Island County commissioners have renewed a contract to continue to provide a needle-exchange program for local drug addicts. The $50,800 contract calls for the Island County Health Department, in partnership with the Snohomish Health District, to maintain a County AIDS Task Force, conduct HIV testing and engage in intervention strategies such as the needle-exchange program. The bulk of the money will go to counseling and HIV testing; $10,800 dollars will go to the needle exchange. In the exchange program, "high risk" drug users are offered a trade of any used hypodermic needles for sterile, unused ones on a one-for-one basis. [continues 254 words]
No doubt about it, GREAT is an appropriate acronym for a great program. It stands for Gang Resistance Education and Training, a program already tried with success in the Toppenish School District and now headed for Yakima. It's premise is simple, but effective: Get to students at a young age, when they can be approached and taught the dangers and pitfalls of gang activity and before they become dropout statistics. As reported earlier, the program was first developed by the Phoenix Police Department in the early 1990s and it was later picked up by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and offered to schools across the country. [continues 375 words]
After more than six years, a lawsuit challenging Wahkiakum School District's policy of conducting random drug tests of student athletes will finally get its day in court this week. The controversy began in 1999 when Wahkiakum school officials began testing middle- and high-school athletes in an effort to curb drug use, which school officials said was reaching epidemic levels. Parents of two student athletes objected to the tests, which were required for participation in school sports. The parents, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued to ban the tests. [continues 284 words]
The positive cash flow at Spokane's largest medical test lab is yellow, not green, and comes in 30-milliliter bottles shipped from around the western United States. Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, owned by Providence Health and Services, has seen a steady increase in the number of tests it does on urine specimens provided by companies and facilities from as far away as Wyoming and Alaska. Six years ago PAML's labs performed tests on about 600 urine specimens per day, collected in the Inland Northwest. [continues 1358 words]
OKANOGAN, Wash. -- With few residents or roads, numerous lakes and a sprawling, loosely patrolled border with Canada, Okanogan County has become prime territory for pot smuggling via float plane, law-enforcement officials say. Reports of low-flying float planes and helicopters have become increasingly frequent in the county, the third largest in the contiguous 48 states at 5,281 square miles, and there's more to be concerned about than marijuana, say Sheriff Frank T. Rogers and James A. McDevitt, the U.S. attorney in Spokane. "A person that will smuggle drugs, guns, meth[amphetamine], Ecstasy and cash will also be the kind of person who would smuggle a special-interest alien or a terrorist," McDevitt told The Wenatchee World. [continues 325 words]
In their quest to seize the ill-gotten gains of suspected drug dealers, federal prosecutors have targeted cash, jewelry, cars and even homes. You can now add gold-capped teeth to the list. A defense expert and the attorneys for two men facing federal drug charges in Tacoma are crying foul over efforts by federal prosecutors and officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to have the gold-capped teeth -- commonly called "grills" or "grillz" -- removed from their clients' mouths. [continues 606 words]
Seattle officials boasted four years ago they had found a way to protect youth from sexual predators, alcohol and drugs at dance parties. The All-Ages Dance Ordinance would require anyone who holds a dance admitting kids younger than 18 to apply for a city permit, undergo a criminal background check and hire a certain number of security guards. "Let's dance!" Mayor Greg Nickels proclaimed, channeling David Bowie after the City Council approved the law, adding it "ensures that there are adequate safety provisions in place." [continues 1213 words]
Authorities Got Order For 'Grills,' Thinking Them Easily Removed TACOMA, Wash. - Talk about taking a bite out of crime. Government lawyers tried to confiscate the gold tooth caps known as "grills" from the mouths of two men facing drug charges, saying the dental work qualified as seizable assets. They had them in a vehicle headed to a dental clinic by the time defense attorneys persuaded a judge to halt the procedure. "I've been doing this for over 30 years and I have never heard of anything like this," said Richard Troberman, a past president of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "It sounds like Nazi Germany when they were removing the gold teeth from the bodies, but at least then they waited until they were dead." [continues 239 words]
