All citizens should be outraged by the Habersham County Sheriff's office. ("Toddler severely hurt in police raid," News, May 30). Police officers stormed a house and threw a "distraction device" into a 19-month-old boy's playpen. The child now has a 50 percent chance of survival and extensive facial injuries for life and possible brain damage, assuming he survives. Apparently Sheriff Joey Terrell relied on a confidential informant to get a "no knock" warrant for a house where the informant allegedly bought drugs. Apparently no surveillance was done prior to busting down the door and inflicting carnage on an innocent baby boy. The person the sheriff wanted to arrest was not even home and those who were there were visitors from Wisconsin. They had no connection to the alleged drug activity. If the sheriff's office would have simply done some cursory surveillance it would have discovered the van parked in front of the house had infant car seats and other indications of the baby being there. If they would have staked out the house to determine if and when the person they were looking for was there, they most likely would have discovered the baby and family.

T. DENNIS BICKHAM III, ATLANTA

[end]

State, Federal Agencies Look into Incident That Left Child Badly Hurt.

The investigation into the botched drug raid that left a baby critically injured is growing to include state and federal authorities.

"As a parent, I can't imagine the horrible nightmare that this family is enduring," said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates on Tuesday. "Federal and state authorities are coordinating to get to the bottom of what happened."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday that at the request of the district attorney it would investigate whether narcotics officers violated the law in executing a controversial "no-knock" search warrant last Wednesday.

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Attorney: 2010 Raid Mirrors Botched One in Habersham County.

Injured Parties in Both Cases Were Not Targets.

Like the baby in Habersham County, a woman ended up in intensive care after Clayton County SWAT officers tossed a flash-bang grenade that she contends landed on her as she slept.

Treneshia Dukes, now 27, said in an ongoing federal lawsuit that police tossed the grenade through her bedroom window nearly four years ago when executing a "no-knock" search warrant. She spent three days in Grady Memorial Hospital's intensive care burn unit.

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A drug buy, a no-knock police raid and a flash-bang grenade have left a 19-month-old child clinging to life today and his family and commentators questioning the tactics that put him in intensive care. The 3 a.m. raid Wednesday in Habersham County unearthed no drugs, no weapons, no bundles of cash and not even the suspect drug dealer.

It left a visiting family from Wisconsin -- whom authorities described as unlucky innocents -- terrified, and their son on a ventilator. The raid also puts the spotlight on the controversial no-knock warrants and whether magistrates too easily approve them, said Robert Friedmann, a policing expert at Georgia State University. Friedmann noted the no-knock warrants -- where police officers kick in doors instead of announcing their presence -- are common in drug cases but "the problem is you come up with consequences like this. Police have a hard time explaining. They can explain and they can explain.

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CORNELIA, Ga. -- A toddler caught in the middle of a drug raid was seriously injured Wednesday when a police flash grenade exploded in his playpen.

The raid in which the 19-month-old child, who is recovering at Grady Hospital's burn unit in Atlanta, was injured was at a house in Habersham County.

Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell, who described the device in various ways - a "stun grenade" and "flash grenade" and "flash bang" - said there was no indication that a family with four children were guests in the suspected drug dealer's house when his team went in and threw that flash grenade to try to arrest the suspect.

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Heroin use is on the rise statewide, while many other drugs appear to be waning, according to an analysis of drug submissions to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab.

The analysis shows heroin submissions have increased by more than 300 percent since 2011. The current fiscal year has seen a 20 percent increase, while all other drugs during that period have decreased by 22 percent.

It's a problem local police are also dealing with.

Richmond County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Vinson took a four-year break from the narcotics division to work in criminal investigations. When he recently returned to narcotics, he said he was surprised at the drug's sudden popularity.

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Supporters for marijuana law reform rallied outside the Athens-Clarke County City Hall on Monday.

"Marijuana is a popular issue around the country right now, and we are here to basically bring public attention to the fact that we are not criminals and people who use marijuana are no more criminal than a person who drinks wine," said James Bell, director of the Georgia Campaign for Access Reform and Education Project.

