Once again, we have the San Diego Unified School District police sending a negative message ("Drug-sniffing dog has increased presence on campuses," Oct. 8) to the students of our educational institutions: A police officer walking the halls of education with a German shepherd to detect illegal drugs. What could be more negative? This sort of nonsense needs to stop. School Police Chief Rueben Littlejohn is sending a message of fear and intimidation and is not in touch with an educational atmosphere.c Gary Trout San Diego [end]
Your editorial on Sept. 20 was right on target, the supporters of Measure B are being deceiful with their ads. Measure A is about limiting large commercial marijuana farms that have sprouted up all over Butte County. Yes on Measure A will still allow granny to grow a few plants for her own medicinal use as under Proposition 215. The "Yes on Measure B" group wants no limits on the amount of marijuana they can farm in our neighborhoods. They talk about property rights. What they want is the right to contaminate our neighborhood. And make a lot of money in the process. [continues 157 words]
I have a voter education problem. Will you help me? Commercial pot grows are a Butte County problem, not just a rural problem. The impacts are far-reaching: DUI drivers, crime, environmental damage to water, wildlife, terrain, etc. Voters will decide the fate of many property owners in rural Butte County. For we will not live a life of fear and dread - the cost of being neighbors to commercial pot grows. Losing yes on A, no on B will mean selling out to commercial pot growers. [continues 166 words]
The Resister-Guard on Sept. 9 said safety advocates fear legalized pot will boost traffic deaths. The use of marijuana can slow decision-making, decrease peripheral vision and impede multitasking, all of which are critical driving skills. On Sept. 11, the Associated Press headline was "Pot producers add demand on power grid." An energy forecast says use will be like that of a small Northwest city. I have read that children and pet dogs have had convulsions and died from eating food that had marijuana in it. Fish are getting poisoned from the fertilizers and pesticides that the marijuana growers pollute the streams. I will vote "No" on legalizing recreational marijuana, which is measure 91. Carolyn Webb, Corvallis [end]
'Pay us $400 now or get dealt with." That's the ultimatum many inmates and their loved ones face after getting involved in drug debts to prison gangs. The threat is real. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has seen the devastating effects when an inmate cannot meet those demands. These include suicides, homicides and prison violence, as well as violence inflicted on an inmate's family outside prison. Every weekend, CDCR encounters visitors who attempt to smuggle in drugs and cellphones. So far this year, we've arrested 273. Many, unfortunately, are girlfriends or wives who have been forced by gangs to carry contraband. Out of fear, these visitors risk their own freedom to comply with the gangs' vicious demands. That's why the department is ramping up efforts to stop drugs from entering prisons. [continues 584 words]
Some Worry About Violation of Rights SAN DIEGO - San Diego Unified's new drug-detection dog has yet to find any trace of narcotics after having been deployed to at least 10 campuses in little over a month. But the growing presence of a police-accompanied canine in classrooms has raised questions about student rights, the policing of schools and how to effectively deter drug use. The district acquired Blitz, its first drug-detection dog, through a $60,000 grant from the San Diego Police Foundation in the spring. Under San Diego Unified policy, the dog can sniff backpacks in classrooms once students voluntarily vacate without their belongings. [continues 634 words]
In the 1980s and '90s, a lucrative and well-organized drug-smuggling network spanning Mexico, the U.S. and Canada had northern beachheads in a handful of small farming towns in southwestern Ontario and southern Manitoba. These communities were also home to tens of thousands of Old Colony Mennonites, a deeply conservative branches of one of Christianity's most traditional sects - similar to other pacifist and agrarian-based societies like the Amish or Hutterites. Ironic then, that it turned out they were the drug smugglers. [continues 820 words]
Aggressive Police Take Hundreds of Millions of Dollars From Motorists Not Charged With Crimes After the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the government called on police to become the eyes and ears of homeland security on America's highways. Local officers, county deputies and state troopers were encouraged to act more aggressively in searching for suspicious people, drugs and other contraband. The departments of Homeland Security and Justice spent millions on police training. The effort succeeded, but it had an impact that has been largely hidden from public view: the spread of an aggressive brand of policing that has spurred the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from motorists and others not charged with crimes, a Washington Post investigation found. Thousands of people have been forced to fight legal battles that can last more than a year to get their money back. [continues 5316 words]
To the Editor: In the 1960s, civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, and elsewhere faced local police officers armed with hand held batons, fire hoses, attack dogs and horse-mounted riot control officers. Recently, in Ferguson, Missouri, civic rights protestors went up against aggressive local police officers equipped with body armor, automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and at least one police sniper aiming a telescope-equipped assault rifle at the protestors. Street protests today look a lot like those of the 1960s but, with drug war-driven militarization of local law enforcement agencies since then, the police response in Ferguson now looks a lot like urban warfare. [continues 622 words]
Contrary to what you may have heard, the armored vehicles that appeared on the streets of Ferguson, Mo., during the unrest that followed the police shooting of Michael Brown did not come from the Pentagon. "Most of the stuff you are seeing in video coming out of Ferguson is not military," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Defense Department's press secretary, told reporters last week. "The military is not the only source of tactical gear in this country." In other words: Don't blame the military for militarizing the police. [continues 587 words]