PORT ANGELES -- A panel of middle-aged jurors Monday entered Port Angeles' shadow world of homelessness, methamphetamine and, ultimately, a 15-year-old girl's slaying. They listened as Clallam County Prosecutor Deb Kelly outlined the state's case against Robert Gene Covarrubias, accused of murdering Melissa Leigh Carter. Her nude body was found Dec. 26, 2004, in a vine-shrouded hollow above the Waterfront Trail, about 600 feet east of the Red Lion Hotel. Kelly and public defender Harry Gasnick made opening statements in the Clallam County Superior Court of Judge George Wood. [continues 162 words]
Some 1,600 Spokane-area students at 20 high schools and middle schools don't object to drug testing. In fact, they volunteer to be tested randomly throughout the school year. In return, they receive an ID card good for discounts at participating fast food joints and other places. They're all members of the Washington Drug-Free Youth Program, an outreach organization of the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council. Joining the organization "makes life a lot simpler and it gives you a reason to remain drug free," said 17-year-old Alicia Fox, a junior at North Central High School. She joined the movement her freshman year. [continues 459 words]
SPOKANE - Threatened with a lawsuit, a suburban Spokane school district has agreed to stop using dogs for random drug searches in its middle and high school, but the program could be reinstated if judges rule it is constitutional, a superintendent said Friday. After receiving complaints from "some students and parents" from the Nine Mile Falls School District about the trained dogs sniffing students' belongings, the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Justice prepared a lawsuit, Center for Justice lawyer John Sklut said Friday. [continues 539 words]
A new methadone clinic in Clark County is getting off to a slow start. Vancouver Treatment Solutions, tucked away at 2009 N.E. 117th St. behind Ricky's Pool and Spa, opened without fanfare in late January. To date, it serves just 17 patients. That's not unusual, says acting clinic director Dave Cush; most methadone clinics start small and build their clientele through word of mouth. Last year's furor over the clinic's siting near Salmon Creek Park has died down; these days, the main disruptions in the commercial and industrial zone where it is located are caused by the widening of 117th Street in front of the clinic and the replacement of two Interstate 5 bridges over Salmon Creek. [continues 700 words]
OKANOGAN, Wash. - A man and a woman from Vancouver have been arrested in the latest of at least four apparent marijuana deliveries by float plane, but the pilot and plane got away, authorities said. Both Canadians, whose identities were not immediately released, were booked into the Okanogan County jail Thursday for investigation of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, Sheriff Frank Rogers said. "We're running ourselves ragged," Rogers said. "It's like an epidemic up here. We're running from call to call." [continues 144 words]
I'm writing about Tina Imdieke's March 16 letter, "Meth bill long overdue." Keeping the ingredients of meth behind pharmacy counters will substantially reduce the amateur meth labs, but it won't reduce meth use or solve our nation's drug problems. We should model the drug policies of another nation with little or no drug problem. I suggest that we model the Czech Republic's drug policies. The Czech Republic is the only nation in the world where adult citizens can legally use, possess and grow small quantities of marijuana. The Czech Republic overall drug arrest rate is 1 per 100,000 population. The United States overall drug arrest rate is 585 per 100,000 population. The Czech robbery rate is 2 per 100,000 population. The United States robbery rate is 145.9 per 100,000 population, according to the FBI. [continues 83 words]
The Bellevue Police Department is one of several King County cities to end its Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program, while other cities and school districts have continued theirs. Here's a rundown: Auburn Officer Leslie Jordan, a five-year veteran of the Auburn Police Department, took over the department's D.A.R.E. program in January. It targets fifth-graders in the Auburn School District with a 10-week program that puts Jordan in a classroom at the district's elementary schools for 45 minutes each week. [continues 1333 words]
Kids greet Bob Oliver at local shopping centers with hugs and high-fives. Cheerleaders at high-school football games peel off their gloves and ask him to autograph the backs of their hands. Parents come up to him in restaurants and shake his hand. He shows up at countless school carnivals and assemblies, football, soccer and basketball games. Each holiday season he goes undercover, wearing a Santa Claus costume to dozens of Christmas parties. "Officer Bob," Bellevue's D.A.R.E. officer, is better known than any Eastside politician. A few years ago, his VW bug was the model for a Matchbox D.A.R.E. car, each inscribed with "Officer Bob" on the door. [continues 900 words]
'It's Like An Epidemic Up Here,' Says Sheriff NESPELEM, Wash. -- A Vancouver Island man has been arrested after an investigation into an aerial marijuana smuggling attempt. In a separate case, authorities reported a large cocaine seizure north of Oroville, just south of the border. The two episodes involved illegal drugs with a combined value of about $5 million, authorities said. "It's like an epidemic up here, stuff going back and forth across this border," Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said. [continues 276 words]
