Somewhere, Dick Nixon is smiling. What is up with the media and marijuana? Recreational cannabis went on sale in Colorado on Jan. 1, support for decriminalization is crescendoing, and the mainstream, especially on the right, has gone totally batshit crazy. The commentators, such as they are, sound like my parents' generation back in the 1960s, or worse, a leftover DARE program from the Reagan years. New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote one that, honestly, I thought was from the Onion or Daily Currant until I noticed the source. Brooks' logic seemed to be that he tried it when he was young, had fun until he got too high once before teaching a class, and has decided that since he quit, the government has a moral obligation to keep cannabis illegal and should encourage people to go to museums instead. Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus chimed in that it should remain illegal, but said if she's in Colorado, she'll be buying some kush. [continues 789 words]
Some Have Never Smoked Marijuana. Others Partook Before They Had Jobs and Kids. Now That It's Legal, They Want to Give It a Try. for Others, Though, Its Legal Status Doesn't Change Their Attitude. As the new year approached, Courtney smoked marijuana for the first time, after a lifetime of being against it. "I never smoked before," said Courtney, a young mother who wants to be identified by first name only. "I always said, 'I'm a good kid, I'm not going to do that because it's illegal.' " [continues 1221 words]
As a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, I am responding to the Dec. 27 editorial, "Marijuana and minors." Attitudes toward marijuana are changing because Americans have come to realize that our government has been lying about marijuana for decades. The original reefer madness myths have all been thoroughly discredited. This new reality-based perception is not necessarily a bad thing. For decades, school-based drug prevention efforts have been dominated by sensationalist programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug education. Independent evaluations of DARE have found the program to be ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana may make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like methamphetamine or prescription narcotics are relatively harmless, too. This is a recipe for disaster. [continues 51 words]
Prevention, Education Are Key Remember the saying that it takes a village to raise a child? RCMP Cpl. Dean Gladue says it also take a village to mobilize and bring people together around the common goal of healthy youth making healthy choices about drugs. Cpl. Gladue works with the RCMP's Community Prevention Education Continuum (CPEC) drug prevention framework and says education and enforcement must work together in tackling drug-related issues. "We will come into a community to assist, but we can't do it alone; it must be a community initiative," Gladue told a Dec. 10 meeting of social workers and drug and alcohol counselors at the Lillooet Friendship Centre. Cpl. Stew MacMillan, who runs the RCMP's local DARE program, also attended. [continues 430 words]
Addicts, former users describe its destructive grip Part One of a six-part series ELKO -- Seated behind a glass pane and wearing a bright orange county-issued jail uniform, James Corgan is trying to remember how old he was when he first tried methamphetamine. He settles on 13. He had been kicked out of Elko Junior High just prior for bringing weed to school, he remembered, and was working with one of his parents' friends. The older teen was driving home after a long day at work, smoking meth from a light bulb as 13-year-old Corgan was holding the steering wheel. [continues 2410 words]
NEW SMYRNA BEACH - It may be a job, but working at the People for Drug Free Youth's thrift store is also how Edgewater resident Judy Maman pays the community back for helping keep her son off drugs. "He's been clean for several months now," said the 38-year-old assistant manager. While she has only worked in the shop for three weeks, Maman said she has seen the benefit it provides to the community. Those benefits have included partnering with another community group to help a needy family with clothes to helping a customer who may come up a little short when his or her shopping list is totaled up. [continues 454 words]
Nova Scotian Overcame Destructive Habit to Rise to Newspaper Executive and Top Level of Government Jane Purves's life took on a movie-like quality. It was the remarkable story of how the privileged daughter of a successful Halifax doctor spiralled into the terrible depths of a heroin addiction, but managed to make a comeback and a success of her life, first as managing editor of one of Nova Scotia's daily newspapers and then as a provincial politician and cabinet minister in former premier John Hamm's Tory government. [continues 1578 words]
When a 24-year-old man died Monday in Seaside Heights, his death marked Ocean County's 53rd drug-related fatal overdose this year. Not even halfway into 2013, the same number of people died of heroin and drug overdoses this year as in all of 2012 in Ocean County, according to the Prosecutor's Office. "I don't see it as a problem anymore. I see it as a crisis," Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said. The spike in deaths appears to be the result of a poor economy, which has helped to lower the price of heroin to about $5 a hit, the prosecutor said. By comparison, prescription pills purchased illegally can cost $40 or $50 per pill, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office. [continues 990 words]
Often, administrators adopt school-based drug-prevention programs and continue to use them as long as they are funded, with little attention paid to their long-term effectiveness. Perhaps the best-known of these programs is DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), which was developed in 1983 and still is in use in many schools across the country. DARE was evaluated throughout the 1980s and '90s, and while it generally was found to be efficient at educating youth, its effects were found to be short-lived. [continues 538 words]
No, Benton County does not need a new jail. Health care for all, better funding for the library and for schools, more food security, yes, but a new jail, no. The majority of people incarcerated by Benton County are there for drug crimes, so the answer is to legalize drugs. Prohibition did not work for alcohol, and it does not work for drugs. During Prohibition, crime surrounding alcohol sales was rampant as the price of alcohol rose, and only criminals would dare sell it. [continues 137 words]
