This concerns the Sept. 15 story headlined, "Nearly 4,000 plants netted." I'm sure that many marijuana growers and sellers are thankful to the Greenup County Sheriff's Department for this latest marijuana eradication effort and others like it. Without operations like this, marijuana would be worth what other easy-to-grow weeds are worth - very little. Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other so-called "drug warriors," the easy-to-grow weed is worth more than pure gold - and it's completely tax free. Any marijuana growers or sellers arrested soon will be replaced. They always are. Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz. [end]
GREENUP Four days in a helicopter over Greenup County late last month led to the discovery of almost 4,000 marijuana plants, all of which were subsequently destroyed by the county sheriff's department. Sheriff Keith Cooper took to the air with the help of the Kentucky State Police, who own the chopper, to scour rural Greenup for marijuana patches, and more flyovers are scheduled for this month, he said. The majority of the patches found in the previous operation were situated between White Oak and Brushy in the northwestern end of the county, Cooper said. A patch was even found in a small cornfield near the entrance to Greenbo Lake State Resort. [continues 303 words]
Kentucky Supreme Court candidate Will T. Scott's proposal to turn the Little Sandy Correctional Complex in Elliott County into a drug treatment facility suggests that his priorities are in order. A study conducted by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. Not only do the children lose out, but society as a whole does too. Incarcerating non-violent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior. [continues 83 words]
Candidate Suggests Turning Elliott Prison Into Drug Treatment Facility Kentucky Supreme Court candidate Will T. Scott has another idea for the new Little Sandy Correctional Complex in Elliott County - one that does not include either privatizing the prison or operating it as a regular state prison. Instead, Scott - who is challenging incumbent Janet Stumbo for a seat on the state's highest court - proposes turning the 981-bed prison into what he calls "the most advanced state-operated long-term drug and alcohol treatment and education facility in the nation." [continues 430 words]
LOUISA - City employees here could soon be randomly tested for drug use, a proposal which has been met with open arms by many of those employees who could be affected. "I think it's a good idea," said Louisa Mayor Teddy Preston. "I don't think any of us have a problem with it." The first reading of the drug-testing ordinance was passed unanimously during Tuesday's City Council meeting. A second reading is needed before it is enacted. Under the proposal, employees will be put in a "pool" and then names will be randomly picked for testing, which will be done by a local medical laboratory. [continues 253 words]
Louisa Lawrence County Sheriff Garrett Roberts is hoping that more citizens will get involved in trying to solve the county's drug problem. A meeting of the UNITE task force, an anti-drug initiative, will be Monday evening at the Lawrence County Courthouse. UNITE, an acronym for Unlawful Narcotics Investigation Treatment and Education, was formed last year by U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, and is funded with $8 million in federal funds. The money is shared among a 29-county area, including Lawrence. [continues 214 words]
It's interesting to note that the only ones who purport coerced drug testing of students is "vital" are those being paid to do the tests. Suggestions that accuracy can be fully assured are false. At best, the level of error can be reduced, but there is no "100 percent" success rate for any drug tests. But why test at all? University of Michigan researchers concluded drug testing does not deter student drug use. The research, published in the Journal of School Health, culled data from surveys of students in 722 secondary schools across the nation from 1998 to 2001. They found students' drug use in testing schools and non-testing schools were "virtually identical." [continues 180 words]
While drug testing for students is vital to their survival in the peer-pressured world of teenagers, situations such as those that happened at Wurtland Middle School can be avoided by: * Sending all specimens to a federally certified lab for screening and confirmation. * Having knowledgeable, competently trained individuals perform the rapid test under the guidelines of a policy written to protect privacy. I have seen too many individuals embarrassed because they were accused of taking amphetamines (over-the-counter diet supplements) or PCP (cold medication containing effexor). This should be used as a learning mechanism that requires the situation to be analyzed and appropriate changes implemented. Leo Barbisan, Director of Special Services, Kroll Laboratory Specialists, Gretna, La. [end]
In regards to the story concerning drug testing at Wurtland Middle School. it should be noted that, when testing for drugs, a "99 percent reliability rate" might not be what it first appears. It may be that it means that 99 percent of those who actually took drugs will test positive (a good result). It may not mean that 99 percent of those who don't take drugs will test negative. In fact, a high percentage of false positives can occur if the percent of those who actually use the drug is fairly low. For example, if only 2 percent of the target population actually uses the drug and the test is wrong 1 percent of the time (possibly due to over-the-counter medications, certain foods, etc.), then it can be shown that about 33 percnt of those who test positive will be false positives. It would be very easy to penalize the innocent. George Livingston Ironton, Ohio [end]
My son also recently tested positive for drugs at Wurtland MiIddle School. He tested negative at the hospital. My gripe is that he was tested because he is related to a student who tested positive. This was an embarrassment to him, and I don't approve of it at all. My son is owed a public apology from school officials. I don't like anything that has been going on there. My friend's daughter was sleepy, so guess who got a phone call? We basically are looked down upon because of the neighborhood we live in. We are continuously discriminated by school officials. While there are some bad people in my neighborhood, there are also good people. I work and make very competitive wages. I don't feel that I or my chldren should be looked down upon because we live here. Chris Johnson Argillite [end]
