MANCHESTER - Local police say they have evidence that one of their own officers and a department records supervisor were using cocaine while working for the department, although no criminal charges were ever filed against the two women, who dispute the allegations. Documents made public Friday also say that Dawn Cushman, the Police Department's former records supervisor, issued a pistol permit to a local man from whom she was buying cocaine on a regular basis. The documents also say she informed Susan Lowry, who was then a local police officer, of an investigation that related to her suspected drug use. [continues 1207 words]
HARTFORD - More than 40 years ago, a police officer led Cliff Thornton from his city home to an abandoned lot where his mother - after a drug overdose - had been found dead and naked under a junked car. Thornton vowed that day to support the outlawing of all drugs. But more than 30 years of watching America wage its "war on drugs" made him change his mind, he told a crowd of about 100 at a two-day conference about illegal drugs at Trinity College. [continues 835 words]
My Position Is That There Should Be Drug Stores Set Up by the State of Connecticut" Where Addicts Can Get "Whatever They Need to Sustain Them" on an "Ability-To-Pay Basis." - Superior Court Judge Howard Scheinblum ENFIELD -- In his 15 years as a Superior Court judge, Howard Scheinblum has always been unconventional. The judge -- who once ordered a teen accused of a bicycle theft to write a book report on John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" or he'd raise the teen's bond to $1 million, and who occasionally threatens to play his violin in court if a defendant's excuses get too sappy -- said Tuesday night that the solution to the drug problem facing the nation today is simple: give "maintenance doses" of illegal drugs to addicts so they don't commit crimes to afford them. [continues 809 words]
