REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - Rehoboth Beach Police have arrested a Colorado man they say shipped 12 pounds of marijuana to his real estate agent. Thirty-six-year-old Andre Dismuke of Denver was charged Saturday with trafficking marijuana and numerous other drug offenses. He was released on $10,500 bail. Police say the real estate agency called officials after an employee opened a package by mistake and found the marijuana, which police said had a street value of about $18,000. Authorities stopped Dismuke and his wife, whom police did not name, when they arrived in Rehoboth Beach. [end]
The "drug war" is just a jobs program for overpaid and under-worked cops. It's takes lots of work to hunt down and arrest real criminals like burglars, robbers, rapists and murders. That's why cops love the "drug war!" It's much easier and safer to arrest harmless people for victimless drug war crimes then it is to hunt down real criminals. All the cops have to do is illegally stop and search 100 people and they can usually arrest one or two of them for victimless "drug war" crimes. And at the end of the day the cops will brag they are making the streets safer by arresting these harmless people who's only crime is laughing too loud or eating too much after smoking a doobie. [continues 121 words]
There are elementary and high school teachers in Negros Occidental being monitored by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for alleged illegal drug use, Intelligence Officer 3 Cerilo Baluma confirmed yesterday. Intelligence Division chief of PDEA in Region 6, Baluma, however, refused to disclose whether these teachers are from private or public schools. He said this is not new to them because every year, they continue to receive reports from concerned citizens about teachers who are allegedly into illegal drug use. In fact, Baluma said, PDEA had arrested one teacher in a pot session during an anti-illegal drugs operation several years ago in Purok Sigay, Brgy. 2 in Bacolod City. [continues 312 words]
I would shrug and say "So what?" to the latest details from President Barack Obama's pot-smoking past, except for one thing: He stirred so much hope as a candidate for sensible marijuana policy reforms but, as president, has delivered so little change. David Maraniss brings all that back to mind with his forthcoming book, "Barack Obama: The Story," which has been leaking like a sieve to major media in advance of its publication. Published accounts of his days at Punahou, the private Hawaiian prep school that Obama attended in the 1970s, make the future president sound like a classic stoner. [continues 615 words]
I'm writing about the thoughtful letter from LaMar Hasbrouck, MD: "My View: Cigarette tax a budget, health win-win" (May 18). Like the majority of citizens, I am all for taxing a product that I don't use. But I am also for taxing a product that I do use: marijuana. For many reasons, I prefer marijuana to alcohol. Does this make me a bad person? And for many reasons, I prefer marijuana to powerful painkillers like Vicodin. Does this make me a bad person? Both alcohol and painkillers kill thousands of people every year. Yet marijuana use has never killed anyone. So please tax my vice. Kirk Muse Mesa, AZ (formerly of Freeport) [end]
This article has only one line about drugs heading north to the U.S. Nearly all of the wealth generated by the drug trade comes from Americans, so in a real sense, we share responsibility for those 50,000 deaths over the last six years. The number is similar to all the American deaths we had in the Vietnam War. We need to escalate the dialogue about legalizing drugs in our country, as Portugal did in 2001. That country reduced the number of drug addicts and its prison population. Money is now spent on rehabilitation, not on prisons. We must stop what we are doing. "If what we are doing isn't working, let us do more of it" is insanity. Don Hanley Vista [end]
How many more deaths must we endure before we take the only logical step to end the drug wars once and for all? The solution may not be pretty, but it is practical. Instead of useless attempts at interdiction, we should buy all the drugs available from the cartels in exchange for legalizing the production of them. Cut out the middle man - and ultimately the users - by taking all the drugs off the market legally. The drug producers make their profits, and we save billions. [continues 54 words]
in California, Only 46% Support the Legalization of 'General or Recreational Use by Adults,' a Poll finds. In California, cradle of the marijuana movement, a new poll has found a majority of voters do not support legalization, even as they overwhelmingly back medicinal use for "patients with terminal and debilitating conditions." Eighty percent of voters support doctor-recommended use for severe illness, a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found. But only 46% of respondents said they support legalization of "general or recreational use by adults," while 50% oppose it. Those against using pot were more adamant in their position, with 42% saying they felt "strongly" about it, compared with 33% for proponents. [continues 910 words]
