THREE detectives were slashed with a knife and then attacked by a pitbull dog when they went to carry out a drug search at a house in Co Louth yesterday morning. The incident happened in the rural townland of Sandpit, between Termonfeckin and Drogheda, at around 10am. Gardai from Ardee station arrived at a property with a search warrant. Sources said that a man, originally from Dublin, lashed out at the three men with a number of knives when he answered the front door. [continues 307 words]
You might call it a nascent civil rights movement in response to the new Jim Crow. About 150 people gathered Saturday morning at St. Peter Baptist Church in Glen Allen to discuss mass incarceration, the war on drugs and their effect on the black community. The Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration has scheduled forums Wednesday in Richmond's East End. "The endgame is just public awareness through the community and churches," with the hoped-for result of influencing legislation in the General Assembly, said Jesse Frierson, executive director of the alliance. [continues 718 words]
Family Services Praises Police For Protecting Kids More than 60 per cent of all children seized from drug houses in Alberta under the year-old Drug Endangered Children Act were in the Calgary region. Alberta Children's Services figures show 23 of the 38 children apprehended under the act came from the Calgary area, which includes Banff, Cochrane and High River. The figures show that to Oct. 1, just 39.5 per cent of the children came from elsewhere in Alberta, including Edmonton, rural areas and towns. [continues 431 words]
Calgary Airport Volunteers Honour Marijuana Activist CALGARY -- Canada's "Prince of Pot" has joined the ranks of singer Dolly Parton, Prince Philip and Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean. Arriving in Calgary for a two-day visit yesterday, Marc Emery, Canada's best-known marijuana activist, was white-hatted by the Calgary airport's official White Hat Volunteers. "I'm the Prince of Pot," he said. "That's a royalty, a monarchy of sorts, so I guess it fits." Yesterday's warm welcome, arranged by Emery's supporters, comes in stark contrast to his visit to Calgary in 2003, when he was arrested for marijuana possession. [continues 158 words]
Canada's "Prince of Pot" has joined the ranks of Dolly Parton, Prince Philip and Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean. Arriving at the Calgary airport for a two-day visit Saturday, Canada's best-known marijuana activist, Marc Emery, was white-hatted by the Calgary airport's official White Hat Volunteers. "I'm the Prince of Pot," he said. "That's a royalty, a monarchy of sorts, so I guess it fits." Saturday's warm welcome, arranged by Emery's supporters, comes in stark contrast to his visit to Calgary in 2003 when Emery was arrested for marijuana possession. [continues 348 words]
His political career has gone to pot, up in smoke, down the toilet. Pick your own Cheech and Chong metaphor. Stephen B. Johnson has no choice but to resign from the Richmond School Board after being caught Tuesday at a Richmond International Airport security checkpoint with three marijuana cigarettes. The disclosure of Tuesday's in cident came three months after the revelation that Johnson had sought dates on a pornographic Web site where men cruise for sex. Perhaps an elected official can survive that two-fer in Berkeley, Calif. But even someone as productive and popular as Johnson knew this wasn't going to fly. [continues 397 words]
What happens here stays here. That was the message conveyed to 15-year-old Shebony Carrington by some people who read her heartfelt essay on life in Fairfield Court. To many Times-Dispatch readers, Shebony's description of life in the housing project in Richmond's East End was both tear-inducing and inspira tional for her ability to hold fast to dreams despite her bleak surroundings. She wrote about the drunks, the drug dealers and the people afraid to sit on their porches "because of the shooting and the crazy people around the neighborhood." [continues 476 words]
Kevin Caufield's recent series on heroin in the Illinois Valley was an important and excellent piece of journalism. Mr. Caufield should be congratulated for the way he helped his readers come to better understand those who suffer and die because of a mistaken belief that "it can't happen to me." As importantly, I would like to acknowledge the families of the men and women who were the subjects of the articles. It would have been easier for them to have decided to keep such matters private. By sharing the stories of their families with us, they have shown courage and concern for others and have given greater meaning to the tragic deaths of their sons and daughters. Paul Scoma Princeton [end]
It concerns me when powerful bureaucrats like Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns "see no gray area where marijuana is concerned," as noted in the article about his recent visit to Montana. It is this type of fanatic extremism in prosecuting the drug war that has resulted in sick and dying people being sent to prison for using the only medication that works for them, even when their doctors agree with the treatment. Burns doesn't want to be asked why such established medical organizations as the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Public Health Association, American Academy of HIV Medicine, American Preventive Medical Association and the state medical associations of New York, Florida, California and Rhode Island all support the use of medical marijuana under a physician's supervision. [continues 167 words]
I respectfully disagree with David Henrich's conclusions regarding studies of teen use of marijuana in California. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse didn't break down results by state until 1999, so it does not show anything about the trend of marijuana use in California before and after Prop. 215 was passed in 1996. Also, NHSDA/NSDUH has problems of its own, not the least of which is the fact that participants must discuss illegal behavior in a face-to-face interview with a representative of the government who comes to their home. The California Attorney General's survey is anonymous. Which do you think is more likely to reflect what teens are actually doing? [continues 201 words]
