The marijuana plant possesses an extensive history of human use dating back thousands of years, thus providing society with ample empirical evidence as to its relative safety and efficacy ("Our View: Medical marijuana should be allowed in North Carolina," June 1). Moreover, cannabis and its compounds are among some of the most well-studied biologically active substances of modern times. A search on PubMed, the repository for all peer-reviewed scientific papers, using the term "marijuana," yields more than 20,000 scientific papers referencing the plant and/or its constituents, nearly half of which have been published just within the past decade. [continues 169 words]
Kathleen Parker ("Weed should be a choice," Jan. 20) scored lots of points, supporting the legalization of cannabis (marijuana). Another reason to re-legalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is biblically correct, since God created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they're all good, on literally the very first page of the Bible. A sane or moral argument to continue punishing and caging humans for using cannabis simply doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 recognizes the old adage: If you remember the '60s, you weren't there. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. It is true that marijuana smoking tends to affect one's short-term memory, but the good news is that, while stoned, one does relatively little worth remembering. At least that's my own recollection. So, yes, I toked, too. This doesn't mean anyone else should, and I haven't in decades, but our debate might have more value if more of us were forthcoming. [continues 566 words]
The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, we have almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. Experts point to several factors for explanation, but it's clear that a large number of people are imprisoned for drug-related crimes. Officially declared the "War on Drugs" by President Richard Nixon in 1971, this has become the longest and most costly war in American history. The question has become, how much more can we tolerate? America's drug war has failed to curb demand and I suspect we will never become a drug-free society. [continues 707 words]
For many soldiers - and plenty of civilians too - Spice is nice. For military commanders and some concerned legislators, it's anything but. That's why the designer drug that mimics the effect of marijuana has been banned on Fort Bragg and soldiers face random testing for its use. State Sen. William Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat and retired pediatrician, says he may introduce legislation next year to ban the product, widely sold as incense in tobacco shops and convenience stores, also under names such as K2, Funky Monkey and Afghan Kush. [continues 340 words]
A virtual reality simulator at Methodist University will soon help authorities learn how to spot a methamphetamine lab. On Tuesday, the university received a $150,000 federal grant to provide training to social workers, teachers, law enforcement and others who could potentially identify a dangerous clandestine lab. Students who strap on gloves and goggles can take a virtual walk through a house where they have to decide whether a pack of Sudafed, for example, is being used to make drugs or treat a cold based on what they see. [continues 514 words]
Stop me if you've read this before: Daily reports of drug arrests published in the Observer. A meth lab discovered off Ramsey Street. Residential break-ins all over, many of them committed by people hooked on drugs who steal for money to get enough dope to get them by, until next time. Gangs powered by guns, crack and cash; innocent bystanders hurt, and not just in beleaguered Bonnie Doone. Meanwhile, look to our borderland with Mexico. Have you read "No Country for Old Men"? You should. It's stark. It's brutal. It's what's happening in parts of our Southwest. Last week our top national security officials met with Mexican leaders to talk about the bloodbath that has claimed nearly 18,000 Mexican lives in violence involving drug cartels. It's because we Americans, in this land of plenty, can't control our appetite for drugs. [continues 236 words]
I have been following the story about the 20-year-old pregnant British citizen who was arrested trying to smuggle drugs in the country of Laos, and how, if she was convicted, she could face a firing squad. In some countries around the world, dealing drugs is a capital crime, because these people know that illegal drugs and involvement with them can destroy a nation. In our country, drug dealing is not a capital offense, and I'm not saying that it should be. I believe, in this country, we should act more aggressively against drug dealers. [continues 150 words]
Bessie Small and her family had finished up a Sunday supper of soup, corn, green peas and fatback. Then she headed to bed between 11 o'clock and midnight. "I woke up in a turmoil," she said on Monday. The 74-year-old Small said law enforcement officers used excessive force while executing a search warrant at her home in Haymount. Fayetteville Police Chief Thomas Bergamine, reached at his home on Monday night, said: "We have received no complaint of officers using excessive force. However, if there's a report of officers using excessive force, we will fully investigate it." [continues 434 words]
CLINTON - Sampson County deputies on Thursday found 2,400 marijuana plants potentially worth $6 million in the Ivanhoe community. The plants and a camp site were spotted from the air about a half mile off Dr. Kerr Road, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office. The site is about 30 miles southeast of Clinton. The landowner had no knowledge of the camp that was set up in the remote and heavily wooded area, the release said. "The persons growing the marijuana were squatters who were using someone else's land for their illegal purposes," Sheriff Jimmy Thornton said. [continues 93 words]
CARTHAGE - Moore County deputies have seized more than 7,000 pills so far this year in their crackdown on the illegal distribution and abuse of prescription pills. That compares with 1,700 prescription pills seized in all of 2008. As part of its effort to crack down on cases of diversion - the illegal distribution or abuse of prescription drugs - a detective from the Sheriff's Office Narcotics Division was named a full-time diversion officer last year. The officer, Sgt. Jerry Aponte, focuses on doctor-shopping and prescription fraud. [continues 569 words]
