As long as the war on drugs includes the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis - marijuana - it is ignored by most citizens. "War on Drugs Rages," Nov. 18, 2010.

In over 5,000 years of documented use, cannabis has not killed a single person; that's safety on a Biblical scale. In comparison, cigarettes kill over 1,000 Americans daily.

The federal government even classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while meth and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. It's no wonder citizens ignore government messages about dangerous drugs.

Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time.

Truthfully,

Stan White

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FOR decades, California has been a leader of American social and cultural trends. But when it comes to further liberalizing marijuana use, the state may have sent a signal to the nation, not by what it did but by what it didn't do. On Election Day, it rejected Proposition 19.

Voters were asked whether they wanted to allow adults 21 years and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana. By 54 percent to 46 percent, they said no, and they did it across the social spectrum, with blacks and Latinos opposing it at about the same percentage as whites.

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If there's one leftover problem from the 70's that's still making headlines in today's newspapers, it's the so-called War on Drugs. The misinformation and unwarranted fear of dangerous and not-so-dangerous drugs still permeate television, magazines, blogs and other forms of media.

This is not to say that there isn't hard, scientific evidence that crack cocaine and heroin can create an addiction or kill the user on the first use. But there are quite a few missing angles in this War on Drugs, and if you happen to read the Dayton Daily News, then you may have stumbled upon evidence of this.

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The country is thinking green, in more ways than one.

With the failure of Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana in California and the success of Proposition 203 to legalize medical marijuana in Arizona, 15 states have now adopted laws for medicinal marijuana.

Ohio Rep. Kenny Yuko was keynote speaker at the 2010 Midwest Regional Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) Conference at Kent State on Saturday. Yuko is responsible for introducing House Bill 478, in favor of legalization and regulation of medical marijuana, this year in Ohio's state legislature.

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Ohio could become the 11th state to outlaw Spice or K2, a synthetic marijuana sold at convenience stores and smoke shops throughout the Miami Valley region.

State Rep. Margaret Ruhl, R-Mount Vernon, is one of the lead sponsors of House Bill 544, which would classify Spice and K2 as a Schedule I controlled substance, banning stores from selling it and making it illegal to possess.

New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are considering similar legislation.

Ruhl said her bill has bipartisan support, and she is confident it will pass the Legislature next year.

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It's legal and readily available at local convenience stores, gas stations and head shops.

Even kids can buy it, and it's also virtually undetectable by the average employment drug-screen test.

Yet, if Ohio legislators have their way, K2 incense, which comes in a variety of aromas called "flavors," would be labeled a felony -- because people are smoking it, and they are getting sick.

Several states already have outlawed K2. And several more states are considering making it illegal after people reportedly died after smoking it.

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Bombarded with technology, our kids can look up anything on the internet and they do. They have a distorted view of what is acceptable and a perception that anything goes when it does not. We have the world at our fingertips and are exposed to news around the world, both good and bad. We need to ensure that our kids get the truth: from us.

We don't want our youth to experience bullying, receive cruel text messages and/or e-mails, think suicide is an answer for anything, abuse cough medicine, prescription drugs, inhalants, any substance abuse, or experience the life stressors that our youth live with in today's world. Electronic or cyberbullying is highly accessible and can occur any time, both at school and home. Messages are distributed to a larger audience very quickly. It is often anonymous, encouraging youth to engage in behaviors they wouldn't do face-to-face. They may be nervous to report cyberbullying for fear that their time on their cell phone or computer will be limited. Bystanders and witnesses to the bullying are anonymous, too, so they don't have to deal with it face-to-face.

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44 POUNDS OF HEROIN SEIZED IN CLEVELAND

24 Indicted; Bust Called Ohio's Biggest

CLEVELAND - Federal prosecutors Tuesday announced what they called the largest-ever heroin bust in Ohio.

The two-year investigation culminated Tuesday morning with the indictment of 24 people, including a Nigerian man nicknamed Shaka Zulu who lived in upscale Shaker Heights and a ringleader who lived in a $1 million home in Solon. Police believe he used drug proceeds to buy the house.

Attorneys for two alleged ringleaders declined to comment.

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The Truth Is Medical Marijuana Is a Dead Issue in Ohio. But a Band of Dedicated Supporters - Including Two Legislators - Refuse to Give Up on the Idea.

Brandy Zink, who grew up in Westerville, says she was 12 years old when she took a drag off her first joint at, of all places, a church camp. She liked it. So she's kept smoking the stuff, pretty steadily, since she was 14. But it wasn't all about getting high (although she acknowledges that was part of the appeal when she was young). It's also because it helps combat the effects of her epilepsy, which she's struggled with since birth. Over the years, she's found that it has eased muscle pain, reduced stuttering and prevented seizures. "I notice that when I have access to cannabis, I don't have seizures, but when I don't, I do," she says. It's been so effective, she's ditched her other medicine.

