Homeowner Vang Khang and two cops could have left a North Minneapolis home in body bags early Sunday morning instead of by their own power. But they didn't. Praise the Lord, I say. But, hey, stuff happens during apparent "no-knock" police raids of private residences. No harm, no foul. Right? Wrong. What occurred inside a two-story home in the 1300 block of Logan Avenue North should concern us all, whether we live in crime-plagued areas or low-crime and idyllic-sounding places like Golden Nirvana or Apple Pie Way. [continues 953 words]
ILOILO CITY -- Former senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III of the Team Unity senatorial slate yesterday said the US government's inability to help its allies combat drug trafficking was one of the reasons why drug abuse remains a top dilemma of American law enforcement agencies in their country. Sotto said that instead of blaming the Philippines and other countries for its worsening narcotics problem, the Bush administration should consider extending help to other governments in fighting their own drug war. Sotto, principal author of the Dangerous Drug Code of the Philippines and an anti-drug abuse advocate, said the US government should send to the country modern anti-smuggling air- and watercraft to help the Philippine Coast Guard block drug smugglers from making the country a stopover for drugs smuggled to the US. [continues 176 words]
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma might come close to describing the uncertain aftermath of another controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that governs how judges will now sentence federal criminal defendants. "I describe the latest ruling as making chaos out of confusion," said Barbara Tombs, executive director of Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines Commission and someone frankly relieved that the latest decision won't have that much of a significant effect -- at least so far -- on state criminal cases. [continues 554 words]
If you really want to know how a war is going, don't ask the politicians or the agency spin-doctors. Ask the front-line grunts and field commanders. And nearly to a man, those in charge of deploying the troops at the ground level believe our efforts largely have been a bust - pun intended - and that it's time for major policy reform or overhaul. No, it's not the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's another issue for another time. It's the so-called war on drugs, a much longer and perhaps thornier and more perplexing conflict that notably erupted in response to the devastating crack cocaine epidemic that swept through the nation in the 1980s. [continues 766 words]
Presidential son, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, was right after all. Like many of his critics and colleagues in the House of Representatives, the young Arroyo may not be aware that a provision of the Dangerous Drugs Code actually acknowledges the use of marijuana for scientific, medical, and laboratory purposes. It was for this reason that the neophyte solon answered in the affirmative when Ifugao Representative Solomon Chungalao interpellated him on the House floor on whether he would support a bill that would legalize the use of the highly addictive substance if it will be used for medical purposes. [continues 283 words]
The Cordillera lawmaker's plan to push for the legalization of marijuana yesterday drew a howl of protest among opposition congressmen who warned that the move would worsen the already serious drug abuse problem in the country. But before his statement could be misunderstood by the public, Representative Solomon Chungalao (Lakas, Mountain Province) clarified that the legalization of the addictive plant's use will only be limited to laboratory tests and other similar endeavors aimed at determining the medicinal value of marijuana. [continues 300 words]
I got around to watching ``Traffic'' the other day. If you want to get a good sense of why and how badly we're losing the ``war'' on illegal drugs in this country the past three decades, go see it. And please take your teen-agers. But don't take my word. Jorge Valdes and David Reyes also give the Oscar-worthy film an enthusiastic thumbs-up. You won't find two better or more credible critics on both the movie and our failed drug policy. [continues 951 words]
