Federal funds that help pay for Pima County's anti-drug task force were slashed by more than two-thirds when Congress passed the fiscal year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill.

The amount going to the Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, which received $520 million last year, dropped to $170 million this year, said Mary Marshall, spokeswoman for the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.

That means Arizona will likely get about $1.7 million, compared to $5.6 million last year, she said. Pima County will get a fraction of that.

[continues 279 words]

The giants of pharmaceutical drugs in the United States of America are committing mass murder, selective genocide, remote-control homicide on a monstrous scale.

But what the hell, the remote-control part puts it so far offshore it's clear on the far side of the planet, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, near where mobs of millions swim in the Ganges, whose waters you wouldn't put in your own toilet.

And given the role of overpopulation in the myriad aspects of global epidemiology, one might make a case for casting a blind eye toward forcing the Third World's sick and dying to shuffle off this mortal coil to make room for the sacred cows that share their living quarters and occupy an upper floor in the high-rise house of caste and higher holiness.

[continues 599 words]

Regarding Robert E. Riodan's not-so-thoughtful letter: "Illegal Drugs: All dealers deserve death" (Nov. 28th)

Danny Pasanella died of a heroin overdose because the black market, bootleg heroin he consumed was of unknown quality, unknown purity and unknown potency. When pure pharmaceutical grade Bayer heroin was legally sold in local pharmacies and grocery stores for pennies per dose, deaths from heroin were very rare. And the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist.

Largely because of our so-called "tough on drugs" policies the United States is the most incarcerated nation in the history. We now have greater than 2.2 million prisoners. For comparison Great Britain has only about 80,000 total prisoners.

Tough drug laws do not deter drug use. The U. S. government estimates that at least 100 millions Americans have used illegal drugs. How many should be in jail or prison for doing so? I submit none.

Kirk Muse

Mesa

[end]

Re: Ryn Gargulinski's Wednesday article "Narcotics cops say Tucson's gone to pot":

In order to properly evaluate our nation's drug policies, we need to compare and contrast our policies with those of another nation with substantially different drug policies. I suggest we use the Czech Republic for comparison.

Citizens there can legally use, possess, grow or purchase small quantities of marijuana.

In the United States, many otherwise law-abiding citizens are locked in prison cages for possessing, growing or selling various amounts of marijuana. The Czech overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population.

[continues 117 words]

City Has Become 'Major, Major Stash House Area'

You may be living next to a stash house and not know it.

With a record 1.2 million pounds of marijuana confiscated in Arizona from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30 - nearly half of it in Pima County - Tucson has developed a thriving business as a distribution hub.

The area is a way station where marijuana is stashed until it is moved to its ultimate destination, often on the East Coast.

"It's just a major, major stash house area," Counter Narcotics Alliance Sgt. Helen Hritz said of the Tucson area. "There can be 11,000 pounds in one house."

[continues 999 words]

Mike Carey is correct on one point: An international treaty does supersede constitutional rights ("The U.S. Does Have Authority to Prohibit Drug Usage, and the People Can't Change That," Mailbag, Nov. 1). However, the idea that a treaty is carved in stone and cannot be amended is an error.

The United States can abandon the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaty anytime it chooses to do so. Moreover, there will be no repercussions among other signatories, because the United States has been the main promoter of international drug prohibition. Most of the countries in Europe would end the drug war in an instant if it were not for pressure from the United States.

[continues 52 words]

Thanks to Jonathan Hoffman for this piece (Guest Commentary, Oct. 17). There are several rights incorporated in the Constitution that "trump" the drug war, but the ongoing assault on an individual's freedom seems to numb folks out to the point of giving up.

By some estimates (from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Drug Enforcement Administration), the drug market is now around $100 billion per annum. Half of that amount could be used for the salvation of the social system, and the grower/distributor would stay fat, and the consumer would be happy.

Sam Smith

[end]

Our view: When The Community Is Afraid To Ask Police For Help, We All Suffer

The Tucson Police Department undermined its credibility last week by getting immigration authorities involved in a minor drug-possession incident at Catalina High Magnet School.

The incident led to the deportation of a 17-year-old boy, his 12-year-old brother and their parents, who were all illegal immigrants, the Star's Brady McCombs reported Tuesday.

We don't condone the teen's alleged transgression aE" the student had a small amount of marijuana in his backpack, said a Tucson Unified School District official - nor the fact that the family was in the country illegally. Also, the immigration officials who went to the school were only doing their jobs by enforcing immigration laws.

[continues 480 words]

For one young woman the simple word "yes" would change her life forever. Growing up in Sun Valley Idaho, Amber Nelson went through the D.A.R.E. program. She was told that drugs were bad for her, and to say no to them if she was offered any. However, Nelson had a question: "Why are drugs bad to use?" She didn't understand why or how they could harm her.

So, she decided that she would say yes to them instead. She did not know that this simple word, "yes," would send her down a path that would lead to methamphetamine addiction and life on the streets. Nelson's story was told at the Second Annual Meth Summit, which took place in Yuma on Saturday at Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. Here the public was educated and informed about meth, how to fight it, and how to get help.

[continues 381 words]

Like many families, the Krahs' horror started with a little pot, and like most families, they didn't recognize it as a nightmare at the time.

Mason was 15 and a student at Highland High School in Gilbert when his parents, Donna and Bill Krah, found out he was smoking pot.

