Unless Congress steps up to restore funding for regional drug task forces around the country, many of those units, including the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit (FCNEU), may be forced to disband or sharply curtail operations, according to a spokesman for the local unit.

For the past several years, the White House budget has "zeroed out" so-called Byrne Fund grants, the vital federal funding source for drug task force units around the country, said Detective Sgt. Jason Grellner, FCNEU commander.

[continues 682 words]

A U.S. Sentencing Commission vote Tuesday will allow 19,500 primarily black federal inmates -- including 820 in the St. Louis region -- to seek a reduction in their prison terms for crack cocaine offenses.

Earlier this year, the commission reduced the range of sentences that federal crack defendants will face in the future, after years of complaints that punishment for powdered cocaine offenses was lighter.

In a unanimous vote, commission members made the relief retroactive.

The issue has strong racial overtones because crack defendants are predominantly black, and powdered cocaine defendants predominantly white.

[continues 684 words]

The gateway drugs of choice used to be tobacco, marijuana, alcohol and inhalants. That is what children and teenagers for years have been told to say no to.

However, with the number of young people who use those drugs steadily declining, other drugs are beginning to come to the forefront.

"One thing DARE tries to do is to stay on top of what kids are doing," said Independence police and DARE officer Allison Verman. "The numbers of teenagers who are using over-the-counter and prescription drugs have been increasing. They are easy to get and have now become our new focus area."

[continues 448 words]

How Does Washington University Compare?

We all got the talk freshman year: Be responsible with alcohol, steer clear of drugs and don't disturb the community. We got a crash course in Wash. U. alcohol and drug policy, memorized the number for the Emergency Support Team and -in most cases-found a way to make our own lifestyle preferences work in the Wash. U. environment.

But how do other schools manage alcohol and drug use, and where does Wash. U. stand in comparison? Alcohol and drug issues are a top priority at American universities, and each school deals with them differently. Some schools publish (and enforce) thesis-length policies with detailed rules and sanction procedures; others prefer a low-interference approach and let students govern themselves.

[continues 1102 words]

Missouri National Guard: Soldier-Farmers Will Help Afghanistan Replace Poppy Crops With Show-me State Know-How

LAKE OF THE OZARKS - A few Missouri National Guardsmen will be using their agriculture backgrounds in unexpected ways and places.

A newly formed platoon will head to Afghanistan by next year, armed with what life on a Missouri farm taught them.

Their mission: implement new farming techniques and give new ideas to decades-old problems.

Opium poppy field crops are the largest cash crop in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations.

[continues 428 words]

The meth series contains the connotation that cannabis (marijuana) is the gateway drug ("'When you clean up, I'll give your kids back,'" Nov. 4) of addict's problems, which is not the truth. Almost every study including government studies discredits the gateway theory. If cannabis was regulated similar to alcohol, citizens would not be purchasing the relatively safe God-given plant from drug dealers who do not card for age. Further, after all the lies government, and law enforcement say about cannabis, how do citizens and especially youth know they're telling the truth about meth? According to government, cannabis is the biggest problem in America, not meth, just ask the U.S. drug czar. Today's pot is more like cocaine, causing cancer and all. Cannabis, which has never killed anyone in over 5,000 years of documented use, is a Schedule I substance right next to heroin, and meth is only a Schedule II substance; so meth must not be a big deal, right?

Stan White, Dillon, Colo.

[end]

The De Soto school board needs to educate itself on the downside of student drug testing (11/19, Local, "De Soto schools consider drug testing; Administrators favor random checks, but an expert doubts their value as a deterrent").

Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular programs.

Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing.

[continues 124 words]

Federal cuts in funding to the Missouri Sheriff's Meth-amphetamine Relief Team would have limited future successes of the meth-fighting programs in Taney and Stone County without the $1.8 million in supplemental funding provided by the state this week.

"Washington is clearly out of touch with Missouri families," Gov. Matt Blunt said Monday. "Despite strong objections from leaders like Sen. Bond, the Washington Congressional leadership and their followers cavalierly eliminated this critical funding for Missouri law enforcement."

Gov. Blunt said the state funding will supplement the lost federal funds, and he called on Congress to stop eliminating this critical funding.

[continues 723 words]

Joe Novak says today's teens are bold, bright risk-takers, and policies that used to steer kids away from drugs and alcohol just don't work anymore.

So the Mill Valley High School principal supports a De Soto School District proposal that could bring random drug testing to the Johnson County district.

If the policy is adopted, De Soto would join school districts in Oak Grove in Missouri and El Dorado near Wichita, among others, in conducting random drug tests of students who participate in extracurricular activities.

[continues 740 words]

There was a small article in Time Magazine recently about two Rocky Mountain towns (Denver and Hailey, Idaho) that voted to make investigation, citation and arrest of criminals caught with marijuana the lowest priority of local law enforcement. Hailey voters even endorsed usage of the plant for medical use and industrial hemp production.

I'm half afraid to write about this - I know it'll probably cause more than a little eye-rolling. Even my first reaction to many pro-pot pieces is disdain. I'll be the first to admit you hardly ever find someone with enough time or drive to research the subject who can also report it with proper grammar and spelling. Their hearts are usually in the right place, they're just easily distracted. For some reason.

