WASHINGTON - Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 637 words]
Noelle Bush, the 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehabilitation program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 636 words]
Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 657 words]
President's niece, like other drug offenders, needs more treatment Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president, already was in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of the young woman. [continues 642 words]
WASHINGTON -- Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 635 words]
NOELLE Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 637 words]
Not long ago, a well-connected and fit young friend told me he had spent July at the Silver Hill clinic in New Canaan, Conn., because he'd been drinking too much. My reaction to his news wasn't great concern. It was more like "So who was there?" I mean, talk about your red carpet rehab. Silver Hill is where Nick Nolte went a couple of weeks ago, after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Malibu, Calif. And Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and Liza Minnelli have also been patients at the $1,200-a-day hospital with gym, gift shop and easy access to Metro North. [continues 596 words]
John Stossel Takes On The Drug War. ABC News correspondent John Stossel once again exposes the cost, folly, and failure of big government. He somehow always manages to do that. This time, his fat and lumbering target is the War on Drugs, a 30- year-old project that can show amazingly little for the billions of taxpayer dollars it has incinerated and the millions of nonviolent offenders it has incarcerated. Airing tonight at 10:00 P.M. Eastern, 9:00 P.M. Central time, War on Drugs, A War On Ourselves spends an hour asking if government efforts to stamp out drug use are even worse than the drugs themselves. Stossel largely avoids the libertarian argument (which I embrace) that adults should have the cognitive liberty to alter their minds in whatever way they choose, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others or endanger them by, say, driving while stoned. [continues 1069 words]
Have you ever used illegal drugs? The government says a third of Americans have at some point -- and about 5 percent use them regularly. The number may be higher, because how many people honestly answer the question, "Have you used an illicit drug in the past month?" What should America do about this? So far, our approach has been to go to war -- a war that police departments fight every day. A war that U.S. politicians tackle in a different way than their European counterparts. And a war that is not going away. [continues 1399 words]
[continued from part 1 at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1435.a08.html ] ANNOUNCER War On Drugs, A War On Ourselves with John Stossel, continues after this from our ABC stations. (Commercial break) ANNOUNCER War On Drugs, A War On Ourselves, continues. Once again, John Stossel. JOHN STOSSEL People do abuse drugs. So, what do we do about it? Government talks about treatment, but for the most part, our policy has been, `Lock them up.' And we do arrest 4,000 people a day for selling or using drugs. [continues 3152 words]
A Riverside County judge dismissed drug charges against actor Robert Downey Jr. on Friday and ended his probation for drug possession at a Palm Springs resort. Over the prosecutor's objections, Superior Court Judge Randall White in Indio found that Downey had stayed sober for more than a year and should have his probation lifted. Downey's lawyer, Jim Epstein, said the Academy Award-nominated actor was "ecstatic" and plans to get back to work as soon as possible. Downey, 37, pleaded no contest last year to drug charges after his arrest at Merv Griffin's Resort Hotel and Givenchy Spa. Under Proposition 36, a ballot initiative that mandates treatment rather than jail for many drug offenders, Downey was sentenced to a year at a live-in drug rehabilitation facility. [continues 125 words]
INDIO, Calif. - A judge went "out on a limb" for actor Robert Downey Jr. yesterday, declaring him well on the road to sobriety and dismissing his drug case. The ruling by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Randall D. White brings down the curtain on Downey's arrest during Thanksgiving weekend of 2000. Downey completed one year of drug rehab after cops busted him with cocaine inside his posh suite at a Palm Springs resort after an anonymous tipster called police. Prosecutors asked that the actor spend six more months on probation and in an after-care program. [continues 292 words]
Drug charges against actor Robert Downey Jr. were dismissed Friday by a judge who also ended his probation. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Randall D. White made his ruling after determining that Downey had stayed clean and sober for 14 months. Downey's attorney Jim Epstein said his client was ``absolutely ecstatic and very optimistic he'll be able to stay sober and get movie parts again.'' The actor was sentenced last July to a year at a live-in rehabilitation center and three years probation after pleading no-contest to cocaine possession and being under the influence. [end]
Alternating head to toe, sleeping prisoners line the floor of the Pottawatomie County jail holding cells, rusted enclosures where up to 80 inmates try to live in a space built for 35. On the walls, dank grime competes with chipped, off-white paint for exposure and plastic box fans around the holding pens blow a mixture of musty air, cigarette smoke and the smell of urine throughout the facility. "The conditions in here are deplorable," said Pottawatomie County Sheriff Kurt Shirey. [continues 766 words]
Please excuse me while I reach for the smelling salts. The news that some professional baseball players may be using steroids is beginning to sink in and the shock is staggering. Congress is even going to hold a hearing. Imagine, young men making what is equivalent to the GDP of a small African nation employing drugs to enhance their performance. What next, news that politicians can be influenced by campaign contributions or that some men of the cloth have weird sexual predilections? [continues 740 words]
Please excuse me while I reach for the smelling salts. The news that some professional baseball players may be using steroids is beginning to sink in and the shock is staggering. Congress is even going to hold a hearing. Imagine, young men making what is equivalent to the GDP of a small African nation employing drugs to enhance their performance. What next, news that politicians can be influenced by campaign contributions or that some men of the cloth have weird sexual predilections? [continues 752 words]
Jann Wenner, the editor and publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, announced last week that he'd acquired a boyish new managing editor from FHM. For those of you over 25, that's an abbreviation of For Him Magazine, a sort of newsstand version of the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog -- with a bit of edgy "text" thrown in. Predictably, this has led to spluttering in high-minded quarters. A Columbia Journalism School professor was yesterday quoted in Newsday saying: "I can hardly express how tragic it is that this decision has been made by one of the last great journalism institutions." (How delicious to see liberals play the role of cultural conservatives!) [continues 785 words]
The War on Drugs has been largely fruitless due to flawed tactics. Instead of pursuing the sources of production, the Drug Enforcement Administration should instead attack the reasons why people turn to substances - like unemployment, depression, or having to spend any time in an airport. Airports are designed by drugged people for drugged people. This is the only explanation for what goes on there, the only possible reason why people gladly pay $9 for a well drink while skimming a $10 copy of Fortune. [continues 574 words]
In her May 7 letter, Melissa Gordon, a senior at Hanover Park High School, claims that drug tests violate rights. Before retiring from a large New Jersey utility, I wrote and implemented a drug testing policy for employees of contractors working at electric and gas facilities. The policy was modeled after policies of other companies that met all legal requirements to protect the rights of workers but also to assure that workers were not using illegal drugs. We required that testing laboratories submit monthly reports indicating the number, not the names, of those failing drug tests. We consistently averaged about 5 percent using illegal drugs. [continues 86 words]
