The hypocrisy of America's cannabis policy finally does our writer in by J.M. Smith Dick Cheney sits on a porch step with his head in his hands. It's 3 a.m. and the street is deserted. A hint of fading spring is in the predawn desert air, but the heat of summer is poised to take hold. The temperature rises fast when the Arizona sun comes up, but Cheney will be long gone by then. J.M. Smith is dead. Cheney's work here is done. [continues 1013 words]
Sheriff Chris Blair's aggressive approach to street crime has raised the seizure of criminal suspects' assets to an unprecedented level, agency records show. Between 2003 and 2012, deputies working under former Sheriff Ed Dean and officers in dedicated anti-drug units - typically teams comprised of sheriff's deputies, Ocala police and federal agents - referred an average of 38 forfeiture cases a year for legal review in order to determine whether authorities could keep the goods. Last year, Blair's first in office, the number of forfeiture cases jumped to 57, the most of any annual total over the past decade, according to records. [continues 1354 words]
Talking Story With Theresa Koki What are some of the things happening in those states which passed marijuana legislation, and do we want those things happening here? Theresa Koki, coordinator of Life's Choices Kauai, said that was one of the multi-pronged issues discussed during the 2014 Drug Summit, "The Truth About Marijuana and Other Drugs," that wrapped up this week at the Kauai Marriott Beach Club and Resort. "We are so fortunate Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and Managing Director Nadine Nakamura are advocates of learning," Koki said. [continues 906 words]
Expert Says Communication Between Parents, Children Is Best Education Against Abuse I dropped by my son's elementary school the other morning for D.A.R.E. graduation, a ceremony that capped weeks of anti-drug lessons taught by a local police officer. There were awards, speeches and a printed program for which each kid had penned a few sentences about why he or she would stay away from drugs. As part of their Drug Abuse Resistance Education, the kids wrote mostly about their visions of adult life, and how drugs would derail their dreams of becoming scientists, singers or professional athletes. As a dad, I was glad to hear their confidence. But as a journalist who has written a lot about substance abuse, I was a little uneasy. [continues 637 words]
Last Week, Nick Clegg Was in Colombia, Where He Witnessed Dramatic Measures to Combat the Grip of Drug Lords. Meanwhile, in the US, a Dramatic Shift in Public Opinion From Left and Right Is Creating Alternatives to Prohibition I want to end the tradition where politicians only talk about drugs when they've left office because they fear the consequences If Britain were fighting a war where 2,000 people died every year, where increasing numbers of our young people were recruited by the enemy and our opponents were always a step ahead, developing new weapons faster than we could combat them, there would be outcry and loud calls for change. Yet this is exactly the situation with the "war on drugs" and for far too long we have resisted a proper debate about the need for a different strategy. [continues 1063 words]
Colorado's Green Rush Is On, and Pot Tourism Is Growing Like Weeds A long black van with no telling markings slips through the snow-encrusted streets of Denver. If you could peek through the tinted windows, you'd see Timothy Vee standing at the front of the vehicle, addressing a group lounging on an S-curve of cushioned seats. And if you could press your ear against the closed door, you'd hear the Colorado Highlife Tours owner informing his fellow pot smokers, "It's time to get stoned now!" [continues 2653 words]
In 2010, as Colorado lawmakers were creating America's first state-licensed and regulated medical marijuana industry, fellow police officers at a Colorado Drug Investigators Association conference jeered a state law enforcement official assigned to draft the legislation. Some of the sharpest barbs came from visiting narcotics officers from California. "I was told that we hadn't learned anything from California that you can't do anything to regulate marijuana," said Matt Cook, a retired Colorado Springs police officer who became the first director of Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division, a policing agency that now regulates state-licensed marijuana workers, pot stores and commercial cannabis producers. [continues 1352 words]
Police and educators in Halton have 'dared' to make a 'brave' change. The region's public and Catholic school boards, in partnership with police, have instituted a new, more encompassing program that replaces the longtime, in-class anti-drug lessons. Gone after more than 20 years is the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program delivered by Halton Regional Police. In its place is Building Respect, Attitudes and Values with Others (B.R.A.V.O.). B.R.A.V.O. is an eight-lesson program for all Grade 6 students delivered by seven Halton police Elementary School Liaison Officers (ESLO). [continues 678 words]
An RCMP program that teaches students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol is being threatened by a lack of funding. Gary Cleave, the development officer with the D.A.R.E. BC Society, wrote a letter to city council asking for some help to keep the program accessible for all students. "D.A.R.E. BC is appealing to Campbell River city council to make a commitment to cover the anticipated shortfall in funding," Cleave wrote. "Without such a commitment some students may not receive a full set of learning materials. A number of other municipalities in B.C. provide annual grants to support the D.A.R.E program in their community. We are requesting that Campbell River does the same." [continues 291 words]
