PASCO, Wash. (AP) -- A teen-ager upset about moving from rural New York to Washington got even with his parents by inviting police to check out a stash of marijuana in their bedroom. Anthony Russo, a dentist, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana Tuesday and was given a 90-day suspended sentence. Charges against his wife, Sheryl, were dropped. Police were tipped off by their 16-year-old son, who had moved with the family last year from a small farming community near Buffalo, N.Y., to Connell, a town of about 2,000 people in Washington. The Russos had no comment. [end]
WASHINGTON -- Hey! Ps-s-s-s-st. Over here, pal. Are you, by any chance, a major drug dealer who has gotten nailed with the goods? Are you facing life imprisonment in a federal prison without parole because of get-tough anti-drug legislation? Are you singing the blues at the prospect of life caged up with a wife named Bruno? Relax, pal. You can get out of jail in five years or less. You might even be able to walk out of the courtroom scot-free. [continues 822 words]
Holy Smoke Culture Shop won a small victory at city council Monday, but the result may never be realized. During the debate over the new licence structure, Councillor Judy Gayton made a motion to have the small Herridge Lane shop's fee brought more in line with relailers its size. In 1998, the city slapped a $1,000 fee on retailers that sold water pipes, hooka pipes or bong pipes - a classification which only applied to Holy Smoke. The owners of Holy Smoke did not pay and the matter is currently before the courts with the shop claiming discrimination. "We don't need to pull any punches here," said Gayton."There are many people who very strenuously object to illicit drugs or cannabis and if people feel that's what's going on at Holy Smoke, then that's a criminal issue, it hasn't got anything to do with the cost of doing business in our community. "A business licence is not a methodology to impose restrictions. Either, it's a legal business or it ain't." The justification the city used for charging Holy Smoke $870 more than other small retailers was that the location required more police attention. Currently, the owners of Holy Smoke are facing several drug related charges stemming from a raid of the store in October 1997, where police allegedly found small amounts of illegal drugs on the premises. "We have a court case in process, there is prosecution that may take place regarding alleged illegal activities at the Holy Smoke business," said Gayton. "I'm not going to judge whether or not those allegations are true, that's for the courts. [continues 143 words]
Six months after saying he wanted to abolish New York City's methadone treatment programs, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has abandoned his plan to move all 2,100 heroin addicts at city hospitals into abstinence programs, conceding Friday that his idea was "maybe somewhat unrealistic." The shift came after a five-month city experiment aimed at moving heroin addicts into abstinence programs at the five public hospitals resulted in few successes, city officials said yesterday. [continues 934 words]
Editor -- Last week, The Chronicle reported breathlessly on the phenomenon of increased heroin use by the ``young, middle- and upper-middle class-kids like the 21-year-old son of blues rocker Boz Scaggs'' (``Young, Rich And Strung Out,'' Chronicle, January 9). They also reported that the price of heroin in the Bay Area has fallen so dramatically that a heroin high is not much more expensive than ``a six-pack of beer.'' What they failed to report is that the heroin glut isn't limited to the Bay Area, or even the United States; it's global and occurring despite record budgets for such never-proven concepts as ``drug interdiction'' and ``source country control,'' or more recently appropriated extra billions to Madison Avenue for ``demand reduction'' ads. [continues 117 words]
UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) For hours, Luis Torres struggled to come off a heroin high, enduring body-wracking seizures and fighting to breathe. His friends videotaped Torres for six or seven minutes, thinking that showing the scene to him later would do him good. Then they left him to sleep it off. Torres never saw the tape. He died a few hours later, apparently of an overdose. "If it wasn't for the drugs, the kid was perfect," said a teary-eyed Michael Shipman, standing in the doorway of his apartment, where Torres died. "Anything I ever needed, he was there." [continues 256 words]
PERHAPS you were shocked when you first heard the term ``testilying,'' the term New York police officers used to describe their routine practice of lying on the witness stand in drug cases. Sadly, perjury is routinely practiced in American courts. Today, perjury is center stage in American political life, as the Senate begins the impeachment trial of President Clinton. If any witnesses are heard in this unique trial, the star would be Monica Lewinsky, who has admitted she committed perjury. Every aspect will deviate from criminal trials in American courts, with one critical exception. Routinely in drug cases and other trials, the star witness cuts a deal with the prosecution. Likewise, Lewinsky, a potential defendant, has cooperated in exchange for favorable treatment. [continues 390 words]
NO doubt about it, one of the wars we are winning is against smoking. The most recent proof of this -- a 32 percent decrease in per capita smoking consumption over eight years -- is recorded in Gov. Gray Davis' budget summary. What's more, consumption is expected to fall a further 19 percent from the beginning of this year. This is gratifying. It's mostly due to excise increases over the years that have funded anti-smoking education, to the recent price increases brought by tobacco litigation and by the state's excise tax hike of 50 cents per pack coming from Proposition 10 passing on Nov. 3 to tax tobacco to pay for programs for infants and young children and ensure health education continues. [continues 543 words]
ASK me who are the salt of the earth, and I'll answer, criminal defense attorneys. For many an unfortunate, they are the first and last line of defense, and even though the criminal bar has its share of frauds and deadbeats, the criminal defense is packed with selfless types who work extremely hard for not much money. They see the system in all its arrogance and cruelty, and fight it every day. One of the best defense attorneys on the West Coast is Tony Serra, famous for defending Native Americans. I shared a platform with him one time, raising money for his defense of Bear Lincoln, who was charged with killing a sheriff's deputy in Mendocino County. Serra got Bear off the capital charges, a tremendous achievement in a county not noted -- but then, which county in the United States is? -- for its compassion toward the first Americans. [continues 576 words]
'I suspect that some of these cars they are going to pick up on are going to have merchandise with no receipts.' --Sheriff George Nourse, anticipating an incidental benefit to the use of drug- detecting dogs in Canyon County parking lots. 'Shucks, they might even flush out an ACLU lawyer or two.' --Anonymous drug-detecting-dog enthusiast, anticipating a perfect world. One of these days, we Americans--Idaho Americans in particular and Canyon County Americans in particular--are gonna have to sit down and figure out exactly what and how much we're willing to give up to keep waging the war on illegal drugs. [continues 788 words]