CLINTON - Sampson County lawmen hit the marijuana jackpot Thursday, seizing 11,000 plants with an estimated street value of $27 million. It was one of the largest, if not the largest, such find ever in Sampson County, Capt. Eric Pope of the Sheriff's Office said Friday. "This was a well-established marijuana-growing operation," Sheriff Jimmy Thornton said in a news release late Thursday. The plants were discovered during an aerial search involving the Sheriff's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation. [continues 278 words]
Despite the tenet that law officers need to hold themselves to higher standards, corruption stands as one of the oldest problems in law enforcement. "They are the final line, something that separates society from the bad guys. They are the protectors," said Dr. Hamid Kusha, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at East Carolina University. "The mandate of police is to serve and protect. Therefore, we look at police as good guys. We want them to have high ethical standards." Obviously, that's not always the case. In Spring Lake, an assortment of alleged misdeeds has turned the Police Department into an ineffectual force. Tuesday, Spring Lake Police Chief A.C. Brown resigned one day after the arrests of Sgt. Alfonzo Devone Whittington Jr. and Sgt. Darryl Eugene Coulter Sr., who were indicted last week by a special Cumberland County grand jury. [continues 841 words]
SPRING LAKE -- Just days after Larry Faison settled into his new job as town manager in October 2007, a two-page letter hit his desk. The letter urged Faison to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Police Chief A.C. Brown and one of his supervisors, Sgt. Darryl Coulter. It was the first of many complaints sent anonymously to Faison's office and other town leaders between October 2007 and February of this year. The Fayetteville Observer obtained the letters -- as well as e-mails - -- which cited dates and times of alleged instances of double-dipping, false arrests, planting of drugs on suspects and other abuses of power by some of the town's police officers. [continues 1360 words]
SPRING LAKE -- The Spring Lake Police Department was stripped of its remaining police powers Monday, and two of its officers were arrested. Sgt. Alfonzo Devone Whittington Jr. and Sgt. Darryl Eugene Coulter Sr. were arrested after being indicted by a special Cumberland County grand jury. About midafternoon, Sheriff Moose Butler and District Attorney Ed Grannis met with Police Chief A.C. Brown and Town Manager Larry Faison to discuss the action being taken against the Police Department. They delivered an order from Chief District Court Judge Beth Keever saying that all criminal work within the town, including misdemeanors, would be handled by the Sheriff's Office. [continues 984 words]
Unless you are in complete denial, the 1937 Congressional Record tells us America prohibited pot without any real scientific testimony, no medical expertise and a media campaign based on bigotry three generations ago. Meanwhile, science finds all over again a host of medical conditions that marijuana treats effectively and every objective review of the past century finds it less harmful than tobacco or alcohol products. What are we waiting for? Tell your elected representative if you agree with Jean Marlowe ("Fight to legalize moves forward," April 16). Thank you, Ms. Marlowe, for your continuing efforts to help many who cannot, or are too afraid to, speak out more on this topic. Until it means lost seats in statehouses and Congress, it's political football as usual. Peter Christopher Hurdle Mills [end]
Jean Marlowe started smoking pot nearly 20 years ago when a nurse told her it might relieve the chronic pain she had suffered from most of her life. Since then, Marlowe, now director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients Network, has been fighting to make medical marijuana legal in North Carolina. But she may not have to fight much longer. Last week, a bill was introduced in the state General Assembly to allow patients registered with the state to possess, grow and use the drug for medicinal purposes. [continues 777 words]
LINDEN - Gossip has a way of channeling through the Heads of State Hair Salon on Main Street. This month, the hot topic is drugs. On Feb. 26, agents from the Cumberland County Bureau of Narcotics arrested 10 people on the outskirts of this small town on the county's northeastern edge. The arrests came six months into an investigation of drug-related crime in the area. Agents seized marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, money and weapons during a search of six homes. [continues 884 words]
LUMBERTON - Robeson County deputies were ordered off the Magnolia Elementary School campus last week after lawmen began a drug search at the school. The search, authorized by the school's assistant principal, took place after drugs were found at the school. Investigators also are looking into whether a 13-year-old boy was drugged, possibly with Ecstasy. The boy became ill after eating some candy at the school Feb. 13, said Lt. Kathy Torre with the Sheriff's Office Juvenile Division. Investigators have not determined whether the student had Ecstasy in his system. [continues 573 words]
The American approach to fighting crime is reminiscent of the ages-old treatment for leprosy -- banish lepers to colonies and let them rot away, out of society's sight and mind. We do that with criminals, jailing people for all manner of offenses, violent or not. We're good at it. We have a higher percentage of our population in jails and prisons than any other country in the world. By a large margin. One in every 100 adult Americans is behind bars. Since 1978, our incarceration rate has increased 700 percent We should see by now that this treatment is as effective as leper colonies were in ending leprosy. Or, to use another analogy, as effective as warehousing was in treating mental illness. Here in Fayetteville, as in many other parts of the state and country, the crime rate is rising anyway, despite intense efforts of well-trained police out there, doing their best. Robberies, for example, were up more than 30 percent last year. Aggravated assaults up more than 20 percent. [continues 530 words]
