Crime: $1 Million Of John Ward's Property May Be Seized. His Parents Also Face Prison. A jury Wednesday convicted a man described by authorities as Orange County's largest methamphetamine dealer, whose enterprise was so powerful that it had a deputy district attorney as a tipster and generated weekly sales sometimes exceeding $1 million. John Ward, 30, of Orange was found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute "ice" methamphetamine as well as cocaine, prescription pills and ephedrine. The jury's verdict caps a five-week trial in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and a federal investigation that included more than 12,000 hours of wiretapped conversations, discussions that revealed the inner workings of the drug network. [continues 589 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - The United States is planning to go beyond helping Colombia battle drugs by providing counterterrorist aid as part of the new global war on terrorism, Ambassador Anne Patterson said Friday. Washington plans to train and equip elite anti-kidnapping and bomb squads, assist civilian and military counter-terror investigators and help Colombia guard its oil pipelines from rebel bomb attacks, Patterson said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Certainly, Sept. 11 has enabled us to do more of these kinds of things," the American ambassador said of the broadened assistance. [continues 405 words]
I am truly disturbed by the letter to the editor that was printed in the Oct. 16 issue. A woman states that she is saddened by the funds spent in fighting the war on drugs - that the confiscation of over 250 pounds of marijuana saddens her. It is mindboggling to think that there are people in this country who feel this way. First of all, I would have to agree that children who have interests in various types of activities have less tendency to become involved in illegal activities and or drugs. However, I have been involved with youth sports in Payson for the past nine years, and being a police officer have had to deal and even effect arrests, for drugs, on youths that I had coached in the past. These were youths who had stayed involved in activities and still fell prey to these things. [continues 388 words]
We are at a critical juncture in the fight to cut off the funding for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and other terrorist groups. Both the U.S. Senate and the House have taken important,steps by passing anti-money-laundering measures that are now being considered in relation to broader antiterrorism legislation. The danger is that this badly needed money-laundering legislation will be killed by potent special interests, including the American Bankers Association, that oppose it. They are keeping a low profile, but their tactic is to separate the money laundering provisions from others in the omnibus antiterrorism bill and then stall them to death. If that happens, the government will be deprived of a powerful weapon in this fight. [continues 624 words]
Operators of a medical marijuana clinic raided by federal agents blasted the action Friday as a "death sentence" for people who use the facility. Drug Enforcement Administration agents searched the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center Thursday afternoon, seizing computers, financial documents, 400 marijuana plants and medical records of some 3,000 current and former patients, said Scott Imler, resident of the resource center. "This action is effectively a death sentence for patients all across Los Angeles County," Imler said. "Our immediate concerns are our 960 patients who have no place else to go for marijuana." [continues 355 words]
If not for the rezoning proposal sign on the gate, the South Surrey house would probably not attract much notice. It's a drug and alcohol recovery house on the corner of 10th Avenue and 160th Street called the Launching Pad. Since June it's been home to a dozen men trying to put the ravages of drugs and booze behind them and get their lives back on track. The owners want the property rezoned to allow up to 17 residents. [continues 630 words]
NEW YORK - Six alleged members of an international drug gang, including a man who refused to leave a house where drugs were stashed as the World Trade Center collapsed two blocks away, have been indicted on narcotics charges, it was announced Wednesday. The 38-count indictment included charges of sale of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of guns and possession of drug paraphernalia. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said that the Israel-based gang had mostly sold Ecstasy, a popular club drug that they imported from Holland, but that it also had trafficked in cocaine, hashish and marijuana. [continues 207 words]
Sentencing has been rescheduled to Nov. 28 for a former Washington State Patrol chemist who has pleaded guilty to pilfering heroin sent to his lab for forensic tests. Michael Hoover, 51, of Edmonds in July pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct, both gross misdemeanors. His sentencing, originally scheduled for mid-September, was to have occurred Thursday. The hearing was postponed because of scheduling problems. Hoover could face up to two years behind bars, although prosecutors are recommending he serve about half that much time, perhaps in work release. [continues 136 words]
Cannabis has a funny effect on people - frowned upon officially, it is widely enjoyed as a recreational drug and many others take if for medical reasons. We all know it and yet the law prevents us from saying so openly if we want to avoid arrset. Rolling up makes you a criminal in the UK. David Blunkett indicated on Tuesday that he wanted to reclassify the drug from class B to C as part of a package to concentrate fully stretched police resources on hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. [continues 641 words]