The rally was facilitated by the Georgia CARE Project.

Bell said he expected up to 50 people, from different areas of Georgia and other states, to attend the event.

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It swallowed people up.

That's what it really did, if you want to know the truth. It swallowed them up whole, swallowed them up by the millions.

In the process, it hollowed out communities, broke families, stranded hope. Politicians brayed that they were being "tough on crime" -- as if anyone is really in favor of crime -- as they imposed ever longer and more inflexible sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But the "War on Drugs" didn't hurt drugs at all: Usage rose by 2,800 percent - -- that's not a typo -- in the 40 years after it began in 1971. The "War" also made America the biggest jailer on Earth and drained a trillion dollars -- still not a typo -- from the treasury.

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ATLANTA - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed into law a bill that would grant amnesty in some cases to those who seek medical help in the event of a drug overdose.

Deal signed the bill Thursday, and it takes immediate effect. Lawmakers had overwhelmingly passed the "Georgia 911 Medical Amnesty Law."

Supporters of the law argue some people are too afraid to call for medical help for themselves or others because they fear prosecution on drug charges. The law would grant amnesty only on drug possession charges when amounts are small.

Supporters say the bill won't help drug dealers, but could save lives.

Some 17 states have passed similar so-called "Good Samaritan laws."

[end]

Americans are confused about medical marijuana.

On the one hand, research shows some of marijuana's components may become useful medicines. Two, Marinol and Cesamet, already are. Both are synthetic versions of THC, marijuana's psychoactive component. Doctors prescribe them to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea and AIDS wasting in patients when nothing else works.

Two more, Sativex and Epidiolex, are undergoing U.S. clinical trials. Sativex is equal parts THC and cannabidiol. If it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, doctors will prescribe it to treat advanced cancer pain, muscle spasticity and neuropathic pain caused by multiple sclerosis. Epidiolex is purified cannabidiol that contains no THC. It is just beginning clinical trials here to treat seizures caused by Dravet and LennoxGastaut syndromes.

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Diverse Range Of People Said To Be Involved

Even without a law to cover them in Georgia, dozens and maybe hundreds of people in the Augusta area are using marijuana or a derivative to treat ailments, one activist said.

Medical marijuana activist Maison Harley said their shadowy use clamors for the state to extend legal protection amid an evolving understanding of the potential health benefits of cannabis.

"That's the gray area that all of these families are having to go into," he said. "Most of them have taken it upon themselves to find these products via any means necessary."

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ATLANTA - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday announced two separate efforts to pursue clinical trials on a cannabis-based drug that has shown promise in helping children who suffer from seizure disorders.

The first would pair a private pharmaceutical company with a Georgia Regents University professor and expand ongoing clinical trials of a product using cannabidiol, or CDB, a compound in marijuana that doesn't produce a high in users.

The second model would create a new clinical trial led by the university, with cannabis obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse research farm at the University of Mississippi. A new trial likely would take longer to begin because it requires more steps for federal approval, Deal said.

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Georgia Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon is to be commended for making the case for medical cannabis. While there have been studies showing that cannabis can shrink cancerous tumors, medical cannabis is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends cannabis to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical cannabis is a quality of life decision best left to patients and their doctors.

Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic cannabis is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical cannabis patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating health-care decisions. It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick patients should not be criminalized for daring to seek relief using cannabis.

- -- Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C.

[end]

A small victory for those fighting to legalize marijuana - a new survey suggests doctors are actually more supportive of the drug than the average consumer.

According to the survey, 62 percent of doctors said medical marijuana can be helpful in treating certain medical issues while only 52 percent of consumers said the same.

