Suddenly, heroin is hot. Or rather, talking about heroin, addiction, treatment and non-punitive responses is hot, especially among presidential candidates as they canvass for votes in New Hampshire. A standard part of this year's campaigning has been a visit with a family who lost a child to an overdose, or a confessional talk at a drug clinic. That's because the explosion in U.S. heroin use that began about six years ago has hit New England particularly hard. [continues 641 words]
An Afghanistan/Iraq vet faces a life sentence for less than an ounce. Thanks, Oklahoma. The Good Oregon has joined Alaska, Colorado, D.C., and our own great state in the Brotherhood of Ganja, officially legalizing marijuana on July 1. In several ways, the Oregonians are doing it better than us, allowing home grows (four plants each), setting the tax at 17 percent (as compared to our newly lowered but still obnoxious 37 percent excise tax), expunging the records of those with cannabis convictions, and even letting citizens fly with weed within the state. Oregon also allows the most pot per person of any of the legal states: up to half a pound of Grade A herb (eight ounces) as compared to our paltry single-ounce (or 28-gram) limit. Adults 21 and over can carry up to an ounce of cannabis and have a pound of edibles in their homes, as well as 72 ounces of cannabis-infused liquids. To get a sense of how much weed you can possess, the Portland Police Bureau's handy reference guide compares chronic quantities to the city's famous Voodoo donuts. [continues 839 words]
Re "Borders on slander" (Letters to the Editor, April 2): It may seem odd to some individuals that I am hardly a "member of the elite liberal progressive class," as, apparently, some folks on the right (and please forgive me for using labels here, but I do so merely to make a point) have labeled me. Evidently, I have given this impression because I questioned the role of Congress. Seriously, I believed they represented the people. The former and current Congress may not be the worst in our history, but it's darned close. The manner in which some members of Congress conduct themselves is beyond shameful. Spending so much energy on vilifying the sitting president is schoolyard bullshit. You may get standing ovations and cheers from the part of your constituency that really hates the president, but you're not getting anything done. And that is why sitting members of Congress should be working to get things done! It is called compromise, folks. It's finding some common ground somewhere and working on it. Perhaps some of Sen. Dean Heller's fellow senators can take a cue from our GOP senator from Nevada. He's far from perfect, but at least he tries to get things done for his home state and for his country. We "liberals" can applaud him for that. [continues 292 words]
The Christie has had a bad spell-last week he made headlines by calling marijuana legalization and herb taxes "Blood Money." It's set in stone that Gov. Chris Christie does not like marijuana and is one of those fools who really believes the Reefer Madness lies of the 1930s - no surprise there. He was confronted by a teacher and that encounter went viral, a state judge is questioning his pension plans, and his cronyism with the Wall Street bankers has been exposed as a nearly 1 billion dollar Cash Cow featured on the nationally televised show The Young Turks. [continues 1128 words]
Study Hour. "Taking music lessons as a child could physically change your brain." This headline ran in the HuffingtonPost last year. Unless you read the HuffPost regularly, you might not have heard about it. There was no rash of stories across the country regarding the brain damage wreaked by music lessons. Actually the findings about music lessons, and music itself, were that they had a positive impact on our brains. But the brains of musicians are definitely wired differently than non-musicians. [continues 1075 words]
On his way to outer space, Sir Richard Branson is taking a detour. The magnetic billionaire with the electric smile rerouted from his mission to put people in orbit for a trip to San Francisco last week. On a stage shared with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and District Attorney George Gascon - but unmistakably commanded by the blond Brit - Branson entertained his side venture: pushing a future America where we can buy heroin at the corner store, and the citizens aren't all Klansmen in disguise. [continues 713 words]
Be proactive in our world Thank you for the Feb. 21 edition of The News-Review; it was one of the best ever! What I appreciated most were the two letters in the Public Forum. It would serve Douglas County and Oregon well if everyone would take heed and read them. One letter was regarding drugs: pot. The writer hit the nail on the head. Pot is a gateway drug. I have worked in the medical field since 1988. Babies are born dead or have birth defects from drug usage. Foster parents who care for these children really deserve a lot of credit for a difficult job. [continues 202 words]
Pot's Tipping Point. The public debate over marijuana has finally reached the highest levels in our government. President Obama, in an interview that ran in The New Yorker, said that while he believed marijuana use is a "bad habit and a vice," he doesn't "think it is more dangerous than alcohol." That was certainly a shot over the bow against the War on Drugs; hopefully it moves us closer to sensible policies about marijuana. "We were absolutely delighted that he finally came out with a positive statement, an accurate statement," says Heidi Parikh, director of Michigan Compassion, a federal nonprofit focused on education about medical marijuana. "We hope he moves forward in the direction, that he'll reschedule it before the end of his term." [continues 1124 words]
I found political pundit Erick Erickson's remarks in his column "The politics of pot" (1/10) to be unsupported and mainly fearmongering with outdated concepts. While Erickson takes potshots at medical marijuana and its recreational usage as dangerous "unbridled hedonism" and leading to another sexual revolution, he also makes the assumption that "perhaps we should just wait a few years then re-examine Colorado before rushing on." Where is his caution about opioid drugs? I suggest Erickson has avoided looking at medical heroin in the same light, such as the popular opiates like morphine, methadone, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone or Oxycotin, that have led to more addictions and deaths than marijuana ever has. [continues 120 words]
Ones and twos How much pot is too much pot? If you have to ask that question, not much pot at all. But whether you're a bright-eyed newbie with a pinch hitter and a penchant for dubstep or a red-card-toting veteran with love in your heart and chronic pain in your knees, you're invited to a ganja-centric birthday party for DJ Chris Diablo at Speak Easy Vape Lounge (2508 E. Bijou St., 445-9083) on Friday, Oct. 11. [continues 358 words]
