Whitehall - Felony Charge Filed Against Former Phish Leader FORT EDWARD -- A Washington County grand jury on Thursday filed a felony drug possession charge against the former frontman of the jam rock band Phish. Ernest J. "Trey" Anastasio, 42, of Richmond, Vt., was indicted on a charge of felony criminal possession of a controlled substance and lesser charges of driving under the influence of drugs and driving with a suspended license, law enforcement sources said. Grand jury proceedings are secret until the panel reports its decisions on indictments to a judge. [continues 302 words]
Washington County DA Says Charges Still A Possibility For Anastasio Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said Monday he has not ruled out filing a felony drug charge against a world- renowned musician arrested Friday in Whitehall. Kortright said he wanted to review the State Police crime laboratory report on the drugs Ernest "Trey" Anastasio allegedly possessed at the time of his arrest, results of a urine sample and the rest of the evidence Whitehall Police assembled. "We're going to take a look at it all and make a decision from there," the district attorney said. [continues 390 words]
Editor: I'm writing about Adam Scavone's outstanding letter: "Think of the money lost by current drug policy" (Oct. 14). I'd like to add that throwing more and more money at our drug problem is not the answer. We have been doing this for more than 35 years. The net results are that illegal drugs are just as available today as they were in 1969. I'd like to add that in 1969 the U.S. federal drug enforcement budget was $65 million. Last year it was $19.2 billion. (These figures don't include the cost of incarceration nor the state and local costs). [continues 104 words]
Editor: Don Lehman reports that the Capital Region Drug Task Force got a half pound of marijuana off the streets after their headline-making raid last week. More than a century of experience and the laws of economics have taught us that local dealers will be happy, since reduced supply without diminished demand will surely yield higher prices for their marijuana. Meanwhile, taxpayers are getting soaked. Millenia of experience show that marijuana is a safer drug than alcohol, and spending money to lock people up for smoking, growing or selling marijuana hardly makes sense. Foregoing sales tax revenue on marijuana compounds this bad public policy. New York stands to earn millions, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman and Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron recently pointed out on www.forbes.com. According to Miron's research, which was endorsed by Friedman, the country as a whole passes up about $6.2 billion in revenues each year from marijuana sales that could be taxed. A quick calculation ($6.2 billion divided by fifty states) shows $124 million in lost revnues for New York, every single year (and millions more if savings from enforcement are included). Adam Scavone Saratoga Springs [end]
FORT EDWARD - Fort Edward school officials want the community to see the results of a survey that earlier this year questioned high school students about their use of drugs and alcohol. The results, school officials say, indicate that a problem exists. "I think we definitely have enough of a problem to address it and enough of a problem to make the community aware of what's going on," said Fort Edward Board of Education President Dan Boucher. As a result, the survey's findings will be shared with the public at a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. today at the Fort Edward High School auditorium. [continues 305 words]
FORT EDWARD -- More than a year after requiring athletes to submit to random drug testing, officials at Ford Edward Union Free School say they are pleased with the results, despite some criticism of the policy. The district reinstated the policy at the start of the 2004-05 school year, after going without it for several years. It calls for students in grades seven through 12 who play sports to agree to random drug tests. Parents also have to give their written consent. [continues 697 words]
Editor: Regarding "Leaders rally against growing drug trade" on March 15, when are our political leaders going to admit that drug prohibition isn't working? Never has. Never will. The Emperor is wearing no clothes. Alan Randell, Victoria, BC, Canada [end]
Warren County - Warrensburg Program Seen as Model To Copy QUEENSBURY -- Warren County supervisors expressed alarm Friday at the rising tide of illegal drugs in the county and urged a renewed commitment to community-based efforts to fight the scourge like one recently started in Warrensburg. "The problem is, this is a nice place to live," said Queensbury At-Large Supervisor Nick Caimano. "... We can hide our heads in the sand and say it can't happen here. Well, it's happening here." [continues 437 words]
Crime is down in Glens Falls, so the police chief wants to hire five more officers. That statement is technically accurate, but unfair. It got your attention, though. These are the facts: Overall arrests in 2002 were down from 2,486 to 2,482. This is, of course, a statistically meaningless decrease. Drug arrests were up from 134 to 310, a very meaningful jump. Which means, mathematically, that all arrests other than drug arrests declined by 180, also a meaningful figure. [continues 603 words]
Editor: Legalization of medical marijuana has received an increasing amount of attention and support since 1996, particularly as politicians have jumped on the pro-legalization bandwagon and patients have attested to the benefits derived from using marijuana to relieve symptoms of chronic and terminal illnesses. There are varying opinions on this controversial subject and those in favor of legalization have succeeded in making their voices heard. What is lacking is a straightforward answer on whether marijuana can serve a valuable role in the medical management of terminal illness. [continues 335 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crime-fighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday. The report by the General Accounting Office said that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied were limited to only four counties and no statewide data was available. [continues 67 words]