Bellevue Loves Officer Bob, but Some Say the Anti-Drug Program Doesn't Work BELLEVUE -- At the end of this school year, the Bellevue Police Department will end its involvement in D.A.R.E., becoming the latest law enforcement agency in King County to drop the well-known drug and prevention program in public schools. In calling for an end to his department's 17-year involvement with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, Bellevue police Chief Jim Montgomery cited several studies stretching back more than 15 years. [continues 1318 words]
Methamphetamine has ravaged our community and put severe strains on local and state agencies. Meth has destroyed families, made parents neglect and abandon their innocent babies and children. Meth has not done anything positive for our community. Finally, an anti-meth bill has been approved by the Senate and attached to the U.S. Patriot Act, a centerpiece of the president's war on terrorism. At last meth has been placed where it belongs, as an immediate threat to our national security. This disease is eating our society from within. By adding this legislation to the Patriot Act we have escalated this cancer in American society from a petty drug crime to its appropriate position as an act of domestic terrorism. [continues 78 words]
In the last few months, contraband-detecting dogs have sniffed out empty alcohol containers, drug paraphernalia and a used bottle rocket at Longview campuses, school officials announced this week. The visits in January and February were the second and third times the dogs have searched Longview's middle and high schools for drugs, alcohol and firearms under a new contraband-detection program this school year. So far, the dogs haven't uncovered any substantial finds, and students say there hasn't been much fuss. [continues 497 words]
Aplets, Cotlets And Potlets? That last product doesn't exist -- yet. But when you consider how high marijuana unofficially floats on the list of Washington's top cash crops, it's not much of a stretch to imagine the state's famed candied fruits someday facing a THC-laced competitor. Pot seized statewide last year had an estimated value of $270 million -- "enough marijuana plants to rank the illegal weed as Washington state's No. 8 agricultural commodity," the Associated Press concluded last week. [continues 432 words]
There's almost no way to exaggerate the seriousness of the methamphetamine scourge that has torn through our society. But attention to that problem should supplement, not replace, attention to other drug problems. An Associated Press story this week illustrates how, even with the rise of the meth problem, the marijuana problem still hasn't gone away. With a bit of creative but still valid calculations, marijuana can be described as our state's No. 8 agricultural commodity, just ahead of sweet cherries. Of course, the difference is the former is illegal and thus doesn't belong on the commodities chart, but you still get the message: The 135,323 marijuana plants seized in the state last year carried an estimated value of $270 million. [continues 128 words]
SPOKANE, Wash. - Law enforcement officers harvested a dubious record last year: enough marijuana plants to rank the illegal weed as Washington state's No. 8 agricultural commodity, edging sweet cherries in value. The 135,323 marijuana plants seized in 2005 were estimated to be worth $270 million -- a record amount that places the crop among the state's top 10 agricultural commodities, based on the most recent statistics available. "We're struck by the amount of work they put into it," said Lt. Rich Wiley, who heads the Washington State Patrol narcotics program. "It's very labor intensive. They often run individual drip lines to each plant, and are out there fertilizing them. It takes a tremendous amount of work." [continues 102 words]
WASHINGTON - Two BIA special agents have been recognized by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for their work in eradicating a major marijuana cultivation project on the Yakama reservation in Washington state. None of the suspects arrested in the investigation were Yakama tribal members, according to the press release from the BIA. Special Agents Craig Janis and Mario Redlegs, of the BIA's Office of Law Enforcement Services, were presented with awards at a White House ceremony Jan. 19. [continues 349 words]
Locating a methadone clinic in downtown Lowell, a few steps from the high school, is an unconscionably bad idea that must be strongly opposed by city leaders and our state delegation. Relief Associates LLC of Watertown this week proposed a facility for John Street, a site that is about 150 feet from Lowell High School's Freshmen Academy and two blocks from the school's main buildings. It is the wrong location for several reasons -- methadone clinics attract drug dealers looking for easy targets but who are willing to sell to anyone, including naive students; it will stymie downtown Lowell's ongoing revitalization; and the city already has a methadone clinic -- Habit Management Institute -- on Suffolk Street. [continues 266 words]
