As Maryland law enforcement agencies rake in millions seized in drug cases, is justice being served?

On the streets, where illegal drugs are still easy to get at affordable prices, Maryland police chiefs are losing the decades-long drug war. But many departments have come to depend on drug raids to increase their operating budgets. While the drug trade still enriches the bad guys, police chiefs now also get a piece of the action.

Many states, wary of overzealous police departments, require that the proceeds from seized assets be used for education or other non-police purposes. But the 1984 federal Comprehensive Crime Control Act, a turning point in America's war on drugs, is a way to get around these state laws. It allows state and local police departments, working with U.S. agents, to "federalize" money and property seized during local drug raids. The federal government gets at least 20 percent of the seized assets, giving back up to 80 percent - now exempt from state law - to state and local police agencies.

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Distinguished research psychiatrist studied LSD therapy.

Dr. Albert A. Kurland, a distinguished research psychiatrist, a former director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center at Spring Grove State Hospital and an advocate of LSD therapy, died Sunday of cardiac failure at North Oaks retirement community. He was 94.

Dr. Kurland, the son of Eastern European immigrants, was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He later was sent to live with relatives in Baltimore, where he graduated from City College in 1932.

He was a 1940 graduate of the University of Maryland Medical School and completed an internship at the old Sinai Hospital in East Baltimore.

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During Prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, there was a dramatic addition to gangsters' income: proceeds from the sale of alcohol. They weren't particularly good at making alcoholic drinks, but they were the ones who were willing to break the law, so consumers didn't have a choice. The prohibition of cannabis and other popular recreational drugs has had a similar effect, especially since increases in enforcement, such as those taken by President Nixon in the early '70s. In his Nov. 25 guest column, Benjamin Kubic expressed concern about the money that was funneled to criminal organizations, including those with terrorist agendas, by prohibition of certain drugs. We at Students for Sensible Drug Policy share Kubic's concern for our country's security.

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Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market for drugs ("Legalizing drugs: The money argument," Dec. 2).

Illegal drug dealers don't ID young drug purchasers for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences into the drug trade.

Throwing more money into the war on drugs is no solution.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. And in the case of addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase their criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

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Legalizing narcotics could end an expensive and ineffective war on drugs and pump billions of dollars into the ailing economy, according to a report released this week.

The narcotics business has reached new levels of violence while draining public budgets since the debut of a rhetorical "war on drugs" almost four decades ago, according to the report by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a national organization of police, prosecutors, judges, FBI agents and corrections officials.

"We've got to wake up here and really do something about this," said Maj. Neill Franklin, a former Maryland State Police narcotics officer and Baltimore police trainer who contributed to the report.

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Friday marks 75 years since repeal of the Volstead Act, which made the manufacture, distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. As the anniversary of the end of Prohibition approaches, modern advocates of a similar repeal are calling again for the decriminalization of heroin, cocaine and marijuana - and this time they've come packing a money argument by a Harvard economist.

I like money arguments. They are usually a lot more effective than emotional ones or those that exploit stubborn prejudices with the intent of maintaining the status quo.

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I have seen many arguments for racial equality in almost all aspects of society, but last Tuesday's column by Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Irina Alexander was the first argument I have ever seen for racial equality in imprisonment. Ms. Alexander argues that the only possible reason that a disproportionate number of blacks are in jail for drug-related crime is either police corruption or racial profiling. She misses the obvious third possibility: Blacks could actually commit a disproportionate number of drug-related crimes. A disproportionate number of white executives have been arrested for fraud; would Ms. Alexander argue that the FBI should pick up some Asians to balance out that inequality?

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RE: "5 more students arrested in brawl," Nov. 13

Thanks for exposing the recent fights in Crisfield High School. It is a tragic condition that has occurred throughout the past third of a century in many schools throughout the United States.

The article cited a group of fight participants as the "420 Gang." For those not aware, "420" is a code term for marijuana use. This confirms once again the involvement of drugs in school violence. This is consistent with an official school report of drug involvement in school riots at my own children's high school in Fairfax County Virginia 34 years ago. In reaction to similar school violence in other schools at that time, parents from throughout the nation united in the Parents Movement, under the leadership of Nancy Reagan, to promote drug prevention among schoolchildren. This movement continues its prevention activities today, with a major focus on student drug testing -- for treatment not punishment.

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You'd have to be high to think banning the sale of individual cigars would stop young people from smoking marijuana - or at the very least, you'd have to be very out of touch. And yet, last week Prince George's County became what seems to be the first municipality in the country to ban the sale of individual cigars. County councilmembers said the measure will target the common practice of emptying cheap cigars of tobacco to smoke marijuana. We fear the law will do little more than spur an uptick in the purchasing of wrapping papers and paraphernalia.

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Campus Students for Sensible Drug Policy activists said they feel reinvigorated in their fight for campus and national drug policy reform after this weekend's largely successful conference, where members from more than 100 sister chapters across the country, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia gathered to share tips and success stories.