"I was just ignorant, like a lot of parents," Donna said. "We thought pot was the worst thing we were dealing with."

It would get much worse before Mason died of a heroin overdose in a bus bathroom between Phoenix and Casa Grande.

[continues 273 words]

DOUGLAS - An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said the alleged drug smuggler shot by an officer on Thursday belongs to a drug trafficking organization that has resorted to ramming law enforcement vehicles a total of three times in four days in order to escape apprehension in the Douglas area.

An ICE officer shot Ramon Davalos-Lopez, 41, on Thursday because he was driving a stolen pickup truck in a manner that was endangering the lives of law enforcement officials pursuing him, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.

[continues 340 words]

The Bush administration plan for massive U.S. aid to help Mexico fight its drug cartels is a wise investment in our national security.

It should become a bipartisan priority in Congress.

Mexico is a major supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S., but the danger doesn't end there. Drug violence in Mexico is a threat to our neighbor's stability, and it is beginning to jump the line and become a bloody reality in U.S. border communities.

[continues 486 words]

Students convicted of any drug-related crime while receiving federal financial aid lose their aid for the rest of the semester and are ineligible for aid the next time the student applies for it, according to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid Web site.

The rule has UA students on opposite sides of the fence.

Finance senior Stephan Schickling favors the policy. He said students should only take legally prescribed drugs, and that consumption of any illegal substances should be grounds for invalidating federal aid.

[continues 588 words]

Regarding "It's time to consider legalizing marijuana" (Opinions, Oct. 5):

The Republic's Robert Robb suggests a simple solution for the complex problem of drug addiction . . . legalize and regulate the production and distribution of marijuana.

Would America be a better place if more people used marijuana? I don't think so.

Marijuana feeds addictions - so many that more teens enter treatment for marijuana dependence than for all other drugs combined.

Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. A recent report by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America stated that during the 2005-06 school year, of those students who reported hurting others with a weapon at school, 68.4 percent had used marijuana.

[continues 130 words]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 1,600 pounds of marijuana inside a tour bus Thursday morning at the main port of entry in Nogales.

Suspicions were raised during questioning of the driver and a review of bus paperwork as the vehicle crossed through the downtown Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry at 2 a.m. Thursday, said Brian Levin, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

During a subsequent inspection, a drug-sniffing dog alerted agents to something inside the bus. A vehicle X-ray system also showed abnormalities in the bus's structure.

[continues 263 words]

A local daily newspaper reports that "many pot seizures of below 500 pounds go unprosecuted." The article goes on to say that pot seizures of less than 500 pounds account for 90 percent of the seizures, and about half of all the pot seized. The reason is that there are so dang many people caught importing herb that prosecuting the bulk of them would overwhelm the legal system.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, there were 9,560 seizure incidents along the southern border in 2004, totaling 1,102,925 kilograms (we called them "kilos" back in the late '60s, early '70s) of marijuana. In English that translates to 2,426,435 pounds, or more simply, about 2.4 million pounds.

[continues 617 words]

U.S. Proposes To Spend $1.4 Billion In Fight

Published on Monday, October 15, 2007 MEXICO CITY -- A massive U.S. aid package to fight violent drug cartels has sparked a collective bout of hand-wringing in Mexico, where anything hinting at U.S. intervention has long been viewed with suspicion.

For months, Mexico has been consumed with news of the proposed package, although little has been publicly revealed except for its price tag: a reported $1.4 billion over two years, on par with what Colombia receives as part of that country's controversial drug-eradication program. Advertisement*

[continues 952 words]

Meth isn't just about illegal activities and ruined lives.

This highly addictive and destructive drug is also about the perfectly legal substance that is used to produce it.

Limiting the availability of a precursor chemical called pseudoephedrine is a job of international proportions.

Gov. Janet Napolitano made that point at a recent meeting of governors from the border states in the United States and Mexico. She won unanimous support for a resolution calling for more international cooperation in tracking bulk shipments of pseudoephedrine.

[continues 466 words]

Re: the Oct. 8 column "As drugs pour in, legalizing pot no longer a pipe dream":

Thanks for publishing Robert Robb's outstanding column. I certainly agree that legalization is the best answer compared with decriminalization. With decriminalization, distribution and production remain in the hands of criminals.

I disagree that: "Legalization of even marijuana would be a big step into the unknown." For the vast majority of our nation's history, marijuana was legal. It was first criminalized via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Before 1937, anybody could buy marijuana in pharmacies and lots of other places with no questions asked.

Did we have a major problem with marijuana back then? No. Do we have a major problem with marijuana today? Yes.

That's because today marijuana is unregulated, untaxed and controlled by criminals, just as alcohol was when it was illegal.

KIRK MUSE Mesa

[end]

Regarding "Cartels outrun, outgun the law at Ariz. Border" (Republic, Wednesday)

The only way to effectively deal with the drug cartels is to put them out of business. The only way this can be accomplished is to regulate, control and tax the products that they deal in. And this can only be accomplished with legalization.

Only legal products of any kind can be regulated, controlled and taxed by any government.

Of course, the drug war cheerleaders will claim that legalizing our now illegal drugs will be giving into the drug dealers and drug lords.

When we re-legalized alcohol in 1933 did we give into the alcohol cartels? No. We put them out of business.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, AZ

[end]