Heroin is back - with a vengeance. It never really disappeared from the drug-culture landscape, of course, but its popularity center has widened these days. It's no longer the drug of choice for only the down-and-out habitual street druggie. Today, heroin has become a favorite of many middle and upper-class folks who have lost their way in the search to find pain relief. This is not a column about the tragic recent passing of acclaimed actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, 46, who was found dead in his New York apartment, reportedly, surrounded by as many as 70 glassine bags of heroin. Nor last year's passing of the popular star of the TV show "Glee", Corey Montieth, 31, who succumbed to a heroin overdose in a Vancouver hotel room. [continues 806 words]
A proposal to allow New Mexico voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana stalled Friday, putting the measure in doubt - for now. At a disjointed meeting, the Senate Rules Committee failed to debate the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for the possession and personal use of marijuana for those 21 years of age and older. Instead, committee members got bogged down in debates over a minimum wage proposal and a measure to change election laws. The failure to bring up the marijuana proposal angered a few activists, some from out of state, who sat through the meeting for a chance to speak up in support of legalizing marijuana in New Mexico. The proposal's sponsor, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, said he hopes the committee debates the measure next week. If not, he wasn't sure whether there was enough time before the legislative session ends Feb. 20. [end]
Santa Fe (AP) - A proposal to allow New Mexico voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana stalled Friday, putting the measure in doubt-for now. At a disjointed meeting, the Senate Rules Committee failed to debate the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for the possession and personal use of marijuana for those 21 years of age and older. Instead, committee members got bogged down in debates over a minimum-wage proposal and a measure to change election laws. The failure to bring up the marijuana proposal angered a handful of activists, some from out of state, who sat through the meeting for a chance to speak in support of legalizing marijuana in New Mexico. [continues 76 words]
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A proposal to allow New Mexico voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana stalled Friday, putting the measure in doubt. The Senate Rules Committee failed to debate the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for the possession and personal use of marijuana for those 21 years of age and older. Instead, committee members got bogged down in debates over a minimum wage proposal and a measure to change election laws. The failure to bring up the marijuana proposal angered activists, some from out of state, who sat through the meeting for a chance to speak up in support of legalizing marijuana in New Mexico. The proposal's sponsor, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, said he hopes the committee debates the measure next week. If not, he wasn't sure whether there was enough time before the legislative session ends Feb. 20. [end]
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A proposal to allow New Mexico voters to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana stalled Friday, putting the measure in doubt - for now. At a disjointed meeting, the Senate Rules Committee failed to debate the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for the possession and personal use of marijuana for those 21 years of age and older. Instead, committee members got bogged down in debates over a minimum wage proposal and a measure to change election laws. [continues 175 words]
WASHINGTON - Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is yet another victim of the war on drugs. Prohibition is not working. It is time to try something new. Hoffman, 46, was found dead in the bathroom of his Manhattan apartment Sunday morning, apparently the victim of a heroin overdose. According to widely published reports, there was a syringe in his arm. Police found the place littered with small plastic bags stamped "Ace of Spades" or "Ace of Hearts" - brand names that street dealers use. [continues 700 words]
I AM COMPELLED to write a response to the Rev. Thomas J. Mayefske's op-ed, "'If voters want marijuana, they get it' is horrible policy" in the Jan. 12 edition of The Sunday Journal. Mayefske takes issue with Albuquerque Democrat Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino's proposal to amend the constitution making marijuana legal. The Reverend Mayefske, a retired Roman Catholic priest, correctly asserts that alcohol abuse is a danger to society, when he writes, "We have seen hundreds of wrong-way deaths, as well as domestic abuse, etc." He rightly continues, "Underage use of alcohol is a fact that needs no further proof." The Reverend admits it himself: Even though we have laws prohibiting alcohol use by minors, teenagers are still going to drink. In other words, laws don't prevent children from drinking - or smoking if that is their preference. [continues 153 words]
