WASHINGTON -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine joined 43 other state attorneys general to ask Congress to repeal a law they argue has damaged the Drug Enforcement Agency's ability to crack down on drug manufacturers and distributors that have contributed to the nation's sweeping opioid epidemic. In a letter Tuesday to House and Senate leadership, the attorneys general argue that a bill passed by voice vote in 2016 made it more difficult for the DEA to take action against drug companies that were flooding communities with prescription painkillers. [continues 214 words]
WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general is an outspoken foe of efforts to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes - and that has some wondering what it means for the 28 states that have legalized marijuana in some form. Those states include Ohio, which is in the process of working on regulations for its own medical marijuana legalization. Aaron Marshall, a spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, said his hope remains with Trump, who has repeatedly said he supports leaving marijuana legalization efforts to the states. [continues 772 words]
Sen. Jeff Sessions repeatedly has said he opposes legalization efforts WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general is an outspoken foe of efforts to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes -- and that fact has some wondering what that means for the 28 states that have legalized marijuana in some form. Those states include Ohio, which is in the process of working on regulations for its own medical marijuana legalization. Aaron Marshall, a spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, said his hope remains with Trump, who repeatedly has said he supports leaving marijuana legalization efforts to the states. [continues 740 words]
WASHINGTON - When Sen. Rob Portman's campaign launched its first TV ads of 2016, it wasn't hard to sense a theme. The first ad focused on Portman's work to fight Ohio's drug crisis. The second told the story of Tyler Campbell, a young man from Pickerington who died of a heroin overdose. A third told of a Lakewood woman who is a recovering heroin addict. And a fourth told the story of a young woman from Carrollton who died of a heroin overdose. [continues 800 words]
In the 1980s first lady Nancy Reagan led the government effort to get kids to "just say no" to illegal drugs. Today, government officials want to use Osama bin Laden as a poster boy in the war against drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and other players in the drug war aim to link the terrorist mastermind and illicit drugs in a campaign targeted at kids. Federal drug investigators say that Afghanistan's Taliban party relies on income from the drug trade - particularly opium - to stay financially viable. And that strength, investigators believe, enabled the Taliban to harbor bin Laden despite international pressure to hand him over. Afghanistan produced more than 70 percent of the world's supply of illicit opium in 2000, according to the State Department. [continues 246 words]
New Orleans --- When rave parties --- all-night high-energy dance bashes - --- sprang up in this city in the mid-1990s, it seemed as if a new generation of partyers had settled in a town famous for its annual Mardi Gras revelry. But rave's days may be numbered in this city. In January, drug enforcement agents indicted three men who organized a series of rave parties. Officers charged them under the federal ''crack house'' law that makes it a crime to allow a building to be used for illegal drugs, in this case usually Ecstasy and LSD. [continues 368 words]
Voters in 42 states spoke on a slew of social issues, and the messages they sent were: Vouchers, no. Medicinal marijuana, yes. Gay rights, no. Measures to establish voucher programs in California and Michigan were defeated, while campaigns to allow medicinal marijuana in Colorado and Nevada passed. A Nebraska initiative aimed at defining marriage as only heterosexual unions between men and women passed, as did a similar measure in Nevada. On the other side of the spectrum, a Maine measure that would outlaw bias on the basis of sexual orientation remained too close to call early today. [continues 390 words]
