On June 20, The Day published a guest commentary by Jim Spellman of Groton, "Stopping heroin at the source," which contended that "two appropriate recommendations have been offered to counter the heroin crisis - treat it as an epidemic and counter it as a village." Left unclear was who determined that these are the two appropriate recommendations in all of Connecticut. But, on his first point, I will agree that the heroin crisis in our state should be treated as an epidemic. [continues 501 words]
Marijuana supporters are launching a new "Buy American" theme in their campaign to legalize the drug for recreational use in Arizona. On Tuesday, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol plans to unveil a billboard in Tempe lauding how Arizonans would be able to "Buy American and Support Schools, Not Cartels," if voters approve their legalization proposal in 2016. A retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent who investigated Mexican drug cartels will speak at a 10 a.m. news conference at the Tempe Marketplace shopping center. [continues 346 words]
Chinese Fentanyl From Mexico Is Just One Lethal Legacy of Open Borders There is also the Open Borders of things. What are they bringing with them? Heroin? Cocaine? Methamphetamines? And now fentanyl? Plus the murder and gang violence that are a part of this trade? On June 9, The New York Times ran this headline on Page A1: "Drug That Killed Prince Is Making Mexican Cartels Richer, U.S. Says." The first line of the story reads, "The drug that killed Prince has become a favorite of Mexican cartels because it is extremely potent, popular in the United States - and immensely profitable, American officials say." [continues 744 words]
Former Sheriff Who Uses Medical Cannabis Can't Legally Own a Firearm Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White says he is no longer a certified law enforcement officer, doesn't have a concealed handgun carry license but does own a firearm. White has also publicly disclosed that he is a medical cannabis user and an investor in a new medical marijuana grower and dispensary in Albuquerque, as well as its chief administrator and security chief. But medical marijuana use - regardless of whether it's permitted by state law - remains illegal under federal law, and federal law prohibits unlawful users of controlled substances, such as marijuana, from possessing firearms, according to the long-held position of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. [continues 1205 words]
Portugal's drug problem began almost as a symbol of freedom, experimentation that was impossible before the country's oppressive dictatorship ended 40 years ago. By the late 1990s, that rebellious dabbling had turned into a full-blown national addiction crisis. One of every 100 Portuguese - 100,000 citizens - was on heroin, users were dying regularly and rates of HIV infection from dirty needles stood among the highest in Europe. "It was a catastrophic situation," Joao Goulao, a physician who treated many of those addicts, recalled in an interview last week. "You could see people everywhere using drugs It was almost impossible to find a Portuguese family that did not have (drug-related) problems." [continues 824 words]
In a June 7 editorial, the Las Vegas Review-Journal claimed, "And no matter how much pot enthusiasts argue otherwise, marijuana is both addictive-one in 10 people who try pot will become hooked on it-and a gateway to more deadly drugs that kill more than 45,000 Americans a year." The gateway theory has been around for decades-long before any research on drugs had been done. Thus, it plainly originated as a product of supposition, not of science. One version of it in the early 20th century said that tobacco always leads to harder stuff. Con man Charles Towns, who ran "clinics" where alleged cures for drug addiction were offered, said, "It [tobacco use] always precedes alcoholism and drug addiction. I've never had a drug case or an alcoholic case (excepting a few women) that didn't have a history of excessive smoking." [continues 175 words]
NEW YORK (AP) - Men and women in business suits mixed with hippies sporting blazers printed with marijuana leaf patterns Friday during the last day of the Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition. The three-day conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was a gathering of professionals and advocates from nearly every facet of the emerging marijuana industry. Even though restrictions on the drug remain tight in New York, the community gathered to exchange ideas and explore business opportunities. "We are here showcasing the cannabis industry and showing what they do," said Dan Humiston, president of the International Cannabis Association, which organized the conference. [continues 231 words]
As state after state has legalized marijuana in one way or another, big names in corporate America have stayed away entirely. Marijuana, after all, is still illegal, according to the federal government. But Microsoft is breaking the corporate taboo on pot this week by announcing a partnership to begin offering software that tracks marijuana plants from "seed to sale," as the pot industry puts it. The software - a new product in Microsoft's cloud computing business - - is meant to help states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana keep tabs on sales and commerce, ensuring that they remain in the daylight of legality. [continues 955 words]
Terminal Illness Also Covered Under Bill for Rauner Advocates for medical marijuana hope Illinois' plan to expand its program will give the industry the boost it needs to sustain itself - but some doctors warn that, despite changes made to protect them, they still have legal and medical concerns about the product. After previously rejecting efforts to make medical marijuana available to more people, Gov. Bruce Rauner's office has indicated he will sign into law a bill to lengthen the pilot program by more than two years, to July 1, 2020. The legislation also adds two new qualifying conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder and terminal illness. [continues 1162 words]
Circumventing state laws designed to protect Californians from abusive police seizures, law enforcement agencies have routinely seized property from people never even charged with a crime. But later this month, lawmakers are expected to vote on a sweeping overhaul of "civil forfeiture." Numerous scandals have plagued civil forfeiture in California. One of the most infamous was the botched drug raid that killed reclusive millionaire Donald Scott. Searching for a suspected marijuana grow operation, 30 law enforcement officers from seven agencies, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, the DEA, the LAPD and the National Guard, raided Scott's 200-acre ranch in 1992. Rendering the scene downright surreal, personnel from the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory were also on site. No drugs were found. [continues 489 words]