What Are The Long-Term Effects Of Beer, Blogging, And Progressive Politics It was Tuesday night and lefty drug-reform warrior Roger Goodman's lecture on creating a regulated drug market in Seattle was blowing me away. (Goodman, an advocate for legalizing drugs, is director of the King County Bar Association's Drug Policy Project.) "In a conservative estimate, 50 percent of cases in our courts are drug related," Goodman said, "and 70 percent of our general funds go to criminal justice--75 percent in King County. Imagine what we could accomplish if we could reallocate those funds?" [continues 1046 words]
By allowing Oregon's assisted-suicide law to stand, the U.S. Supreme Court says a person with a terminal illness may make a deeply personal decision about his or her life. We support such a law. The ruling would have been better, however, had it also helped define the constitutional limit of federal power. Oregon's law allows a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of pain-killing drugs if certain conditions are met. First, the patient must want to die. Second, the doctor has to certify that the patient is sick, can't be cured and has fewer than six months to live. Third, a second doctor has to agree. Finally, the prescribing doctor cannot administer the drugs. The law affects only a tiny group. Under it, 37 patients were assisted in ending their lives in 2004. That is 10 in a million. We have heard no outcry against this from the people of Oregon, who voted for this measure twice. Clearly, this is a law they want. [continues 192 words]
For years I have suffered chronic back pain due to nerve damage and have been prescribed many different pain medications that did not help. The pain clinic suggested I try methadone. I immediately said no. I did not want to be considered a junkie. After much discussion, I decided I had no other choice but to go with their advice. The first time I took a methadone pill I expected to get a high but I did not. The stigma of methadone is wrong. Because of the stigma and association of methadone users, people have quickly condemned those who do use it. The clinic opening up in Vancouver should not be opposed. Those going there should be encouraged as they are trying to get their life back on track. [continues 60 words]
In 1963, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech, the United States had about 200,000 total prisoners. Today, largely because of our war-on-drugs policies, the United States has more than 2.2 million prisoners. It's obvious that the so-called war on drugs is actually a war on politically selected people and black people are the politically selected people. Even though blacks and whites use illegal drugs at about the same rate, blacks are 13 times more likely to go to jail or prison for a so-called drug crime. Where is the outrage? Where is the outrage from the black community? Where is outrage from the so-called black leaders? Where is the outrage from America? Where is the outrage from the rest of the world? The whips and chains of slavery have been replaced with prison cages. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
OLYMPIA -- After years of targeting home-based methamphetamine laboratories, state and law enforcement officials are shifting focus, taking aim at meth addicts themselves. Attorney General Rob McKenna, along with the 26-member task force "Operation: Allied Against Meth," is backing legislation that focuses on longer prison sentences and emphasizes substance abuse treatment. "Our jails and prisons are filling up with people who have been convicted of meth offenses and offenses related to their meth addiction," McKenna said, citing a Spokane survey that determined that 93 percent of inmates convicted of felony property crimes were meth users. [continues 604 words]
The Department to Harass Law Abiding Businesses and Citizens to Make it Look Like We're Doing Something (DTHLABACTMILLWDS) has come up with a new law governing the sale of popular cold and allergy medicines. Citizens in Washington can no longer purchase Sudafed, for example, without asking for it, as it's stored behind the pharmacy counter in the space formerly occupied by condoms. Also you have to show a photo ID as proof of being at least 18, sign your name and address to a sheet of paper open to police inspection, and you can buy no more than two boxes of Sudafed in any 24-hour period. The store has to keep a record of this or face an inquiry by the Department of Post Nasal Drip Security. Pharmacists who fail to keep complete records will be tortured by the Department of Homeland Insecurity. [continues 358 words]
Congress should take note of the decline of methamphetamine labs in Oregon since that state got tough on the sale of the components that make up the horrifying drug. The number of meth-lab busts in Oregon was reduced by half in the past year since a registry began for over-the-counter cold medicines used in meth production. Washington imposed a similar law last summer. Oklahoma, the first state to create a registry, has seen meth-lab busts decrease by nearly 80 percent. [continues 256 words]
Hundreds of new Border Patrol and immigration agents. Gigantic, double-layer steel fences along the California and Arizona borders. Infrared and daylight cameras. Stadium lighting. A new surveillance drone. Expanded detention facilities. Call it force and fear -- America's military formula for immigration control, embodied in legislation the House of Representatives passed in December. The get-tough House Republicans who pushed the bill said they're dead-set against the balance of a guest-worker program, a measure that President Bush and most reformers now favor (and the Senate will soon be debating). [continues 628 words]
