Yes on Issue 1 We strongly support Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot this Tuesday. It sets up a much fairer process for drawing district lines for Ohio House of Representative and Senate seats. Under the current corrupt system, maps for state legislative and congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years, after updated Census numbers are released. A five-member state Apportionment Board, whose members include the governor, secretary of state, state auditor and a legislator from each major party, draws the legislative districts. A simple majority wins any vote on the board, so the party that controls the board (Republican in recent years) has absolute control over how the legislative lines are drawn. [continues 1267 words]
To the Editor: Issue 3 should be passed in the state of Ohio because marijuana arrests distract police from real issues such as heroin users or gun violence. Fifty-two percent of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana use. With marijuana currently being illegal, it is still widely used for medical and recreational uses. The fact that it is illegal does not stop a majority of users. Making it legal will help medical users obtain it more easily and not have to pay a high price. Yes, with the legalization of weed it will be easier for recreational users to get their hands on it, but that may not be as bad as people think. [continues 167 words]
To the Editor: This is a plea for a rational and compassionate perspective on the issue of medical marijuana. I must be honest. It is personal for me as I suffer from multiple sclerosis. The opinions expressed here, however, were formed long before it became a personal issue. My objectivity has not changed, but my compassion has deepened. Many years after Congress passed laws criminalizing the use of any marijuana, it once again is recognized as a legitimate medicine. To continue to argue that marijuana has no known medical use is an erroneous argument. The May 25 issue of TIME and the June 15 issue of National Geographic, for example, cite some of the research establishing the medical usefulness of marijuana and the hopes researchers have for it. [continues 415 words]
This is the fourth article in a series that's focusing on heroin and related drugs' growth, prevention, treatment, distribution, law enforcement and policy in Athens County and southeast Ohio. For law enforcement, the battle against heroin is a battle against supply. Even illicit drugs follow the economic law of supply and demand. So while law enforcement in Athens County supports efforts to combat addiction and decrease the heroin customer base, the main task at hand is to cut off supply by going after heroin dealers. [continues 1045 words]
To the Editor: If Ohio and American citizens honestly want to lower heroin addiction rates ("Heroin Scourge Mainly Hitting the Young," The NEWS, May 7), end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. An important reason to end cannabis prohibition that doesn't get mentioned is because it increases hard drug addiction rates. It puts citizen who choose to use the relatively safe plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs. Further, government claims that heroin is no worse than cannabis and methamphetamine and cocaine is less harmful by insisting that cannabis is a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. [continues 53 words]
This is the third article in a series that's focusing on heroin and related drugs' growth, prevention, treatment, distribution, law enforcement and policy in Athens County and southeast Ohio. One of the more unsettling trends to emerge as the use of heroin has grown throughout the state, especially in rural Ohio, is that problems now involve a much younger group of individuals than was the case 10 years ago. Health Recovery Services Executive Director Dr. Joe Gay called the shift a "shocking pattern" in a 2012 report. [continues 785 words]
To the Editor: Dr. Joe Gay, executive director of Health Recovery Services, falsely claims in The Athens NEWS' March 13 article "SRO Crowd Inhales Controversy at Marijuana Panel Discussion," that Colorado has an "increase in violence" due to legalizing marijuana. Colorado crime rates have decreased since re-legalizing marijuana for the sick over a decade ago and fully re-legalizing marijuana over a year ago. In fact, the crime of caging responsible adults for using a God-given plant has completely vanished. And make no mistake, caging humans for using what God says He created and is good on literally the very first page of the Bible, is a crime. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
At Ohio University's Baker Center Theater Tuesday, a panel discussing the potential legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio aired opinions from both sides of the debate. The Health Promotion department of OU's Campus Involvement Center presented "The Amazing Blazing Marijuana Debate," a 90-minute conversation about the merits and problems of medical marijuana. Even after additional chairs were imported, attendees lined the wings of the theater, signifying either heavy student extra-credit involvement or an unanticipated level of interest in the topic. [continues 999 words]
It used to be that cannabis was legal in Ohio. Here and everywhere in the U.S, you could walk into a drug store and buy the processed plant to treat what ailed you. Don Wirtshafter has proof - a collection of cannabis bottles, jars and boxes. It fills two display cases in his home in Guysville. Wirtshafter says he assembled the collection over the years to document that cannabis was accepted in pharmacies before it was outlawed in 1937. "I've spent years trying to explain to people that cannabis used to be considered an important pharmaceutical," he said. [continues 682 words]
Representatives from across the state came to Ohio University to discuss the logistics behind the legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio Tuesday evening. The four-person panel included representatives from the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Association of Ohio, the Ohio Medical Cannabis Association (OMCA) and OU Community Standards (formerly Judiciaries). All agreed that marijuana could be beneficial as medicine, but some of the panelists stressed that additional research is needed before it is legalized for medicinal use. [continues 1044 words]
