/John Reynolds is a senior strategic advisor to law firm Lang Michener in Vancouver and a member of the Inner Change Foundation board. He served as a Member of Parliament for more than 13 years -- including as Leader of the Opposition. He has served the B.C. legislature as an MLA, minister of environment and Speaker. More recently, he co-chaired the Conservative Party's successful campaign in 2006./ One of the reasons I am a proud supporter of Vancouver's Inner Change Foundation and research like the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME) is because our health-care system needs to offer a wider array of effective treatment options for some of our most vulnerable citizens suffering from chronic drug addiction. [continues 494 words]
State Laws, County Efforts Credited With Decline TOVEY -- It's been a while since Dennis Braeuninger has run across anyone cooking up a batch of methamphetamine in his cornfield about three miles south of Tovey. About five years ago, it was a different story for the Christian County farmer. One day in June or July, while transferring a load of corn from a storage bin to a truck, Braeuninger saw a small pickup speed out of his field just yards from where he was working. The tall summer corn had hidden the truck, and when he walked back to investigate, he found empty blister packets from a package of pseudoephedrine tablets. [continues 571 words]
After two rounds of random drug testing, no one in the Sangamon County sheriff's office has tested positive, Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson said last week. "So far, there have been no positive indications of anything. It couldn't be going better," Williamson said. Last year, random drug testing was required under a new contract for county deputies. The tests look for alcohol, illegal drugs and steroids. Tests are done four times a year, and each time, about a dozen people are chosen randomly. The employees are not given any warning of when the tests might occur. [continues 192 words]
Editor, the Tribune: I am confused by the controversy surrounding the smoking ban. Are the smokers actually saying that their right to be addicted to nicotine is more important than public health? Is it not bad enough that smokers subject their children to secondhand smoke? They want to infect the rest of us too? They say that smoking is their right, but I don't see anything in the Constitution protecting a person's right to inflict their addictions on others. I do, however, see where a person's life is protected by the Constitution. Smoking kills people. It is not a right. Stop crying, smokers - you need the breath. [end]
Random employee tests targeting alcohol, illegal drugs and steroids could hit the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office by the end of the year. Sheriff Neil Williamson said Tuesday the new program should lend credibility to the department. He added that he does not believe there is a problem with deputies using alcohol, illegal drugs or steroids. "The citizens we serve will know that the deputies responding to their calls for help will be clean," the sheriff said. The random drug-testing program was included in the deputies' new contract, which was accepted by the Sangamon County Board in July. At the time of the contract's approval, some of the specifics of the drug testing, such as what company would conduct the tests, were not finalized. [continues 421 words]
Dumpsites Uncovered In Fields During Harvest Season Area farmers harvesting their fields are turning up more than just near-record corn yields this year. Deputy Terry Roderick of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office said deputies ran into the same problem last year when farmers took to the fields to bring in their crops. In most instances, farmers are running across dumpsites used to dispose of items involved in the manufacture of the illegal drug as opposed to a full-blown active production lab. [continues 554 words]
Board Issues Opinion For Tulia Residents The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended Tuesday that Gov. Rick Perry grant pardons to 35 people convicted in the 1999 Tulia drug busts. All 18 members of the board recommended pardon in each case, said board chairman Gerald Garrett. The governor asked the parole board May 13 to review the convictions obtained through testimony by Tom Cole man, a now-discredited undercover narcotics investigator. Perry -- In a letter to Garrett, Perry wrote, "I urge you to begin an expeditious investigation into each of these cases and recommend whether a pardon, commutation of sentence or other clemency action is appropriate and just." [continues 464 words]
Defendants To Remain Free While Court Sorts Out Legal Arguments They've spent up to four years behind bars based on the word of a now discredited cop. But the dozen or so inmates still incarcerated from a controversial drug sting in Tulia will soon be home thanks to legislation passed in the final days of this year's session. Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill Monday afternoon that authorizes the district court in Swisher County to release the 14 remaining prisoners on bond, pending action by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals or the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. [continues 677 words]
The proliferation of meth labs on the South Plains has reached epidemic proportions, causing local law enforcement to invest in advanced training for officers fighting the scourge on a daily basis. In the past three months, members of the South Plains Regional Narcotics Task Force and narcotics investigators from the Sheriff's Office have attended specialized narcotics courses in Austin and Kilgore. Narcotics investigators spend much of their time decommissioning meth labs and seizing quantities of meth that seem to grow larger and larger with each bust. [continues 735 words]
Illinois parents who know their children are using illegal drugs but take no action to stop it could find themselves facing a civil lawsuit, if legislation unveiled Thursday is approved. Called by supporters "The Parents Empowerment Act," the proposed law would make it easier to recover civil damages when people are injured, killed or have property damaged by a juvenile who is under the influence of an illegal drug. Anyone who supplies drugs to a minor could be held civilly liable, according to the legislation, and that extends to individuals and businesses that permit illegal drug use on property under their control, even if they do not directly sell, give or deliver the drugs. [continues 402 words]
