The biggest single risk in legalizing marijuana in 2012 - with no other issue even close - was the effect it might have on adolescents. Would usage skyrocket among this group? Teens who use drugs are more likely than adults to end up dependent on them and to suffer other long-term consequences, such as academic failure. If it can be shown for sure that legalization pushes more kids into pot use, most arguments on behalf of legal pot would be overwhelmed. That's why the recent data from the state's Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which shows marijuana use among high school students has not increased and is roughly the same as the national average, is so heartening. Even the most ardent opponents of legalization ought to pleased, since the prospect of repealing Amendment 64 in the near future is approximately zero. We're going to be living with the consequences of legalization for the time being, both good and bad. [continues 329 words]
Recently, New Approach Idaho withdrew the medical marijuana initiative due to erroneously listing the American Academy of Pediatrics as supporting medical marijuana. While AAP did acknowledge the potential value of CBD, for severe seizures - and called for rescheduling to allow for research and called for decriminalization for use by minors and young adults - they do not support medical marijuana generally. Sadly Elisha Figueroa, Idaho's "drug czar," used this unfortunate error to criticize decent and dedicated Idaho citizen activists saying they "misled, manipulate, and outright lie." She went on to play the "kid card" so common with prohibitionists who have nothing else, saying in part "... so today is a great day for the health and safety of Idaho's children." This, after she testified against the CBD oil bill that would have allowed use only for children with intractable seizures. [continues 64 words]
Payette County Sheriff Chad Huff doesn't want to see his 72-bed jail filled with cannabis smokers. Before July 1's legalization of recreational marijuana across the Snake River in Oregon, Huff spoke with his deputies. He encouraged them to cite and release violators of Idaho's marijuana possession law. Possession of up to 3 ounces of pot in Idaho is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. "I've basically asked that they not overload our jail with marijuana arrests," Huff said. "We're going to take more of a citation in the field (approach) vs. an actual physical arrest on marijuana charges." [continues 2253 words]
A recent news story detailed how police departments across the nation (including Boise's) are acquiring surplus military equipment to use as a resource in protecting citizens and officers. The story also raised the question: Are we are seeing the militarization of local police? I think the answer lies not in the symbolism of a free vehicle, but in the substance of a police department's actions every day. I have a great deal of respect for our nation's military, but our roles are clearly different: The military fights threats from outside of our country; police protect and serve citizens in our local communities. Our traditions, uniforms, and titles are superficially similar, and we both pledge our allegiance to our nation and take oaths to serve our citizens. [continues 467 words]
Fear of being labeled "soft on crime" has led state and federal politicians on a three-decade-long odyssey through a morass of laws that transformed the criminal courts into chambers of arbitrariness. Caught with 500 grams of cocaine? Or 100 marijuana plants? How about 28 grams of crack? You're going to a federal penitentiary for five years. No questions asked. Say you were arrested with 5 kilos of cocaine. Or 1,000 pot plants. Or 280 grams of crack? [continues 500 words]
Painkillers Have A Grip On Millions Who Were Told That The Chances Of Addiction Were Not Great. PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - The label on OxyContin, which was approved by the FDA, initially said the risks of addiction were "reported to be small." The New England Journal of Medicine, the nation's premier medical publication, informed readers that studies indicated that such painkillers posed "a minimal risk of addiction." Another important journal study, which the manufacturer of OxyContin reprinted 10,000 times, indicated that in a trial of arthritis patients, only a handful showed withdrawal symptoms. [continues 1262 words]
In an interview with Idaho Conservative Blogger, Gov. Butch Otter says he's consulted with governors in states permitting marijuana use, but doubts the Legislature will ever send him a bill. If they did, he hinted he would veto the measure, calling pot a "gateway drug." Among Otter's major initiatives have been the Idaho Meth Project, a favorite cause of his wife, Lori. As a young lawmaker in the 1970s, Otter supported decriminalization, but his views have shifted. Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, has pushed for years to legalize industrial hemp, but gotten no traction in the Legislature. [continues 307 words]
Idaho Moms for Marijuana hosts Hempathy for the Holidays, 2 to 5 p.m., Sunday on the corner of Front Street and 8th Street in Boise. The event is a donation drive for non-perishable food items; new, unwrapped toys; warm coat, hats, gloves, and clothes - all gently used, please. New books for Operation Wishbook will also be accepted. Donations will be distributed to The Idaho Food Bank and The Salvation Army. Idaho Moms for Marijuana is a local grassroots organization that works for the legalization of marijuana, including for medical use. [end]
The anti-methamphetamine program championed by Idaho First Lady Lori Otter is expected to receive another $1 million, thanks Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. Simpson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, secured the money as part of a final year-end bill funding several federal departments and agencies. The Idaho Meth Project is known for graphic anti-meth advertising. Simpson also announced another $1.75 million in federal funds for Interstate 84, the Idaho State Police, the Idaho Department of Corrections and children's health services. [continues 371 words]
The court ruled that just because the couple's daughter was on probation, they were not subject to drug testing. The Idaho Court of Appeals says a northern Idaho couple had their constitutional protection from unlawful searches violated when a magistrate ordered them to submit to drug tests as part of their daughter's probation. The parents were not named in the ruling to protect the identity of their juvenile daughter. In the unanimous ruling handed down Thursday, the appellate court found that 1st District Magistrate Robert Burton's ruling served a laudable purpose in requiring the parents to be tested for marijuana. But the appeals court said it was still a violation of the parents' right against unlawful searches. [continues 292 words]