PTSD Patient Denied Marijuana A Santa Fe psychiatrist is suing the state Health Department and the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board, alleging the department has improperly denied medical marijuana for a post-traumatic syndrome patient. The suit says that Dr. Steven Rosenberg, the board's part-time medical director, rejected Dr. Carola Kieve's pot application for a PTSD patient because she hadn't tried other medications as treatments first, which the suit says is not required in state law. Also, the suit maintains, Rosenberg wanted Kieve to submit extensive medical records for her patient. The suit says that's also not called for by law and has not been demanded by Rosenberg or the medical cannabis board "for treatment of other debilitating diseases." [continues 580 words]
The War on Drugs Has Left White America Relatively Unscathed Has the new year started out on a high or a drugged-out low? The decriminalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado has been heralded as the end of prohibition - and alternately lamented as the rock bottom of America's morality. But few have acknowledged the obvious: The media's images of mostly scruffy-looking, smiling people lined up to score some newly legal dope are overwhelmingly white. Now imagine the reaction - from the media, your mother and the Justice Department - if these lines were filled with young Hispanics or African Americans with cornrows, dorags and sagging pants? [continues 746 words]
On Jan. 1, Colorado began permitting the legal sale of marijuana. Even before that, the nation's news media had swung into action, arguing just about everything - marijuana is dangerous or not dangerous, a gateway drug or just a lot of smoke. Nothing I saw mentioned why I, for one, will not smoke marijuana. I'm afraid it would lead me back to cigarettes. Once I was addicted to cigarettes. (I suppose I still am.) I tried to quit numerous times - hypnotism, acupuncture, hypnotism again, willpower and shame and mortal shame - but, for the longest time, nothing worked. [continues 626 words]
HAVING SPENT 40 years studying and treating addictions, I urge caution in changing New Mexico's laws regarding marijuana. While it is absurd to incarcerate people for drug use, there are many options between decriminalization and legalization. The Netherlands, for example, has never legalized marijuana: possession, sale and production remain technically illegal though largely unenforced, and in recent years the Dutch have been adjusting policies to decrease high-potency marijuana and drug tourism. Drug legalization is difficult to undo, witness our national experience with prohibition. Alcohol and tobacco are both so harmful that they would never be legalized if they were now being considered as new drugs. Marijuana is far less toxic, but by no means harmless, and we know too little about the effects of various blood levels on tasks such as driving, operating machinery, or flying a plane. Whatever expands the availability and reduces the cost of a "recreational" drug tends to increase its use and the attendant harm and social costs. [continues 81 words]
LAS CRUCES - The states of Colorado and Washington have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. Would such a move in New Mexico be good for business? The Associated Press recently reported that Robert Pack, president of the Southeast New Mexico Medical Cannabis Alliance, said that Colorado's recreational marijuana sales reached $1 million on Jan. 1, the first day of legalization law. Sales of marijuana in Washington won't begin for a few months. "I would like New Mexico to embrace that economic opportunity," Pack said. "This is a serious opportunity that needs to be considered." [continues 547 words]
MY BELIEF IS that the proposal to legalize recreational use of marijuana is wrong. My family has experienced, and continues to experience, severe substance abuse problems. The illegality of marijuana and other drugs has not prevented my family from obtaining these drugs and thereby compromising their health and productivity. One relative started with marijuana, but is now using heroin and cocaine. We are concerned that relative will also pursue meth. The relative has relinquished scholarships and has dropped out of college. Today, the relative is failing to pursue a meaningful life and is ruining his health. [continues 151 words]