Snohomish County pharmacies are struggling to comply with a new state law that limits access to cold medicines that also can be used to make methamphetamine. One side effect of the law is likely to be some sacrifice of individual privacy. Pharmacies are now required to ask for identification and keep logbooks with the names of people who buy cold medicines with certain ingredients. However, reporters for The Herald found that some pharmacies required customers buying cold medicine to sign the logbooks, which is against state Board of Pharmacy policy, while others brought the logbooks to the counter, which unintentionally allowed the reporters to see who else had purchased cold medicine before them. [continues 420 words]
It's rainy, windy, cold and Eric stands at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Sixth Street in clothing fit for a fair fall day. Eric, who's in his 20s, has been homeless for more than a month. And to make matters worse, he's now "using" " likely crack cocaine, which can be bought in $5 rocks. Somewhere out there on this cold winter night is Eric's younger brother Patrick, who just turned 16. He has also been homeless for a month and likely also uses crack. [continues 985 words]
Drugs, prostitution, burglaries and other crimes ruled the River Bend area of Des Moines, Iowa, for years. And then the Neighborhood Based Service Delivery program came to town. "We went from having drug dealers on three of four corners to the point where you never see them," said Roger Thompson, president of the River Bend Neighborhood Association. "Now my neighborhood is incredibly safe." The partnership among police officers, firefighters, city code enforcers and residents "is the best thing that ever hit the City of Des Moines," Thompson said. [continues 1439 words]
The letter by Sandra S. Bennett, "Stiff sanctions curb use" on Dec 21 was so sad. Supporters of Prohibition II engage in fraudulent sloganeering while the federal government conducts a systematic dismantling of our Constitution under the guise of "being tough on drugs." Some verifiable facts about today's Prohibition (focusing only on cannabis) for Bennett: * In 1988, the Drug Enforcement Agency's own administrative law judge said, "marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence of this record." [continues 89 words]
UNION GAP -- Some residents is this small town wonder what's taking so long for elected officials to complete voluntary drug tests. "If they were serious about showing us that they had it together, then they would have done it all at once. But them lingering gives the appearance that they are cleaning something out of their system," said Union Gap resident and activist Andrea Vasquez. Mayor Aubrey Reeves gave council members the option last week of taking a voluntary drug test at the city's expense. His offer came after Councilman Dale Glaspey's Dec. 13 arrest for allegedly selling cocaine to an informant. [continues 368 words]
Little 3-week-old Taliah was born with 10 fingers and 10 toes -- and no drugs in her system. It's the first time in three pregnancies that Niki Kidrick didn't give birth to a drugged baby. And she said it wouldn't have been possible without a new program for Cowlitz County mothers battling addictions. "She's the only one who tested clean (at birth)," Kidrick said recently. "And without this program she wouldn't have." Kidrick used meth and drank alcohol while pregnant -- just as she did with her previous two children. Then, in November, she lost custody of her 2-year-old daughter because she'd relapsed after being clean for 18 months. Her 5-year-old son lives with her mother. [continues 771 words]
The Yakima Police Department has added a new nose to its roster. Don't expect Officer Flash to be writing any tickets, but she and her partner will be sniffing out crime nonetheless. Flash, a former pound puppy, and Officer Jason Johnson completed more than 200 hours of training at the Washington State Patrol academy to be certified as the department's first drug-detecting duo in at least a decade. Capt. Greg Copeland, commander of the patrol division, said the idea to restart the program originated from the officers. [continues 729 words]
Few in society today know much about Prohibition other than tirades like the Dec. 6 letter, "Prohibition didn't work," of Kirk Muse about what a failure it was. Yes, there were speak-easies. Yes, there were turf battles by rival gangs and liquor barons. But for American society, it was an incredible social and health success. Some of the national benefits, as compiled by E. Deets Pickett, associate editor of American Prohibition Yearbook, were as follows: * Wife beating and lack of family support decreased 82 percent. [continues 135 words]
Lives In The Balance I am outraged by ex-Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper's drive to legalize drugs ["Legalize drugs -- all of them," guest commentary, Dec. 4, and see "Uncontrolled substance," Northwest Voices, Dec. 11, and "Normalizing behavior," Northwest Voices, Dec. 18]. Mr. Stamper's proposal to legalize all drugs sends the wrong message to our communities and children. His idea lacks scientific and medical backing and leads one to conclude that this is no more than a publicity stunt to sell his book. [continues 167 words]
