When most parents hear the word marijuana they immediately yell "Don't do drugs!" and change the subject. Of course, parents are only looking out for the well-being of their children, but merely discussing drugs does not inject any chemicals into our veins or shoot smoke into our lungs. As America's government continues to wage a costly war on drugs, it is necessary to objectively acknowledge that legalization of marijuana is an idea that should receive serious consideration, without succumbing to the subjectivity of propaganda. Therefore, in the interest of opening our propaganda-blinded eyes to the issues that directly affect teenagers, here first are the facts from the National Institute on Drug Abuse: Marijuana is a product of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, which contains some 400 chemicals, including the brain-altering THC. Researchers have found that THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted upon by the hippocampus, the component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations; as a result, learned behaviors deteriorate. [continues 1066 words]
A 21-year veteran of the Englewood Police Department was arrested Friday and charged with failing to arrest two women that he saw smoking marijuana, Bergen County prosecutors said. Sgt. Joseph Martin came across two females - one a juvenile and the other an adult - at a private building in August 2005, said Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jeffrey Ziegelheim. Martin did not arrest the women although he saw them smoking marijuana, Ziegelheim said. Investigations began after the women were later arrested by officers in a different town and told police that Martin had seen them smoking pot, the assistant prosecutor said. The women couldn't remember the exact date of the incident, he said. Martin was charged with official misconduct and released on his own recognizance. He has also resigned from his position with the Englewood police, Ziegelheim said. [end]
A cold afternoon drizzle falls as a patrol car slinks into view. "Five-0! Five-0!" a teenager calls out. Up and down the block, Nextels chirp to life. A street boss pulls a phone from his flight jacket and presses it to his face. "Yo, the cops are here." The officer lowers his passenger window and grins at two young men in oversized T-shirts and low-slung jeans. "Get off the corner or you're going to court," he tells them. [continues 3054 words]
The editorial on June 24 expresses the opinion that we should give clean needles to drug addicts to save lives ("N.J. needs a needle-exchange program"). Putting addicts in rehab would be saving lives and would keep the addicts from giving drugs to youngsters to addict them. But the only way we can save lives is when they decide they want to be cured. This would also cut down on the crime, because addicts are desperate persons who sometimes steal to feed their habit. I do not believe we should help them to destroy themselves. - - Charlotte Wood Paterson [end]
The cry for legalization of controlled substances seems to be getting louder. However, I find the sources to be none other than academics, wannabe intellectuals and libertarians, few of whom are likely to have experienced the devastation of drugs in their families or lost a child to drugs. The rationale is that all the efforts to interdict drugs have been a dismal failure and have only raised their price, making trafficking more profitable. That cannot be denied. However, repealing laws against trafficking is like repealing laws against murder and robbery because people still murder and rob. And let's explode the myth of the tax revenues to be derived from legalization. The revenues realized and a lot more funds would go down the tubes in the form of lost income tax revenues from all those who become dead, or become the walking dead, because drugs now are so accessible. And how about the funds lost to medical and rehab costs? The physical and mental destruction caused by drugs is too devastating and immediate to allow legalization. Instead, more federal, state and local funds earmarked for the "War on Drugs" must be focused on education for our kids. They must be taught to question what's in that bag of stuff their peers are handing them. "Victory" in this "war" will come only for we parents individually by getting through to our kids - despite their raging hormones - and keeping them clean. - - Stephen S. Raynor Wayne [end]
Needle exchange has been proven to reduce the spread of HIV without increasing drug use. It also serves as a bridge to drug treatment for an especially hard-to-reach population. Drug users are not the only beneficiaries. U.S. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the United States are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. This easily preventable public-health crisis is a direct result of zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes. In the interest of containing the HIV epidemic, let's hope New Jersey's tough-on-drugs politicians acknowledge the drug war's tremendous collateral damage sooner rather than later. - - RobertSharpe, policy analyst CommonSense for DrugPolicy Arlington, Va. [end]
On behalf of the 2,400 people living with HIV in Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Salem counties, we'd like to thank you for your editorial on supporting the Harm Reduction and Syringe Exchange program in Camden and Atlantic cities ("N.J. needs a needle-exchange program," June 24). Your support has been validated by numerous public-health organizations, city governments and law-enforcement agencies all over the United States. All the evidence clearly points to reduced infection rates and no increase in drug abuse. In fact, this type of program has functioned as a gateway into drug treatment for those who are addicted. [continues 83 words]
