Misdemeanor marijuana possession will still mean jail time in Dallas. Misdemeanor marijuana possession will still mean jail time in Dallas after City Council members spurned a much-discussed plan to instead issue citations to those caught with small amounts of pot. Council members on Wednesday got into the weeds of the proposed Dallas County pilot program and possible discrimination concerns before they rejected the so-called cite-and-release plan. Opposition from council member Sandy Greyson and Police Chief David Brown prevailed. [continues 541 words]
Grapevine Police Join Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative Nonprofit Organization Works With Local Police and Opioid Addicts Treatment Centers Are Better Than Jail We all learned about the effects of illegal drugs in health class, from TV and parents. We've watched fictional drug addicts on anything from Orange is the New Black to Elementary. We all know that drugs are bad, and drug dealers are even worse. We want both off the streets and away from kids. In those worst-case scenarios, a teenager becomes addicted to drugs. He or she gets arrested for drug possession and then has a criminal record. [continues 286 words]
We've Got the Epidemic All Wrong, Maia Szalavitz Says America's epidemic of heroin and prescription pain reliever addiction has become a major issue in the 2016 elections. It's worse than ever: Deaths from overdoses of opioids - the drug category that includes heroin and prescription analgesics such as Vicodin - reached a high in 2014, rising 14 percent in a single year. But because drug policy has long been a political and cultural football, myths about opioid addiction abound. Here are some of the most dangerous myths, and how they do harm. [continues 1535 words]
City's Police Joining Efforts to Treat Addicts Instead of Jailing Them GRAPEVINE - Imagine a drug user walking into a police station and handing over his drugs and paraphernalia. But instead of police putting the addict behind bars, the would-be criminal is taken to a treatment facility to get help - without any charges being filed. That's the essence of a new nationwide initiative coming soon to at least one North Texas police department. Grapevine officials, stung by some drug-related deaths in recent years, said Wednesday that they will soon begin participating in the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, or PAARI. The program takes a more compassionate approach toward drug users by treating addiction as a disease rather than simply a crime. [continues 824 words]
Legalization's Coming, They Say, and So Are the Potential Opportunities FORT WORTH - There was a day when you'd have been considered under the influence to think that Texas might ever legalize marijuana. Lawrence Jenkins/Special Contributor "the 'Green rush' is going to happen," said San Antonio lawyer Daniel Mehler, who stood out in a pot-leaf-patterned suit at the cannabis expo in Fort Worth. But this weekend, an event dedicated to that very notion drifted into the Fort Worth Convention Center. [continues 419 words]
GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Leonard Campanello leans forward. "There's no incentive or coercion that will stop an addict," he says. "This is the only long-term illness on the planet where if the disease presents itself, they kick you out" of treatment. I met Campanello at the Sugar Magnolias breakfast place on Main Street in downtown Gloucester, where he told me about his amazing offer to drug addicts. It's an offer that will change drug treatment in America, reduce crime, decrease drug-related deaths, drop incarceration and destigmatize substance abuse while restoring the community role of the police. It will save lives and money at the same time. This is a sea change. Before you get the wrong idea, let me assure you that Campanello, the chief of police in this city of 28,000, isn't a reformer. He doesn't look like a reformer. He's a cop, a fact-and-evidence guy. He speaks without hyperbole in a boots-on-the-ground Boston accent. You can't listen to him without having a sense that he is absolutely right. So what was that amazing offer? Last year, on March 5, after a string of fatal overdoses in Gloucester, Campanello made this declaration on the department's Facebook page: [continues 526 words]
We anticipate an interesting discussion Tuesday when the City Council considers whether police should be allowed or encouraged to "cite and release" folks whose only apparent offense is possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana. Our opinion: It's high time! Sorry, we couldn't let that one pass. But don't confuse our partaking of the low-hanging fruit as a case of the munchies. It's a clear-eyed reality check. Somebody besides the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) needs to say it: The police have more important things to do, the jail is an expensive, finite resource, and the worst, most dangerous thing about possessing a small amount of marijuana for personal use is its illegality. [continues 445 words]
Citing and releasing those caught with small amounts is a good idea, William R. Kelly writes As someone who studies the effectiveness of criminal justice policies, I rarely can applaud a specific policy in Texas. But I could do just that for a new pilot program taking shape in Dallas. The Dallas City Council is considering a program of ticketing rather than arresting individuals caught in possession of 4 ounces or less of marijuana. The procedure, known as cite and release, involves the police issuing a ticket to the offender, much like the procedure used for traffic violations. The ticket is a promise to appear in court on a particular date and time. [continues 580 words]
A federal appeals court has agreed to hear oral arguments in the case of a Texan suing the Drug Enforcement Administration for using his 18-wheeler without permission for a drug cartel sting that ended in Houston with an informant fatally shot while driving the truck. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, is scheduled to take the case in February. Lawyers for Craig Patty are hoping the court will reverse a decision by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal that Patty should get nothing from the DEA for secretly using his truck, which was shot with bullets, including those that killed Lawrence Chapa, who was behind the wheel. [continues 526 words]
Re: "A Smarter Use of Time" Dallas should try citations over jail for pot," Dec.14 Editorials. According to FBI figures, national crime clearance rates in 2013 were abysmally low. In several cases in Dallas County in recent years, there were tragic consequences because officers did not respond quickly enough to calls. Police officers lose several hours of availability while transporting and booking suspects for nonviolent crimes. Suspects spend an average of 10 days in jail at a cost of about $60 per day. Only three Texas counties have adopted the cite-and-summons option since 2007: Travis, Hays and Midland. In all three, authorities encourage officers to use it. [continues 91 words]