Retired Cincinnati Police Capt. Howard Rahtz on Thursday presented his theory and proposed solutions for the War on Drugs - one of which is legalizing marijuana - during a visit to Ohio University. Speaking on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Rahtz suggested to an audience in Bentley Hall that the legalization of marijuana is the solution to ending drug-related violence, and shared three facts to support his conclusion. Approximately 50 students showed up for the speech which was hosted by Students For Liberty, a campus organization that "promotes individual liberty and fostering discussion on the role of government in society." [continues 372 words]
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy could be seen on campus last week running a "bake sale"; pun intended; to help raise money for their trip to Washington, D.C., for the 10th annual SSDP conference. Nov. 21-23, about 20 Ohio University SSDP members are planning to attend the national event, lobbying congressional and senate leaders in an attempt to open up the discussion of drug policies in the country and their respective states, explained Erin Dame, president of OU's chapter of SSDP. [continues 744 words]
OU Associate Director of Health Promotion Terry Koons' assertion that "smoking marijuana is more physically harmful than smoking cigarettes" is discredited ("Depending on Whom You Ask, Pot's Harmless or Hazardous," The NEWS, Feb. 21) since nobody has died due to cannabis in over 5,000 years of documented use compared to over 1,000 Americans who die daily due to cigarette use. When citizens actually ask knowledgeable and honest people, we find out that cannabis is a relatively safe God-given plant that should be re-legalized for responsible adults. So, why doesn't Terry Koons speak the truth about marijuana's effects? Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
This is a letter of support for C. David Warren for Athens County prosecutor. During the establishment of Bridge Builders in Trimble Township, we had requested someone to come to our meetings and listen to our concerns about the growing drug problem that we witnessed in the Trimble Township area and Athens County. We love our families and care about our community, school district and our youth. We are very concerned about the unnecessary deaths, crime and suffering that have been occurring. [continues 184 words]
(Pseudonyms were used for every source in this piece, since they're talking about and engaging in illegal activities.) Ohio University students say that potent marijuana is easy to find in Athens, but it's not always cheap. "It's just really easy to get good weed here," OU undergrad Chester Copperfield said while using marijuana with three friends during an interview on Tuesday. Copperfield and his friends estimated that 75 to 80 percent of OU students use marijuana at least occasionally. [continues 513 words]
A lack of scientific consensus on the possible medical benefits and health risks of marijuana may contribute to the public's wildly different perspectives on the drug. Nearly a third of students at Ohio University report using marijuana at some level, and many see it as less harmful than other recreational drugs, despite contradictory medical evidence, according to the OU Department of Health Promotion. Terry Koons, associate director of Health Promotion, said that marijuana, like alcohol (and increasingly unlike tobacco), is viewed by many as socially acceptable, despite its health risks. Despite popular opinion, however, smoking marijuana is more physically harmful than smoking cigarettes, he said. Marijuana smokers tend to hold the smoke in their lungs longer, exposing them to more carcinogens, and marijuana is also generally unfiltered when smoked, again increasing the carcinogen exposure. [continues 731 words]
So, you've been busted for using marijuana at Ohio University. Take a deep breath and look at the facts before you get too paranoid. If you're just a recreational user, your predicament may not be as bad as you think. You're going to have to keep your head straight and know your rights, so here's a simple rundown of what you can expect to happen after being caught with pot at OU. Possessing and using pot is illegal and against OU's Code of Student Conduct, but the penalties that most recreational users face when they're caught aren't as harsh as they would be on many campuses or in most other states. [continues 825 words]
I'm writing about: "Marijuana legalization debate turns heads on campus" (Jan. 28th). It seems to me that the wrong question was asked. The question should be: Should marijuana remain completely untaxed, unregulated and controlled by criminals? Because marijuana is now illegal, it is sold only by criminals (criminals who often sell other, much more dangerous drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine). And they often offer free samples of the more dangerous drugs to their marijuana customers. Thus creating the so-called "gateway effect." [continues 63 words]
Hundreds of Ohio University students packed into Baker Center Theater to see the "Heads vs. Feds" debate Thursday night, and the size of the crowd alone was proof that the legalization of marijuana, four decades after the '60s, remains an issue of students' concern. The debate pitted former High Times Editor Steve Hager against the former head of New York City's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The spirited presentation inspired some students to create a pro-cannabis group on campus. "It's fun and empowering to be an activist, and it's fun and empowering to change bad laws," Hager told the audience during his closing statement. He suggested that students who are interested in legalizing marijuana should get serious and start a chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) or Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) on campus. [continues 614 words]
Attorneys for a former employee of the Athens County Prosecutor's office and her husband, who are facing felony drug charges, have filed some creative defense motions on their behalf. One motion questions whether a Washington County Sheriff's deputy knows marijuana when he sees it. Another argues that the wife could not grant permission to police to search the couple's home, because a pre-nuptial agreement puts its ownership solely in her husband's name. Yet another suggests that the severity of marijuana cultivation charges should be based, not on the weight of marijuana plants allegedly found at their home, but on their weight after they are cleaned of seeds and stems, and dried out as if for sale. [continues 800 words]