The school district has had random testing in the past, but the new system includes all varsity and junior varsity football players. The Homedale School District will drug test all of its varsity and junior varsity football players this fall after the district's board of trustees approved a request from coach Rob Kassebaum. The district has had a random testing policy in place for students participating in extracurricular activities since 1999, but last week's decision expands the testing program to all football players. [continues 320 words]
Keeping Kids Off Meth Starts With Adults, Milton Creagh Says Nicole Gibbs, an elementary school counselor in the Middleton School District, has a third-grade student who doesn't yet know how to read but can describe the steps to make methamphetamine. Gibbs said she believes drug problems, which are typically associated with inner cities, are steadily spreading to rural areas like Middleton that lack resources for enforcement and treatment. "People who say, `It's not in my community' have got their eyes closed," Gibbs said. [continues 359 words]
The Afghan government just announced a new crackdown on opium production. That country now produces 90 percent of the world's output. Opium reportedly is the largest single component of Afghanistan's GDP. Though the crackdown is laudable, history and economic theory tell us it will have only limited success. The problem with trying to limit the growing of such crops is that any success in restricting output pushes up the price of what is produced. This increases profitability for the remaining producers. The greater the effort put into eradicating production, the greater the incentive for producers to somehow keep producing. [continues 402 words]
Gov. Jim Risch appointed former Boise police officer and City Councilman Jim Tibbs as Idaho's new drug czar, prompting optimism from local detox center advocates and increasing speculation among Democrats about Tibbs challenging Mayor Dave Bieter in 2007. As drug czar, Tibbs will be in charge of coordinating efforts among state agencies to fight drug abuse across the state. He reports directly to the governor and serves as long as the governor wants him. Tibbs' first order of business in his new job will be to compile a complete list of the state's resources for fighting drugs and how they are being used, he said. [continues 679 words]
Idaho drug czar and Boise City Councilman Jim Tibbs, while serving as interim police chief, drove a patrol car to the scene of a police shooting after drinking alcohol, a violation of city policy he knew about before breaking it. Community ombudsman Pierce Murphy's 59-page report into the Dec. 18, 2004, shooting noted that an officer, identified in the report only as Officer No. 6, had admitted drinking one glass of wine before he was notified of the shooting of teenager Matthew Jones outside his North Boise home. [continues 467 words]
Alcohol, Tobacco Would Prohibit Scholarships The Idaho House passed a bill that would offer state scholarships to high schoolers who stayed drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free. The measure would offer some money for one semester for each year the student tested negative for the substances. But time is running out on the bill because there's likely just one week left in the session and the Senate Education Committee is still wrangling with sweeping charter school legislation. The point, the bill's sponsor Sharon Block said, is to have Idaho teenagers saying, "Sorry, I cannot do drugs with you. I cannot do alcohol with you. I cannot smoke with you." [continues 542 words]
Boise writer Everardo Torrez celebrates the publication of his first novel, "Narco," (Arte Publico Press) on Tuesday. A graduate of the Boise State writing program and a winner of several writing honors, Torrez will discuss his book on campus as part of Latino Heritage Month. The atmosphere of "Narco," by Torrez's own admission, is "gritty." It's the story of Nando Flores, a smuggler of cargo both animate and inanimate across the Mexican border. Flores' arrangement to help a woman named Xiomara (pronounced "See-oh-mara") get to the border city of Juarez puts him in the company of sinister characters. [continues 1643 words]
Grand jury indicts 17 from Idaho, eastern Oregon Seventeen owners and employees of "head shops" in Idaho and Eastern Oregon were arrested Monday as part of Operation Pipe Dream, a nationwide crackdown on the trafficking of illegal drug paraphernalia sold in traditional stores and on the Internet. The arrests netted the operators of stores such as the Red Eye Hut, which has locations in Boise, Nampa and Ontario, Ore. In all, 55 people were arrested and charged in at least 10 states by federal, state and local authorities for alleged involvement in the sale of products intended for the use of illegal drugs, including bongs, marijuana pipes, miniature spoons and scales. [continues 484 words]
The tragic death of the Jerome County man in a botched drug raid is not an isolated incident. Throughout the nation, similar no-knock search warrants have led to the deaths of Americans wrongly suspected of drug possession. In 2000, 11-year old Alberto Sepulveda was shot in the back in Modesto, Calif., during a raid. No drugs were found. Ismael Mena, a father of nine, was killed in Denver, Colo., in 1999 when police raided the wrong house. Also in 1999, Compton, Calif. grandfather Mario Paz was killed in front of his family during a botched no-knock raid. Again, no drugs were found. Would the possession of illicit drugs have justified the deaths? We don't shoot alcoholics or Prozac users in this country. Yet drug warriors would have the public believe that possession of a relatively harmless drug like marijuana, which has never been shown to cause an overdose death, somehow justifies the use of deadly force. How many more citizens will be sacrificed at the altar of the failed drug war? The hypocritical drug war is causing tremendous societal harm at great expense to the taxpayer, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. Robert Sharpe, program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C. [end]
TWIN FALLS - Administrators in the Twin Falls School District have agreed to random drug testing. At the district's first meeting of the school year Wednesday, the principals themselves initiated the concept, Superintendent Terrell Donicht said. The move comes in the wake of the arrest and resignation of Mary Lee Roberts, former principal of Bickel Elementary School, who pleaded guilty this past week to a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Roberts was suspected of mailing herself a pound of marijuana from a Texas post office. [continues 129 words]
