I completely agree with The Gazette's April 8 editorial "Don't delay expansion of medical cannabis" favoring the legalization of medical cannabis. As well as lessening the pains and suffering from cancers and epileptic seizures, I'm betting it will be found to also help with the discomfort of other diseases like Crohn's and IBS (which I have). I'd gladly be a volunteer to see if that's true if it would be legalized. Also, being what's commonly called a "recovering" alcoholic, I know alcohol gives temporary relief but also causes damage to the brain, liver and kidneys. I doubt cannabis oil, being from a natural plant, would cause any such damage. Tom Matthes Marion [end]
Measure inspired by Cedar Rapids couple, local ordinance CEDAR RAPIDS - The city's action against the sale of synthetic drugs - which tackled the substances from a consumer fraud-and-protection approach rather than trying to keep pace with their ever-changing chemical make up - came just too late for Jerrald Meek. After struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and a two-year addiction to synthetic marijuana, the Army veteran took his life in his parent's Cedar Rapids home, on Aug. 26, 2014. [continues 1830 words]
Hospitals Struggle To Keep Drugs From Addicts And Protect Environment IOWA CITY When a patient emerges from anesthesia after surgery, his nurse wants to make sure he doesn't feel pain. She gets a 1 milliliter syringe of hydromorphone, a generic form of Dilaudid, from a secure drug cabinet. She plans to give her patient .2 milliliter. Even patients with open hysterectomies some of the most painful procedures need just .4 milliliter. She squirts the rest of the drug down the drain, where it can't be abused by addicts but can pollute drinking water. [continues 1901 words]
The government has been fighting over the legalization of marijuana for many years. Why is this fight still going on? The benefits that legalized marijuana would bring outweigh the negatives. Not all drugs should be legal. However, marijuana is not a "drug," it is a plant. Real criminals behind bars, our national debt cleared on the taxes alone, and creating jobs for Americans are some of the benefits that outweigh the negatives. Why is it that I, a 21-year-old, realizes this, but the people we put in charge of our nation do not? Brenee Andrew Cedar Rapids [end]
Study Will Be First of Its Kind Marijuana use, despite the legal implications, has been common in America for generations, and it's becoming even more widespread as some communities legalize it for medical purposes. But it wasn't until five years ago that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looked into its prevalence behind the wheel and found that 16.3 percent of the weekend nighttime drivers surveyed at 300 locations across the United States were drug positive. Cannabis stood out as the most commonly detected drug, according to the survey. But what the survey didn't show - and what authorities don't know - is how often drivers are impaired by the drugs, specifically marijuana. [continues 945 words]
Program Will Stress Treatment, Counseling The White House's announcement last week of a new drug control policy puts Iowa at the forefront of a decades-long debate over how to treat substance abuse and crime - and may affect the case for legalizing medical marijuana in the state. President Barack Obama's administration announced a $22 million grant program in Iowa, Arizona and New Jersey that aims to identify potential substance abuse problems before they becomes full-blown disorders. In doing so, the program eschews decades of a war-on-drugs philosophy based primarily on law enforcement in favor of increased prevention and treatment. [continues 774 words]
When two University of Iowa football players were arrested on drug charges in Iowa City early Saturday morning, one of them was charged with a drug tax stamp violation. It's a law Iowa has had since 1990, requiring a tax on something that's already illegal -- possessing certain amounts of controlled substances. "The whole purpose of the statute was to give police another tool in their arsenal to prosecute drug traffickers," Assistant Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said. Someone caught with enough of the drug but not the stamp to show the tax is paid may be charged with a crime that carries a fine, plus the standard possession of a controlled substance or possession with intent to deliver. [continues 431 words]
DES MOINES, IA - The amount of illegal seized by Iowa enforcement officers in the past year was enough to keep every resident of the state high for nearly two days, the state drug czar said today. The 25 drug enforcement task forces operating in Iowa confiscated an estimated 11,000 pounds of illegal drugs valued at more than $43 million, and each officer averaged about 50 drug-related arrests during the last 12 months, according to data released by Marvin Van Haaften, Iowa's drug policy coordinator. [continues 303 words]
DES MOINES, IA - Sen. Charles Grassley on Wednesday called for President Bush to fire the nation's drug czar, claiming more needs to be done to combat methamphetamine abuse. John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy, has been focusing too much on curbing marijuana use, said Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley said he wrote Walters calling for more action on meth and the response he received was "basically, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo." "I think the president ought to fire the drug czar," Grassley told reporters Wednesday during a conference call. [continues 93 words]
DES MOINES, IA - A new state report released today indicates that 11,385 students were suspended or expelled last school year, a number that was up nearly 28 percent from the previous year. Roughly three out of every four disciplinary incidents involved physical fighting, while the remaining suspensions and expulsions involved illicit drugs, weapons possessions or were alcohol related. The largest percentage increase in suspensions and expulsions between the two school years compared in the 2005 Condition of Education report occurred at the elementary school level with a jump of 35 percent. [continues 70 words]
DES MOINES, IA - A plan by state pharmacy regulators to set up a computerized system to track prescriptions for certain drugs is under fire by some Iowa lawmakers who say it would be an invasion of privacy. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners wants to track controlled substances in an effort to crack down on drug abuse and "doctor shopping." But lawmakers compare the system to "big brother," that could put patients' medical information in the wrong hands. "Many citizens and legislators are rightfully concerned about protecting the confidentiality of their medical information and about the security of the proposed database itself," Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, said Tuesday. [continues 311 words]
CEDAR RAPIDS - A former police officer is riding across America on horseback in an effort to convince people drugs should be legalized. Howard Wooldridge, a former detective from the Bath Township Police Department in Bath Township, Mich., is due to arrive in Cedar Rapids on Saturday. Wooldridge, a founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), said the organization's members believe drugs should be a public health matter, not a law enforcement one, freeing police to pursue crimes like drunk drivers or sex offenders. [continues 322 words]
IOWA CITY -- Two students are hoping to change the University of Iowa's stance of not offering financial aid to those with drug violations. UI senior George Pappas and freshman Kyle FitzGerald say they are not out to legalize marijuana. Instead, the duo plans to convince UI administrators next semester to take a defiant public stand against recent provisions to the Higher Education Act, which establishes federal financial aid programs for college students. A 1998 revision to the act blocks financial aid opportunities for college students who have drug convictions on their record. This is up for re-authorization in 2004. [continues 269 words]