A political parody of the ichthys, the Christian fish symbol, has put Washington state Democrats in some hot water and cast a spotlight upon a Mount Vernon activist who wants marijuana legalized. Allison Bigelow did not create the facetious fish, but her company, Reefer Magnets, owns the copyright and sells it on the Internet. "I didn't make it," she said. "Now I'm the one in the hot seat." The parody is a car magnet with a cross and the word "hypocrite" inside the fish. [continues 357 words]
Leave it to an ex-Seattle cop to advance the notion that imprisoning tens of thousands of otherwise decent and law abiding citizens for illegal drugs is not an effective policy for combating the evils of drug abuse. I can hear it now: The next things Norm Stamper will be championing will be affordable treatment on demand, a redistribution of funds from incarceration to drug-abuse prevention education, and perhaps even allowing young Americans educational assistance despite a drug conviction. Whose side are these people on, anyway? Vivian McPeak, Seattle [end]
We Can Choose Rehabilitated Outlook Over Wasted Lives As a retired 29-year police veteran, I risk provoking the ire of many of my former peers by asking readers to very carefully contemplate the reasoning Norm Stamper uses in his argument. No doubt we spend billions fighting a losing drug war. History tells us that prohibition of alcohol only made gangsters and bootleggers rich. No one could argue that if street drugs were legalized and produced under government control, the danger of deaths resulting from contaminated ingredients would be significantly reduced. Money could be available for education and rehabilitation of our young citizens, rather than wasting it on incarcerating them for most of their lives. [continues 62 words]
I agree completely with Norm Stamper's view that we should legalize all drugs. We have more people in prison than any other nation on this planet except Russia (a recent development); 58 percent of those in prison are in on drug or drug-related charges. We spend more money on prisons than schools. Does this sound like America? Do we want to think of ourselves as outdoing Russia and China at prison populations? Is this a cost we wish to bear? [continues 108 words]
Whether to end drug prohibition was not an issue at the King County Bar Association's drug-policy conference in Seattle Dec. 1 and 2. The Bar Association agreed on it, and its guests, former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper among them, did too. Prohibition had failed. Drug laws had not stopped Americans from getting drugs; it simply made them get drugs from criminals. But if not from criminals, then from whom? On marijuana, they could not agree. Ethan Nadelmann, the nation's most prominent legalizer, advised them to figure it out later. First convince people to end prohibition. That's how our great-grandparents had done it with liquor. Then "fight it out." [continues 541 words]
It is not the casual drug users who are causing the overcrowding in our prison system. It is the criminal acts that are directly related to the trafficking and procurement of drugs; not to mention the numerous offenses that are committed by persons under the influence of drugs. That number will not be reduced by Norm Stamper's program even if he plans on providing these drugs free of charge. The compulsive need for drugs is the driving force behind the street crimes, such as mugging or purse theft. Any burglary/robbery detective in America can connect the dots between those crimes and drug use. [continues 78 words]
Norm Stamper suggests that we "police the industry much as alcohol-beverage-control agencies keep a watch on bars and liquor stores at the state level." Having been chief of police in Seattle, Stamper could well have been thinking of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which is charged with both regulating and promoting liquor and tobacco (and the tax revenues we get from them). This joint mission, of both promoting and regulating potentially dangerous substances, is in obvious conflict with our country's general governmental philosophy of checks and balances, and is a fundamentally flawed mechanism to regulate such enterprises. [continues 70 words]
Our prisons are filled to overflowing with drug addicts. Young girls become prostitutes to support their drug habits. Crimes are committed to afford the high cost of illegal drugs. Mothers are incarcerated, sometimes for being involved with a drug-dealing man, and children are deprived of parents. Meantime, movies and celebrities glamorize drug usage. Even our political leaders have admitted to, or have been reported, using drugs. Using mind-altering drugs is nothing new. In this country, cocaine, heroin and morphine were legal until around the 1930s. Of course, much thought and planning will have to be done to make the transition from our present failed drug laws to a more-sensible approach, but the time to end the war on drugs is past due. Ellen Hansen, Auburn [end]
Inside Washington
