HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania lawmakers moved Monday to put final touches on a bill to legalize medical marijuana, reviving a longdebated measure that had stalled near the finish line last month. The Senate agreed to add a few technical changes to the House-approved bill. Republican leaders who control both chambers say that barring last-minute objections, the legislation could land on Gov. Wolf's desk for a signature this week. "I believe everyone is acting in good faith, but I will be holding my breath until the final vote is taken," said Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery), who, with Republican Sen. Mike Folmer of Lebanon County, has championed the bill. [continues 350 words]
HARRISBURG - The state House could decide as early as this week on whether Pennsylvania should become the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana. The House began debate Monday evening on a legalization bill approved last spring by the Senate. Under the measure, people who suffer from certain conditions would be able to access medical cannabis in oil, ointment, and pill forms. But as with all big-ticket bills in the Capitol that inspire deep divisions, it could fall victim to politics. The Republican-controlled chamber is considering a lengthy list of changes to the measure, which advocates say could make access more difficult for those who need it. [continues 542 words]
A convicted drug lord testified that the Camden mayor frequented his inner sanctum before taking office. CAMDEN - Convicted drug lord Jose Luis "J.R." Rivera testified yesterday that Mayor Milton Milan accepted a satchel containing $65,000 in cash from him in November 1994, and that Milan knew these were proceeds from Rivera's multimillion-dollar drug syndicate. Rivera, convicted this year for his role in a massive cocaine-distribution conspiracy, said that before Milan became mayor in 1997, he frequently visited the inner sanctum of Rivera's office while drug money was counted and drug dealers were present. [continues 973 words]
As Jury Selection Ended, Prosecutors Named 2 Key Witnesses Who Would Talk About Camden's Mayor. CAMDEN - Convicted drug lord Jose Luis "J.R." Rivera will take the stand in the federal corruption trial of Camden Mayor Milton Milan to testify that the $65,000 loan he gave Milan in 1994 came from proceeds of his multimillion-dollar cocaine ring, federal prosecutors said yesterday. Confessed drug dealer Saul Febo will also testify at Milan's trial about a free car he helped Milan obtain in late 1996 from Camden businessman Domenic Monaco, whose company held the city's towing contract, prosecutors said. [continues 921 words]
CAMDEN -- Federal drug enforcement agents have charged two New York men with attempting to smuggle $500,000 worth of heroin to three drug rings operating in Camden. The suspects, Paul Rivera, 39, of the 1500 block of Fulton Avenue in the Bronx, and Jorge L. Agudelo, 36, of Elmhurst, were arrested late last week on drug distribution charges. Rivera posted $500,000 bail and was released yesterday after a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden. Agudelo was denied bail. The arrests capped a five-week investigation of the two men, Detective Fred Davis of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday. [continues 209 words]
An Inmate In Bridgeton Says The Inpatient Program Offended His Religious Sensibilities CAMDEN -- An inmate of a New Jersey state prison has sued the Department of Corrections, saying that when he asked to be removed from a drug-treatment program that he asserts is religion-based, he was told he would lose his eligibility for a community-release program. In the lawsuit, Walter Corker, who was convicted in May of drug-use and drug-possession charges, contends that the Department of Corrections placed him in an inpatient drug-abuse program called Nu Way whose staff frequently led group meetings in prayer and invoked God's name. Corker, a prisoner at the South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, writes that his "religious sensibilities[were]shocked" by the mention of God's name during group sessions, and that he felt the program was "using the Lord's name in vain by connecting 'HIM' to the ilk of addiction." Corker said he wrote numerous letters to the program administrator, the prison administration, and officials at the Department of Corrections, stating his objections, but received either no response or "the runaround." He also said that Nu Way staff first became "angry" and then refused his request for transfer out of the program. [continues 301 words]
They Searched 7 Homes In Camden And Pennsauken. Cocaine, Marijuana And Guns Were Confiscated. By Angela Couloumbis, Inquirer Correspondent CAMDEN In one of the city's largest drug raids, about 100 officers from state, county and local police departments descended on six homes in Camden City and one in Pennsauken yesterday, arresting seven people involved in an alleged drug ring, and seizing cocaine, marijuana and guns. According to Lt. Joseph Richardson, Camden police spokesman, the earlymorning raid was the culmination of a threemonth investigation by police in Camden and Pennsauken. [continues 301 words]
