Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, gave approval last week for the opening of six marijuana dispensaries. Christie, a former U.S. Attorney, said he made the decision despite never receiving assurances from the Justice Department that those working in the dispensaries would be exempt from prosecution. Christie said that opening the dispensaries is a risk he is taking as governor. He said the need to provide compassionate pain relief to citizens of the state outweighs the risk. Imagine that - compassion over caution. [continues 465 words]
I once covered Nancy Reagan at an appearance at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. The petite, fashionable first lady had made drug abuse her number-one issue, and she was waging her own low-key offensive in a war that would never end. There was a naive charm about it, a sense of a well-meaning woman sincerely believing that something as simple as "Just Say No" could undo something as complicated and pervasive and consuming as drug addiction. Mrs. Reagan was not from the "been there, done that" school of drug counseling. [continues 477 words]
It was one of the good things in a bad year. It was a serious attempt to put some fairness and common sense into a system sadly lacking in either. It was an attempt to keep people who shouldn't be in prison out of prison. It was hopeful. And it was shot down by Governor Carcieri, who apparently wants to keep the ACI running at full capacity and then some. So on Wednesday, people gathered across from the ACI in Cranston to point out how really shortsighted the governor has been. [continues 536 words]
Marijuana can get silly. Sure, it can do damage when it becomes a constant alternative to reality. But in too many ways it has become a slapstick prop, causing people in uniform to run around and around until they fall down. Or run into each other. And that's without smoking it. The funniest movie about marijuana is Reefer Madness. It features an actor who sucks madly on a joint, then turns into a crazed killer. That image is decades old and comically out of touch. But it is one that some people cling to even today in trying to give marijuana a place in the war on drugs that is totally unjustified. [continues 494 words]
The war on drugs has long been about heavy bombing rather than thoughtful prevention. Jails and prisons fill up due to mandatory sentencing laws. U.S. officials tell poor farmers in other countries that they have to destroy their cash crop because if they don't it will eventually go up the noses of bored Americans. And the national drug appetite continues to grow and continues to demand more and more. I remember once sitting in a college auditorium and listening to the petite Nancy Reagan bringing her "Just Say No" message to students who probably had done more research on the subject than she had. [continues 486 words]
Someday, marijuana will probably be legal, and people will look back and laugh at those times when a benign backyard weed caused heavily armed men in black jumpsuits to leap from police vans and arrest local pot farmers and burn their crops. But not yet. Marijuana is still illegal, still shrouded in well-tended myth and still reason enough to get a person sent to the slammer. So there is a wonderful opportunity this week for state government in Rhode Island to come down on the side of compassion and common sense. [continues 535 words]
People with multiple sclerosis use it to get through the day. So do people with AIDS, cancer and posttraumatic stress disorder. People trying to break their addiction to alcohol turn to it when they feel they can't make it through the next two minutes without a drink. Doctors recommend it, although they can't prescribe it. And some police who arrest people for it admit that their time could be better spent. It helps some people in ways that are not totally explained. But those who suffer don't need explanations. They need relief. So they make a connection and buy marijuana and break the law. They put their stash in a safe place that's easy to get to when the pain, fear or anxiety closes in. [continues 494 words]
When a kid gets stuck and isn't getting with the program, Peter Slom will take him into his office and show him his press clippings. He might show him the one with the headline "Ex-coach's house seized in drug case." Or, "Portsmouth coach, companion arrested after drug raid." The clippings are lessons in bad decision-making. Slom was the coach, now he's the ex-convict. And to inmates of the Rhode Island Training School, his experience can make it a little easier to connect. [continues 565 words]
Sandra Gilchrist has lived at The Elms, in West Warwick, for 22 years. She wants to stay. Kathy Paux, who manages the low-income family-housing complex, believes Gilchrist has to go. She says she would be sending the wrong kind of message to the other tenants if she allowed Gilchrist to stay. Gilchrist hasn't done anything wrong. She hasn't broken the law or violated tenant regulations. But her son has. And, under a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, the crimes of one family member can be visited on all other family members who live in the same place. [continues 614 words]
Outside the Today show, among the people dressed as cheese wedges and maple trees, stands a man dressed as a quahog with a sign that says: ``Hi, Matt. I'm running for Senate from Rhode Island and I've shot, snorted, and smoked every illegal pharmaceutical known to man or animal.'' After yesterday, it might get to that. After the engaging Matt Lauer claimed a place in the Rhode Island Senate race with one of those perfectly paced interviews of his, the contest to succeed John Chafee could turn into a costume party. [continues 530 words]