Drug policy activists said they will discuss and improve the campus chapter's battles to implement a Good Samaritan Policy and equalize punishments for marijuana and alcohol violations.

"We're trying a couple different strategies, one of which would involve a coalition of student groups, [Student Government Association] members and members of different boards like the student conduct committee [of the University Senate]," said chapter president Amanda Simmons. "When we do push this through, we want to have all these people on board."

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With all the doom-and-gloom predictions about the economy, I think it is finally time to reconsider legalizing drugs.

Taxing the legal drug trade could be a tremendous source of income for the cities and the entire country. And an added benefit would be a reduction in crime.

What are we waiting for?

Anne Heaton

Baltimore

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The Prince George's County Council adopted one of the nation's most sweeping restrictions on the sale of cigars yesterday, an effort to curb a growing trend among urban youths of using hollowed-out cigars to smoke marijuana.

The council voted 8 to 1 to ban the sale of single cigars, requiring stores to sell them in packages of at least five. The new law will also make it easier to charge someone possessing a cigar with a drug paraphernalia offense.

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The other day, one of my friends asked me the commonly pondered question, "Wait, so why is marijuana illegal?" Let's not joke around - the majority of today's population has come to realizethat marijuana is at least not as bad as the Reefer Madness era tried to convince us it is. I think many of us would agree that police resources should be focused on serious crime. So what exactly is the real reason for prohibition? The answer is disconcerting.

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They started out just trying to clean up a community, picking up trash, fixing broken lights and working with police.

But along the way, activists in South Baltimore's Pigtown neighborhood managed to anger the area's drug dealers, who've started to threaten them, the residents say.

"I've had a gun pulled on me three times," said activist Nathan Flynn, standing in an alley Sunday near his house.

"My tires have been slashed. I don't feel safe to walk alone outside. My fiancee doesn't feel safe."

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Innovative Effort Provides Drug Treatment, Mental Health Care And Transportation

Harford County has launched a program for prison inmates with drug problems and mental illness that experts say is the first of its kind in the state and among the first nationwide.

The program will provide free drug treatment, counseling, medical and mental health care and transportation to treatment centers, officials said. Counselors also will help former prisoners sign up for related state and federal services.

"It's innovative, and it's grounded in common sense," said Dr. Robert P. Schwartz, an expert on drug addiction and treatment.

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Do you feel your wallet shrinking as you drive your car? Many people are resorting to carpooling, public transportation, and many other forms of cheaper transportation, but some researchers have found a way for you to keep driving and save money: hemp. Hemp Global Solutions researches the use of hemp as a biofuel. They advocate hemp as a "potential solution to some of the major social and environmental challenges of the 21st century."

Industrial hemp has a long history in America already. During World War II, Japan cut off America's supply of hemp. In response, Congress lifted marijuana prohibition and encouraged farmers to grow hemp. The response was a boom in hemp crops in America, reaching 375,000 acres in 1943. In 1941, Henry Ford built a plastic car made from hemp and wheat straw. Hemp is still used today in most printed currency because of its resilient strength and water resistance.

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Maryland is one out of the 11 states to include provisions for the use of medical marijuana in their drug laws. In 2003, former Governor Robert Ehrlich signed the medical marijuana affirmative defense law which allows defendants to make a case based on their medical need. Although Maryland is one of the more progressive states to pass such a clause, it still has some of the harshest penalties for recreational use and medical marijuana users can only make their defense after an arrest.

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It was refreshing to read Howard J. Wooldridge's letter in The Gazette on Sept. 16 ("Drug dealers only fear legalization"). The analogy between the huge increase in crime prompted by the prohibition of the consumption of alcoholic beverages with the criminal marketing of illicit drugs never seems to be discussed.

Obviously, the consumption of these drugs has negative consequences on the individuals involved as well as to society in general. But just what would be the consequences of legalizing (and taxing) marijuana?

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Drug dealers, drug cartels and al Qaeda love prosecuting attorneys like Rod J. Rosenstein. They love anyone who supports the policy of drug war/modern prohibition because it puts billions of dollars into their pockets.

Rosenstein's statement, "We are keeping our communities safe from this highly addictive illegal drug," is completely false.

Maryland is awash in meth, and the bust made in Frederick on Sept. 5 was meaningless. Mexico supplies about 80 percent of America's meth, and we in law enforcement are powerless to stop this Katrina-like ocean of drugs pouring across our border every day.

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Prince George's County Case Offers a Window into the Brutal Reality of Paramilitary-Style No-Knock Drug Invasions

Imagine you're Cheye Calvo, the white mayor of Berwyn Heights, an affluent part of Prince George's County. Coming home one night in late July, you find on your front porch a large package that, unbeknownst to you, happens to contain a lot of marijuana. As it turns out, your spouse is the victim of a drug-smuggling scheme that targets innocent customers in the UPS system. You bring the box inside; moments later, the SWAT officers standing by break in and shoot your two beautiful Labradors. As the dogs lie there bleeding to death, you're held in the same room, handcuffed for hours. Nearly a month later, you have yet to receive an apology.

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