The Taft City Council will consider an emergency ordinance to stop anyone from opening up a medical marijuana-dispensing business in the city. Chief of Police Bert Pumphrey is asking the council to approve the proposal to allow the city to draw up long-term policies to address the issue of selling marijuana for medical purposes. The council would have to approve any ordinance by a four-fifths vote. The council will vote on the issue at the regularly scheduled council meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Civic Center Council chambers. [continues 127 words]
As the nation ponders its lost cause in Iraq, it's past time to reconsider yet another misbegotten crusade: America's 35-year-old "War on Drugs." Conceived by President Richard Nixon in 1971 partly as an attack on the anti-Vietnam war "counterculture," like most governmental efforts to abolish sin and folly, it's a complete failure. For different reasons, Democrats and Republicans alike refuse to acknowledge reality. I yield to none in my contempt for the romance of narcotics. [continues 763 words]
HAWTHORNE -- A North Carolina woman was arrested after complaining to a Putnam County sheriff's deputy that the crack cocaine she had just purchased wasn't very good, authorities said. Eloise D. Reaves, 50, approached the deputy at a convenience store Friday, telling him that another man had sold her "bad crack" that contained wax and cocaine. She pulled a suspected crack rock out of her mouth and placed it on the deputy's car for inspection, the Palatka Daily News reported. The deputy told Reaves that she would be arrested if the crack tested positive for cocaine. She was charged with possession of cocaine and posted bail. [end]
Some Irontonians are trying to reclaim the city before the drug problem gets out of hand. On Monday, 25 people met in the conference room of the Ironton Fire Department to discuss ways to deal with the problem. The group, so far unofficially called the Neighborhood Safety Awareness Committee, is made up of church leaders, city leaders, and concerned citizens. "Our main purpose and objectives are to serve," said Hugh Scott, the chairman of the group. "We want the community to know we are stepping out and there is a need for concern, that we have problems and we are here to hopefully mitigate the problem if not to stop it." [continues 413 words]
Epicurean Delights, a local medical-marijuana dispensary located on West Ridgecrest Boulevard, closed its doors, but the circumstances of the closing are unclear. The business opened its doors in July. The closure comes at a time when the Ridgecrest City Council is considering an ordinance regulating the operation of such facilities. Some believed the facility was closed as a result of action by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. DEA Public Information Officer Special Agent Casey McEnry said the federal agency did not conduct an enforcement operation at that location. [continues 385 words]
The president of the teacher's association told the school board recently he is confident a revised drug and alcohol testing policy is one educators can accept. Dave Gustafson stopped short of promising to drop a demand that the proposed drug testing policy become a negotiated issue in the master contract. "The way it is right now, I'll do what I can to work it out," he said. "I think we'll have this worked out before the next (school board) meeting. I'm saying we'll do everything we can, okay?" [continues 316 words]
Michael Chitwood's penchant for tough talk made him an often-quoted public figure in Maine. Now the former Portland police chief is going national. Chitwood's creative slang recently landed his suburban Philadelphia police department on the national news after a couple of officers in Upper Darby, Pa., put one of their favorite Chitwood-isms on the back of a T-shirt. The officers began selling T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Not in My Town 'Scumbag' " -- a term Chitwood has used frequently to describe drug dealers -- to raise money for a scholarship fund. [continues 356 words]
A member of the state Legislature told a group of graduates Monday he wants them to be examples for the entire state. While that's not an unusual theme for a commencement address, state Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, was talking to people who have completed Warren County Drug Court's rehabilitation program. "You will be a walking advertisement" for the drug-court concept, Flaggs said, encouraging five graduates to use the tools they had learned in overcoming their own addictions to help them face other challenges. [continues 394 words]
Police officers should be subjected to random drug testing. The recent arrest of a Moss Point police officer is an indication of how critical such a simple procedure such as frequent and random drug tests may be for public safety. Police officers are not immune from the ills of life, such as substance abuse. Law enforcement officers are in a unique position because they are entrusted to carry weapons in the course of their work. Police officers and deputies also are called upon to make life and death decisions from the use of a weapon to even how a vehicle is driven. The public ought to be assured all reasonable safeguards are taken to make sure the person given such authority is not impaired by substance abuse. Testing would be a reasonable safeguard. [continues 196 words]
Washington. U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion (18 billion pounds) worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday. The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five U.S. states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington. [continues 365 words]
