Regarding Carl Mumpower's column "The war on illegal drugs has to be won at home," (AC-T, Dec. 19), the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. [continues 88 words]
Rockingham resident Perry Parks is continuing his mission to make medical marijuana a reality in North Carolina as the president of the state's foremost advocacy group for the issue. Parks is hoping to use his experience as a decorated Vietnam veteran and retired corporate safety director to further the issue through his service with the North Carolina Cannabis Patents Network, which now boasts more than 1,000 members. He previously served as the organization's veterans outreach coordinator. He said he is compelled to advocate for medical marijuana by the sheer number of people who have an interest in using it as an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs, which tend to have more dangerous side effects. [continues 617 words]
America's drug war is an abysmal failure. Like all foreign entanglements, it finds us arrogantly pretending to fix other countries while stumbling to manage our own. Success will not be found in Mexican border towns, Colombian jungles, or Afghan poppy fields. We will win or lose right here at home. A search for solutions begins with a commitment to liberty versus freedom. Liberty is freedom seasoned with accountability. One does not work without the other - which is precisely why drug legalization fails. [continues 337 words]
It's God-awesome to read hemp is being used ("Asheville Area Leads Nation In Hempcrete Construction," AC-T, Nov. 29) more in the United States. Communist Chinese farmers grow hemp, but free American farmers cannot, and that's anti-American. It's time to reintroduce hemp as a component of American agriculture. It's also time for the federal government to stop classifying hemp as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin. That's anti-intelligent. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
For the past while, I've wondered something. With our economy in such poor shape, why have we not legalized and capitalized on the medicinal use of marijuana. It's incredulous to me, because it would help people with debilitating illnesses, and government taxes would help everyone. The medicinal marijuana industry is yet to be tapped, and when it is it will flow and flow. Critics will say smoking marijuana is worse because of the actual smoke inhalation. That is responded with the fact you don't have to smoke marijuana to get the medicinal needs. Easily oils, butters, and edibles can be made. With those butters you can cook with it, thus no smoke. Its estimated that marijuana farmers make upwards of $80,000 annually, where medicinal marijuana is legal. Those jobs could help, they could change lives. When will congress put their pride on hold and allow us as Americans to overcome this economic state? Bryan Cruse Leland [end]
When it comes to hemp building, business is booming. "Western North Carolina essentially is the capital of hempcrete building in the United States right now," said Gregory Flavall, the co-founder of Hemp Technologies, the Asheville-based company that supplies the hemp-based building material to contractors. Two hemp-based homes have been completed in Asheville, one in West Asheville and another off Town Mountain Road, and another is going up in Haywood County near Lake Junaluska. Flavall says his company has dozens of projects lined up, both in WNC and throughout the country, including in Texas, Colorado and Hawaii. [continues 756 words]
GREENSBORO - Law enforcement and legislators across the country are scrambling to ban a legal, synthetic form of marijuana that is giving youths a new high. The spice cannaboid, known as K2, is an herb-and-spice mixture that is sprayed with a chemical compound similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the pyschoactive ingredient in marijuana. People smoke K2, also known by names such as spice and genie, through pipes or rolled in paper. It's sold on the Internet and in gas stations, convenience stores and head shops for prices ranging from $15 to $150 per 3-gram bag. [continues 675 words]
For many soldiers - and plenty of civilians too - Spice is nice. For military commanders and some concerned legislators, it's anything but. That's why the designer drug that mimics the effect of marijuana has been banned on Fort Bragg and soldiers face random testing for its use. State Sen. William Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat and retired pediatrician, says he may introduce legislation next year to ban the product, widely sold as incense in tobacco shops and convenience stores, also under names such as K2, Funky Monkey and Afghan Kush. [continues 340 words]
Wilmington cocaine bust not relevant, newsworthy The only word I can use to describe the story on Dan Paustian ("UNC student arrested in Wilmington on charges of cocaine, marijuana possession," Nov. 1) is inappropriate. Yes, he is a UNC student and yes, the student body is entitled to know what is going on in the lives of our peers. But whereas last year's cocaine incident involved multiple UNC students that were arrested in our actual vicinity, this occurrence involved solely one student positioned a good two and half hours away from our campus at the time of his arrest. Is this really worthy of the front page? [continues 139 words]
Pot, weed, dope, Mary Jane, Cannabis -- marijuana goes by many names. But whatever you want to call it, it is a drug worthy of legalization - -- at least for medicinal purposes. In the U.S., medical marijuana legalization is done on a state-by-state basis. So far, 14 states have already legalized the use of medical marijuana -- and with good reason. In California, the big debate is whether or not to legalize marijuana for personal use other than medicinal purposes. But in North Carolina, the bill to legalize it for medicinal purposes has still not passed. [continues 446 words]