Dallas Should Try Citations Over Jail for Pot David Brown is Dallas' police chief and, as such, admits he has mixed feelings when the question is whether his officers should write citations instead of booking into jail those arrested for small amounts of marijuana. You can see how this might be. The cop in Brown sees minor busts as one more tool to develop informants or just information that might lead to bigger busts. Every arrest is potential leverage over a suspect, even if it's just an ounce or two of weed. [continues 399 words]
Editor, the Advocate: The Nov. 8 Advocate story about civil asset forfeiture is disturbing. Stephen Tyler is involved with the legalized theft of money, cars and other valuables owned by people who are only suspected of a crime but have not been convicted at trial. I was taught in my high school civics classes that, in America, a basic tenent of justice is that a person is presumed innocent until proved guilty in a trial or he pleads guilty. This isn't happening with civil asset forfeiture. People are being punished by having their property confiscated by government without being convicted of a crime. Why? The answer is in the sixth paragraph: "District Attorney Stephen Tyler uses civil asset forfeiture to pad his budget." Tyler should wait until after he gets a conviction to confiscate property. [continues 256 words]
The mayor of Refugio was arrested on multiple drug charges, Refugio County Sheriff Robert Bolcik said Saturday. Bolcik said Mayor Joey Heard was arrested by the Refugio Police Department at 4:30 p.m. Friday on three charges: misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of a dangerous drug and third-degree felony possession of a prohibited substance in a correctional facility. Heard was out on a $29,000 bond Saturday, according to Bolcik. Refugio Police Chief Andy Lopez Jr. declined to comment on Heard's case beyond saying Heard had been arrested. Lopez said the case was part of a pending investigation. [continues 65 words]
Twenty Three States Allow Medicinal Use of Marijuana. Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy launched a campaign Wednesday hoping to bring awareness to veterans' need for responsible marijuana use for service-related injuries. The campaign, named "Operation Trapped," aims to "collect a single used prescription bottle from every state veteran who wants a safer alternative" and present the collection of bottles at a news conference on Veterans Day 2016 in Austin. The coalition includes multiple chapters of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and other groups. [continues 268 words]
Re: "Wrong on Rights - Mexico deserves sanctions for appalling abuses," Thursday Editorials. This editorial draws attention to a problem that should have been addressed long ago. Congress passed the Merida Initiative in 2008 after lobbying by Bell Helicopter, Sikorsky Helicopter and the Mexican government, ostensibly to stop cocaine and heroin from reaching the U.S. border. Seven years later, no effect has been seen in price, purity or availability of cocaine and heroin in the United States. The Mexican government has received more than a billion dollars mostly for transport helicopters, surveillance aircraft, nightvision scanners, secure communications equipment, forensics and polygraph equipment. Until now, the flow of money has not stopped regardless of the horrid human-rights abuses in Mexico that it facilitated. The Merida Initiative is not only a waste of money, it undermines our credibility as a moral nation. The State Department withholding $5 million is a welcome first step. Suzanne Wills, Dallas Drug Policy Forum of Texas [end]
A Nonviolent Drug Offender Granted Clemency After 2 Decades Behind Bars Adjusts to Life on the Outside DALLAS - The recently released federal prisoner sat down at his sister's dining room table. He pulled out a legal pad and began the letter he had been turning over in his mind for several months: "Dear Mr. President, I am writing you today with the utmost gratitude to personally thank you for granting my petition for clemency on March 31, 2015. Your actions have given me a second chance to start living life normally again and mere words can't express how truly grateful I am for your making this moment possible. The Bible says, 'To whom much is given, much is required,' and I vow to make the most of this unique opportunity that I've been given." [continues 2021 words]
A 69-year-old woman charged with growing marijuana on her property in Stephenville for medical purposes was arrested Thursday by the Erath County Sheriff's Office. Colleen McCool said deputies picked her up, booked her, then drove her home when it was over. She was released on a personal recognizance bond, meaning she didn't have to post any money. "We asked her to sign an affidavit saying she would not flee the area and would show up for her court date," Sheriff Tommy Bryant said. [continues 82 words]
I commend Colleen McCool for her thoughtful, personal letter regarding medical marijuana (cannabis). In thousands of years of documented use cannabis alone has never been shown to cause a serious illness or an overdose death. If cannabis were legal it would be the first treatment that should be tried for myriad medical conditions including but certainly not limited to pain, epilepsy, Crohn's disease, PTSD, nausea, multiple sclerosis and autism. In a recent issue of National Geographic, Dr. Nolan Kane describes what will happen when scientists are finally allowed to study cannabis. [continues 206 words]
Re: Sept. 19 article, "Synthetic High: New drug ban takes effect amid crisis afflicting city's underprivileged." K2 is the Frankenstein spawn of the monumental failure that is the "war on drugs." Legalize cannabis and K2 fades away, as is now happening in both Colorado and Washington. Comparing it to cannabis is akin to comparing a square of Hershey's to Ex-Lax. Similar look, somewhat similar taste - but entirely different things. Do keep in mind: Cannabis is the oldest known medicinal herb and has been used recreationally since the beginning of human history. In all that time not one death has ever been attributed to it. Fact. Anyone who thinks otherwise should open the Google and type "medical marijuana" to begin an education. What you learn will enrage you. It is the most helpful plant on the face of the earth. Continued prohibition is sheer lunacy. STEVE WARREN, SAN MARCOS [end]
Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said the raid on Colleen McCool's home on Sept. 17 was initiated by DPS, not the sheriff's office. "DPS spotted it from a helicopter that was out doing narcotics surveillance," he said. Bryant said McCool was not under investigation by the sheriff's office and not on their radar until they were contacted by DPS that marijuana plants were spotted growing on her property. Chief Deputy Jason Upshaw said the deputies who went to her home had no idea she was a 69-year-old woman. [continues 127 words]
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