PANAMA -- If Panamanian voters on Sunday reject a constitutional change that would allow President Ernesto Perez Balladares to run for reelection, as some pollsters predict, they may kill more than his hopes to remain in power. They may also destroy the last faint chance for a continued U.S. military presence in Panama beyond 2000. The proposal to keep 2,000 U.S. troops here after the Panama Canal comes under local control on the last day of 1999 is already nearly dead. But, officials in both Washington and Panama City say, defeat of the constitutional amendment would probably yank out the final life-support tubes. [continues 831 words]
Prosecutors dropped charges Wednesday against four of seven people arrested in one of Fresno County's largest drug busts, saying fingerprint evidence against them was weak. "The district attorney did the right thing by dismissing it instead of wasting time with a preliminary hearing," said defense lawyer Eric Green, who represented one of the group arrested Aug. 8 in connection with the seizure of 26 pounds of cocaine. Though prosecutors said the four lived at the home where the cocaine was found, Green said they had no involvement with the drugs. [continues 250 words]
It's `only marginally successful' in steering youth from drug abuse An independent report released Wednesday found Houston's $3.7 million-a-year DARE program "only marginally successful" in steering youngsters from substance abuse. The study, by University of Houston social sciences professor Bruce Gay, suggests the Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum in local schools may not be working. "There is very little compelling evidence to suggest that the primary goal of the DARE program is being reached at a statistically significant level," Gay concludes. [continues 852 words]
Campus will be first in Los Angeles school district to have canines sniff backpacks, lockers and desks. School board OKs one-year pilot program. VENICE -- The Los Angeles school board has approved a plan to bring drug-sniffing dogs into Venice High School to check students' backpacks, lockers and desks. It is the first time canines will be used on campus in the Los Angeles Unified School District. "We are very pleased that we got the green light to proceed," said Venice High Principal Bud Jacobs. He said he doesn't think the school has any more of a drug problem than other schools, but that the dogs will be "a very strong deterrent." [continues 170 words]
The plea from a mom who says her boy isn't dealing drugs SIRIA, Honduras -- Virginia Consuelo Calis Arteaga comes to the door in a tattered T-shirt and bare feet. Her tiny house is exactly as her son in Vancouver described -- a simple two-room adobe casa shaded by three palm trees. It stands beside the school in this dusty village three hours north of Tegucigalpa. When I met Rudolpho at the Metrotown SkyTrain station, he agreed to tell me his real name so I could visit his mother. I agreed to call him only Rudolpho, the street name he has adopted in Vancouver. [continues 781 words]
Jury deliberating case against woman who had 132 pounds of drugs in her basement. The cubes of marijuana taken from a house at 1703 Princeton was enough to last a lifetime, an undercover officer testified at a drug possession trial on Thursday. "That will last more than the lifetime of one person," the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team agent testified, referring to the six boxes of confiscated marijuana. The 132 pounds of marijuana were taken from the house rented by Beatriz Valdez Pina, who is charged with possession with intent to deliver more than45 kilograms of a marijuana and maintaining a drug house.That quantity of marijuana has a street value of $150,000, according to the prosecution. [continues 458 words]
A MAJOR drugs crackdown has been launched against Dublin nightclubs. Several have been warned they could lose their licences if they don't clean up their act and kick out the pushers. Letters from gardai were posted to seven city-centre clubs and discos after undercover cops were offered drugs. Hardened detectives were shocked by the amounts of illegal drugs available. "The place is awash with the stuff," one senior officer said last night. "It seems that anything you want you can get in Dublin's night spots. [continues 88 words]
Slugger Is Not Cheating With His Steroids BOSTON---No wonder ballplayers loathe the media. Mark McGwire is stalking one of baseball's most cherished records---until now the feel-good story of the baseball summer --- and suddenly he's engaged in a tabloid-driven controversy that's painting him as a cheater and a bad role model. It's unfair. If you just dropped in from a twoweek trip to Guam, here's the background: An Associated Press reporter noticed a jar of androstenedione in McGwire's locker last week. He asked the slugger about the stuff, did some homework and wrote about it. [continues 631 words]