Re "Decriminalization" (News, Jan. 3): Go back, go back! I implore Nevadans to forego any thoughts of decriminalizing the "Devil Weed." Perhaps my experience on New Year's Eve will be instructive: I "found" a single joint of marijuana lying on the sidewalk here in Paonia. (I have no proof, of course, but I strongly suspect it was planted there by the Mexican drug cartels.) Realizing that it was now "legal" here in Colorado, I lit it up and took a tentative puff. What ensued can only be described as a nightmare. The first thing I did was search (fruitlessly) in the immediate area for a stash of Heroin or perhaps a few pills of Oxycontin. Then I searched my now fogged brain for the location of an open gun show so I might purchase a Bushmaster assault rifle or some other means of committing mass murder or at least an armed robbery. (None were open at that midnight hour.) Having no other lawless options available, I hopped in my car with the intention of running down pedestrians or smashing into other vehicles. By the merest circumstance I was only a half block from home. My aging Ford Taurus was unable to attain the 100 mph speed I so fervently sought. (I was able to exceed the posted speed limit by 5 mph, and when I got home I thoughtlessly parked with my wheels a good 15 inches from the curb, fully three inches outside what's permitted by local ordinance!) I stumbled into the house barely able to constrain my urge to kick the dog or beat my spouse. Thence to sleep. (A coma?) Now, as that poisonous THC slowly relinquishes its grip on my body and mind, I am returning to normal. The Iraq war was legitimate. The rich are deserving of tax relief. Personal freedom is mostly too dangerous to contemplate. A few more hours of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and sanity will return. Be careful out there. Though the details of that experience are a little fuzzy, I'm pretty sure it happened much as I have described it. Larry L. Wissbeck Paonia, Colo. [end]
This is the intriguing subtext - or maybe dominant theme - of Tuesday night's decisive Electoral College victory by incumbent and now, more than ever, history-making U.S. President Barack Obama: The U.S. is becoming, well, Canadian. That will seem like a wild exaggeration to some. But consider. The campaign itself was as nasty and divisive as always on the advertising side, and at street level. But at the presidential level, there was courtesy. Mitt Romney-haters will disagree, but at no time in the campaign, certainly not in public, did Romney bare his fangs in anything like a Rush Limbaugh-style display of rage. He was aggressive but respectful. More to the point, his policy positions - during the campaign at least - were centrist. But it was too little centrism, too late. [continues 662 words]
This is the amazing, intriguing subtext - or maybe it's a dominant theme - of Tuesday night's decisive Electoral College victory by incumbent and now, more than ever, history-making U.S. President Barack Obama: The United States is becoming, well, Canadian. That will seem like a wild exaggeration to some. But consider. The campaign itself was as nasty and divisive as always on the advertising side, and at street level. But at the presidential level, especially, there was courtesy. Romney haters will disagree. But at no time in this campaign, certainly not in public, did Romney bare his fangs in anything like a Rush Limbaugh-style display of rage. He was aggressive but respectful. More to the point, his policy positions - during the campaign at least - were centrist. But it was too little centrism, too late. [continues 692 words]
This is the intriguing subtext - or maybe dominant theme - of Tuesday night's decisive Electoral College victory by incumbent and now, more than ever, history-making U.S. President Barack Obama: The U.S. is becoming, well, Canadian. That will seem like a wild exaggeration to some. But consider. The campaign itself was as nasty and divisive as always on the advertising side, and at street level. But at the presidential level, there was courtesy. Mitt Romney-haters will disagree, but at no time in the campaign, certainly not in public, did Romney bare his fangs in anything like a Rush Limbaugh-style display of rage. He was aggressive but respectful. More to the point, his policy positions - during the campaign at least - were centrist. But it was too little centrism, too late. [continues 663 words]
I think the greatest weapon in war is propaganda. I was a brainwashed for years until I read a book called "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" by Jack Herer. Then I did a little basic research to confirm the facts. Now I find myself surrounded by ill-informed people who refuse to listen to reason; like supporters of House Bill 3664. The government has spent a trillion dollars over the past three and a half generations, so now almost everyone is brainwashed to some degree. This is the reason why so few politicians are willing to do the right thing. Why would they put their careers on the line by contradicting the great lie? [continues 645 words]
Editor, the Tribune: As a retired police detective who worked in the trenches of the drug war for 18 years, I heartily agree with Hank Waters that we need to repeal this modern prohibition. Drug prohibition has increased crime, death, disease and quite probably drug use. I could not see one positive outcome from my position in the trenches. The slaughter of innocents at birthday parties in Mexico merits a shrug from us. We don't care enough to change policy. [continues 88 words]
The view from Vancouver This editorial appeared in the The Province A new survey showing that many Canadian parents are in the dark about their teenagers' drug use comes as little surprise. Parents are often among the last to know what their children get up to. And that's been true since time immemorial. Nor is it really surprising that between one-third and one-half of kids aged between 15 and 19 reported using marijuana in the past year, according to the survey commissioned by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. [continues 128 words]
A new survey showing that many Canadian parents are in the dark about their teenagers' drug use comes as little surprise. Parents are often among the last to know what their children get up to. And that's been true since time immemorial. Nor is it really surprising that between one-third and one-half of kids aged between 15 and 19 reported using marijuana in the past year, according to the survey commissioned by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. [continues 145 words]