What is happening in Mexico is not only disastrous for Mexicans but for all of us in the United States and elsewhere. The puny effort to stop the flow of drugs north or guns and money south is a disaster. Violence has already spilled into some border towns and will undoubtedly continue moving north until we awaken to the catastrophe. That there have been about 50,000 drug-war-related deaths still surprises our otherwise well-informed citizens. This is a much faster rate than the Vietnam War at its peak, and the pace is quickening for reasons well documented in The Times' fine series, "Mexico under siege." Warren Evan Larson Sunland [end]
Measure A pushes aside the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution by mandating that medical-marijuana growers must register and invite law officers to search their property without warrant. Imagine having to voluntarily open your medicine cabinet or home to scrutiny for expired prescription pills or other irregularities. Anyone with a half-acre or less shall not grow even a single plant, indoors or out. Those folks will likely shift to foothills acreage and commercial sellers. Taxpayers will suffer the cost of expensive, unnecessary prosecutions, incarcerations and more traffic and dust in foothill communities. [continues 145 words]
Re "Taking the measure of Measure A" (Election cover story, by Melissa Daugherty, May 24): The California Supreme Court has ruled that cities and counties have the right to regulate the amount [of medical marijuana] that can be grown. If you heard about the destruction people testified about at the hearings for the ordinances, you would say the supervisors did the right thing. If there are places that some feel are unfair and have a legitimate complaint, they have the right to go to the supervisors, just like the people who asked for help getting these ordinances did. It took a long time and a lot of hearings, and all were given plenty of time to have their say. [continues 67 words]
Some sick people may benefit from marijuana. A hot toddy can help a cold, too. And a nice cup of chamomile tea does wonders for indigestion - just ask Peter Rabbit's mother. But whiskey and herb tea are not medicine. Neither is marijuana - regardless of the Trojan horse the voters dragged into the public square. Medical marijuana is a backdoor attempt at legalization, a diversionary strategy to create an air of legitimacy around a street drug. Consider that the law voters approved in 2010 requires state officials to periodically look at expanding the list of ailments for which pot can legally be used. The first round of petitions is being considered now. [continues 214 words]
Marijuana might help with pain management? If whoever wrote "Medicine farce obscures debate" had osteoarthritis, he or she might learn why so many people, including many esteemed doctors know marijuana eases pain (Editorial, Wednesday). If, editorial writer, you had osteoarthritis that can cripple, which would you take to kill the pain? Celebrex, which has killed people, or marijuana, which might ease your pain but definitely won't kill you? Do your homework, read the warning labels for all prescription medications that treat osteoarthritis and then get real. Only a fool would choose to risk his life with prescription drugs when nature's answer works just fine. - -- Rich Austin, Phoenix [end]
Marijuana is today's "demon rum." Obtaining it requires the commission of an illegal act -- sort of like the old Prohibition days. Who in his right mind would sanction a legal drug that messes up your brain, your liver, your nutrition, your immune system, your digestive system, etc. Oh! Wait a minute! That's alcohol, isn't it? Why don't we just cut the hypocrisy and treat marijuana like any other drug that has limited therapeutic effects. Have Big Pharma produce it under the scrutiny of our generally toothless Food and Drug Administration. The rule of law will be upheld, and another giant corporation will make even more millions pandering a generally useless product to gullible millions of consumers. Who knows? It might even be a job creator. - -- Dr. Harvey Turner, Scottsdale [end]
After Laying Low, Patients and Dispensary Owners Get Political Sacramento lawmakers got an earful from California medical-cannabis patients last week when some 300 pissed-off voters flooded the Legislature's halls. Some called it a historic day of lobbying to support bills ensuring safe access to the drug. The effort came in advance of a vote on San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano's Assembly Bill 2312, which would set statewide rules on dispensaries in an attempt to end a seven-month federal crackdown on the billion-dollar California medical-cannabis industry. [continues 328 words]