New Deal Gives Raises, Starts Zero-Tolerance Policy for Drug Use Firefighters could have a contract agreement in place that includes a 3 percent raise per year for two years and a 2.25 percent increase in the final year if it is approved today by the City Council. Negotiators for the city of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi Firefighters Association broke an extended contract impasse during the weekend, city and fire officials said Monday. The new three-year contract, retroactive to when the last one expired July 2005, could be approved during today's City Council meeting. It also must be approved by the association's membership, said City Manager Skip Noe. [continues 529 words]
WASHINGTON: US growers produce nearly $US35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released today. The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five US states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington. [continues 396 words]
Marijuana is the most valuable cash crop in the United States, worth more to its growers than corn and wheat combined, according to a new report by a leading U.S. drug reform lobbyist that cites the U.S. government's own figures. Even the most conservative government estimates suggest domestic marijuana production has increased 10-fold in the past 25 years. It is the leading cash crop in 12 states, and one of the top five crops in 39 states. [continues 148 words]
HAYWARD -- A week after federal agents put a quick end to one downtown Hayward medical marijuana clinic, the Hayward City Council will decide today what to do about the only other pot club in town. The council is scheduled to vote on whether to extend its three-year operating agreement with the Hayward Patients Resource Center. The agreement with the Foothill Boulevard dispensary expires Dec. 31, and the club would be forced to close if the council does not extend the agreement. [continues 317 words]
For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released Monday by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion. [continues 110 words]
$4.7b Estimate Exceeds Top 3 Legal Crops By Jennifer Brooks, Staff Writer Tennessee's biggest cash crop isn't cotton or soybeans or corn. It's marijuana. State officials have known this for years and responded with an ever-escalating war on the drug -- patrolling the skies, searching remote mountainsides with heat sensors, sending in the National Guard, burning the crops to the ground and casting a wide net to catch the drug as it moves across the state. Using law enforcement's own records of marijuana seizures, a group dedicated to the legalization of marijuana has released a new report, ranking Tennessee number two in the nation in marijuana cultivation. [continues 366 words]
$4.7b Estimate Exceeds Top 3 Legal Crops Tennessee's biggest cash crop isn't cotton or soybeans or corn. It's marijuana. State officials have known this for years and responded with an ever-escalating war on the drug -- patrolling the skies, searching remote mountainsides with heat sensors, sending in the National Guard, burning the crops to the ground and casting a wide net to catch the drug as it moves across the state. Using law enforcement's own records of marijuana seizures, a group dedicated to the legalization of marijuana has released a new report, ranking Tennessee number two in the nation in marijuana cultivation. [continues 366 words]
US Official Rejects Push to Legalize WASHINGTON -- US growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released yesterday. The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five US states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, and Washington. [continues 257 words]
LOS ANGELES: The annual market value of US marijuana has been estimated at $35 billion by a new study, making it by far the largest cash crop in the country, the Los Angeles Times reported. The study by marijuana legalisation activist Jon Gettman analysed official seizure figures to come up with the huge estimate. It said that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement. The report released Monday identified California as the epicentre of the pot cultivation world with a crop worth almost $14 billion - more than the combined value of the state's vegetables, grapes and hay crops. [continues 113 words]
Marijuana is now the biggest cash crop grown in the US, exceeding traditional harvests such as wheat, corn and soy beans, says a new report. The study shows that 10,000 tonnes of marijuana worth $35.8bn (UKP18.4bn) is grown each year; the street value would be even higher. This dwarfs the $23bn-worth of corn grown, $17.6bn-worth of soybeans and $12.2bn-worth of hay. Marijuana is the biggest cash crop in 12 states, with the value of pot grown outstripping peanuts in Georgia and tobacco in North and South Carolina. In California, the biggest producer, it is worth $13.8bn. [continues 181 words]
The shooting Saturday night of a drug suspect is the second time in 21 months that a suspect has been shot by a Lynchburg police officer. A narcotics investigator shot Eric Mays, 26, in his right shoulder Saturday after police stopped his Chevrolet Malibu around 8:50 p.m. at Fourth and Floyd streets, police said. The investigator could see Mays' hands at first, but Mays quickly moved his hands down to the floorboard and the investigator fired, said Lynchburg Police Maj. Michael Spencer. [continues 899 words]
Garrett Wiggins to Succeed Dusty Schulze Officers from the Greater Routt and Moffat Narcotic Enforcement Team agree -- fighting the area's methamphetamine problem can be a thankless job. With four officers on staff and new drug dealers popping up to replace arrested ones throughout the Yampa Valley, the task is daunting, the hours long and the recognition limited. That hasn't dissuaded Garrett Wiggins, though. Wiggins, a law enforcement veteran, has been earmarked to lead GRAMNET, the task force announced Monday. He replaces current task force commander Dusty Schulze, who has been promoted to sergeant of the Craig Police Department, on Jan. 1. [continues 359 words]