Bill Targets the Taking of People's Property Without a Conviction. SACRAMENTO - Almost a year after California lawmakers rejected legislation that would restrict police departments' ability to take cars, cash, homes and other property from suspected criminals without a conviction, the bill's author is trying again as similar efforts succeed across the country. The practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, gained currency during the height the drug war in the 1980s as a way for law enforcement to financially cripple drug lords and fund anti-narcotics operations. But advocates for reforming the laws say too often police officers ensnare innocent residents who are poor and have few resources to ensure their property is returned. [continues 871 words]
New Mexico's Program Is a Model of Efficiency but Still Needs More Money to Function New Mexico is experiencing vast budget shortages stemming from a historically limited private-sector economy and lower than expected oil and gas revenues. Rarely, if ever, have the state coffers been sufficient to fully fund the programmatic needs for improved education, a stronger justice system and expanded but needed health care. Of the three largest budget demands, only one is both a true economic and social positive multiplier to the improved well-being of the state's individual residents and the overall statewide economy: Medicaid. New Mexico is in an envious position of being able to obtain $3 in a federal match for each $1 the state provides. [continues 548 words]
MEXICO CITY - The drug that killed Prince has become a favorite of Mexican cartels because it is extremely potent, popular in the United States - and immensely profitable, American officials say. Law enforcement and border authorities in the United States warn that Mexican cartels are using their own labs to produce the drug, fentanyl, as well as receiving shipments from China. Then the cartels distribute the substance through their vast smuggling networks to meet rising American demand for opiates and pharmaceuticals. "It is really the next migration of the cartels in terms of making profit," said Jack Riley, acting deputy administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "This goes to the heart of the marketing genius of the cartels. They saw this coming." [continues 1293 words]
Legalizing recreational marijuana is just hard to swallow - or inhale - - politically and personally. For some, the issue may come down to moral values. For others, it's a matter of compromise for the greater good of society. And to many others, it's about a justice system that unfairly targets marijuana users, especially minorities. As the debate over taxing and regulating the sale of cannabis gains steam in Arizona, I framed some questions to help me shape my stance - - and perhaps yours as well. [continues 698 words]
LED Developers Seeking to Become Go-to Source for Cannabis Industry On New Mexico's economic Richter scale, Lifted LED, with a workforce of just five, barely registers. But just wait, say those energetic employees, which includes brothers and business partners Jaxon and Geoff Patterson. "It's all comes down to the right light," Jaxon Patterson said of Lifted LED's future potential, especially on the cannabis growing front. They have ambitious plans for their lighting company, inspired by an increasing emphasis on energy conservation that's expected to be a major factor in determining which companies survive in the fast-evolving cannabis industry. [continues 491 words]
MEXICO CITY - Two days after Jorge Antonio Parral Rabadan was kidnapped by a criminal gang, the Mexican Army raided the remote ranch where he was a prisoner and killed him. As he instinctively raised his hands in defense, the soldiers fired over and over at point-blank range. A brief army communique about the event asserted that soldiers had returned fire and killed three hit men at the El Puerto ranch on April 26, 2010. But Mr. Parral had fired no weapon. [continues 1106 words]
Police and prosecutors across the country have for years beaten back most serious efforts to reform civil forfeiture statutes, which allow law enforcement to seize property from people who have never been charged, let alone convicted, of any crime. But signs abound that justice and due process may eventually prevail. Civil forfeiture laws proliferated in the 1980s as part of the war on drugs and were intended to ensure that crime bosses didn't profit from their shadowy pursuits. But their aggressive application in many jurisdictions has also led to hundreds of high-profile abuses involving innocent people forced to surrender cash, homes, cars, jewelry and other valuables that the authorities merely suspected of being connected to a crime. [continues 333 words]
Legalizing recreational marijuana is just hard to swallow - or inhale - - politically and personally. For some of you, the issue may come down to moral values. For others, it's a matter of compromise for the greater good of society. And to many others, it's about a justice system that unfairly targets marijuana users, especially minorities. As the debate over taxing and regulating the sale of cannabis gains steam in Arizona, I framed some questions to help me shape my stance - -- and perhaps yours as well. [continues 881 words]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Rachael Speegle, 34, left a full-time job as a critical care nurse last year to work at an Albuquerque medical marijuana dispensary and growing operation started by her husband. Speegle quickly discovered that people who came to the Verdes Foundation dispensary in Albuquerque had lots of questions that called for her nursing skills. "Their questions were so simple," she said. For example: "How do I talk to my doctor about this? Why does my nausea feel better when I smoke it than when I eat it?" [continues 1002 words]
Editor's note: This is day one of a four-day series that examines the impact heroin is having on the community through the eyes of the addicts, their families, law enforcement and the groups that provide treatment. DECATUR Eric Buntain described the feeling of injecting heroin into his vein as "warm, euphoric, comfortable and relaxing: It feels great." About 30 seconds after injecting heroin, there's a surge of warmth coming from the low spinal area, a rush of sensation and an overriding sense of well-being. [continues 1448 words]
