America is in the midst of a heroin crisis, and the growing epidemic may soon surpass the crack and cocaine overdose deaths of the 1980s and 1990s. Shockingly, we seem powerless to do what we did back then - - attack the supply. Fecklessness regarding heroin has fatal consequences. The death rate from heroin overdoses doubled from 2010 to 2013; according to the Centers for Disease Control, 8,200 died in 2013. In the Northeast, the problem has been acute. Heroin and other drugs in New Hampshire now kill more people than traffic accidents. [continues 491 words]
Marijuana Has Gotten More Dangerous. At Stake Is The Safety Of Our Youth Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs. But thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so. [continues 678 words]
Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs. But thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so. [continues 682 words]
Pot Stigma Gone, but Not Its Dangers Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs. But thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so. [continues 685 words]
William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn: Not So Fast on Legalizing Marijuana Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs. Thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so. [continues 594 words]
Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs. But thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so. [continues 676 words]
Public Opinion Is Moving in Favor of Marijuana, Even As Medical Research Raises Fresh Alarms. The great irony, or misfortune, of the national debate over marijuana is that while almost all the science and research is going in one direction - pointing out the dangers of marijuana use - public opinion seems to be going in favor of broad legalization. For example, last week a new study in the journal Current Addiction Reports found that regular pot use (defined as once a week) among teenagers and young adults led to cognitive decline, poor attention and memory, and decreased IQ. On Aug. 9, the American Psychological Association reported that at its annual convention the ramifications of marijuana legalization was much discussed, with Krista Lisdahl, director of the imaging and neuropsychology lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, saying: "It needs to be emphasized that regular cannabis use, which we consider once a week, is not safe and may result in addiction and neurocognitive damage, especially in youth." [continues 744 words]
SIMSBURY) The Simsbury Zoning Commission sought public feedback at its Nov. 19 on how to proceed with local regulations for recently state-approved medical marijuana. Though not federally approved, Connecticut became one of several states to pass such laws, which took effect Oct. 1. It approves use of marijuana for some medical uses, such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. "We're not trying to challenge the spirit of the law," said Commission Chairman Robert Pomeroy Jr. during the Nov. 19 meeting at town hall. "The state has approved this to make it available, so we don't want to be obstructionist." [continues 427 words]
A POLICE crackdown on dealers has been welcomed by the residents whose lives are blighted by the drugs menace. Officers swooped on five addresses in the Bloomfield area as part of a "sustained attack" on drug activity yesterday morning. Neighbours on four streets were woken by the sound of more than 40 officers dressed in riot gear smashing down doors at properties on Ribble Road, Newbury Avenue, Westmorland Avenue and Central Drive. A quantity of suspected Class A drugs and cannabis was taken from the address at Ribble Road, while a further stash of suspected Class A drugs was found at an address at Newbury Avenue. [continues 377 words]
OPIUM SEASON: A Year on the Afghan Frontier. Joel Hafvenstein. Lyons. 336 pages. $24.95. The author describes the dangers of helping ease Afghan farmers out of the opium business. This real-life story, which provides a chilling sense of deja vu, offers a perfect example of the old saying: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. It's a lesson author Joel Hafvenstein relearns as a condition of employment in perhaps the "dirtiest job" in foreign service -- as a contractor in the Taliban/Khan-ruled poppy fields of Afghanistan. [continues 394 words]
Poll numbers in support of softer drug laws are trending up, according to this week's Time cover story. While only 34 percent of voters favor the complete legalization of marijuana, increasing majorities would support reducing penalties for possession and permitting the use of pot for medicinal purposes. That's the result of a relentless campaign to legalize drugs, funded by billionaire George Soros and others. What Time does not report, however, are other numbers on the rise: the number of young people who currently use marijuana, the number of young marijuana initiates, the number seeking treatment for marijuana abuse, and the potency of today's marijuana. [continues 711 words]
Never has the capacity of law enforcement to do its job in America been more strained than in the year since Sept. 11, 2001. Charged with ever-increasing responsibility to protect the homeland, police have their hands full investigating crimes potentially linked to organized terror. But now, in Arizona, it is proposed that officers take their focus off protecting Americans in order to run a handout program - and it's not handing out bike safety tips or meals at a soup kitchen. They are being asked to distribute marijuana. [continues 457 words]
