STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Sure, let's just hoist the white flag of surrender in the war against heroin addiction. That's what Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) would effectively do with her bill to legalize "supervised injection facilities" for people to self-administer illegal narcotics under the supervision of medical staff. If it's not the dumbest proposal we've heard to battle drug addiction, it has to rank pretty close to the top of the list. And yet we keep hearing it. [continues 505 words]
Possession of small amounts of marijuana (under 25 grams) was decriminalized way back in 1977. Yes, 1977! The loophole in this 36-year-old law is that if marijuana is possessed in a public place AND in public view, it is a crime (B-Misdemeanor in the Penal Law). My contention is that marijuana laws have increased not decreased crime. Now inhale this. In the last 10 years alone, nearly 500,000 New Yorkers have been arrested and charged with possession of small amounts of marijuana. [continues 122 words]
The debate over marijuana looms as a hot topic in New York in 2014. From here to Albany, there is controversy over the state laws that restrict the controlled substance. It's important to keep in mind the differences between the medical and recreational use of marijuana. State Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island worries that the furor over potentially legalizing marijuana entirely could eclipse her bill to expand its use as a medical therapy. As Ms. Savino points out, "New York is progressive on many things, but drug policy is not one of them." [continues 437 words]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- With more reports of young people overdosing on the "party drug" commonly referred to as Molly, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer wants D.C. to stage a legal assault to ban the chemicals used to make the drug. Schumer, (D-NY), said Sunday that a strategy involving federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, was needed to attack the dangerous trend. "This summer there have been a rash of overdoses of the drug, which is commonly taken at music festivals - three of which, in New York City, were fatal," Schumer stated. [continues 545 words]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The battle over medical marijuana will be on the agenda when lawmakers return to Albany for the new legislative session. State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore) plans to introduce her bill legalizing medical marijuana into the Senate in January. But not all of her colleagues in Staten Island's Albany delegation are convinced that medical marijuana is the way to go. The bill would allow seriously ill patients to purchase the drug through a registered dispensing facility, under medical supervision. Patients would have to register with the state Health Department. [continues 695 words]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino and her GOP challenger, Lisa, Grey, battled over immigration policy and medical marijuana during an appearance before the Advance Editorial Board. Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) is seeking another two-year term in Albany after first being elected in 2004. She said she supports an Assembly bill that would have given college tuition aide to the children of illegal immigrants. She also backs giving illegals a way to gain U.S. citizenship. [continues 691 words]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Medical marijuana was a flashpoint in a televised debate on Friday between Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino and her GOP challenger, Lisa Grey. The two squared off in a 30-minute encounter sponsored by the Advance and NY1. Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) has sponsored a bill to legalize medical marijuana in New York state. "Anybody who ever had a family member suffer from a debilitating disease ... learns very quickly the limitations of modern medicine," said Ms. Savino, whose mother and father each died of lung cancer. [continues 485 words]
Not everybody is buying state Sen. Diane Savino's bid to legalize medical marijuana in New York state. "It brings us one step closer to legalizing marijuana for recreational use," said Luke Nasta, head of Camelot Counseling Centers here. Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo is also a buzz-killer, saying that the risks associated with medical marijuana outweigh the benefits. Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) plans to introduce her bill tomorrow, which she said will likely be the beginning of a months-long effort to get the legislation approved. [continues 756 words]
WASHINGTON - Amelioration of today's drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80/20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs. About 3 million people - less than 1 percent of America's population - consume 80 percent of illegal hard drugs. Drug trafficking organizations can be most efficiently injured by changing the behavior of the 20 percent of heavy users, and we are learning how to do so. [continues 689 words]
When can the police forcibly enter your home to search for evidence without a warrant? That issue, pivotal to fundamental freedom, was argued last Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, Kentucky v. King, involves an arrest made on October 13, 2005 during a "buy-bust" operation that was being conducted at an apartment complex by the Lexington-Fayette County Police Department. An undercover informant positioned his truck in a lot adjacent to an apartment building where the drug transactions would take place. [continues 774 words]
Savino's Position Tied To Her Experience With Both Parents' Battles With Terminal Cancer STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- When state lawmakers vote on legalizing medical marijuana later this month, state Sen. Diane Savino expects to be front and center in favor. After all, Ms. Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) is a bill co-sponsor. But her support is less about the political and more about the personal: She believes her late parents -- both of whom "died young" of cancer -- would have benefited from it, saying it would have alleviated the great pain they were in. [continues 641 words]
