Something is badly out of whack. People are openly using drugs, the government is paying for their paraphernalia, which means you and I are footing the bill, and millions of dollars across the country are being poured into drug programs with little or no impact on the problem. Municipal governments are crying for treatment centres, users are committing crimes to pay for their habits, and some of our most picturesque parts of our National Capital Region are becoming eyesores, are unsafe and what used to be a major tourist attraction, the market area, is fast gaining a reputation of being a place to avoid at any cost. [continues 614 words]
Something is badly out of whack. People are openly using drugs, the government is paying for their paraphernalia, which means you and I are footing the bill. Millions of dollars across the country are being poured into drug programs with little or no impact on the problem. Municipal governments are crying for treatment centres, users are committing crimes to pay for their habits, and some of our most picturesque parts of our National Capital Region are becoming eyesores. They are unsafe and what used to be a major tourist attraction, the market area, is fast gaining a reputation of being a place to avoid at any cost. [continues 351 words]
Something is badly out of whack. People are openly using drugs, the government is paying for their paraphernalia, which means you and I are footing the bill, and millions of dollars across the country are being poured into drug programs with little or no impact on the problem. Municipal governments are crying for treatment centres, users are committing crimes to pay for their habits, and some of our most picturesque parts of our National Capital Region are becoming eyesores, are unsafe and what used to be a major tourist attraction, the market area, is fast gaining a reputation of being a place to avoid at any cost. [continues 620 words]
The best reason to vote against the legalization of marijuana has unfortunately been presented to us in the face of an angelic-looking 16-year-old who stands charged with a horrific murder, carried out while he was, by his own account, "stoned on pot" ("Woman's body found in freezer," Oct. 22). The activists urging Alaskans to take the lead in decriminalizing a dangerous substance have been blindsided by ugly reality. No, I am not foolish enough to believe that the availability of marijuana is the sole cause of Mrs. Cotting's death. But neither am I foolish enough to believe that legalizing a harmful, recreational drug will make it more difficult for children and teenagers to obtain it. No amount of slick statistics about how much tax money we will save or high-flown rhetoric about privacy and rights of the individual will persuade the parents of this state to send the message to our children and grandchildren that pot is anything except what it is -- a controlled and dangerous drug. Mary Alice Cook Eagle River [end]
Saratogan Leads Commando-Type Operation To Stamp Out Marijuana Growers Is it a bird? Is a plane? No, it's Sonya Barna, sometimes nicknamed The Patton of Pot, being dropped down from a helicopter, as part of her team--and her mission--to wipe out as much marijuana in California, as possible. Barna is operations commander of the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP. She works for the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, under the office of the state attorney general, Bill Lockyer. The campaign targets large-scale commercial operations. Counties throughout the state survey their own domain and when they spot a suspicious outcropping, they alert CAMP. [continues 1820 words]
