BARRE - Mayor Thomas Lauzon says Vermont is losing the war on drugs, and that the solutions are to legalize marijuana and impose the death penalty on dealers of crack cocaine and heroin. "I'm sure everyone will distance themselves from me," Lauzon said Saturday. "but if anyone tells you we're winning the war on drugs, they're lying." Of hard drug dealers, he asked "What social value do they have? They are dealing crack and heroin to young people, knowing full well well what the effects will be. What purpose do they serve in society other than to destroy lives, to destroy families?" [continues 68 words]
Young people who use methamphetamine, an addictive, illegal stimulant also known as meth, crank, crystal and speed, more than triple their risk of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, according to a study led by a researcher at UC Davis Health System. Khung-Keong Yeo, a clinical fellow in the UC Davis Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, led a team that reviewed the medical records of 107 patients ages 45 and under who were discharged from a medical center in Honolulu from January 2001 through June 2004 with a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy or heart failure. [continues 323 words]
EVERETT - There always will be some illegal drug imported from some country peddled by some dealer. And someone always will be in the business of providing consumers with illegal drugs. "We're never going to stop drugs, but what we can do is educate people so they can make informed decisions," said Pat Slack, commander of the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force. Slack and other community leaders met with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., on Friday at the Greater Trinity Christian Learning Center in south Everett. [continues 595 words]
Patients and addicts are mixing the opiate with other drugs, as did Anna Nicole Smith's son Methadone, a potent opiate once used almost exclusively to treat heroin addicts, is increasingly being prescribed by doctors as a pain medication and abused by drug users searching for a cheap, easy way to get high, physicians and federal drug officials say. The drug, which comes in pill or liquid form, recently has come under scrutiny in the death of former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. A doctor in Studio City prescribed methadone to Smith for pain treatment before she was found dead Feb. 8 in her Hollywood, Fla., hotel suite. [continues 1133 words]
On Feb. 19, the front page of The Gainesville Sun asked the question: Why is the violent crime rate up? The question should be: Why is the violent crime rate not higher than it is? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out; all the answers were in the article. Among the factors driving crime rates in Florida (and Alachua County) are education, drugs and politics. Lack of education provides the foot soldiers that connect the drug cartels and producers to the "responsible" recreational users. The state claims a graduation rate of 71 percent, a number inflated by including those who obtain special diplomas or a GED in the totals. [continues 783 words]
Witnesses headed into Tuesday's state Senate medical marijuana hearing have a prescription for lawmakers: Help us relieve pain. Help us deal with illness in privacy. And those set to testify before the Senate health committee are citizens one least expects to be turning on and tuning in. A major reason for using cannabis is that they don't WANT to drop out. Katy Rourke, who worked for 27 years in the psychiatric ward at Harborview Medical Center, suffers from bone degenerative diseases. She takes a drug advertised in TV spots where happy people romp on the screen while the announcer reels off possible side effects. [continues 792 words]
Editor's Note In the closing days of December, we published an essay by Harry Klide, the retired Stark County Common Pleas Court trial judge. In it, he questioned the U.S. practice of locking up drug users and sellers. He cited the high rate of imprisonment in the United States and the failure to curtail the drug trade. He invited citizens to become interested in this problem. A representative from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, headquartered in Medford, Mass., subsequently contacted Klide. If you are interested in learning more, LEAP's Web page is: [continues 81 words]
Claiming to be the "world's leading drug policy newsletter," the Drug War Chronicle publishes a regular online feature called, "This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories." The typical newspaper reader probably comes across these cops-gone-bad stories pretty rarely. But, when hundreds of reports compiled over the past year from around the nation are read in one sitting, they add up to a hidden cost of America's ill-fated drug war - widespread corruption inside local police departments, prisons and jails. [continues 480 words]
WHARTON - The continuing investigation into the shooting death of Daniel Castillo Jr. indicates the 17-year-old was armed with a lock-blade knife and posed a threat to police officer Don Falks, according to a news release from the district attorney's office. District Attorney Josh McCown also said Falks has never previously been investigated for use of force. "After the shooting occurred (Feb. 13), the evidence collected at the autopsy and at the shooting scene indicates that Daniel Castillo Jr. and officer Don Falks were facing each other," McCown wrote in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon. "The knife was found in close proximity to Castillo and indications from the evidence are that he was in possession of a lock-blade knife and intended to use it against the officer." [continues 836 words]