WURTLAND Tammy Stephens knows school districts have an obligation when it comes to preventing students from abusing drugs. That, however, was no consolation Friday when she watched her son, 13-year-old Wurtland Middle School student Joshua Sizemore, endure a school-administered drug test that subsequently yielded positive results for the drug PCP. Following the advice of school officials, Stephens took her son to the hospital for further, more specific, tests for traces of PCP, benzodiazepines, cocaine, amphetamine, cannabinoids, barbituates and tricyclic. [continues 1237 words]
Fliers Distributed On Wurtland School Issue WURTLAND - Some local parents are up in arms after two Wurtland Middle School students were suspended last week for alleged drug abuses at school. Fliers were rampant in the small Greenup County community Monday, with both an anonymous parent group and the school system alerting the public about two meetings on the subject. Parents, who circulated a notice warning the school is "out of control," were scheduled to meet Monday evening, while the school district will have another meeting Wednesday with local school officials and drug prevention counselors. [continues 470 words]
GRAYSON If he had served another term, Paul Patton says combatting today's drug problem would've been his focus. "It's the most important issue facing the state, and particularly eastern Kentucky," the former governor said at Saturday's East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Grayson. And, he wasn't alone in that thinking. Almost two dozen political and civic leaders from several eastern Kentucky counties called it "overwhelming," even as they debated its root cause, and solutions, during one conference session. [continues 619 words]
GREENUP Participants in Greenup and Lewis county drug court will spend some of their spare time trying to raise money for charity during May, which is National Drug Court Month. They'll do it by coordinating the collection of pop-can tabs, which they'll donate to the Ronald McDonald House. The house, which provides lodging to families of seriously ill hospital patients, recycles the tabs and uses the money for its operations. Kentucky's drug courts are a court-supervised treatment program for non-violent drug offenders. They work to curb relapse rates while also avoiding the cost of putting offenders in prison. [continues 236 words]
ASHLAND - Those from the FIVCO region who are concerned about drug abuse are invited to attend a public forum regarding the problem next week in downtown Ashland. The forum will be from 1 to 5 p.m. March 4 at the Ashland Plaza Hotel. It is part of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's Drug Control Policy Summit Initiative, which calls for selected state, local and federal officials who work closely with those affected by drug use to conduct 16 meetings across the state for a comprehensive evaluation of substance abuse in the state. Next week's meeting will be the third in the series. [continues 165 words]
One Carter County law enforcement agency is withdrawing from the FIVCO Area Drug Enforcement Task Force. However, another may be waiting in the wings to take its place. The Carter County Sheriff's Department, a member of the multi-county drug task force for about four years, will end its participation, Sheriff Kevin "Mooch" McDavid said. "Basically, it just came down to budgetary problems," he said. "I hate to drop out of FADE. It's a wonderful program and anything I can do to keep us in it, I will." [continues 398 words]
Your Jan. 22 editorial correctly noted that the vast majority of people in both your state and mine are not getting adequate access to appropriate drug treatment. The reasons are twofold. First is that current policy brands anyone caught with an illegal substance as a "drug abuser". This is as flawed logically as arresting all alcohol users and defining them as alcoholics. When a well-intentioned system of substance abuse treatment is clogged by court-ordered casual users, those with legitimate abuse issues are left waiting. And while they wait, the symptoms of their addictions multiply and subsequent damage to them and to society is increased. [continues 168 words]
This is in response to Kentucky Lt. Gov. Steve Pence's call for treatment instead of punishment for drug offenders. The drug war has hypocritically terrorized and incarcerated millions of Americans. Drugs are not inherently good or bad. Those who use drugs are certainly not criminals unless they harm others or another's property. Our government's prohibition of certain drugs has created an unregulated black market in which any man, woman or child may participate. Presidents, along with many other politicians and prominent members of our society, have admitted to using some of the very substances that are currently illegal. [continues 174 words]
Lt. Gov. Steve Pence, who doubles as Gov. Ernie Fletcher's justice secretary, wants to emphasize drug treatment instead of continuing to imprison more and more people for non-violent, drug-related crimes. While we applaud that approach as being long overdue, the downside of Pence's plan -- at least for this job-poor region -- is that it could delay the opening of a 1,000-bed prison in Elliott County. We agree with Pence -- a former U.S. Attorney for Western Kentucky -- that Kentucky has too many nonviolent offenders who should be receiving treatment for drug problems rather than being behind bars. That is a message people like Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson has been preaching for 25 years, but it rarely has been put into practice. [continues 449 words]
As the 2004 Kentucky Legislative session begins, Rep. Tom Kerr will be introducing a bill for the second time. Rep. Kerr was asked to sponsor this bill after the death of our 23-year-old son, Casey, to a chronic, relapsing brain disease. We would have gone to any lengths to stop the progression of our son's disease. However, by law, we were not permitted to force him to stay in a treatment program which could have encouraged his recovery. He was legally an adult who had the right to make his own choices. Although his development had been stunted, he wasn't functioning as a normal young adult, and his thinking was irrational, he legally continued to make his own distorted decisions. We watched as his disease took over his whole existence. It hijacked his brain, stole his spirit, and finally destroyed his body. [continues 157 words]