Two recent studies should be the final nails in the coffin of the lie that has propelled some of this nation's most misguided policies: the claim that smoking marijuana somehow causes people to use hard drugs, often called the "gateway theory." Such claims have been a staple of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under present drug czar John Walters. Typical is a 2004 New Mexico speech in which, according to the Albuquerque Journal, "Walters emphasized that marijuana is a 'gateway drug' that can lead to other chemical dependencies." [continues 598 words]
DeSoto County officials bailed out an endangered drug enforcement squad that roots out dealers and traffickers in Hernando and rural areas. The Board of Supervisors OK'd $150,386 Monday to offset a loss of federal funds that threatened to shut down the Metro Narcotics Task Force after Jan. 1. The funding will keep the team going through Sept. 30, 2007. The action came after Dist. Atty. John Champion and Sheriff James Albert Riley made strong pitches for county taxpayers to pick up a tab left unpaid by a federal grant. [continues 438 words]
America the Stockade THE International Center for Prison Studies, part of King's College in London, has published a new study of prisoners in various countries. China, the world's most populous nation with nearly 1.3 billion residents, has 1,548,498 people in cells, putting it second on the worldwide list. America, with 300 million people, has 2,186,230 locked up -- ranking first by a wide margin. Other nations in the top 10 of jail populations are: Russia, 869,814; Brazil, 361,402; India, 332,112; Mexico, 214,450; Ukraine, 165,716; Thailand, 164,443; South Africa, 157,402; and Iran 147,926. [continues 195 words]
NEWLAND - Kevin Frye takes a call on his ninth day as Avery County's sheriff from someone reporting a neighbor as a drug dealer. Frye asks the caller what the drugs look like, what price they fetch, where the dealer goes when he travels down the mountain for new supplies. He wants his deputies to have the same kind of conversations. "The drug dealers and the thugs out here, they have their community networks," the sheriff said. " . We need the good citizens out there to be our eyes and ears." [continues 495 words]
Henderson County Sheriff Rick Davis announced Monday that three Henderson County Schools would be receiving School Resource Officers and by doing this reorganization D.A.R.E. Camp would be continued in the summer. Davis held a press conference Monday morning at Flat Rock Middle School along with Principal Bill Reedy; Beverly Davis, principal of Rugby Middle School; and Carolina Patterson, principal at Apple Valley Middle School. In October, prior to Davis winning the November election, the fate of D.A.R.E. Camp was unknown. [continues 487 words]
Last week's gunbattle in a North Richmond alley may have resulted in only a leg wound, but residents in the Ginter Park neighborhood felt it in their hearts. More than 50 of them wedged into a stuffy room made for 25 people in the Ginter Park Library last night to brainstorm about what to do about neighborhood drug dealing, prostitution and landlords who turn a blind eye to lawless renters and loiterers. "I haven't looked down so many [gun] barrels since I was in Vietnam," said Larry Mier, resident and block captain of the 4800 block of East Seminary Road. "At least there, I got to shoot back." [continues 273 words]
$4.7b Estimate Exceeds Top 3 Legal Crops By Jennifer Brooks, Staff Writer Tennessee's biggest cash crop isn't cotton or soybeans or corn. It's marijuana. State officials have known this for years and responded with an ever-escalating war on the drug -- patrolling the skies, searching remote mountainsides with heat sensors, sending in the National Guard, burning the crops to the ground and casting a wide net to catch the drug as it moves across the state. Using law enforcement's own records of marijuana seizures, a group dedicated to the legalization of marijuana has released a new report, ranking Tennessee number two in the nation in marijuana cultivation. [continues 364 words]
BALTIMORE - Organizations such as Sheppard Pratt Health System can now treat more than three times as many heroin addicts with the highly effective drug buprenorphine, thanks to a move by Congress to amend the Controlled Substances Act. The changes, approved Dec. 8, raise from 30 to 100 the number of patients a clinic or hospital can treat with the drug. That is a boon to drug abuse counselors and to addicts in the Baltimore region, said addictions educator Michael Gimbel, of Sheppard Pratt. "This is a very important piece of legislation. It will immediately allow us to treat more heroin and opiate addicts. Buprenorphine seems to be a very effective alternative to methadone in treating addicts." [continues 60 words]
BALTIMORE - In the shadow of the site of one of the greatest tragedies in city history, politicians and neighborhood residents gathered Monday for a ceremony to remember and search for hope. The event was held to dedicate a recently completed community center on the site where seven members of the Dawson family perished in a fire set by drug dealers in 2002. "On Oct. 16, 2002, the family of Angela and Carnell Dawson paid the ultimate price against evil," said Iris Tucker, pastor of the Knox Presbyterian Church, located across the street from where the Dawson home once stood. [continues 299 words]
While Gov. Jeb Bush will be vacating his public housing in just a few days, Richard Paey will still remain a "guest" of the state for the next 23 years, a victim of an egregious miscarriage of justice that would embarrass even the most inept banana republic. Of course, that could change. Leadership might be afoot! Jeb's Clemency Board could vote to issue a pardon. In the waning moments of the Bush Administration something extraordinary could occur: doing the right thing. [continues 682 words]