Thank you for the article discussing Larry Rathbun, the MS patient imprisoned for treating his MS with medical marijuana. While the article was very positive overall, opponents of Montana's medical marijuana initiative, I-148, made several unsupportable claims. Opponents predict that I-148 would create a law-enforcement nightmare. Yet, in 2002, Congress' investigative arm reviewed four state medical marijuana laws and found that those laws did not hinder law enforcement efforts. Opponents also focus on teens' treatment for marijuana use. Yet these arguments would only be relevant if allowing sick people to use medical marijuana led to higher recreational use among teens. In states with medical marijuana laws, the opposite has proven true. In fact, California's Office of the Attorney General found that since the state passed its medical marijuana initiative, marijuana use among teens has dropped, in some age categories, by as much as 40 percent. [continues 102 words]
It was unfortunate The Gazette's survey of gubernatorial candidates combined two entirely separate issues: Allowing seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana with their doctor's recommendation and decriminalizing the possession of marijuana in Montana across the board. I-148, the medical marijuana initiative, has nothing to do with general decriminalization of marijuana possession. Highly respected research on medical marijuana, such as the 1999 National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine study, establishes the therapeutic value of medical marijuana to relieve pain, control nausea and improve appetites. Research in states that have medical marijuana laws shows no evidence that allowing the use of medical marijuana by patients would increase illicit drug use among the general population. [continues 136 words]
Editor, The News: As with most controversial social issues, marijuana has attracted enough scientific studies that you can find support for your position, no matter which side of the debate you are on. Eric Myrholm rightly makes this point in his letter of Jan. 23 ('Two sides to pot story: Here's mine,' Opinion). But while the scientific studies cited may prove the harmfulness of marijuana use, they do not constitute a convincing argument against decriminalization. Whether or not pot is a cancer-causing, "gateway" drug, the harm done is self-inflicted. [continues 263 words]
To the Editor: Young adults make their own choices, and we all want to help them make the right ones. But what if, despite your best child rearing efforts, you learn that your eighteen-year-old daughter has been arrested for marijuana possession? What if she has been using it frequently, or discreetly selling it to consenting friends and acquaintances for pocket money and social status? No harm was intended, and the activity was welcomed by her peers. What would you consider most helpful: counseling, a fine, prison, a criminal record, or no punishment at all? [continues 760 words]
Dear Editor, Young adults make their own choices, and we all want to help them make the right ones. But what if, despite your best child rearing efforts, you learn that your 18-year-old daughter has been arrested for marijuana possession? What if she has been using it frequently, or discreetly selling it to consenting friends and acquaintances for pocket money and social status? No harm was intended, and the activity was welcomed by her peers. What would you consider most helpful: counselling, a fine, prison, a criminal record, or no punishment at all? [continues 241 words]
The Richmond City Council will pore over its cash-strapped budget in search of money for the city's juvenile and adult drug courts. The council heard drug court advocates and participants request help yesterday during an informal meeting in the council chamber. Drug court participant Gene Willis had a ready reply when Councilwoman Reva Trammell asked why the council should find money in its budget for the drug court. "Because it's a life-saving program," he replied. [continues 317 words]
Before three graduates of the Richmond Adult Drug Treatment Court received congratulatory hugs and handshakes, they heard this parable from substance abuse clinician Madeline Berry: A farmer owned an old mule who fell into a well. The farmer heard the mule's entreaties for help but decided neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. So he began filling the well with dirt. As each shovelful plopped on his back, the mule shook off the dirt and took a step up. Fighting panic, the animal kept shaking off dirt and stepping up. Eventually, he climbed out of the well. [continues 433 words]
Before the General Assembly kills the Richmond Adult Drug Court program, perhaps it should hear from people like Maureen Pullian. "Drug Court may not mean anything to you, but to me it's given me another chance at life," Pullian wrote. "See if it was not for Drug Court, I just may have been dead." Richmond Adult Drug Court, which is housed in a suite above the food court at the Sixth Street Marketplace, may fall victim to a cash-strapped state budget. [continues 422 words]
Three weeks removed from her seven-year prison nightmare, Kemba Smith told an audience observing the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday that freedom is not free. "We must remember, freedom is not a gift, but an achievement," said Smith, the former Glen Allen debutante and Hermitage High School graduate who spoke at yesterday's Living the Dream Mass Meeting at the Ashe Center. The celebration featured videotaped remarks by Coretta Scott King, widow of the slain civil rights leader. She thanked Gov. Jim Gilmore for his role in making King's day a distinct Virginia holiday no longer shared with Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. [continues 393 words]
Jurors in Hackensack on Friday acquitted a North Bergen police officer on charges of selling the drug Ecstasy in a Fairview nightclub, but they convicted him on a more serious count of official misconduct, which probably will lead to a state prison sentence. Marc Corso, 28, had been a police officer for about two years when he was arrested in April 2000 for allegedly selling the popular designer drug to an undercover officer in the Drama Club on Broad Avenue. Undercover detectives testified that Corso was with another man, Giovanni Gallo, who exchanged the two Ecstasy tablets for $50. Investigators arrested both men minutes later. [continues 357 words]