The police operations in high crime areas as stated in the Sept. 2 Daily Reflector is a great effort in trying to reduce crime. However, until there are stricter rules in housing and the mentality of those who prey on others for their drug habits and financial needs have been changed, they will only leave one neighborhood and go to another to destroy. The majority of the people in those neighborhoods are decent, law-abiding citizens who want safety for their families, but there are always bad seeds who seem to germinate and spread their foul behavior. [continues 88 words]
MOCKSVILLE - A former deputy for the Davie County Sheriff's Office pleaded guilty to charges that he and a former evidence technician with the sheriff's office conspired to distribute crack cocaine stolen from the sheriff's evidence room. Bobby Lee Mabe Jr., 38, of Mocksville, pleaded guilty to being an unlawful user of controlled substances while possessing firearms and with maintaining a drug-involved premises. On May 13, Malinda York, the former evidence technician, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 5 grams or more of crack and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. [continues 233 words]
K2 Is A Legal, Though Possibly Dangerous, Synthetic Cousin To Marijuana. As college students return to school in Charlotte and the Triangle, some are cracking open lip balm-size jars and plastic bags of a legal herb product that mimics the effects of marijuana. K2, or "Spice," is a lab-made leafy green drug that looks and smells like oregano, with hints of blueberry, citrus and other flavors. The designer drug is showing up at tobacco and head shops, misleadingly labeled as "incense." The labels also inform buyers that the contents are not fit for human consumption, but behind closed doors the "incense" is being puffed as a legal alternative to marijuana. [continues 1165 words]
Heroin use is on the rise in Burlington and authorities are concerned about its potential impact on the community. It's not that the drug is available on every street corner in the city. But it is creeping its way in and investigators in the Burlington Police Department's special operations division say the drug's potency is much higher than it was when it was popular among inner-city junkies injecting it in the 1970s. The typical user in this area is white, between 20 and 25 years old and from west Burlington, and pain killers that they find in mom and dad's medicine cabinet are often the gateway to their heroin addiction, said a Burlington police undercover drug officer who asked to remain anonymous because of ongoing investigations. [continues 754 words]
The Democratic Party State Executive Committee passed a resolution supporting the legalization of medical marijuana at its convention Sunday in Fayettevillle. The vote came after a speech from Richmond County resident and party official Perry Parks, and marks the second time Democratic leaders from the local level have asked their elected representatives to pass a bill legalizing marijuana for medical use. The vote was nearly unanimous and, according to the party's Eighth District Chair June Mabry, the mood of the room left no doubt what party leaders expect of those they sent to Raleigh. [continues 619 words]
Ron Allen probably thinks Alice Huffman has been smoking something. Huffman, president of the California Conference of the NAACP, recently declared support for an initiative that, if passed by voters in November, will decriminalize the use and possession of marijuana. Huffman sees it as a civil rights issue. In response, Bishop Allen, founder of a religious social activism group called the International Faith-Based Coalition, has come out swinging. "Why would the state NAACP advocate for blacks to stay high?" he demanded last week at a news conference in Sacramento. "It's going to cause crime to go up. There will be more drug babies." Allen wants Huffman to resign. [continues 537 words]
This week, I helped form a new North Carolina non-profit-- The North Carolina National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NC NORML). Yes, that's right. Weed, dope, pot, ganja, reefer, cannabis. Everyone knows it illegal, but when asked, nobody really knows why. Alcohol, which leads directly to violence and death, is perfectly fine so long as you are of age. Ask any police officer if someone being arrested for marijuana without alcohol has ever resisted, or ask any domestic violence victim if marijuana led to a battering? [continues 739 words]
ASHEVILLE -- Twenty years from now, Jennifer Foster thinks that the marijuana prohibition will be relegated to the history books. And if this happens, some of the early steps toward decriminalization in this state can be traced to the North Carolina National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) inaugural meeting Sunday evening at The French Broad Brewing Co. Norml is a national nonprofit organization supporting the removal of all criminal penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults. [continues 252 words]
The state Supreme Court has ruled that an expert witnesses' visual identification of prescription drugs was insufficient to prove their substance and should not have been allowed in a New Hanover County man's trial. But the court's ruling on Thursday was not unanimous, and in a dissenting opinion, Justice Paul Newby writes that the decision changes the law significantly as it pertains to witness testimony. The opinion, which affirms an appellate court's decision, stems from the case of Jimmy Waylon Ward, who was convicted on Jan. 14, 2008, of drug-related felony offenses, including opium trafficking, after an SBI agent testified that out of hundreds of pills seized from Ward's home and car, only about half of them were actually tested by the crime lab. [continues 566 words]
Inside North Carolina