Marijuana is the most valuable cash crop in the United States, worth more to its growers than corn and wheat combined, according to a new report by a leading American drug reform lobbyist that cites the US government's own figures. Decades of government efforts to crack down on both the cultivation and consumption of pot have had a counter-productive effect, since even the most conservative government estimates suggest domestic marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past 25 years. It is the leading cash crop in 12 states, and one of the top five crops in 39 states. [continues 393 words]
MARIJUANA is the most valuable cash crop in the United States, worth more to its growers than corn and wheat combined, according to a new report that cites the US government's own figures. Author of the report Jon Gettman, a leading drug-reform lobbyist, says that marijuana is "larger than cotton in Alabama, larger than grapes, vegetables and hay in California, larger than peanuts in Georgia, and larger than tobacco in both South Carolina and North Carolina". Decades of government efforts to crack down on both the cultivation and consumption of pot have had, if anything, a counter-productive effect, since even the most conservative government estimates suggest that domestic marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past 25 years. [continues 306 words]
LOS ANGELES - Marijuana is the most valuable cash crop in the United States, worth more to its growers than corn and wheat combined, according to a new report by a leading American drug reform lobbyist that cites the US government's own figures. Decades of government efforts to crack down on both the cultivation and consumption of pot have had a counter-productive effect, since even the most conservative government estimates suggest domestic marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past 25 years. [continues 416 words]
We Vermonters are ferociously proud of the farms that dot our landscape. We beam with pride when the late afternoon sun gleams off the rounded top of a silo. We admire the grazing Holsteins backdropped by mountain ridges and tip our caps to the work ethic of a farmer mowing hay ahead of an approaching summer storm. We wave to Maw and Paw Kettle standing out in their farmyard, Paw in his overalls gripping a pitchfork, Maw in her gingham dress and apron, her hands still dusted in flour from baking pies. [continues 586 words]
The editorial from The Fayetteville Observer, "Random drug testing needed in our schools," (AC-T, Dec. 13), promoting drug testing of students, is flawed in more ways than can be described within the limits of a letter to the editor. One indisputable statement in the editorial is this sentence: "Protecting young people from drugs requires more than a drug test." However, the arguments for drug testing as part of a prevention program are either flawed or fallacious. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has published a guide for parents, educators, and community leaders that sets out 16 principles for effective prevention programs. These principles are based on drug abuse programs that have demonstrated efficacy in reducing alcohol and other drug use. Drug testing does not address these principles, nor is it included in the design of programs that have demonstrated the ability to reduce drug use. [continues 79 words]
Washington County DA Says Charges Still A Possibility For Anastasio Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said Monday he has not ruled out filing a felony drug charge against a world- renowned musician arrested Friday in Whitehall. Kortright said he wanted to review the State Police crime laboratory report on the drugs Ernest "Trey" Anastasio allegedly possessed at the time of his arrest, results of a urine sample and the rest of the evidence Whitehall Police assembled. "We're going to take a look at it all and make a decision from there," the district attorney said. [continues 390 words]
Stuffed up? You might want to check the label before grabbing your favorite medicine off the drugstore shelf. In response to new laws to curb illegal methamphetamine production, the makers of Sudafed, Tylenol and other drugs have reformulated their cold medications this winter to eliminate the decongestant pseudoephedrine. Its substitute, phenylephrine or PE, isn't as effective and must be taken more frequently, experts say. A study released this fall by Claritin maker Shering-Plough found PE gave as much nasal relief as a placebo. Some consumer advocates and members of Congress want a reluctant Food and Drug Administration to re-examine 30-year-old PE dosage standards. [continues 222 words]
SACRAMENTO -- For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined -- and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states. [continues 398 words]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion - far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined - and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states. [continues 498 words]
SACRAMENTO - For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn and soybeans. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined; marijuana is the top cash crop in a 12 states, the report states. [continues 189 words]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter-century despite an anti-drug effort by law enforcement. [continues 120 words]
SACRAMENTO - For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined -- and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states. [continues 180 words]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released Monday (Dec. 18) by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined -- and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states. [continues 425 words]
Study: Market Value Exceeds $35 Billion SACRAMENTO -- For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it. A report released Monday by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35 billion--far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay. The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter-century. [continues 256 words]
Inside United States