Police Explain Tactics Drugs have been around Lodi for a long time, but nearly two years ago, the death of a 17-year-old Lodi teen made the community strikingly aware of its ramifications. That's when Lodi Police acting chief Scott Klicko said the community rose up demanding police address the issue. "I don't think the public really knew how much investigating went on prior to Jacob Adler's death, but since then, we have obviously been in the public eye more, as they are expecting us to keep combating it," Klicko said. [continues 836 words]
TOWN OF ULSTER - Sloane LaPointe credits her 8-month-old dog, Moo, and their participation in the Awareness counseling program with helping her maintain a drug-free lifestyle. "When you're in recovery and you feel completely alone, it's nice to have something there with you," LaPointe said recently. "Someone that needs you. Someone that you can go to every day that doesn't judge you. That constantly loves you. You need that to recover. And that's what Awareness brings to it, too. It's not even about making you more comfortable. It's about having that bond with something." [continues 757 words]
La PORTE - La Porte's success, or lack thereof, in fighting drug abuse in the community was an issue of some contention during the La Porte Board of Public Works meeting this week. There, city Councilman Roger Galloway said the city's police department needed a new direction in combating the prevalent heroin abuse and other illegal drug problems swarming the streets. He said the department was too reactive, and needed to start doing something to saturate these problem areas with law enforcers to handle the drug issue. He suggested paying for more off-duty officers to work shifts, and obtaining a second K-9 officer, among other changes, which he believed could be handled with the department's current budget. [continues 456 words]
Police netted six suspected drug dealers - including a 13-year-old boy - - in a series of early morning raids. A seventh person, a 31-year-old woman, was also arrested for possession of heroin as teams of officers forced their way into homes around Preston in a co-ordinated swoop codenamed Operation Arrow. The raids were carried out in St Paul's Road in Deepdale, Villers Street in Plungington, and Fishwick Parade as part of a major attempt to smash organised gangs which are blighting neighbourhoods. [continues 467 words]
In an effort to stem the tide of narcotics being smuggled in to Windsor's jail system, a coroner's jury wants the province to start using drug dogs and stop housing weekend inmates with the general population. The suggestions were among 15 recommendations, which focused heavily on drug abuse, a jury put forward Friday following the inquest into the death Windsor Jail inmate Kendra Blackbird. The issue of intermittent inmates - who serve their time on weekends and live the rest of the week in the community - was a main focus of the inquest. Police, a former inmate and corrections officers all testified it's common knowledge that intermittent inmates smuggle drugs into the facility. [continues 528 words]
Lawyer John Morgan And A Casino Mogul Debate Via Email Trial lawyer John Morgan - whose outsized persona is already etched onto Florida's consciousness - said medical marijuana has boosted his celebA-rity even higher. At the Orlando airport last week, eight to 10 people stopped him between the plane and his car to thank him for bankrollA-ing the constitutional amendA-ment to legalize medical marA-ijuana, Morgan said. 'Two or three wanted to have their picA-tures taken with me.' However, none of that hoopla surprised Morgan as much as an email that arrived three months ago from Nevada. [continues 960 words]
Clearlake, Calif. - Transients hole up in the old cottage resorts where vacationing families once came to fish and swim. Rotted docks and pier pilings litter the lake's shoreline. Much of this city, in fact, and others nearby in Lake County, looks as if it was plucked from Appalachia - with weeds and unpaved streets, stray dogs and backyard marijuana crops. But across the water in the county seat of Lakeport, civic and business leaders talk of bringing back tourism, of planting more vineyards instead of weed. [continues 1255 words]
LIAM MCKNIGHT HAS Dravet syndrome. Clinically, it is known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. It is a rare form of epilepsy that causes severe and frequent seizures. It also leads to an increase in risk of sudden death among children. There are also a number of collateral restrictions to a child's cognitive and physical development. Treatment options are limited. Prognosis is poor. Liam is six years old. He is Canada's youngest medical marijuana user. The day before Liam began using marijuana, he had 67 violent seizures, each lasting three to four minutes. In the 10 days after he began using it, he had one small seizure. He was riding horses, going on boat rides, and doing all the regular stuff you'd hope a six year-old gets to do. Google him. He gives the Jerry Maguire kid a run for his money. [continues 733 words]
DRUG problems have reached "epidemic" proportions on Palm Island say residents, who have called for permanent sniffer dogs. The community's drug use has reportedly increased since the Alcohol Management Plan was introduced in 2006 because the illegal substances are easier to smuggle in. Mayor Alf Lacey said he supported the call for drug dogs if that was what the community wanted. Member for Townsville John Hathaway said he was also happy to work with the Palm Island community, but that it was an "operational" matter. [continues 274 words]
State Begins Sales of Recreational Marijuana Today Smoke 'em if you've got 'em: Washington state this week joins an exclusive club as residents and tourists alike get their first chance to buy recreational marijuana. The second state to legalize recreational pot - Colorado allowed sales starting Jan. 1 - Washington joins a fast-growing market that's already generating tens of millions of dollars in taxes with no signs of slowing down. All that demand is expected to cause significant pot shortages and prices to temporarily skyrocket in the short term as growers match supply and buyers adjust to a system where marijuana is legally bought and sold from state-regulated stores. [continues 854 words]