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- If the roller-coaster temperatures of January have left your throat constricted and nose running, be prepared to show a photo ID and sign your name at the pharmacy. Although law-enforcement sources here say that methamphetamine is not very popular in the city, a relatively new federal law designed to prevent the sale of formerly over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines -- including Sudafed, Claritin-D, and Aleve Cold & Sinus - -- to would-be drug cooks have created headaches for local customers. [continues 997 words]
Drinking, Drugs On-Campus on the Rise, With 49 Percent Abusing One Or Both Monthly STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- College students have increased their drinking and drugging in the last decade despite crackdowns on underage, on-campus drinking, a new study said yesterday. "There's a consistent rise in prescription-drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses," said Luke Nasta, director of Camelot Counseling Centers. He described the situation as "nearly out of control, kind of a constant, partying subculture." Some 49 percent of all college students either binge-drink, abuse prescription or illegal drugs or do some of both every month, according to the study by the National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), which was released yesterday. [continues 587 words]
As the New York Container Terminal in Mariners Harbor was trumpeting tightened security measures and enjoying an improved public image from 2000 to 2003 -- when it was known as Howland Hook -- a cocaine smuggling operation allegedly was under way at the site. Federal agents yesterday announced 22 arrests in connection with the cocaine, which they say traveled from Colombia through the 187-acre Staten Island facility and ports in California. One of the accused, Alejandro Colon, worked as a longshoreman at the Island terminal until he retired in February. The 63-year-old Brooklyn resident is being charged with conspiring to import the drugs. [continues 343 words]
'I Wouldn't Dismiss It Out of Hand,' Mid-Island Republican Oddo Says of Measure After City Hall Hearing City Councilman James Oddo is keeping an open mind about whether he will support a measure that would allow New Yorkers to smoke marijuana for medical reasons. "I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand," said Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), a member of the Council's Health Committee, following its hearing on medical marijuana yesterday. The hearing was specifically about whether the Council should approve a nonbinding resolution calling on the Legislature to approve a bill that would legalize medical marijuana. [continues 696 words]
My mother looked rotten, it scared me. Her face was gray and sweating, and the shadows under her eyes were like bruises. She was an addict." - -- A scene from the movie and book, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph," by Willard Francis Motley, 1958. A truly fictionalized account of drug addiction? No ... not then, and not now. Americans spent $64 billion on illegal drugs last year: $36 billion on cocaine; $10 billion on heroin; $5.4 billion on methamphetamine and more than $11 billion on marijuana. [continues 846 words]
Last Sunday, Advance reporter Reginald Patrick reported what many of us who know the streets already feared -- heroin, the new old drug, is back, having toppled cocaine, especially crack cocaine (the free-based form made by cooking cocaine powder, water and baking soda), from its perch. Last year, when the first documented reports began surfacing, the fear that had been so long a part of ugly history, reared its head once more. Heroin, or "smack," cut a swath through Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s that left almost 50 percent of the adult male population either dead or among the walking dead. The specter of death that was heroin was fictionalized -- quite realistically -- by Claude Browne, who authored the classic "Manchild in the Promised Land." Mr. Browne died Feb. 2 in his beloved Harlem from a lung condition. [continues 926 words]
1 Out Of Every 3 Arrests On Staten Island Is Marijuana-Related Danny wears five gold, diamond-studded rings and a black do-rag. He's taking a year off after high school but has little reason to worry about his education. He deals marijuana and on a Tuesday afternoon in a Concord schoolyard, he wears over $5,000 worth of jewelry and has another $200 cash in his wallet. The 20-year-old did over a year in Rikers Island for dealing crack cocaine, but he doesn't worry about getting caught for dealing marijuana because "weed's just a misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist." He smokes five times a day, a casual break from handball. [continues 1350 words]
Police Vow A Crackdown On Criminal Activity After The Shooting Of A Cop During A Marijuana Bust "We are going to hit the hell out of it," a police source said. "When anything like that happens, you declare war on the area. And anything goes." Detective Victor Villareal, a 10-year veteran of the Police Department, was shot in the left hand during a 5:23 p.m. struggle with a man police said was smoking pot inside 1077 Castleton Ave., a part of the housing complex one police official described as "a big-time drug building." [continues 586 words]
In March of 1997 the city of Chicago denied the late Robert MacDonald's application for a permit to hold a rally in Grant Park. His purpose was to promote the legalization of marijuana. Now his successors on the "Windy City Hemp Development Board" have persuaded the Supreme Court to look at the city's ordinance, and to ponder once more the limits that may be imposed upon free speech. The case provides a classic example of the eternal conflict between individual freedom and public order. Here it is undisputed (1) that Grant Park is a public forum, (2) that the advocates of marijuana are engaged in core political speech, and (3) that Chicago has the power to regulate the time, place and manner of a rally in a park promoting pot. [continues 650 words]