[continues 515 words]

Plenty of support, such as a promise from a judge and a faith-based residential program, helps addicts stay clean.

Becky Ward knows what it is like to get a "new life" after meth.

The 30-year-old woman took her first illegal drug, marijuana, when she was 12, discovered cocaine while attending alternative school as a teen and was selling and using methamphetamine in her 20s. By the time she was 28, she was in prison.

Today, Ward is clean and straight. Her smiling face, full figure, bright blue eyes and shining blonde hair are her testimony. She has regained custody of all four of her children and is the owner/operator of a taxicab business.

[continues 806 words]

Now mostly imported rather than home-cooked, the drug figures in much of Greene County's crime, and child neglect follows.

On the surface, Springfield may seem like it has recovered from its ugly methamphetamine epidemic, but a closer look reveals lingering scars.

The homemade speed, now often imported from labs in Mexico and other states, continues to cause major problems for Springfield's law enforcement, emergency rooms and children.

Meth is harder to create in Missouri now that drugs with pseudoephedrine have moved behind the counter, but users and dealers have become more creative in bringing the drug into town.

[continues 769 words]

Laclede County's drug council reaches out to judges, educators and employers to steer addicts over the long road to renewal.

Lebanon -- Laura Valenti is convinced that meth can be beaten, and she is determined to make Laclede County a leader in that fight.

Valenti is a member of the Laclede County Drug Council, a former jailer and one of a group of people in the Lebanon area shocked into action by the meth epidemic.

"I've seen intelligent, beautiful young people ... land in (jail)," said Valenti. "These kids were on their way to college. They were going great places."

[continues 1654 words]

Soon inspectors might be able to detect methamphetamines with the click of a button.

CDEX, a Tucson, Ariz.-based technology development company, is in the process of developing a new device that will do just that.

Malcom Philips, CDEX president, CEO and chairman of the board, said CDEX is revolutionizing the way law enforcement, schools, hospitals and the home inspection market detect methamphetamines.

"Although we are a young company, we are addressing significant problems in this country," Philips said.

In the development process, researchers were able to use new technology to identify specific types of drugs using a handheld device called the Illicit Drug Detector.

[continues 441 words]

The Head Of Franklin County's Drug Task Force Said Missouri Is On Track To Being No. 1 Again This Year In Meth Labs Seizures.

"Missouri will lead the nation again in meth labs," predicted Detective Sgt. Jason Grellner, commander of the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit (FCNEU).

Grellner said Missouri authorities expect the number of meth lab seizures to reach between 1,000 and 1,200 by the end of the year. Nearly 50 percent of those will be in the St. Louis region which includes Franklin County and other nearby counties.

[continues 464 words]

Legal and Logistic Questions Remain About the Device.

The Missouri Highway Patrol has been quietly testing a new scanning device that can detect the presence of meth with only the click of a button.

To law enforcement, it could be the future of crime-fighting technology.

To meth dealers and manufacturers, this might signal the turning point in the war against one of the country's greatest drug scourges.

But before police can begin widespread use of the scanner, it has to overcome several hurdles.

[continues 1956 words]

When it comes to drugs, mandatory minimum prison sentences have done little other than turn the alleged land of the free into the world's biggest jailer. If harsh penalties deterred illegal drug use, the goal of a "drug-free" America would have been achieved decades ago. Instead of adding to what is already the highest incarceration rate in the world, we should be funding cost-effective drug treatment.

The drug war is a cure that is worse than the disease. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness and instead treat substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is.

[continues 52 words]

Every Friday night at 2 a.m. at Washington University, many drunken undergraduates are eating at Bear's Den.

From the fryer, the pasta line or everyone's favorite, the Mexican station, students have returned from the fraternities and are eager to put something hot and fattening into their mouths.

Occasionally, a student will eat without paying, unstopped by the tired B & D employees protecting Bon Appetit's meal point establishment, thereby stealing from the school and its contractors.

It's not hard to imagine. Two friends arrive at the Den, one wanting mozzarella sticks and the other wanting a quesadilla. The Mexican line is long, the fryer is not and before long, the sticks man has finished his last bit of fried cheese while his friend's quesadilla has only just begun frying. If caught, the sticks man may be forced to pay the cost of his mozzarella sticks, or get kicked out of Bear's Den, or both.

[continues 458 words]

National Organization of Reform Marijuana Laws members assembled this past Wednesday to pick up trash on the group's adopted one-mile stretch of Interstate 70.

"The main thing, don't pick up animal carcasses, don't touch needles, glass," NORML member sophomore Brandon Jordan said of roadside safety.

NORML members carpooled to the north side of I-70 between Clark Lane and Rangeline Street. Members of both NORML and Students for Sensible Drug Policy headed to the littered grass with gloves and garbage bags in hand.

[continues 249 words]

I have watched with bemusement the brouhaha unfolding in the pages of the Globe over the issue of lessening the penalties for cannabis (marijuana) in Joplin.

It's funny to me the reactionary opposition such a common-sense idea invokes. If one seriously researches the issue, it is obvious that all current laws dealing with this plant are absurd. These laws are all founded on lies, xenophobic hysteria and perjured testimony before the Congress of the United States.

If we are to be a nation of law, a nation where civility is paramount in behavior and discussion, then should we also not have laws based on truth with a view toward actual justice in our legal system?

[continues 124 words]