Last Thursday the Supreme Court issued two decisions that could fundamentally alter our nation's public education system. In the first decision, the court upheld an Oklahoma school district's policy of testing students who participate in extracurricular activities for drug use. In the second, the court upheld a Cleveland program that provided parents of children in failing school systems up to $2,250 per year to pay for tuition at other schools, including religious schools. On the surface, perhaps, the decisions look unrelated. But upon closer examination, they reveal a return to the federalism and self-government upon which our nation was founded and from which we have drifted in recent years. [continues 716 words]
In his Aug. 26 op-ed column, David S. Broder argues for a "reexamination" of the war on drugs. Fair enough. But if the reexamination is to be done on the premise that the past is a record of failure, then let's begin by reexamining some facts. The drug war, when it was being waged, worked. Between 1979 and 1992, drug use in this country decreased 60 percent. The price of drugs increased and their purity decreased. That is not a failure; that is the definition of public policy success. [continues 695 words]
George W. Bush recently announced the nomination of John P. Walters to serve as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The new "drug czar" is being asked to lead the nation's war on illegal drugs at a time when many are urging surrender. The forms of surrender are manifold: Buzzwords like "harm reduction" are crowding out clear no-use messages. State initiatives promoting "medical marijuana" are little more than thinly veiled legalization efforts (as underscored by yesterday's 8-0 Supreme Court ruling against medical exceptions). The film "Traffic" portrayed the war on drugs as a futile effort. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 74% of Americans believe the war on drugs is a failure. [continues 951 words]
Don't Surrender The drug war worked once. It can again. George W. Bush recently announced the nomination of John P. Walters to serve as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The new "drug czar" is being asked to lead the nation's war on illegal drugs at a time when many are urging surrender. The forms of surrender are manifold: Buzzwords like "harm reduction" are crowding out clear no-use messages. State initiatives promoting "medical marijuana" are little more than thinly veiled legalization efforts (as underscored by yesterday's 8-0 Supreme Court ruling against medical exceptions). The film "Traffic" portrayed the war on drugs as a futile effort. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 74% of Americans believe the war on drugs is a failure. [continues 951 words]
William Raspberry devoted his April 30 column to President Bush's reportedly imminent nomination of a new federal "drug czar," the position I held in his father's administration. Raspberry has a long and distinguished record of well-written and thoughtful columns on a variety of public policy issues. His column of last Monday therefore was out of character: incautious in its choice of "experts" on whom to rely for evidence about the drug war status quo and doubly incautious -- bordering on irresponsible - -- in its use of such distorted testimony to tar the reputation of an unusually conscientious public servant. [continues 742 words]
Gov. Jeb Bush recently held a summit on drug policy in Tallahassee. He reiterated the ambitious plan announced in 1999: to reduce the use of illegal drugs in Florida by 50 percent over five years. We hope that President Bush will follow his brother's example and fight aggressively to reduce drug use. As former heads of the nation's fight against illegal drugs, we offer him this advice: * Prevention is the best medicine. The drug czar's most important job is to promote a clear message: Drug use is dangerous. The intellectual elites laughed at Nancy Reagan's motto, ``Just Say No.'' Children did not, for it was simple and effective. [continues 479 words]
The critically acclaimed film Traffic is a poignant movie about drug use and the war on drugs. By almost all accounts, it captures the hopelessness and tragedy of drug addiction, as well as the perils inherent in combating a moral and legal wrong, in a forthright and convincing manner. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Stephen Gaghan claimed that he wrote the movie script to save the life of his friend Robert Bingham, a heroin addict who died before the film was completed. In that interview, Gaghan blamed me for Bingham's death: "The reason he's dead is that he couldn't talk about his problem publicly, because of the stigma, and the stigma comes straight from William Bennett." [continues 502 words]
The critically acclaimed film "Traffic" is a poignant movie about drug use and the war on drugs. By almost all accounts, it captures the hopelessness and tragedy of drug addiction, as well as the perils inherent in combating a moral and legal wrong, in a forthright and convincing manner. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Stephen Gaghan claimed that he wrote the movie script to save the life of his friend Robert Bingham, a heroin addict who died before the film was completed. In that interview, Gaghan blamed me for Bingham's death: "The reason he's dead is that he couldn't talk about his problem publicly, because of the stigma, and the stigma comes straight from William Bennett." [continues 834 words]
