Who knew that when North Carolina and Duplin County authorities cited members of country music legend Willie Nelson's band on marijuana and alcohol charges in January that it would turn into an uproar that began in Eastern North Carolina and has swept the state. Heck, there's even a song about it that's getting some notice in Tennessee. The matter has divided the rural farming community where Nelson was schedule to play. Some think that agents from the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement were just doing their jobs on Jan. 28, when they searched the band's bus outside the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville, adding that the band members are not above the law. [continues 343 words]
Our children are challenged enough to master reading and writing, math and science in the classroom without the added anxiety of drug abuse, guns and weapons, and the threat of violence out in the school hallways and playgrounds. It's never good news when students carry loaded guns to school or bring in marijuana or physically assault their classmates or even their teachers. The latest report from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction shows that such incidents aren't everyday occurrences at school, with a statewide decrease in such acts from last year, along with a welcome decline in drop-out rates for most school systems. [continues 490 words]
To the editor: What's the problem with some of the members of Willie Nelson's band smoking a little marijuana and drinking bootleg whiskey? The problem is that it's against the law. When somebody gets caught breaking the law, they have to pay the price if they are found guilty. Just suppose that after Willie's show, the bus had been involved in an accident and someone had been injured or killed (your wife, father, child or friend). What would the reaction have been? [continues 162 words]
Legislator Says to "Leave the Man Alone" RALEIGH -- North Carolina's singing senator has recorded a song critical of the marijuana and alcohol charges filed against members of singer-songwriter Willie Nelson's band in January. "It just looks like a special effort was made to go on that bus and cite them with marijuana," said state Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin. The song, called "Leave the Man Alone," refers to the Jan. 28 citations issued to six members of Nelson's band on either possession of marijuana or possession of non-tax-paid alcohol. The band's bus was outside the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville. [continues 549 words]
RALEIGH -- North Carolina's singing senator has recorded a song critical of the marijuana and alcohol citations filed against members of singer-songwriter Willie Nelson's band in January. "It just looks like a special effort was made to go on that bus and cite them with marijuana," said state Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin. The song, called "Leave the Man Alone," refers to the Jan. 28 citations issued to six members of Nelson's band on either possession of marijuana or possession of non-tax-paid alcohol. The band's bus was outside the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville. [continues 547 words]
I'm very much in favor of making cannabis legal for medicinal purposes. It's obvious from all the information out today that it's time to do what's honest and right. The great lie has been exposed. I'm a disabled vet; I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. I support House Bill 1380. Ralph D. Davis Rockingham [end]
As I search through articles on medicinal marijuana through the Star News, it has become abundantly clear that drug possession, and sales are making our headlines more than they should be. Multiple arrests for cocaine, mushrooms, and marijuana in the past 15 or so days show that this is an issue affecting us all, both in tax dollars, and in misinformation about what really happens in Wilmington. How many of the readers of the StarNews know that there are two methadone clinics here in Wilmington? ...Prescription medication abuse is through the roof. Families torn apart by abuse of opiates such as oxycotin ... It really vexes me that marijuana is classified in the same category as the harmful pharmaceutical substances, and even upsets me more so that it is not legal for medicinal use in North Carolina. From AIDS to pain relief, marijuana has been legalized in 14 other states in our nation. There is a bill (HB 1380) that the General Assembly should be voting on this summer. I am a firm supporter of this bill. I urge citizens to educate themselves on this bill and let (their state representatives) know they support it. The question should no longer be why legalize medicinal marijuana, but why not legalize it? Franklin Oldham, Wilmington [end]
Hobbled by a degenerative back disease and arthritis, there were days when Perry Parks was in near constant pain. He tried Vioxx, epidural steroids and other drugs, but he said nothing seemed to work. Then the Vietnam veteran from Rockingham turned to marijuana. "The results were overwhelming," says Parks, 67. "I now live almost pain free." Tonight Parks will share his story at a town hall meeting at UNC Charlotte hosted by state Rep. Nick Mackey of Mecklenburg County. "The evidence that it benefits patients is pretty much unrefuted," Mackey said Wednesday. [continues 391 words]
There have always been conflicts between the rights of schools and students' First Amendment rights. Beginning with the court case Tinker v. Des Moines, the Supreme Court decided that students don't lose their First Amendment rights simply by walking through their schoolhouse doors. Since that decision in 1969 though, many other court cases have occurred that seek to limit students' freedoms. New Jersey v. T.L.O set the precedent that students have less privacy in schools. The Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls set the precedent that random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities does not violate the Fourth Amendment. [continues 491 words]
It's impossible to live in peace while we're under the influence of drug prohibition. There's too much money in the illegal sales, and too many organizations ready to use it to finance violent activities. We need to legalize cocaine, heroin, marijuana and meth in order to reclaim big chunks of the black market. Then we can ease prison overcrowding by releasing drug prohibition offenders, and redirect drug-war spending into rehab, recovery and reintegration programs. Chapel Hil [end]
