Legalize drugs, advocates say, and you'll decrease drug use, virtually empty our prisons, end the violence among cartels in Mexico and move toward a more humane society in which drug abuse is treated as an illness, not a crime. You see, they further instruct us, the so-called "war on drugs" has won nary a battle. It's a hugely expensive replay of Prohibition. What we're talking about here is liberty, the drug legalizers go on to say. Drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines are no worse than cigarettes or whiskey, and the only ones hurt by their consumption are the adults who decide to use them. [continues 451 words]
The drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. In 2008, there were 847,863 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend shrinking public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. An admitted former pot smoker, President Obama has thus far maintained the status quo rather than pursue change. Would Barack Obama be in White House right now if he had been convicted of a marijuana offense in his youth? [continues 76 words]
The Obama administration has taken another step toward common sense with its directive that chronically ill patients using marijuana to ease their pain be left alone by federal agents in the states where it is legal. "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Monday. That will be a welcome relief to all those who have found relief in marijuana recommended by a doctor to reduce the chronic pain, nausea and other symptoms associated with cancer and other serious illnesses. [continues 345 words]
Student athletes caught drinking or using drugs or tobacco will be given extra chances to get on the right track and return to teams in Mountain Lakes and West Morris Regional. The two districts revised their athletic codes of conduct this fall mandating student-athletes who violate the rules undergo drug and alcohol assessment by either a school's assistance counselor or a private facility in order to eventually return to a team. At least half-a-dozen local districts have in recent months taken a second look at their athletic codes of conduct, which hold students accountable for their behavior both in and out of school. [continues 690 words]
It hardly comes as a revelation that the drug war, with its imprisonment of countless thousands of nonviolent offenders, has been a fiasco. Nearly everyone, from the head of the Office of National Drug Control Police on down, has pronounced the drug war an utterly misguided and wrong-headed policy. Chris Christie recently said that New Jersey is in the Dark Ages for the way it imprisons nonviolent addicts rather than getting them treatment that would restore their lives and produce huge savings for the state. It is encouraging to hear such forceful language on the subject from a candidate for governor of New Jersey -- the state with the distinction of having the nation's highest proportion of inmates serving terms for nonviolent crimes. [continues 323 words]
New Jersey has the ignominious distinction of having street heroin that is among the purest in the nation, according to Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, with purity levels reaching as high as 72 percent. This is largely because the state is home to large ports and a major airport, making it a direct entry point for drugs smuggled from South America. Federal agents seized 300 pounds of heroin in the state in 2007 -- the most recent year for which data was available -- compared with 139 pounds in 2006. In 2008, the D.E.A. also found that the rate of heroin use among the state's 18- to 25-year-olds was more than twice the national average. [continues 124 words]
SALEM -- In a tug-of-war for the future of the city's youth, police took a hard pull on Tuesday, setting up half a dozen road signs to let everyone know illicit substances are not welcome here. At every main city entrance and in front of every school, officials and authorities erected D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) placards as more than just a warning, but to help children remember to make the choice for a drug-free lifestyle. [continues 332 words]
At first I felt badly about having to work on the Fourth of July. I need money pretty badly and I had an offer to disassemble a set of stairs to an upper deck for a fair price. I also did it in part because I know the Multiple Sclerosis patient who lives at that house couldn't do it by himself, although he could physically help me do it. Shortly after noon he had to take a break to take some medicine, as his muscles were becoming increasingly stiff and pain was creeping into the equation. Having lost my wife after her 32-year battle with MS, I am sensitive to the importance of the medicine my friend was about to take. After only a few puffs of marijuana he was ready to resume our chores. He was alert and without stiffness or pain. [continues 148 words]
Once New Jersey gets a "medical marijuana" regimen going, will cannabis become the updated version of the bottles of snake oil that itinerant mountebanks used to peddle as a cure for gout, warts and assorted other ailments? Medical marijuana is touted by advocates as a means of alleviating the discomforts of those suffering from various maladies ranging from seizures to muscle spasms to AIDS to glaucoma. So the concept does have something of the aura of a snake-oil panacea to it. [continues 180 words]
I am concerned and against the legalization of marijuana. It will result in additional drug abuse, automobile accidents, lung damage and other health risks. The contents of marijuana leaves, stems and flowers are not standardized and naturally contain hundreds of different chemicals. In addition, unregulated chemicals such as insecticides and fertilizers may be added to grow marijuana. Is the state going to control the product's purity and content and, if so, where is the plan? Legalizing marijuana will create additional new hazards and risks to the individuals smoking marijuana. In addition, a prescription drug using the primary active ingredient of marijuana already exists and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for marketing. Tom Egan Gibbsboro [end]
