The Issue: Antidrug Agency's Leadership Our opinion: The political stain must be removed. It is time for an intervention for the Partnership for a Drug-Free Lake County. Its addiction to political back-scratching rather than doing the work its name requires is dangerous to the physical and mental health of the people the agency is supposed to be helping. How did this happen? Thank that power monger former sheriff, John Buncich. His bullying tactics finally got to be too much for many of the board members with a working knowledge of dealing with addiction problems. They left and Buncich replaced them with his cronies, including John Blount, the former sheriff's administrative assistant, and Loy Roberson, the former sheriff's spokesman. [continues 363 words]
Finances now pose barrier to Duneland reinstating testing program. An Indiana State Supreme Court ruling Tuesday cleared the way for schools to randomly perform drug tests on students participating in athletics and some extracurricular activities. The Indiana Court of Appeals previously struck down the policy, but the high court upheld it in a 3-2 decision, ruling that students' privacy interests were less than those of adults and that both students and their parents must give consent for the tests. Justice Frank Sullivan, who wrote for the court's majority said, "Our constitution does not forbid schools from taking reasonable measures to deter drug abuse on their campuses, but they must do so with due regard for rights of students." [continues 248 words]
Pat Rocchio's thoughtful Feb. 10 column asked why alcohol is legal but marijuana is not. Hint: it has nothing to do with health outcomes. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of nicotine. Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail sentences and criminal records are hardly appropriate health interventions. Prior to the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, few Americans had heard of marijuana, despite widespread cultivation of its non-intoxicating cousin, industrial hemp. The first marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican migration. Sensationalist headlines claimed minorities committed violent acts while under the drug's influence. [continues 71 words]
Everything Has A Good And Bad Side The key is to find the good side and develop it while trying to keep the bad side in check. Even gambling has a good side. And religion, a bad side. Why is alcohol legal and marijuana illegal? Is investing in the stock market just another form of gambling? Should we shut down the markets? Indiana's anti-gambling faction is accusing Gov. Frank O'Bannon of flip-flopping on the gambling issue because he said a Senate-inspired version of dockside gambling would be acceptable to him. Maybe O'Bannon isn't flip-flopping. Maybe he recognizes that gambling may be doing more good than bad in Indiana. [continues 455 words]
Activist Leaders Blast Chicago For Over-Staffing Loop With Police After Sept. 11. CHICAGO -- The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson pledged to stop gang violence Tuesday at a meeting of church and community leaders at Liberty Baptist Church. "I came here this morning because there is a national rise in gang violence," Sharpton said. "We're going to use our teeth and our tongues to stop the violence." Jackson called for a stop to the "growing culture of violence." "Let's deal with easy access to guns and easy access to drugs. Let's deal with first-class jails and second-class schools," he said. [continues 412 words]
Letter to the Editor Targeting rave dance parties will not protect children from drugs. Ecstasy is the latest illegal drug to be making headlines, but it won't be the last until politicians acknowledge the drug war's inherent failure. Drug policies modeled after America's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers do not ID for age, but they do push trendy, profitable "club drugs" like ecstasy, regardless of the dangers posed. [continues 114 words]
HARVEY -- The Harvey Police Department made it clear they are fed up with raves. The city is threatening to pull a local business's license after learning the owner planned to host an illegal rave party for as many as 2,000 youths Saturday night, in a city which officials concede has more than its share of image problems. Shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday, several Harvey police officers barricaded the entrance to Club O, 17034 Halsted St., where an illegal rave party, billed as the Midwest Summer Dance Festival, was to take place, officials said. Armed with a recently approved ordinance banning such events, the police spent the evening turning away more than 80 cars filled with would-be ravers. In one case, a chartered bus bound for the event also was turned away. [continues 659 words]
CHICAGO (AP) -- A city police officer was arrested on Thursday for allegedly taking money from a man in exchange for protecting the man's life, the U.S. attorney's office said. Patrol Officer Mario Morales, 32, a five-year member of the force, was arrested on an extortion charge and suspended without pay, police department spokesman Pat Camden said. According to an FBI affidavit, Morales and another man allegedly broke into the home of a prominent Latin Kings gang member in March or April and stole hundreds of pounds of marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash. The two allegedly split the money and drugs, according to the affidavit. [continues 88 words]
Deal approved by Lake County prosecutor apparently flouted Indiana law Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter approved an agreement in late 1999 that led to a major drug dealer being let out of prison in apparent violation of state law. Viron Lamarr Lewis, the son of a prominent Gary criminal defense attorney, was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison. He was out in less than two. Under Indiana law on modification of sentences, he should have been required to serve at least six years, although good time credit could have reduced that to three years. [continues 1395 words]
