Prescription drugs used illegally can cause nausea, seizures, even death. The common misconception of prescription drugs is most people think since these drugs are prescribed by doctors, they're safe to use. However, the abuse of prescribed drugs is becoming more and more common. Dr. Cynthia Brennan of the Silver Creek Family Practice in Bullhead City said she has heard of a group of patients who go "doctor-shopping" or going from doctor to doctor for prescribed drugs. Other people often share medications with friends thinking drugs as prescribed by a doctor would be safe compared to illegal drugs. [continues 656 words]
KINGMAN - The Mohave County supervisors heard Monday on the success of an anti-meth program aimed at middle school students in the county. Brian Velarde, director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Colorado River, gave the board an update on MethSMART, an anti-meth program through the Boys and Girls Club that targets sixth-graders in Bullhead City, Fort Mojave, Mohave Valley, Kingman and Golden Valley schools. So far, about 632 students have gone through, or are going through, the program, which focuses on the educating students on the dangers of meth. [continues 351 words]
KINGMAN - Methamphetamine is the most destructive, addicting drug on the market. Law enforcement agencies from three states are waging its never-ending war on meth in the Tri-state. About 65 to 70 percent of all drug arrests involve methamphetamine. California outlaw motorcycle gangs were the first to bring in methamphetamine from California into Mohave County and Arizona about 20 years ago. The drug has since spread eastward across the country. Bullhead City Police Chief Rodney Head said meth and marijuana are the drugs of choice and are easily accessible in the Tri-state. Meth can be cheaply produced with little knowledge of chemistry and common household items. [continues 659 words]
KINGMAN - California outlaw motorcycle gangs were the pioneers in bringing methamphetamine into Mohave County. Sheriff Tom Sheahan said outlaw motorcycle gangs in California were the first to import meth into Mohave County and Arizona about 20 years ago. The ingredients to produce meth were easily available leading meth to be the drug of choice throughout the county and the state. The Eastern states in the country are now experiencing what the Western states have experienced 20 years ago, Sheahan said. In 2004, the sheriff's office conducted 554 drug arrests. In 2005, there were 591 drug arrests. About 70 percent of all drug arrests involve methamphetamine. [continues 475 words]
KINGMAN - Two Missouri authors and former drug dealers are spreading the word of the horrors of methamphetamine. Steve Box and Bill McLemore were in Kingman last week on a tour visiting 17 jails and prisons - including the Mohave County Jail, the juvenile facility and the newly built state prison off Interstate 40 southwest of Kingman. Box and McLemore, former drug dealers and meth users, spoke with prisoners on the dangers of meth. The authors also spoke to several dozen people, many former drug users, at a rally in Centennial Park in Kingman. [continues 376 words]
KINGMAN - Not even once. That is Montana's year-old campaign slogan to reduce the first-time use of methamphetamine. Mohave County supervisors approved Monday sending a letter to Gov. Janet Napolitano to adopt Montana's hard-hitting anti-methamphetamine program, the Montana Meth Project. Napolitano will be in Bullhead City Friday to hold a forum on the dangers of meth use in this state. Dist. 3 Sup. Buster Johnson said it would cost about $5.3 million to start a similar program in Arizona. [continues 341 words]
KINGMAN - Three Mohave County drug fighting prosecutors could be out of a job next summer when a federal grant funding most of their salaries is cut. At stake is vital part in the war on drugs, three deputy county attorneys and a legal secretary who work with the Mohave Area General Narcotic Enforcement Team. MAGNET includes officers from the county sheriff's office, Bullhead City, Kingman and Lake Havasu City police departments and the state highway patrol office. The cost of the salaries and benefits for the attorneys and staff is more than $293,000. [continues 376 words]
KINGMAN - Mohave County supervisors agreed to send a letter of support Monday to the state legislature to restrict the sale of over-the-counter drugs that can be made into methamphetamine. A Bullhead City Council ordinance passed last week restricts the over the counter sale of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine within the city limits. Phoenix and Tucson have already passed similar laws to Bullhead City's. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are main ingredients used to make methamphetamine, the drug that is responsible for many crimes. A city has the authority in its ordinances to restrict the drugs. However, counties have to abide by laws enacted by the state legislature. [continues 220 words]
KINGMAN - One Bullhead City teen is turning his life away from the pitfalls of drugs and crime. Hector Valenzuela's motivation to stay off drugs and alcohol is the cold, hard reality of spending time in the juvenile prison in Phoenix. Selling methamphetamine and marijuana at his junior high school landed Valenzuela in the intensive probation program after several months at the juvenile detention facility in Kingman. Valenzuela has been using drugs, mostly marijuana but also methamphetamine and alcohol, since he was 13 years old. [continues 416 words]
KINGMAN -- The death of a Kingman man who died in the custody of Mohave County sheriff deputies has been ruled accidental. The cause of Patrick Edward Bacon's Oct. 30 death was "consistent with excited delirium due to stimulated drug use and arrest restraint," according to results from an autopsy performed by Maricopa County Medical Examiner Dr. Philip Keen. On Oct. 29, sheriff deputies were called to a disturbance at a store in the 3000 block of Northern Avenue and escorted Bacon from the property. [continues 298 words]
SAN ANDREAS -- A 12-person task force, formed in February to set a policy for medical marijuana use in Calaveras County, laid out some preliminary guidelines before a packed crowd Wednesday night. The team, consisting of law enforcement, physicians, the district attorney and a medical marijuana patient, tried to answer questions such as how to obtain the drug and the quantity a patient can possess. Proposition 215, a state law passed in 1996, allows the seriously ill to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes on the recommendation of a physician. [continues 280 words]
SAN ANDREAS -- Calaveras County supervisors Monday appointed 12 people to a task force to study guidelines for medical marijuana users. The county formed the panel to come up with guidelines for following Proposition 215, which went into effect in 1996. The law allows seriously ill patients, with a doctor's support, obtain and use marijuana. Four doctors -- Roger Orman, Jacob Jaggy, Ryan Thompson and Paul Jacobson - -- were named to the team. Pharmacists Gary Duda and Ray Guidi were also appointed. Representing law enforcement will be Sheriff Dennis Downum, Angels Camp Police Chief Bill Nuttall and District Attorney Peter Smith. [continues 221 words]
