Florida should find a compassionate way to make sure the chronically ill have access to any bonafide medication that might help ease suffering. That said, Amendment 2 isn't the answer. The medical marijuana constitutional amendment is too broadly structured. So we urge a 'no' vote on Amendment 2. But that can't be the end of the story; there needs to be a next chapter. First, some of the many flaws with Amendment 2 and reasons to oppose it. The Florida Constitution is no place to enshrine medical treatment; it's too difficult to make changes as circumstances evolve and medical advancements are made. [continues 585 words]
Qualified patients would be able to possess and use medical marijuana for treatment of certain conditions, as long as they have a registry ID card from state officials, under a bill filed Wednesday by a Senate Democrat. Senate Bill 1250 also would allow for licensed medical cannabis farms and dispensaries. Under the bill, filed by Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, the maximum amount of medical pot a patient or caregiver could possess would be 4 ounces of dried medical cannabis or eight pot plants, though state officials could change those amounts through the rulemaking process. [continues 86 words]
Drug Free Collier Thank goodness for the Drug Free Collier organization. The team of law-enforcement, counseling and education officials monitor substance abuse trends in the community and take action. That includes advising the public on what may be going on under the radar and sponsoring events such as Operation Medicine Cabinet to get old, excess prescription drugs out of reach. The organization's latest alert deals with synthetic drugs, such as bath salts and fake marijuana. Their chemical makeup is not illegal, yet people who buy them at convenience stores seeking a cheap high can hurt themselves. [continues 168 words]
Re: GOP's state prison privatization plan to save $16.5 million yearly! We can do far better than that and save billions by legalizing drugs, just as we did in the 1930s with alcohol! This is a free country which obviously does not forbid people to harm themselves. Imagine what a relief this would bring to the police, the prisons (on-third of all inmates are convicted for drug addiction), and juveniles who no longer would be attracted to the forbidden drugs. [continues 64 words]
The office manager for a pain management medical clinic in Bonita Springs says Lee County deputies are harassing customers and the business. Public records show deputies have been called to the shopping center where the clinic is attended more than 550 times in the past 10 months - -- nearly 10 times as often as they were alerted for the prior four years. The manager is upset deputies ask patients outside questions such as,"What are you doing here?" Other tenants at Sunshine Professional Center on Bonita Beach Road are upset that their customers ask questions such as "What are the cops doing here?" [continues 158 words]
You could say there's budding interest in medical marijuana in Tallahassee. Or that the issue is taking root or that State Rep. Jeff Clemens is high on the idea. You could say that, but it would be wrong to. Because while medical marijuana has become a punch line in places like California, where authorities struggle to keep fly-by-night operators from selling weed to anyone and everyone claiming the slightest pain or anxiety, it is a serious matter to Clemens. [continues 523 words]
Editor, Daily News: Drug testing for children who drive to school should be out of the question. Athletes make that choice to open up to health questions and concerns. The child who drives to school should not have to put his personal health information up for review. There are students out there who will test positive because of prescription drugs -- true medical needs. Why must they have to defend themselves by having to disclose what medicines they take? This is personal information. [continues 75 words]
Editor, Daily News: The Collier County School Board needs to educate itself on the down side of student drug testing. Student involvement in after-school activities -- like sports -- has been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular programs. Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing. [continues 148 words]
Collier County School Board member Steve Donovan, a firefighter/paramedic who says he has seen too many young people hurt in traffic accidents, proposes this safety initiative: random drug testing for students who drive to school. There would be parental notification and counseling for the first offense; that plus maybe losing driving privileges to school would face repeaters. One problem with Donovan's idea is that it makes taking issue with it seem to favor teenage drug abuse. His proposal is wrong on so many levels that we proceed regardless. [continues 211 words]
Recently Michael Neibauer, a staff writer for Examiner.com, provided an update regarding the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee that has lifted a long-standing budget rider banning the District of Columbia government from spending any money to decriminalize marijuana. The Financial Services Panel, which has oversight of Washington, has removed from the 2010 budget the 11-year-old language that outlaws the district's use of federal or local funds to legalize marijuana or reduce penalties for its possession or distribution. [continues 561 words]