As New Jersey lawmakers consider taking the bold step of legalizing marijuana for medical use, they're showing an abundance of caution about the details. An Assembly committee made major changes to the bill approved by the state Senate earlier this year. It would make New Jersey the 14th state to allow marijuana to be grown and prescribed for medicinal purposes, but under the strictest conditions of any of those states. To use marijuana legally, a patient would have to have one of five specific diseases; get a recommendation from his or her doctor and permission from the state health department; obtain the drug from an approved grower and only in amounts of an ounce or less per month. [continues 77 words]
The State Police and the New Jersey Army National Guard took to the South Jersey skies in a Black Hawk helicopter last week to train officers how to locate and bust marijuana growers. A day later, lawmakers in Trenton approved a bill they hope, if enacted, would allow seriously ill residents to legally use marijuana for medical purposes. The two events highlight a thorny question for New Jersey: How do you make it legal for some residents to smoke pot, while it's against the law for everyone else? Lawmakers are looking at 13 states that allow medical marijuana to make sure the legislation they pass has enough restrictions so only those who really need it can get it. [continues 862 words]
A bill to allow the medicinal use of marijuana for seriously ill patients has been tightened to address concerns the drug could become too widely available. An amended version of the bill that was approved by the Senate in February cleared the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee yesterday by a vote of 8-1, with two abstentions. Next, Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden) will determine whether to post the bill for a floor vote in the Assembly. [continues 598 words]
Assembly Panel Passes Version Listing Diseases The effort to allow severely ill New Jerseyans to use marijuana to ease their pain gained momentum yesterday as an Assembly committee cleared a revamped bill that would also set strict limits on who can grow, distribute or get the drug. The bill, which would make New Jersey the 14th state to allow marijuana use for medical purposes, includes restrictions lawmakers added in response to criticism that a measure passed earlier this year by the state Senate was too lax, allowing patients to grow their own. [continues 640 words]
MIDDLETOWN -- According to student assistance counselor Rosemary Richards, heroin has made the jump in recent decades from a drug that was predominantly an inner-city problem to one that has spread into the suburbs. The youngest case of addiction she's dealt with was an eighth-grade student who was getting the drug from his sister. On Thursday night, the school district presented "Substance Abuse and Teens: What Every Parent Needs to Know," to discuss the warning signs of drug and alcohol abuse. [continues 423 words]
My father died a hard death from lung cancer in 1983. From the first diagnosis, about six months before he passed, there was never any real hope, since his type of cancer is nearly always fatal. Still, he tried to beat it with ever-more aggressive chemotherapy treatments that took his hair and his body and his energy. Toward the end, he weighed about 120 pounds, in large part because he had no appetite and didn't eat. I had a solution. I offered to get him some marijuana to stimulate his appetite, but he refused on the grounds that even if it worked and made him more comfortable, it was still illegal and he didn't want to spend his last days in jail. [continues 309 words]
The government shouldn't bar patients from using a substance that greatly reduces their pain. State Attorney General Anne Milgram said last week that legislation in Trenton that would allow those suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other painful ailments to keep and grow small amounts of marijuana is workable. We're glad Milgram's mind is open on this issue and that's she's not following the same rigid and foolish hard line as the federal government. The state Senate has already approved the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act and Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will sign it. [continues 348 words]
The History, Opposition and Politics Alongside Medical and Theraeputic Uses of the Controversial Herb Marijuana is the topic of discussion for many people lately, including the state of New Jersey. The drug is being considered for legalization in the state. To help intensify the debate, it is necessary to see the history of marijuana in the United States. The installment of this ethical issue began on Aug. 2, 1937 with the passage of the "Marijuana Tax Act," banning recreational and medical use of marijuana. [continues 1122 words]
MILLBURN, N.J. -- The high school here, which was named the state's best by a respected magazine last year, plans to begin using dogs to search for drugs on campus this spring. "We seek to discourage illegal substances from being brought into school and to show unequivocal support for those students who do 'just say no,' " the principal of Millburn High, William S. Miron, and the district superintendent, Richard Brodow, wrote in an e-mail message to parents and students Friday afternoon. "I willingly risk student trust if it saves a single life." [continues 696 words]
Inside New Jersey
