss Teen Use Of The Drug Ecstasy. The Partnership For A Drug-Free America, An Anti-Drug Group, Began A Campaign Monday Aimed At Cutting Back The Skyrocketing Use Of Ecstasy After A Survey Revealed That Teen Ecstasy Use Rose 20 Percent Last Year And Has Increased 71 Percent Since 1999. WASHINGTON -- Ecstasy use is rising among American teen-agers, many of whom are unaware of its dangers, an anti-drug group said Monday. [continues 364 words]
Most parents of college students get plenty of campus-related information - -- newsletters, solicitations, the inevitable bills. But if the student fails a slew of courses, attempts suicide or is hospitalized after a drinking binge, mom and dad may be kept in the dark. Of the many dilemmas confronting colleges today, few are as vexing -- or potentially serious -- as parental notification. A case in point is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, target of a $27 million lawsuit by parents who say they should have been warned of their daughter's worsening mental health before she committed suicide in 2000. [continues 737 words]
PHILIPPI (AP) -- A Barbour County school board member convicted on drug charges has until today to resign to avoid a confrontation in court, says county Prosecutor E. Lynn Phillips. Jeffrey Byrne, 39, was arrested Nov. 4 in Clarksburg after he was stopped for a traffic violation. A Harrison County deputy found two $50 pieces of crack in a pat-down search of Byrne. Byrne was sentenced to 90 days in jail by Harrison County Magistrate Keith Marple, who then suspended the sentence and placed Byrne on six months probation. [continues 105 words]
Senior Pleads Guilty To Possession East Fairmont High School senior Austin Levi Hopkins won't be driving his 1990 Acura to school -- or anywhere else -- in the future. That's because on Tuesday, Hopkins, 18, forfeited his car after pleading guilty in Monongalia County Circuit Court to a misdemeanor drug charge, possession of a controlled substance, marijuana. Things could have been much worse for Hopkins. On Dec. 27, 2001, he had been arrested by Morgantown Police Officer D.M. Slavenski on a felony charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver the illegal drug. [continues 185 words]
To the Editor: This fall, a group of more than 20 theater students from Morgantown High School attended the State One Act Competition and won first place. The students performed Jerome McDough's "Addict," an abstract one act play that depicts the debilitating results of drug addiction and encourages those with drug problems to seek professional help. After winning the state competition, the young actors performed the play for South Middle School and hope to perform it at other county schools later in the spring. [continues 134 words]
PHILIPPI (AP) -- A member of the Barbour County Board of Education has been asked to resign following his conviction on a drug charge. The board voted unanimously Monday to ask for the resignation of member Jeff Byrne, 39, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of crack cocaine earlier this month. Byrne received a 90-day suspended sentence and was placed on probation for six months. "This was something that had to be done," said Barbour County Superintendent John Hager after the vote. Byrne was elected to the Board of Education in 1996. If he resigns, board members have 45 days to name a replacement. His term ends in 2003. [end]
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Police have seized the house of an 82-year-old widow because they say she knew her son dealt drugs there and did nothing to stop him. Fannie Gresham's small home was seized Thursday under a state law allowing authorities to confiscate property linked to the illegal drug trade. Authorities also arrested her 50-year-old son, Tommie "Top Dollar" Gresham, on a drug charge after he allegedly dropped several rocks of crack cocaine and fled. Police records show 29 incidents of drug activity at the address since 1992 and authorities say drug dealers were caught numerous times fetching drugs from the house for street sales. [continues 120 words]
Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a national lobbying group whose stated goal is "to restore sentencing discretion and end inflexible sentencing policies," is holding a panel discussion beginning at 7:30 Thursday night in Courtroom No. 2 of the Monongalia County Courthouse. FAMM National Membership Director Andrea Strong is the featured speaker for the free event, which is open to the public. Strong's brother, Mark Young, earned a mandatory life sentence when convicted in 1991 for his part in a marijuana conspiracy. Her opinion that the sentence was too harsh led to her active and ongoing involvement in FAMM. [end]
Regulation Blocks Funds To Students Who Admit Guilt, But Not Those Who Lie Thousands of aspiring college students in the country have been denied financial aid because of a 1998 federal law that refuses funds to students with drug convictions. Yet there's no ban on enrolling students who've committed other crimes, including murder, rape, robbery or arson. "That's the main issue (they're trying to argue)," said Ken Sears, associate director of financial aid at West Virginia University. [continues 404 words]
It was a classic stealth maneuver -- and it worked. Two days after Christmas, the White House announced the rejection of regulations that would have barred companies that repeatedly violate environmental and workplace standards from receiving government contracts. Few in the press noticed. But this was no trivial matter. A congressional report had found that in one recent year, the federal government had awarded $38 billion in contracts to at least 261 corporations operating unsafe or unhealthy work sites. The regulations Bush killed were designed to stop that. [continues 623 words]
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) -- In the heart of Kingston, about a dozen men stand in an open-air emporium stacking long buds of marijuana even though the crop is illegal in Jamaica. "High-grade, the best ... smell it," says a dreadlocked 27-year-old Rastafarian at the "Luke Lane" market, who gives his name only as Toro as he holds a bud in the air and beckons to a passer-by. Sale completed, he lights a joint of rolled marijuana and smiles. [continues 177 words]
To the Editor: With the passing of the Fourth of July, a celebration of liberty is still missing from the agenda. The ideology of liberty, which was the founding fathers' ideology, not liberalism or conservatism, is on attack from all fronts. The sad issue is that no one cares. People are more concerned with safety and feeling good about themselves than preserving liberty. Each political faction seems to think it is on a higher "moral ground" than the next. While we are distracted by fears of environmental disasters, uncontrolled crime and massive drug abuse, our liberties are disappearing. People voluntarily are willing to give up liberty for some sort of security promised by big government! Where is the logic in this? The bigger government gets the less liberty and privacy a citizen will have. Who is going to protect you against an all-powerful government if it abuses its power? [continues 160 words]
To the Editor: Regarding the June 17th article on the American Medical Association's consideration of a "compassionate use" medical marijuana policy, the cannabis plant has been used medicinally for thousands of years. In 1999, the federally commissioned Institute of Medicine report concluded that there are limited circumstances in which smoking marijuana for medical uses is recommended. Marijuana is one of the most studied plants around. Nonetheless, entrenched interests riding the drug war gravy train continue to claim that further research is needed. [continues 186 words]
CHICAGO (AP) -- One month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the medical use of marijuana, the American Medical Association is being urged to endorse the illegal drug as last-resort pain relief for seriously ill patients. At its policy-setting annual meeting starting here Sunday, the AMA also is being asked to endorse a moratorium on executions nationwide, although it rejected a similar proposal last year. The measures are among more than 250 reports, resolutions and proposals conference delegates are asking the nation's largest group of doctors to approve. [continues 217 words]
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- State lawmakers voted Monday to legalize marijuana for medical purposes and relax penalties for possession of the drug. The Assembly's vote puts the state on a potential collision course with the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that a federal law classifying the drug as illegal includes no exception for medical uses. The state Senate has already approved the bill, and it is expected to receive Gov. Kenny Guinn's signature. The bill would allow seriously ill Nevadans to have up to seven marijuana plants for personal use. [continues 74 words]
We must fight the Drug War or surrender. Surrender would be the legalization of drugs, which is simply the acknowledgement by government that individuals are responsible for what they consume or inject into their own bodies. On the other hand, drugs are poison, and if it is a poison we wish to eliminate, then we had better accept the idea that we are fighting a losing war. And make no mistake, the Drug War is here, not in the endless jungles of South America. [continues 450 words]