Local IRS Agents Get Involved In Major Drug Investigations A Gary woman tried to be inconspicuous when she brought $110,000 in small bills into an area bank for deposit recently. She put some of the money in a shopping bag. However, the Internal Revenue Service noticed. Its investigation of this and a $70,000 deposit she made a few days later resulted in federal charges alleging the woman and her son were involved in a scheme to distribute cocaine and launder the drug profits. They are scheduled to go before a jury this month. [continues 718 words]
Wild--Growing Marijuana Targeted With Herbicides WHEATFIELD -- It's marijuana season again, and that means law enforcement officials have begun searching trenches, roadways and farm fields in Northwest Indiana for the ditch weed. Marijuana was a government-subsidized crop during World Wars I and II when authorities used the hemp to make rope. Eventually the government didn't need it for rope, but marijuana became the most widely used and readily available drug in the United States. As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated a program to aggressively halt the spread of ditch weed and cultivated marijuana through an eradication program where it targets the weed and cultivated marijuana grown indoors and outdoors in the middle of farm fields from May to November. [continues 607 words]
Former Attorney General Takes Job As Director Of National Association INDIANAPOLIS -- Only two months after being named Indiana's first drug czar, Gary native Karen Freeman-Wilson has left the post for a new job in Virginia. The former attorney general's swift departure from state government, and her decision to accept a job as executive director of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, caught many in the O'Bannon administration by surprise. Freeman-Wilson, a former Gary City Court judge, informed Gov. Frank O'Bannon of her plans to leave the government ranks about three weeks ago. [continues 274 words]
CROWN POINT -- Prosecutors are charging more drug offenders because police are more proficient at spotting drugs and drug paraphernalia during traffic stops. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said his staff filed more than 800 drug charges last year -- a 33 percent increase over 1999. Carter said better police techniques account for the increase. He said Chris McQuillin, his drug unit supervisor, and deputy prosecutors provide police with around-the-clock legal advice that helps them file charges in a more timely manner. [end]
It provides a longer high than cocaine and people can make it using items commonly sold in stores Recent local meth busts have Porter County police concerned. (Gregg Gearhart/The Times) The next big drug isn't being smuggled into the area from far-away places like Columbia, it's being cooked up in homes throughout Porter County using ingredients purchased from local stores. It's methamphetamine, a drug that costs about the same as cocaine but produces a longer-lasting high. [continues 465 words]
Few Alternatives Exist For Parents Who Want Their Children Tested PORTAGE -- Barbara Francisco thought she was just trying to be a responsible parent. Her 16-year-old son wanted to drive and she was willing to let him, but there was one condition. He had to be drug tested first. Her son had gotten into trouble the summer before, so Francisco wanted to make sure he was drug free. She took him to Portage Community Hospital's lab to request a test, but was refused because she didn't have a doctor's order. [continues 831 words]
Tougher Policy On Employee Drug Testing Credited With Improvement. SPRINGFIELD (AP) -- Drug use by Illinois prisoners and their guards continues to decline. The percentage of inmates testing positive for drug use at traditional adult prisons has fallen to 2 percent, down from 9.5 percent in 1997, Corrections Department figures show. Positive tests among prison employees fell to 2.2 percent last year, down from 3.4 percent since testing began in 1998. Employee drug use has led to a legislative battle between prison guards and Senate President James "Pate" Philip, R-Wood Dale. [continues 633 words]
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Roadblocks For Drug Searches WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a significant ruling on the use of police power, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down random roadblocks intended for drug searches, saying they are an unreasonable invasion of privacy under the Constitution. Law enforcement in and of itself is not a good enough reason to stop innocent motorists, the majority concluded Tuesday in the first major ruling of the new term. "Because the checkpoint program's primary purpose is indistinguishable from the general interest in crime control, the checkpoints contravened the Fourth Amendment," which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote. [continues 784 words]
Rep. Visclosky says his faith in the agency continues, and so will the funding. The Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force has labored mightily the past four years to snuff out the area's drug trade. How far they have yet to go was illustrated earlier this month when federal, state and local law enforcement officials announced charges on 59 men and women accused of trafficking only in East Chicago's Harbor Section -- more than 17 offenders per square mile. [continues 777 words]
WASHINGTON - The police had the right instincts about Charles McArthur, as even he admits. There were drugs stashed under his couch, and given the opportunity he would have flushed them down the toilet or otherwise made sure the cops couldn't find them. McArthur didn't get the chance, because police wouldn't let him go into his own house alone for the two hours it took to get a search warrant. Predictably, he was arrested as soon as Illinois police got the warrant and found the stash. [continues 430 words]
