Drug Eases Symptoms of Chronic Diseases, Many Say Pamela Hughes doesn't see herself as a criminal. Neither does Winnie Gesumwa. But both have been arrested, put through the court system and faced jail time for using marijuana, not for pleasure, but to cope with harrowing illnesses. "I had to fight an arrest that should not have occurred, because as long as I was using the cannabis, I was cancer-free and pain-free," said Hughes, a 49-year-old Silver Spring resident who has battled cancer and the muscle disease fibromyalgia for years. [continues 1227 words]
It was refreshing to read Howard J. Wooldridge's letter in The Gazette on Sept. 16 ("Drug dealers only fear legalization"). The analogy between the huge increase in crime prompted by the prohibition of the consumption of alcoholic beverages with the criminal marketing of illicit drugs never seems to be discussed. Obviously, the consumption of these drugs has negative consequences on the individuals involved as well as to society in general. But just what would be the consequences of legalizing (and taxing) marijuana? [continues 52 words]
Drug dealers, drug cartels and al Qaeda love prosecuting attorneys like Rod J. Rosenstein. They love anyone who supports the policy of drug war/modern prohibition because it puts billions of dollars into their pockets. Rosenstein's statement, "We are keeping our communities safe from this highly addictive illegal drug," is completely false. Maryland is awash in meth, and the bust made in Frederick on Sept. 5 was meaningless. Mexico supplies about 80 percent of America's meth, and we in law enforcement are powerless to stop this Katrina-like ocean of drugs pouring across our border every day. [continues 58 words]
Eric Sterling wrote about the recent increase in robberies in and around the Metro (''Better policing through better management," June 14 letter). I wish to respond to his criticism of our department and address his reasoning about resource allocation. Mr. Sterling contends that since the department makes so many more marijuana arrests than robbery arrests this indicates that too much emphasis is being placed on narcotics enforcement to the detriment of robbery investigation, resulting in the recent increase. In fact the vast majority of those marijuana arrests are made by patrol officers proactively conducting street level enforcement to reduce all types of crimes. [continues 291 words]
As a Silver Spring business person, the recent robberies near the Silver Spring Metro are very alarming ("Early-morning robberies plague area near the Silver Spring Metro," June 7 story). I fear the occurrence of these robberies may be a symptom of mismanagement by the county police department. According to the Maryland Uniform Crime Reports, 856 robberies were reported in the county in 2004 and 310 robbery arrests. On the other hand, there were 2,746 drug offense arrests; 1,536 of the arrests were for the possession of marijuana. [continues 58 words]