"It has a whole host of therapeutic indications. I mentioned cancer patients, i mentioned AIDS patients. It's useful for glaucoma. It has anti-inflammatory properties ... It's been used for hundreds of years for a variety of aliments." (Via CBS) According to HealthDay News, "Support for medical marijuana was highest among cancer specialists and blood disorder specialists. For those two groups, 82 percent said marijuana can provide real benefits to patients." Read more trending stories The WebMD survey looked at answers from more than 1,500 doctors and almost 3,000 consumers. However, don't count on the survey's findings having much bearing on whether states will actually legalize pot. The site explains that's because, "Solid data on marijuana's health benefits are lacking. Research has been limited because the federal government has designated marijuana as a 'Schedule I' substance, a designation used for the most dangerous drugs having 'no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse.'"

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When the 2014 General Assembly session began 10 short weeks ago, the odds of a medical cannabis bill passing this year would have been longer than having a perfect March Madness bracket in Vegas because no one was crazy enough to take that bet.

But by the time the last day of the legislative session arrived, the issue of legalizing cannabidiol oil in Georgia to help children with seizure disorders had picked up such momentum and popularity that its passage seemed almost a certainty. But, despite the overwhelming support, the effort failed on the last night. Many people have asked me what in the heck happened.

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PUEBLO WEST, Colo. - It's 9 a.m. on a weekday, and I'm at the Marisol Therapeutics pot shop. This is serious business. Security is tight. ID checks are frequent. Merchandise is strictly regulated, labeled, wrapped and controlled. The store is clean, bright and safe. The staffers are courteous and professional. Customers of all ages are here.

There's a middle-aged woman at the counter nearby who could be your school librarian. On the opposite end of the dispensary, a slender young soldier in a wheelchair with close-cropped hair, dressed in his fatigues, consults with a clerk. There's a gregarious cowboy and an inquisitive pair of baby boomers looking at edibles. A dude in a hoodie walks in with his backpack.

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On March 20, sick children, desperate parents and passionate advocates left the state Capitol disappointed. They received the unfortunate news that House Bill 885, more commonly known as the medicinal marijuana bill, failed to pass in the Senate because of a lack of compromise between the House and the Senate.

HB 885 would have allowed patients suffering from glaucoma, cancer and seizures to have access to potentially life-saving forms of medicinal marijuana. If passed, the bill could have provided thousands with the medication that they need in order to live a life free of seizures, free of pain and free of suffering. Unfortunately for these individuals, Sen. Renee Unterman destined HB 885 for failure because of her own political agenda.

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"Today's marijuana is 300 percent to 800 percent more potent than the pot of yesteryear." Heidi Heilman in an op-ed piece March 13 in The Providence (R.I.) Journal

In the debate over whether marijuana should be legalized, one issue is the question of potency. Critics of legalization say the street drug now available for sale is not the marijuana that a lot of baby boomers and Generation Xers have used.

One of them, Heidi Heilman, the director of New England field development for Smart Approaches to Marijuana and president of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, raised the issue March 13 in an op-ed in The Providence Journal in Rhode Island.

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Among the casualties of a failed war on drugs that has spanned more than three decades are bloated prisons that cost the nation nearly $90 billion a year. With only 5 percent of the world's population, the United States holds 25 percent of its prisoners; more than 2 million people are locked up in this country.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets penalty guidelines for federal judges, is considering changes that would shorten average sentences for nonviolent drug offenders by roughly one year - to 51 months from 63 months. That would result in a 17 percent sentence reduction for the average offender.

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A former Newton County sheriff 's deputy who prosecutors said sold marijuana from his marked patrol vehicle while in uniform has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for possessing a firearm during a drug transaction.

According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, Darrell Mathis sold various quantities of marijuana to a confidential source who was working with the FBI as well as to an undercover FBI agent from May to September 2013.

Mathis, 41, of Lithonia, was arrested on Sept. 19 when he met with the undercover FBI agent while in possession of one pound of marijuana. He was convicted on Dec. 6 after entering a guilty plea.

"Mathis abandoned his oath as a deputy sheriff, and chose the life of a drug dealer," Yates said. "His decision to violate the law also violated the trust the public places in law enforcement."

[end]