NAPLES -- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case of a Naples doctor convicted and sentenced last year for illegally dispensing pain medications. The decision lets stand a conviction that a pain relief organization says harms the rights of doctors and patients alike and oversteps states' rights. "It's a sad day for America because it puts pain doctors on such notice and legitimate pain patients will have a difficult time getting treatment," said Laura Cooper, general counsel for the Pain Relief Network, a national group that advocates for the rights of pain patients and doctors. [continues 740 words]
Editor, Daily News: Re: Ben Bova's Feb. 22 column. There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. The success of the Swiss program has inspired pilot heroin maintenance projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. [continues 117 words]
Editor, Daily News: May columnist Ben Bova's clear-eyed vision be extended. The drug war is not stopping drugs. What is it doing? Growing ever-more brutal organized crime, giving us the biggest prison population in the world, clogging our courts, corrupting and distracting our police, spending many billions of tax dollars without results. And the biggest drug problem we have -- alcohol -- runs rampant. We need treatment, we need education, we need to free our police for real work. We need to decriminalize drugs. Charles Payne Jr. Naples [end]
Editor, Daily News: Ben Bova's ideas on drugs are on the right track, except for the word "decriminalization." Decriminalization (decrim) is usually defined as letting users use so we can focus police resources on kingpins. The law of supply and demand would argue that decrim, thus defined, would drive up drug prices, even if demand stayed flat, which it probably wouldn't. This added profit would draw in more greedy, violent men, disrespectful of the law. The 1920s was, in effect, a time of decrimmed alcohol, although we didn't call it that. We let drinkers drink, while sending bootleggers to prison. Consider Big Bill Thompson and Al Capone. [continues 84 words]
There's an old adage about the foolishness of asking a fox to guard the henhouse. Yet in many areas of public policy, that's exactly what we've done. The politicians who make decisions about how our government runs are not doing the job we want them to do. Like foxes at the henhouse, they're doing what's best for themselves, not for us. For example, President Barack Obama's nominees to several high-level administration posts have been found to be not quite on the straight and narrow. [continues 917 words]
Investigators did what they had to do when cracking down on a suspected drug activity centered at a popular bar/dining spot in Gulf Coast Town Center. With so much drug activity described by investigators as taking place out in the open, in clear view of family clientele and others, four employees of Miller's Ale House and 15 others were either arrested or sought. Authorities said it was common to see plastic bags of cocaine openly exchanged on the tops of tables and bars. [continues 85 words]
Congratulations to adults who care enough about young people to carry on the Red Ribbon Week tradition. They educate young people -- and their parents -- about the signs and perils of drug abuse. That includes alcohol abuse. Too often we hear people mention "alcohol and drugs" when they ought to say "alcohol and other drugs.'' Alcohol is very much a drug. When we think of the origins of Red Ribbon Week, images of marijuana and amphetamines come to mind. Yet, as the opportunities for doing the wrong thing have expanded, Red Ribbon Week remembers the basics. Readers may remember the powerful photographs in the paper and online about adult volunteers teaching teens of the potentially deadly down side of drinking and driving. That is a message that ought to resonate with other adults as well. Some warnings and public service campaigns stand the test of time. They are classics. Red Ribbon Week is among them. [end]
BONITA SPRINGS - The Lee County Sheriff's Office will continue funding its DARE program, Sheriff Mike Scott announced Tuesday, but the move might force cuts in another civilian-aimed program. The $539,000 Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, known as DARE, was cut in late September when the county pushed the Sheriff's Office to further pare its 2008-09 budget. On Tuesday, Scott said the office scraped together $375,000 to continue the program, albeit with one less deputy. Funds will cover three deputies and two civilians instead of the previous staffing of four deputies and two civilians. [continues 326 words]
Editor, Daily News: Re: Maria Victoria Delgado's Sept. 13 guest commentary. The importance of parental involvement in reducing adolescent drug use cannot be overstated. School-based extracurricular activities also have been shown to reduce use. They keep kids busy during the hours they're most likely to get into trouble. In order for drug-prevention efforts to effectively reduce harm, they must be reality-based. The most popular drug, and the one most closely associated with violent behavior, is often overlooked by parents. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more lives each year than all illegal drugs combined. Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the No. 1 drug problem. [continues 120 words]
NAPLES -- September is Recovery Month. President Bush signed a proclamation to acknowledge the thousands of people who battle with addiction and seek professional help. It is commendable for our nation to support those who struggle with drug addiction. It is also necessary, however, to ask whether Collier County is doing everything possible to prevent juvenile substance abuse in our community. Considering recent national and local data, the youth of Collier County mirror youth across America as it pertains to substance abuse. [continues 664 words]
