In highlighting Seattle's new approach to drug possession, Nicholas Kristof makes a compelling case that it is past time to adopt a public health approach to addiction, but he is too narrow in his conclusions. When we view the war on drugs strictly though the lens of drug possession, we fail to include people who need help the most: those who have committed crimes driven by their addiction and/or mental health disorder and who face incarceration as a result (crimes including D.U.I., theft, property crimes). These individuals desperately need treatment but are not eligible for diversion via programs like LEAD, which typically only address drug possession.

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Re "Ending the War on Drugs," by Nicholas Kristof (Sunday Review, Aug. 25):

This article gives me hope that Seattle is finally doing something about the devastation of drug use on its streets.

My son is a struggling heroin addict, and thank God is now a part of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, program. He completed treatment in jail through drug court, finished work release, is now in drug court housing and meets with his counselor at LEAD.

I know firsthand how difficult it is for families. I've walked the streets of downtown Seattle looking for my son where drug users and dealers hang out. I've seen them passed out with a needle hanging out of an arm or leg. I'd ask myself, What is Seattle doing to fix this problem?

Addicts need support. The LEAD program is good, but what about those addicts who haven't been arrested and directed to LEAD?

Kathy Kier

Seattle

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COLUMBUS - Mike DeWine, Ohio's attorney general and Republican candidate for governor, on Monday denounced as "irresponsible and dangerous" a proposed constitutional amendment to downgrade low-level, non-violent drug felonies to misdemeanors.

He stood with prosecutors, judges, treatment center operators, and addicts to argue that Issue 1 would remove the stick that gets addicts into treatment as an alternative to prison time.

"This threat, carefully used by our judges, has saved thousands and thousands of lives," Mr. DeWine said. "Issue 1 would take that away, and thousands would remain in the grips of opioids by not getting the treatment they need to recover. Because the truth is that some people just don't go into treatment unless they are pushed to do it. There's nothing humane about Issue 1."

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I've read that there will be new drugged-driving rules for when pot is legalized this year. But I don't really understand them. So do we have rules now or is it legal to be driving after consuming marijuana? - Katie, Calgary

The proposed rules will make it easier for police to weed out drivers who've been toking.

But until they pass, if police believe you're impaired by any drug, you could still face criminal charges.

"So, right now, police can have you take the standard field sobriety test and if you fail, they can demand a drug-recognition evaluation," said Andrew Murie, chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada. "If you fail that, they charge you with impaired driving and they make a sample demand. It's not tested for level, but cannabis must be in that urine sample for the charge to go forward."

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A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been charged with operating a large-scale drug trafficking operation in which he boasted that he hired other law enforcement officers to provide security to drug dealers and could assault people for his clients, according to court records.

Kenneth Collins, a deputy assigned to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and two other men were arrested by FBI agents Tuesday morning in a sting operation when they arrived to what they thought was a drug deal, according to records unsealed following the arrest.

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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump met with Cabinet members and senior staff at his golf club in Bedminster to discuss the opioid crisis. Missing at the meeting was Gov. Chris Christie, the chairman of the president's commission charged with studying the national rise of heroin and opioid addiction. Christie is on vacation. While the governor missed the meeting, the president is missing the message Christie has been sending for several years: treatment over incarceration will save lives.

Long before his approval rating tanked at 15 percent, Christie used his then sizable political capital to focus on treatment and rehabilitation. He did it when he pushed for drug courts. He did it when he eloquently spoke of a law student friend who died because of addiction. And during his presidential bid, Christie resonated most effectively with voters when talking about drug addiction.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - After three defendants fatally overdosed in a single week last year, it became clear that Buffalo's ordinary drug treatment court was no match for the heroin and painkiller crisis.

Now the city is experimenting with the nation's first opioid crisis intervention court, which can get users into treatment within hours of their arrest instead of days, requires them to check in with a judge every day for a month instead of once a week, and puts them on strict curfews. Administering justice takes a back seat to the overarching goal of simply keeping defendants alive.

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Every government-funded program should be so lucky as to have Julia Carriere as an exemplar of its good work.

The 21-year-old woman was seven-months pregnant and addicted to drugs when she was arrested for trafficking in March 2016. Getting picked up by police turned out to be the second chance she needed and a timely blessing for her then-unborn son Richard, now one year old.

Carriere is the latest graduate of the Edmonton Drug Treatment Court Service, a program that delays sentencing after an offender pleads guilty to a criminal offence related to drug addiction.

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In the bull-bear world of stock-market traders, the smell of fear ultimately tightens sphincter muscles and triggers sell-offs.

Within minutes of Justin Trudeau's Liberals tabling their pot legislation, for example, the TSX began dumping some of its publicly traded marijuana stocks.

The lack of clarity in the Liberals' spanking-new Cannabis Act got speculative investors nervous, which led to a feeling of financial uncertainty, which led to an unloading of stock.

Whether pot or pork bellies, a commodity is a commodity.