New Jersey needs a needle-exchange law. First, Paterson missed a deadline to apply for a pilot needle-exchange program established by an executive order of former Gov. James E. McGreevey. Then, just two weeks before the program was about to start in Atlantic City and Camden, a Mercer County Superior Court issued an injunction in response to a challenge of McGreevey's order by seven lawmakers. For now, the fate of the pilot program is uncertain. The Attorney General's Office may appeal to have the injunction lifted, but regardless, the challenge will be decided by the courts. [continues 450 words]
Sean McGrath was 28 years old when he died. He would have been younger, his family says, had he not smoked marijuana for much of his two-year battle with biliary cancer, the illness that ravaged his digestive system and eventually killed him. "Unless he was sleeping, he was nauseous," says Jessica Shapiro, Sean's fiancee, who began dating him shortly after the two graduated from high school in Hamilton. Within four months of Sean's diagnosis, his weight had spiraled down to 98 pounds, about 60 pounds underweight for his 5'11" frame. Even if Sean did manage to ingest food and his pills - appetite stimulants, painkillers and anti-nausea medication - he would usually vomit them back up. [continues 1328 words]
ELMWOOD PARK - A few years back, gangs, drugs and violent crimes were on the rise in the borough. But a two-man narcotics squad formed at the beginning of 2004 put a stop to it. The decrease in violent crimes is directly tied to the increase in narcotics arrests that have been made by the squad, Police Chief Don Ingrasselino said. "We were beginning to have a real problem with drugs about four years ago," Ingrasselino said. "Then there were muggings and robberies on River Drive and Market Street. There was a stabbing, and violent crimes were increasing. It's directly related." [continues 790 words]
PATERSON - Mayor Joey Torres has chosen not to apply to set up a needle-exchange program aimed at curbing the spread of HIV by offering drug addicts sterile syringes. Paterson, the state's third-largest city, also counts the third-largest number of HIV and AIDS cases, more than a third of which were caused by intravenous drug users sharing dirty syringes, according to state Health Department statistics. Torres claimed Tuesday that, although the city's health officer and the county's HIV planning council have favored needle exchanges, he decided not to apply for a state pilot program permitting needle exchanges, because he did not have the input of his constituents. [continues 564 words]
One whiff of "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical" and I was hooked, instantly transformed into a singing, laughing maniac. Showtime's film, making its TV debut Saturday, is a definite high. It's a colorful, campy, fun and feel-good tale of young love and decades-old propaganda, of drug-crazed zombies and wide-eyed townsfolk, blending dark humor with sunny production numbers. This toe-tapping project comes from two Jersey guys - Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney - who met in the mid-'80s as theater arts majors at Drew University and went on to storm Hollywood. [continues 915 words]
A state senator who prosecutes drug abusers wants to legalize the "compassionate medical use" of marijuana to treat pain and other symptoms in seriously ill patients. Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, the Linden city prosecutor, has proposed legislation to protect people with debilitating medical conditions from arrest and prosecution for the use of medical marijuana. New Jersey needs a law, similar to those in 11 other states, to attempt to preempt the federal ban on using medical marijuana, Scutari said Thursday. [continues 382 words]
The newest guests at exclusive house parties probably traversed the globe to attend. Superman, Mickey Mouse, Playboy Bunnies, Tom & Jerry, all arrive sporting designer labels, and promising to make you feel good - really good. The comic book and cartoon character names delineate popular brands of Ecstasy, a designer drug that authorities say they have discovered statewide, from the northernmost tip of rural Sussex County to the far southern reaches near the Delaware River border. Once a staple of dance clubs and dark, late-night warehouse raves, Ecstasy has rapidly emerged from an underground subculture to become the social lubricant of suburban living rooms. [continues 1184 words]
Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale seems to think waging a global war against politically incorrect plants can win the drug war. U.S. military intervention in Colombia could very well spread coca production and civil war throughout South America. Destroy the Colombian coca crop and production will boom in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Destroy every last plant in South America and domestic methamphetamine production will increase to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs. The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to drug policy. The failed drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government. The steady rise in warrantless police searches, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties in America, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country. [continues 96 words]
The U.S. government must deploy Special Forces troops to Colombia, seal its border with Mexico, and cut economic aid to a host of nations in Latin America to win the war on drugs, Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale said. In an interview Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" about his new book on undercover narcotics work, Speziale prescribed a military operation on a scale of the Panama invasion of 1989 into nations whose governments are not cooperating in the war on drugs. [continues 386 words]