County's Mental Health Youth Services Program Provides Vital Service Editor's note: This is the second story in a three-part series examining the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services provided by the Catawba County Mental Health Services department. An intensive outpatient group gathers at Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, part of Mental Health Services of Catawba County, three times a week for three hours to discuss their substance addictions. For some, the drug of choice is marijuana. For others, it's alcohol. For still others, crack or cocaine are the drugs they fight to overcome. [continues 726 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate overwhelmingly passed a $15.6 billion foreign aid bill Wednesday after sharply cutting President Bush's request to fight illegal drugs in South America. "We're spending four times more on the Andean drug program ... than what we're doing to stop disease -- smallpox or tuberculosis, malaria, ebola, plague -- from coming into our country," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Appropriations Committee's foreign operations panel. "We've got to set some priorities," he said. "We've poured money down so fast we can't spend the money they've got in the pipeline." [continues 645 words]
Our View: Schools Need To Make Good Use Of Every Tool Possible To Fight The War On Drugs We've heard and read about the war on drugs so often that there is a tendency sometimes to tune out the message. And it is this: Despite all of our efforts, drugs remain a scourge in our neighborhoods and schools. There is an idea being pursued aggressively by one school district as it aggressively deals with the threat. Other districts ought to take heed, though the idea is a controversial one. [continues 467 words]
BOGOTA -- Fighter jets streaked over a vast rebel safe haven this week to search for airstrips used for drug smuggling, the army said Wednesday. Rebels called the flights a threat to fragile peace talks. Two Mirage jet fighters flew over the safe haven at an altitude of at least 10,000 feet Tuesday after taking off from Tres Esquinas, a base where U.S. intelligence experts have worked alongside Colombian military personnel, an official at the Defense Ministry said. More flights could be expected, the official said Wednesday. [continues 121 words]
SIR - David Blunkett's reclassification of cannabis merely adds to the rout which is the long-failed "war on drugs". The drugs trade is driven purely by economics and he could, if he wished, destroy the bulk of it almost overnight by the simple expedient of allowing addicts to register with GPs and providing them with free drugs issued through pharmacies and controlled through smart-card technology. There might actually be a net saving to the taxpayer due to reduced NHS costs and crime. Roger Taylor Meols Wirral [end]
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador -- Authorities seized three tons of unrefined, pure cocaine in an abandoned warehouse in the biggest drug bust in Ecuador since 1994, police said Wednesday. The cocaine was found Tuesday night in an industrial area outside this coastal city, 165 miles southeast of the capital Quito, a police statement said. There were no arrests, but police were searching for a "network" of traffickers in connection to the seizure, the statement said. An anonymous tip led police to the warehouse, where they found the cocaine packed into 123 boxes. About 70 percent of the confiscated drugs consisted of coca paste, an unrefined form of cocaine. The haul had an estimated U.S. street value of $130 million, police said. [end]
Drug enforcement officers raided the home and garden of a medical marijuana grower this week and seized two guns and 20 pounds of harvested marijuana, a police spokeswoman said Thursday. The grower, Sharon Place, wasn't home at the time of the raid and has not been charged with any crime. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act allows a medical marijuana cardholder to grow three mature, or budding plants, and four immature plants at a time. Three ounces of dried marijuana is the legal limit. [continues 327 words]
Schools Use Theme Days As Reminders For Pupils RALEIGH - Wake County schools celebrated "Red Ribbon Week" this week as a way to recognize drug-free living and to discourage illegal drug, alcohol and tobacco use. Red Ribbon Week began in 1988 in remembrance of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a 37-year-old U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent killed in 1985 during an undercover investigation of an illegal drug operation in Mexico. Here's how some North Raleigh schools celebrated the week: [continues 120 words]
A young man from Old Crow asked his lawyer to get him sentenced to a federal prison Monday because the help he wants to kick his crack cocaine habit isn't as good in Yukon jails. In court yesterday afternoon, territorial Judge John Faulkner handed 19-year-old Richard Linklater 30 months in a federal prison, along with a 10-year firearms prohibition and an order to provide a DNA sample for the national registry. Linklater pleaded guilty to robbery, break and enter and escaping lawful custody. He jumped the Whitehorse Correctional Centre's fence Sept. 7 and was loose for a little more than a day. [continues 668 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombian fighter jets streaked over a vast rebel safe haven this week to search for airstrips used for drug smuggling, the army said Wednesday. Rebels called the flights a threat to fragile peace talks. Two Mirage jet fighters flew over the safe haven at an altitude of at least 10,000 feet Tuesday after taking off from Tres Esquinas, a base where U.S. intelligence experts have worked alongside Colombian military personnel, an official at the Defense Ministry said. [continues 355 words]
CHICAGO -- The popular club drug Ecstasy causes temporary injury to brain cells, but the result is long-term damage to memory, Dutch researchers said Sunday. Memory tests and brain scans performed on 22 subjects who had recently used Ecstasy revealed they suffered memory deficiencies and changes in certain brain cells. The scans showed the damage was most pronounced on cortical neurons linked to memory function. In Ecstasy users, those brain cells had a decreased density of receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin, which transports messages between cells and is known to affect mood. Previous research has suggested that Ecstasy causes a flood of serotonin in the brain, followed by a drop-off when the drug wears off. [continues 256 words]