The Northern Valley Regional High School District's plan to launch random drug testing angered parents, who turned out en masse at a recent Board of Education meeting to question a measure being considered by more and more North Jersey schools in the face of a growing teenage drug scourge. Once reserved for elite athletes, drug testing is now employed by at least a dozen public high schools in North Jersey, including Waldwick, Fort Lee, Kinnelon, North Bergen and River Dell. Northern Valley Regional and West Milford are among those considering it. And in the past year, drug testing has begun moving into middle schools in New Jersey. [continues 1422 words]
NEW YORK - Danielle Bradford was raised in state custody because of her parent's abuse and drug dependencies. When she was 18 she moved out, found work at a local waffle shop and got her first apartment in Nashville, Tenn. Her estranged father helped by co-signing on the lease. One evening she was at home with her neighbors when three police officers knocked on the door. They said they had received a report that there was a portable meth lab on her property. "I allowed them to look, and obviously they did not find anything," she said. What the police did find was that her neighbor had some marijuana and a bowl that she had prepared for him. [continues 4844 words]
BOSTON - The global drug war is arguably America's longest armed conflict, declared 42 years ago and still raging at a pace that would startle many citizens. It is waged daily, on farmland and streets from Colombia to Mexico to Detroit. It has put millions of people behind bars, and has dramatically influenced our culture and worldview. By some estimates, it has cost the nation more than $2 trillion dollars. Ironically, the drug war was nearly stillborn. Less than a year after he fired the first salvos, Nixon's Republican-led Shafer commission sought to calm Americans and temper the president's claims. [continues 1180 words]
After more than four decades of a failed experiment, the human cost has become too high. It is time to consider the decriminalization of drug use and the drug market. President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs" in 1971. The expectation then was that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short time through federal policing - and yet the war on drugs continues to this day. The cost has been large in terms of lives, money and the well-being of many Americans, especially the poor and less educated. [continues 1790 words]
Amber Spivey tilts her head back and swigs the vial of methadone. "Oh," she moans, shaking her knees back and forth like engine pistons. Her face contorts in disgust. She chases the Kool-Aid-colored liquid with water. The taste, she says, is like a thousand pills dissolving on your tongue. Methadone is helping Spivey, a 28-year-old freckled mother of three, reclaim her life after years of heroin addiction. She is among dozens who line up each morning at the New Hanover Metro Treatment Center, a white space of offices hidden off a highway heading downtown. Some wait inside to take their daily dose. Other patients pick up their "take-home" doses for the next days, weeks or month, a privilege earned by attending counseling and passing random drug tests. [continues 2078 words]
Leavenworth, Kan. - With the approaching retirement of its Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, the Leavenworth Police Department is going to put the D.A.R.E. program on hold, a department official said. Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said he doesn't anticipate the program, which is taught by police to school children, will be reinstated before the next school year. "It's not a simple task to replace a D.A.R.E. officer," Kitchens said. He said the position requires training. And manpower issues also may have an impact. [continues 155 words]
In terms of leading the world, one of this country's most unfortunate claims lies in the extent of cannabis use. One of the consequences of this has been evident in forestry, an industry hungry for workers. For many years, employers complained of the problems, safety and otherwise, arising from the number of workers showing up with the drug in their blood. More recently, they have started to do something about it. Most major forestry companies test randomly, as well as running anti-drug programmes, providing educational material and using motivational speakers in an attempt to rid the industry of drugs. The results have been encouraging. [continues 524 words]
This is the story of Central Field Command drug squad, Team 3, and the long, at times tumultuous, effort to investigate and prosecute officers and also stave off a full-blown public inquiry. The saga has never been publicly told in its entirety. It's about the thin blue line of police solidarity, about a task force led by an outsider but otherwise involving officers investigating their own - a squad entrusted to enforce laws that declare a futile, never-ceasing war on drugs. [continues 7223 words]
VCH Forum If Mark Haden set policy in our country, harm reduction would be expanded and the war on drugs declared a failure. The present system is not working, he said. Haden is clinical supervisor for Vancouver Coast Health (VCH) at the Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre, Addiction Services in Vancouver. He was at the Sechelt Indian Band Hall on June 6 at a Harm Reduction Forum hosted by VCH. Not one to back down from controversy, Haden challenged some of the common beliefs about harm reduction. [continues 800 words]
Harm reduction review hits Abby council Monday Moments after parking in a central-Abbotsford alley, the Portland Hotel Society's mobile needle exchange van is quickly and quietly swarmed by half a dozen people. Hushed conversations ensue as the group congregates around the vehicle's doors to gather clean syringes, needle filters, crack pipes, alcohol swabs or condoms. There is no idle chatter. As soon as the men and women have their supplies, they scatter and vanish into surrounding streets and parking lots as quickly as they appeared. [continues 771 words]
