It seems that no presidential debate this year would be complete without denunciations of the drug laws, which, it is alleged, result in long prison terms for thousands of people, disproportionately African Americans, who are guilty only of low-level offenses, thus fueling "mass incarceration." At the last Republican debate, on Sept. 16, former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina charged that "two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug-related." Apropos of former Florida governor Jeb Bush's admitted youthful marijuana use, Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky) observed that "there is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to jail for this are poor people, often African Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't." [continues 663 words]
WASHINGTON - One of the nation's top scientists raised concerns about the nationwide move to legalize marijuana, saying regular use of the drug by adolescents had been tied to a drop in IQ and that a possible link to lung cancer hasn't been seriously studied. "I'm afraid I'm sounding like this is an evil drug that's going to ruin our civilization and I don't really think that," Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said Thursday. "But there are aspects of this that probably should be looked at more closely than some of the legalization experts are willing to admit." [continues 316 words]
VERONA -- It's been nearly three months since the Augusta County Sheriff's Office made its biggest marijuana seizure in the department's history when it grabbed 1,840 pounds of packaged dope hidden inside a truck at American Safety Razor's industrial division headquarters in Verona. However, the marijuana, each 23-pound bale triple-wrapped in tinfoil, brown shipping paper and plastic, remains stacked inside a locked evidence room at the sheriff's office, the space permeated by the pungent odor of the illegal drug. Drug dealers, buoyed by a seemingly never-ending demand in the United States, would have had no problem unloading the marijuana. The sheriff's office, tasked with getting rid of the shipment, is finding it a bit harder to make the stack disappear. [continues 813 words]
His Wife Placed On Three Years Probation HARRISONBURG -- A United States District Court judge sentenced a Verona methamphetamine dealer Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison but spared his wife in a case that saw a regional drug task force confiscate more than 500 grams of meth, nearly $170,000 and 27 vehicles. Judge Glen Conrad, labeling the sentence "just," said, "This was just not a one-time deal." Authorities arrested Douglas Rankin, 45, and his wife, Lisa Rankin, 41, in January after being tipped off about Douglas Rankin's illegal meth operation, according to federal court records. WASSP Task Force members seized drugs from the couple's Parkins Lane home, as well as 23 guns, 27 vehicles and $169,874 in drug proceeds. [continues 279 words]
Alyssa Kaye Smith's bedroom is filled with saddles, fishing poles, a gurgling fish tank with an albino frog inside, some books and, yes, normally, a shotgun under the bed.The Smiths don't deny they have guns at their home in the Bolivar countryside and aren't shy about expressing their rights to use them for hunting, trap-shooting and self-defense. "She really is a good shot," said David Smith, Alyssa's father, proudly holding up a target practice sheet Tuesday that was riddled with holes in the middle. [continues 852 words]
Anyone who believes that the Supreme Court is only about Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade hasn't paid attention to some of the rulings handed down this week. Most of the time America's highest court gets so far down in the nap of the carpet it's amazing they can get anything accomplished -- anything of earth-shattering importance, at any rate. Take this week's split decisions about the First Amendment as they apply to student speech on campus, for instance. [continues 413 words]
Simple incompetence is sometimes excusable, but blatant disregard for one's responsibilities is never acceptable. In their quest to appease state and federal legislators who throw money at the "war on drugs," Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore and the Springfield police continue to apprehend minors for consuming or simply possessing alcohol, while rape, theft, motor vehicle theft, robbery and aggravated assault all increase in our county. In Springfield alone, crimes such as homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robbery increased 12.2 percent. But, who really cares? Isn't it much more important to fill the state coffers from ticketing minors for drinking and making politicians appear "tough on crime" so they can get an easy re-election? Wrong. [continues 78 words]
Meth's Ominous Cloud Darkens Many Paths STUARTS DRAFT - After 20 years of steady methamphetamine use, Kevin Armstrong said he's had enough. He knows he has a problem. But he's more concerned about his neighbors. "Hey, we need some help around here," said the 1983 Riverheads High School grad. "There's a couple of generations in this Valley ready to be lost." Armstrong described himself as an "occasional user." He spends more than $100 per week on the purer, smokable form of methamphetamine known as crystal meth, or ice. He says he enjoys the drug. [continues 1009 words]