THE EDITORIAL SLANT evidenced by your use of the cartoon with two "stoned" parents making snow angels and neglecting their hungry child - - compounded by your editorial statement - is so stupidly cliched and disingenuous it must be challenged. Marijuana prohibition was born of lies and maintained by lies. The laws against cannabis were passed by racist fear mongering. They were wrong the day they were enacted, they have been wrong for over 80 years and they are wrong now. All - and I mean all - of the problems with marijuana can be attributed to the effects of prohibition itself, not the effects of the plant. So much social and economic damage has been done in the name of this public policy shibboleth, it's a travesty. Not one reason - none - used by the prohibitionists has ever held up to legitimate scientific scrutiny. [continues 135 words]
THE LEGALIZATION of marijuana will compound the problems that society is currently dealing with regarding driving under the influence. In the early 1920s, alcohol was legalized as a recreational drug - look where it's at now. I would like to suggest to the lawmakers of this state to consider having all politicians submit to a drug test once a week. They should also be subject to polygraph examinations just like ordinary residents of this great state. I wonder how many elected politicians would fail the drug test. Makes you wonder - I hope so. Los Lunas [end]
SEN. GERALD ORTIZ y Pino's proposal to use a constitutional amendment as a plebiscite on the issue of legalization of marijuana should give the Legislature and the citizenry pause. From colonial times to the present day, state constitutions were meant to be charters wherein the citizens grant and limit the powers of government. Constitutions create public offices, setting their the terms and defining their relationships to each other, guarantee personal liberties and rights, and provide a framework for governmental structure. They are not intended nor should they be used as a vehicle for general lawmaking for several reasons, first and foremost of which is the difficulty to amend such an amendment in the event of a change of circumstance, error in its drafting or eventual application, or public mood. [continues 200 words]
I APPLAUD SEN. Ortiz y Pino in stepping up to legalize recreational marijuana! New Mexico needs to be one of the first and not the last to realize the war on drugs is futile! The governor's stance on being against it because of her dislike for illegal drug use is bogus. The No. 1 drug pushers are doctors and their legally prescribed narcotics. I do not understand how our governor, nor any other government official, can't wrap their heads around the idea that making non-lethal drugs illegal only supports crime and violence. How many more people have to die for them to see the war on drugs is a huge failure? [continues 231 words]
Other States Should Use Caution Before Following Its Lead I live in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and I am high, but wait. I mean that my house is 8,000 feet above sea level, not that I am giddily under the influence of marijuana legally purchased as a result of a historic development that could someday cause a teenager to think his TV is sending him secret messages. What I am talking about is Colorado becoming the first state in the country to allow the selling of recreational pot without threat of criminal proceedings or the laughable excuse that it is for medicinal purposes only. [continues 530 words]
WASHINGTON - I have no desire to smoke marijuana, partly because doing so might drive me back to the cigarette habit I broke two decades ago. I don't want to be one of those "cool parents" who pretend to be as culturally advanced as their kids. In my case, that's a ridiculous aspiration anyway. And I agree with those who call attention to the dangers of excessive indulgence in marijuana and want to encourage people to resist it. Nobody wants us to become a nation of stoners. [continues 687 words]
On Jan. 1, the Centennial State (it hasn't yet changed its nickname to "The Rocky Mountain High State") became the first place in the country to legalize marijuana sales for recreational purposes. And Brandon Harris is stoked. The 24-year-old Harris drove 20 hours from Cincinnati, along with a smoking buddy, to be the first Ohioans to buy legal pot in Colorado. "It's such a big day in history," Harris, told the Washington Times. "The fact that we don't have to be criminals and can just smoke, and not be looked down on, or have to mess with the local police." [continues 697 words]
Democrat Plans To Propose Amendment To State Constitution A day after Colorado opened its doors to the legalized sale of recreational marijuana, a state senator said New Mexico should consider following suit. Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat, said he will introduce a constitutional amendment proposal to legalize recreational marijuana when the Legislature convenes this month. The constitutional amendment would go on the general election ballot this November if approved by both the House and Senate. Constitutional amendment proposals go straight from the Legislature to voters, and Gov. Susana Martinez would not be able to act on the measure if it were approved by lawmakers. [continues 891 words]
Inside New Mexico
