In March 2003, Kentucky State Police Detective Jason Manar knocked on the door of then-Paducah resident Frederick Carl "Fritz" Krause III and his roommate, Joe Yamada in the middle of the night. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported Manar told the occupants that a young girl claimed to have been sexually assaulted inside the house, and he wanted to see if furniture matched her descriptions. The problem is there was no young girl. Another man Manar had arrested on drug charges said he bought cocaine from Krause's house. Knowing he didn't have probable cause to obtain a warrant, Manar made up the sexual assault story in order to get inside to search for drugs. [continues 465 words]
Dozens of students gathered beside the White Hall Classroom Building yesterday to get fired up about reforming marijuana laws. The students came for a membership rally held by the UK chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Lexington lawyer and politician, Gatewood Galbraith, spoke to students about the legalization of marijuana and their rights as citizens to understand and be an active part of government. "I like coming out here and getting the students riled up," Galbraith said. "I represent a lot of them in court later on so I like to take opportunities like this to talk to students and teach them about marijuana and about their rights." [continues 550 words]
With the ongoing war on terror taking up a significant portion of news budgets across the United States, another war within our own borders has gone largely ignored in the public eye. Our generation has been inundated with anti-drug campaigns for years - from "This is your brain ... this is your brain on drugs" to "A very special 'Fresh Prince.' " As we entered our teenage years, the majority of us were probably scared of drug use - scared of the physical effects and the social and legal consequences. But now that we've all grown up, it would be safe to assume that a large majority of us have either tried drugs or been around when others have. [continues 559 words]
This column is in response to John Dixon's column yesterday, "Drugs don't seem so tantalizing when you meet users' children." I've never understood drug use, even in the recreational sense. It's not that I'm a self-righteous, straight-laced Pollyanna. I'd like to think that it's because I possess a rational mind, and I'm capable of intelligent choices. But the methamphetamine problem slowly miring Kentucky in a cesspool of strung-out junkies desperate for their next fix, even in my tiny hometown in the south central part of the state, makes me wonder if I'm not missing something, after all. [continues 615 words]
Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced plans recently to form the Office of Drug Control, headed by UK College of Law graduate Sylvia Lovely. This office is a positive response to Kentucky's illegal drug problem - if it gets the funding it deserves. Methamphetamines, in particular, are no longer just problems in Eastern Kentucky; this drug affects the whole state. The number of meth labs seized has risen from 67 in 1999 to 476 in 2003, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. [continues 241 words]
The counterculture met the drug enforcement contingent last night, arguing both sides of marijuana legalization in a debate, "Heads versus Feds." Bob Stutman, a retired special agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Steve Hager, former editor of High Times magazine, spoke and took questions from 400 students packed in Memorial Hall. The debate, held by the Student Activities Board, was a stop on an annual tour of more than 40 colleges for the two men. Hager, who edited the marijuana-savvy magazine for 15 years, offered five reasons why marijuana should be legalized: its medicinal values, the money it costs the prison systems, the corruption brought on by drug money, hemp's environmental values and its importance to the counter culture. [continues 383 words]
Two weeks after Rush Limbaugh declared on his show that he is addicted to prescription-paid medications, the once front-page feature story has been relegated to the back pages. Assuming everything goes well with his rehabilitation program, Rush will return in another two weeks with the support of all 20 million of his listeners. And there's nothing liberals would hate more. When the drug story broke, news anchors and columnists alike were overcome with joy, fantasizing about the downfall of the voice of common-sense conservatism for the past 15 years. [continues 606 words]
To say that corruption in Kentucky is a problem is an understatement, not to mention a statement of the especially obvious. The state is clearly fed up with the partisan politics, the nepotism and the shady road construction contracts - among other topics. But such knowledge and exasperation doesn't get us anywhere without action. And the action in question here should involve electing and designating a public official who will initiate and follow through on difficult investigations of corruption in Frankfort and everywhere else in the state. [continues 447 words]
During the last couple decades, a dreadful increase of drug trafficking from some Latin American countries has been a major attack on the United States' society, economy and security. Drug cartels in Colombia and Peru have operated like international business corporations with a single aim: reaching the U.S. market. An array of U.S. institutions, including the DEA, FBI, CIA and Delta Force, have been facing a supernatural challenge in their efforts to foil drug trafficking. The drug trafficking is less docile than the political and ideological terrorism that posit some clear objectives, take responsibilities, seek negotiations, put conditions, etc. The drug barons are motivated only from greed and, unfortunately, due to their criminal activity, possess enormous financial resources. [continues 497 words]
Methamphetamine is nicknamed the "poor man's cocaine" because it is a cheap drug made of easily available ingredients, said one professor. "One of the reasons for its popularity is that it's relatively cheap to produce," said Robert Walker, an assistant professor in UK's Center on Drug and Alcohol Research. Methamphetamine is a form of amphetamine with a high that can last four to six hours. Walker said slight changes in a drug's composition affect its potency. "The main change is with the half-life, or how long it lasts in the system. Methamphetamine has a longer half-life and so it has a longer high," he said. [continues 276 words]