STAUNTON -- A Charlottesville police detective and former Staunton police officer is charged with felony prescription fraud after reportedly trying to illegally obtain painkillers, police said. William M. Duncan Jr., 46, of 340 Rainbow Drive, Staunton, was arrested May 12, the same day he allegedly tried to pass a bogus Demerol prescription at the Medical Center Pharmacy on Lambert Avenue, according to a Staunton police report. The prescription, police said, originated from the Family Medical Center in Fort Defiance. Police said Duncan's prescription immediately raised suspicions. When contacted, personnel at the Fort Defiance pharmacy indicated no such prescription had been written, police said. [continues 54 words]
Speed Alternatives Thriving In Stores Decades ago, if somebody went looking for speed -- a powerful stimulant drug used to boost energy and alertness -- most likely they were trying to illegally acquire amphetamines. Known as "Black Beauties" or "Yellow Jackets" on the street, speed was popular with college students, truck drivers, athletes, the overweight and drug abusers. The 1964 Drugs Act made amphetamine possession illegal without a prescription, but the drug's popularity persisted. These days, many convenience stores carry knockoffs of the once-popular speed tablets, stocking their shelves with herbal pills with names like -- you guessed it - -- "Yellow Jacket" and "Black Beauty." [continues 741 words]
STAUNTON -- A Staunton man facing a mandatory 10 years behind bars for giving a 17-year-old boy one puff of marijuana saw his prison term sliced to two years Wednesday by Augusta County Circuit Judge Thomas H. Wood. In March, a jury found Lynn Dell Phillips, 42, guilty of distributing marijuana to a juvenile more than three years his junior, but refused to sentence him to the minimum-mandatory 10 years in prison. Wednesday, Augusta County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Rupen Shah asked Wood to suspend eight years of the minimum-mandatory 10-year prison term. Public Defender Peter Boatner agreed with Shah's recommendation, but balked at a suggested eight years of probation for his client. [continues 195 words]
I saw the "Teens say pot easier to buy than cigarettes" editorial cartoon by Jim McCloskey in last Friday's edition of The News Leader as being a wake-up call more than anything else. From my own personal observations, the kids are not buying the kind of high-grade pure marijuana which the University of Mississippi is growing for the government for its Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, but rather the street variety of it (if it is marijuana) that is often laced with impurities which make them sick rather than high. [continues 111 words]
Two movies -- one old, and a classic, one new, and destined for the DVD scrap heap -- give us a look into the minds of those who would stop crime before it starts. In the first, 1942's "Casablanca," actor Claude Rains, as Captain Louis Renault, intones, "Round up the usual suspects" near the conclusion of the film. In the second, 2002's "Minority Report," homicide has become nearly obsolete, thanks to "pre-crime units" that arrest potential murderers before they can kill. [continues 410 words]
I've lived in the Staunton/Augusta County area for some 40 years, and I wouldn't think of leaving this beautiful place, but I have read some recent articles and seen some recent letters that have me really upset. How can an Augusta County man have to face 50 years for so simple a thing as a draw off a smoking apparatus? Regardless of whether he is guilty or innocent, he's still a person in this community who has a wife and children, someone who has worked to give his children the best life he could. [continues 299 words]
The News Leader shows little respect for the Bill of Rights when you say that suspicionless drug testing is "fair" and should be expanded to all students. The News Leader says the purpose of drug tests "is not to punish, but to prevent," but ignores the negative effects effects of a positive test, which could mean removing the kid from school. Besides turning a blind eye to the destructive aspects of student drug tests The News Leader fails to mention the huge body of scientific evidence refuting the value of drug testing for any purpose. No questions are directed at the sheer hypocrisy of testing dozens of innocent people for every "positive" found. [continues 265 words]
The Supreme Court struck a resounding blow for fairness Thursday when they ruled that school districts should be able to conduct random drug tests on all students involved in extracurricular activities. Previously, only student athletes were required to submit to such tests. The question now is how much further will school districts be able to push the limits on future drug testing -- could random urinalysis tests eventually be administered to all students, whether they participate in extracurricular activities or not, and if so, what would the consequences be? [continues 365 words]
There's a clash shaping up within the Supreme Court and between the court and the American Civil Liberties Union over whether to allow schools to require students involved in any extracurricular activity to undergo drug testing. At present, the nation's highest court upholds the right of schools to require drug testing only for student athletes. The issue wound up in the Supreme Court thanks to a decision by the Pottawatomie County school system in Oklahoma, which extended its drug testing program to all students involved in interscholastic extracurricular activities. Some students protested the decision as an invasion of their privacy. An appeals court sided with the students, citing the differences between student athletics and other extracurricular activities, particularly the reasons why drug testing for athletics passed in the first place: Lowered expectations of privacy among groups that regularly undress and shower together, along with concerns for safety. [continues 302 words]