The defenders of the status quo say that we can't end marijuana prohibition because it "sends the wrong message to the kids" and will increase teen drug use ("Legalizing Pot Won't Make it Any Safer" by Mitchell S. Rosenthal, op-ed, Jan. 17). Ironically, prohibition is a complete failure when it comes to keeping young people from using drugs. Despite decades of DARE programs with the simplistic "Just Say No" message, 50% of teenagers will try marijuana before they graduate. Young people also feel the brunt of marijuana enforcement and make up the majority of arrests. Arresting young people will often cause more damage than drug use itself. Teenagers need honest drug education to help them make responsible decisions. We have cut down on teen smoking without tobacco prohibition and without one arrest. Tony Newman Drug Policy Alliance New York [end]
A while ago, Younger Boy informed us that there is a drug problem at his school. This, in a junior high. "What!" I said. "Are you having problems getting drugs?" We had a good laugh, and then the discussion turned serious. I repeated what we've told the boys many times before, that when someone asks if they want to buy drugs, the proper response is, "No thanks." The president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of School Councils wants police officers to have more involvement and presence in schools. As a parent, I say, no thanks. [continues 537 words]
I have read with interest the recent articles relating to DARE education and the comments made by Mr. Clement and Mrs. Kelly. Firstly, I would like to say that I am very happy that members of the Castlegar Community are discussing drug prevention initiatives like DARE and I would like to point out a few important issues in regard to the comments made. The DARE component in British Columbia is supported by the (Not For Profit Society) DARE, BC which financially supports this program, the educational materials and T-shirts that the children receive, with the exception of the learning manuals, paid for by the RCMP. The officers who teach DARE do so while on shift and in some cases on their own time. The program is an additional duty with no extra compensation. Many of these officers are parents performing this duty because they care about the information children receive in order to make healthy choices. [continues 384 words]
Re: "Date set for D.A.R.E. (Drug Addiction Resistance Education) tribute" - published Nov. 17 on castlegarnews.com It would be of interest to Castlegar readers to know on what basis you have determined the D.A.R.E. program to be "highly successful." The opinions of the RCMP members that are being paid to promote the effectiveness of their own program, does not provide any evidence that the program is actually accomplishing the goals that it upholds, namely, "working with school children to equip them with the information and skills they need to make safe and responsible choices," "As these children grow to be responsible citizens, they will lead healthier and more productive drug-free lives." [continues 145 words]
Why the War on Drugs Is a War Against Black People Attorney Michelle Alexander has been shaking things up across the nation over the past two years, yet you may not have heard of her. Her book, The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, takes on race and the War on Drugs in ways few people would dare to approach. The point of her book is that there is a new Jim Crow system that traps many African-Americans in a permanent underclass. That system is driven by the War on Drugs which causes many young people to be stigmatized by felony records - for a victimless crime - that keep them from employment, education and housing. [continues 923 words]
Though it may seem the dust has barely settled from California's failed effort in 2010 to legalize marijuana under Proposition 19, the winds of change may be blowing here again, this time from the north. Washington state voters, along with those in Colorado, have voted to legalize marijuana for adult use and to regulate within state borders production, transportation and sales. We plan to capture much-needed revenue while moving from a law enforcement model to a public health approach, emphasizing treatment and education over handcuffs and jail. [continues 473 words]
Backed by a growing roster of politicians, health officers, and legal experts, a single beat cop blows the whistle on prohibition For all the hype, says Const. David Bratzer, the life of a downtown cop is about wordplay more often than gunplay. As the scores of drug offenders who've served jail time at his insistence will attest, his main weapon isn't his service revolver, it's polite, persistent persuasion. As he unrolls his six-foot frame from a floatplane in Vancouver harbour on a humid summer morning, that's a weapon he plans to level once again at the very drug laws he's charged with enforcing. "It's tough for a cop to admit," he says, heading down the wharf while buttoning his charcoal jacket, "but our laws just don't make sense." [continues 3114 words]
Already dreaming about buying a cup of coffee sometime today? You might want to think again. With rumors overheard of the government thinking about the legalization of marijuana, you may want to start saving any extra cash for the day the government legalizes this drug, as you, the taxpayer, will be paying cash for the mistake the government will have made. It has been argued that through the legalization of marijuana, tax revenue would increase from five to twenty-two million dollars every year. Revenue that could be used to fund education, research on substance abuse and other government initiatives. [continues 170 words]
When The Register-Guard endorsed a no vote on Measure 80 in its Oct. 3 editorial, "Marijuana legalization: No, Measure 80 over-reaches, under-regulates," the editors erred in favor of big, over-reaching government. No policy in our nation wreaks as much havoc as does the drug war. In fact it is an international travesty that drives nearly 10 percent of annual global trade into the coffers of international drug syndicates or cartels. The drug war has created an incarceration system so huge that former federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey called it the "new gulag." [continues 693 words]
It's startling enough that the King County Sheriff - not a retired cop, but the current sheriff - came out this week for legalizing pot. But then there was the sheriff's reasoning. Part of it was even more unusual. Legalizing marijuana will be better for the kids, he said. Say what? This has got to mark some sort of psychological tipping point in the 40-year-long, mostly failed war on drugs. Most all my life, back to when I was in high school during the "Just Say No" era, the bedrock rationale for keeping pot illegal was: It's for the kids. Even when people acknowledge it makes little sense for cops to root out and arrest adults for smoking pot, they often stumble over how an end to prohibition might affect the kids. [continues 544 words]