When l7 political parties make it on the state ballot, we'll have ballot reform, swiftly, because that's when one of the major parties will have to start sharing space. Until then, people like William Bombard, the local Libertarian Party candidate for state Assembly, will have to put up with sharing their ballot line. On Tuesday, the Libertarians are sharing with the Marijuana Reform Party. Mr. Bombard is unhappy about this. He thinks the ballot layout makes it look like he's representing the Marijuana Reform Party. It does look that way and, as Mr. Bombard hastened to tell The Post-Star recently, he doesn't think pot should be legal. [continues 340 words]
Independent state Assembly candidate William Bombard says his placement on the ballot could be an occupational hazard and has already cost him one vote. Bombard's name appears on the same line as the Marijuana Part Reform candidates for governor, and he has already received a call from a voter who assumed he, too, was a member of the Marijuana Reform party. "She said to me that she was upset because I was a Marijuana Reform Party candidate. I said, 'No I wasn't,'" said Bombard, who is running on the Libertarian Party line. "I didn't know anything about it, because I never looked at the ballot." [continues 349 words]
Police: Woman Tried To Smuggle Heroin Into Great Meadow FORT ANN -- A 75-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on charges she tried to smuggle heroin and $100 in cash to her son at Great Meadow Correctional Facility. Mary Weygant, of New Windsor (Orange County) was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and first-degree promoting prison contraband, both felonies, after she was caught with the drugs and money in the prison visiting area about 11:20 a.m., officials said. [continues 310 words]
DEA Chief: Terror War Not Overshadowing Drug War MECHANICVILLE -- Local prosecutors and police told the country's top drug enforcement official Friday that the federal government can't forget about the war on drugs while it focuses on protecting the country from terrorists. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Director Asa Hutchinson, who was in the area to speak to local officials, reassured them that he agrees that the fight against illegal drugs needs to remain a priority. "What concerns parents the most is not terrorists, but drug peddlers trying to sell drugs to their children," Hutchinson said. [continues 470 words]
SYRACUSE (AP) -- Tighter security at airports and borders since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has helped lower drug trafficking, said the Drug Enforcement Administration. Asa Hutchinson, the nation's top drug-enforcement officer, told a Syracuse University audience Thursday that 16,000 pounds of cocaine were seized at the country's borders in the last six months. When asked by audience members about legalizing drugs, Hutchinson said complete legalization was "irrational and illogical" and would not stop organized crime. "We need to invest in more treatment options," he said. [continues 81 words]
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Federal agents raided a marijuana farm Thursday and arrested the owners, who helped write the state law legalizing medical use of the plants. Officers seized more than 100 marijuana plants, three rifles and a shotgun, said Richard Meyer, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco. Valerie and Michael Corral were arrested on federal charges of intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy, he said. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney could not determine Thursday afternoon whether formal charges had been filed. [continues 74 words]
Editor: Sunday's (Aug. 4) Kathleen Parker column talks about drugs, specifically marijuana, and if I understand her point, Parker strongly implies marijuana is useful in society. She (Parker) politely criticizes Barbara Eden for Eden's anti-drug stance. A news flash to Parker, "there is no drug expert in this or any country." There are only those who have spent a lifetime to understand drugs. Eden feels passionate in her commentary on Larry King simply because simply because she lost her son to drugs. [continues 203 words]
Editor: Thanks for publishing Kevin Zeese's outstanding letter, "The war on drugs helps criminals profit", Aug. 18. Speaking of money and the war on drugs, in 1969 the federal drug enforcement budget was $65 million. This year it's $19.2 billion, a 295-fold increase. The net result of our so-called "investment" -- anybody that wants drugs in the U.S. can still get them. Just as easily as in 1969. KIRK MUSE, Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Editor: On Aug. 4 Kathleen Parker of The Orlando Sentinel stated,"...dollar for dollar, the billions we funnel into this 'war' would be better spent on education, prevention and treatment." This "war" is about education, prevention and treatment, but without law enforcement, regulations, and changing norms we cannot win. Parker was right to say telling the truth about drugs, including marijuana, means presenting both sides. According to new research, marijuana may help some people with problems such as anxiety, but long-term use of marijuana has been shown to create paranoia, anxiety, decreased motor coordination, impaired memory, high carcinogen levels, inhibit reproduction and birth complications. [continues 321 words]