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Buy low, sell high, and other dope on legalized pot

In the bull-bear world of stock-market traders, the smell of fear ultimately tightens sphincter muscles and triggers sell-offs.

Within minutes of Justin Trudeau's Liberals tabling their pot legislation, for example, the TSX began dumping some of its publicly traded marijuana stocks.

The lack of clarity in the Liberals' spanking-new Cannabis Act got speculative investors nervous, which led to a feeling of financial uncertainty, which led to an unloading of stock.

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Addiction isn't an illness like any other. Patients need not just the right medicines but therapy, support and, in some cases, tough supervision

The grim faces of the nation's opioid epidemic -- an overdosing parent slumped in the front seat of a car, mouth agape, with a neglected child in the rear seat -- have become too familiar in recent years. More babies are now being born with narcotics in their systems, foster care is strained, and growing numbers of grandparents are raising the children of their own addicted children.

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Christie this week reaffirmed his public commitment to making N.J. a national leader in fighting drug addiction.

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Governor Christie speaks about drug addiction at a Walgreens in East Brunswick on Dec. 22, 2016.(Photo: Nicholas Pugliese/STATE HOUSE BUREAU)

Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday visited a Walgreens in East Brunswick to highlight initiatives the company is undertaking to promote the safe disposal of unused prescriptions drugs and expand access to a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose.

His final public appearance before Christmas came on the heels of a related event Wednesday evening where Christie and former Gov. Jim McGreevey led a candlelight vigil on the State House steps in memory of people who have died from or are struggling with addiction.

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WORCESTER - Last year was another rough year in the fight against opioid addiction, and Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. had some numbers to prove it at a forum Monday night at Worcester Technical High School.

The district attorney said there were 148 overdose deaths in Worcester County last year, and he cautioned that as toxicology test results come back, that number could still rise. He said for four years that number has been in the triple digits, and said it has impacted the cities and the suburbs. He said that in nearly three quarters of those overdose deaths, the powerful drug fentanyl played a role.

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Sitting in a jail cell and preparing to spend as many as five years in state prison for two heroin possession charges, Matt Lopreiato found himself at a grim crossroads.

"I destroyed my family inside and out. I felt like my life was over. No family, no friends," the 27-year-old Toms River man said. "I felt like I was alone and would be better off dead to be completely honest with you."

The heroin addict went cold turkey and spent 43 days in Ocean County Jail. Then an offer arrived: go through addiction treatment, succeed and go free.

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Re: 'We hope to give them a second chance': Rural drug court thrives, Dec. 25.

Drug courts have been in existence for well over 20 years, but have not stopped the rise in drug use or reduced costs to the criminal justice system. As well, the fact that drug courts require a guilty plea to a crime before one is eligible for participation raises ethical, moral and legal questions and concerns.

That said, this alternative program is a good and serious effort to treat drug addiction without the costly consequences of criminalizing the behaviours that sustain and support these habits. These courts, foremost, recognize that drug addiction is a public health problem best dealt with by those trained in the causes and treatment of addictions.

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Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, left, talks with US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack and audience members during a town hall meeting on how to deal with the opioid addiction in Appalachia on Thursday, June 30, 2016 at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on in Abingdon, VA. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture talks about opioid addiction during a town hall meeting with Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on Thursday, June 30, 2016 in Abingdon, VA.(SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

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A police officer holds a bag of heroin confiscated as evidence on March 22 in Gloucester, Mass.(Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK)

Wisconsin's battle against heroin yielded more grim results in 2015.

The death toll rose for the ninth straight year, and the total of 281 deaths was triple the number killed by heroin in 2010. Meanwhile, the number of total opioid deaths -- which includes heroin and prescription opiates -- topped the number of Wisconsin traffic deaths for the third straight year.

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Illegal drug use and trafficking have led to a multitude of ills in the United States, sometimes because of racially infected law enforcement, particularly in black neighborhoods.

But is decriminalizing small amounts of narcotics at least part of the answer to the scourge?

Two major human and civil rights organizations make a good case for it and advance the decriminalization discussion in a report released Wednesday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are engaged in a major push to change the way federal, state and local governments deal with drug enforcement and abuse.

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Price, availability, addictiveness appeal to young people, police say

THE city's youth are fuelling a surge in methamphetamine use because it's a cheaper way to get a long-lasting high.

In fact, "because of its affordability, addictive nature and accessibility, the methamphetamine user base in Winnipeg has increased significantly over a few short years, allowing traffickers to prosper," the Winnipeg Police Service said in a statement.

Sadly, both police and health officials don't expect the situation to get better any time soon.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the nine Western states under the court's jurisdiction, including California and Washington.

It came in a lawsuit filed by S. Rowan Wilson, a Nevada woman who said she tried to buy a firearm for self-defense in 2011 after obtaining a medical marijuana card. The gun store refused, citing the federal rule banning the sale of firearms to users of illegal drugs.

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