The sentencing this week of a former Roseboro doctor for his role in selling prescribed drugs to patients who, medically speaking, didn't need them is disturbing on many levels. The most obvious, of course, is the fact that Perry Reese, a once licensed physician, used his profession as a backdrop for the sale of the prescription drugs Oxycontin and Percocet. He was little more than a street dealer plying his trade in an office that was little more than a haven for the illegal activity he was conducting. [continues 438 words]
Overall, the crime rate is falling, but North Carolina will need 8,500 more prison beds by the end of the decade, and the cost will be around $200 million. Per year. And that's for a prison that would be operating at capacity from day one. What does this tell us? It tells us, for one thing, that structured sentencing has succeeded - if you define "success" as sending more people to prison for longer terms, and don't mind the sticker price. [continues 349 words]
WE HAVE a prime opportunity during the next year or two to step back and take a look at whom we send to our state prisons and how long we require them to remain behind bars. North Carolina state government will partner with the Council of State Government's Justice Center to conduct a "justice reinvestment" study. The study is aimed at analyzing objective data surrounding our criminal justice system and looking at options for redirecting our money that could change the number of people sent to prison while at the same time reducing crime. [continues 367 words]
I sit here today totally disabled. You ask why? I have a disease called Transverse Myelitis. It has left me with numbness and tingling in both legs, an awkward gait and the inability to stand for any length of time without additional pain. I currently take more medications than I can afford on disability income. I do not qualify for Medicaid. After my last visit with my neurologist at Duke, he mentioned that "pot" had shown promise as a way of helping with pain, stiffness and muscle spasms in my legs. I have not tried it because currently in North Carolina it is illegal. I do not drink -- never have, never will because of all of the damage it has done to families over the years. [continues 105 words]
Regarding the Feb. 23 article "These are your grandparents, on drugs," the fact that most N&O readers are mature adults is irrelevant. How many kids in Wake County high schools had to come to history class with a current event from the newspaper, and saw the front-page "grandparent" hitting a marijuana smoke-filled bong? How many kids cut this picture out to show their classmates as their interest in experimenting with drugs has been ever-increasing? With all the anti-drug spots on TV, it would be nice to see a similar ad in the paper occasionally instead of giving kids ammunition against their parents to become users. Nicholas Solovieff Raleigh [end]
State Sen. Charlie Albertson says he can relate to country music legend Willie Nelson. Sen. Charlie Albertson -(D) Duplin A lifelong musician himself, the Duplin County Democrat spent 56 days on a tour bus in Germany in the late '70s and understands how "a bus is sort of like a home to a band," he said So he got upset after state alcohol officers raided Nelson's tour bus in Albertson's home county and cited band members for possession of marijuana and moonshine. [continues 356 words]
In March of 2008, when New Hanover County was considering the purchase of a helicopter for the sheriff's office, authorities said local taxpayers wouldn't foot the bill. At the time, former sheriff Sid Causey said the $683,050 helicopter would be paid for by federal grants and seized drug money. But now that Sheriff Ed McMahon is forwarding money the office received from forfeitures that occurred in local courts during the past few years, that promise appears to no longer hold true. [continues 345 words]
New Hanover County Schools will receive an additional $150,646 in forfeited money from the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office, officials say. The funds are seized money that authorities now suspect should have gone to the schools in the first place. Sheriff Ed McMahon's announcement on Tuesday means that in the past two months he has pulled $323,529.15 from his office's budget and given it to the schools. All the money was seized by sheriff's deputies in criminal investigations and then forfeited to the sheriff's office by way of court orders signed by local judges between the fall of 2005 early 2009. [continues 654 words]
Police, Business Owner Talk Controversial Product An herbal product sold in local head shops as incense apparently mimics the effects of marijuana when smoked. But unlike marijuana, it's legal and undetectable in drug tests. The incense contains a mixtures of herbs and spices along with a compound known as JWH-018, a synthetic cannabinoid first used in scientific research with properties similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- the psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant. Serenity Now, a product sold online and at Smoker's Edge in Shelby and Lowell, has been identified as one of the products purported to give users a marijuana-like euphoria. Other products known as "K2," "Spice," "Genie" and "Zohai" are also said to contain JWH-018. [continues 892 words]
Top S.C. Cop Warns of New Threat From Traffickers Quietly Leaving Atlanta and Relocating in Carolinas. ROCK HILL - Mexican drug cartels are fleeing Atlanta and taking refuge in suburban and rural parts of South Carolina, the state's top cop told a Winthrop University audience on Thursday. Reggie Lloyd, director of the State Law Enforcement Division, returned to his alma mater with a warning about new threats from the drug trade. Pushed beyond Atlanta by heavy law enforcement, drug cartels are leaving the former East Coast drug capital and settling in places with lighter police presence, Lloyd said. They're quietly gaining footholds in neighboring Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. [continues 328 words]
Inside North Carolina