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Mexican Cartels Turn to Rural Ohio for Marijuana Operations

LATHAM, Ohio -- At Thelma Jean's diner, patrons can pour their own cups of coffee before taking a seat under the faded photographs of the town's military service members lining the red-white-and-blue wallpaper.

The restaurant is one of a handful of houses and businesses clinging to the sides of two-lane Rt. 124 as it wends through western Pike County, about 65 miles south of Columbus. Yet this sleepy village is on the front lines of the state's effort to combat the encroachment of Mexican drug cartels that are increasingly using rural Ohio as cropland for large, outdoor marijuana operations.

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A father who teamed up with his son to steal OxyContin and Percocet in a string of robberies of Columbus pharmacies was convicted yesterday by a Franklin County jury.

Ricky R. Taylor, 49, faces up to 39 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 30 by Common Pleas Judge Patrick E. Sheeran.

Taylor's son, who pleaded guilty a year ago and is serving a 10-year prison sentence, testified that he and his father robbed five CVS stores in September and October 2008.

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A Suffield resident stumbled upon an illegal, working methamphetamine lab in a wooded area of the township Monday night, which included several dozen two-liter soft drink bottles used in the "shake-and-bake" method of manufacturing the drug.

Portage County Sheriff David Doak said deputies went to the area of Martin Road and U.S. 224 in Suffield around 8:15 p.m. Monday after a resident reported finding two suspicious five-gallon buckets.

Responding deputies identified the buckets as having been used in the production of methamphetamine, a highly-addictive illegal drug that leaves behind toxic chemicals when it is produced.

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In Frederick Forsyth's new political thriller, The Cobra, due out Tuesday, the American president throws down a gauntlet: Extinguish the international scourge of cocaine trafficking.

Here he is in conversation with a Drug Enforcement Administration official:

"Are you serious, Mr. President?"

"Yes, I believe I am. What do you advise?"

"Well, if you are going to try to destroy the cocaine industry, you will be taking on some of the most vicious, violent and ruthless men in the world."

"Then I guess we are going to need someone even better."

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Thursday morning started like any other typical day for a Canal Winchester nanny.

Therese Ryan drove into Ross County to watch a local family's children. They went to the YMCA, where she dropped the older child off for camp about 8:15 a.m. Nothing was amiss until Ryan left with the younger child and looked down Yoctangee Parkway to spot a group of officers clad in protective gear, guns drawn surrounding a home. The Chillicothe Police's tactical team was serving a no-knock search warrant at 346 Yoctangee Parkway as a result of a drug investigation that morning.

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A new drug testing policy in Marietta City Schools means there will be at least a couple athletes choosing not to play a sport this year, but school officials say most students are participating in testing.

Athletic Director Rick Guimond said three testing dates, two in July and one this week, took care of the testing of the majority of students.

"We definitely had a large majority attend and participate," he said. "We tested more than 300 kids in a little more than nine hours of testing."

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It's no secret that students smoke marijuana. Yet the stigma associated with the drug is such that even a head shop employee will deny that his customers use the glass bongs for anything besides tobacco or the incense for anything besides covering up the smell of cats. They don't even want to hear why you're buying the detoxifying drinks.

"I am taking a test tomorrow, and I definitely smoked this morning," said one local customer inquiring about such detox products.

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Recently, California created a voter initiative to take place in November that would legalize and regulate recreational marijuana. Under the proposal, only those who are at least 21 years old would be allowed to buy the drug, and individuals could own no more than an ounce of the plant.

The issue is not new in California. Ever since the state failed to legalize marijuana in 1972, the issue has been an unfailing source of debate. But the conflict is flaming hotter than ever as voters prepare to determine the drug's fate.

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WITH its lurid sensationalism, the film Reefer Madness about the evils of marijuana use has long been a cult classic. But marijuana also can help alleviate nausea for some patients, including those undergoing chemotherapy. More and more Americans have come to understand that marijuana for medical purposes is far from evil.

That point resonates in the findings of a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted last month with 1,500 adults reached by telephone. The Pew study estimates that nearly three-quarters of Americans are in favor of their state allowing the sale and use of medical marijuana, if it is prescribed by a doctor. Only 23 percent are opposed.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohioans of all races, income levels, educational backgrounds and ideologies tell pollsters that they support allowing Ohio doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients.

But Gov. Ted Strickland and most Ohio lawmakers don't.

So a medical marijuana bill introduced last week by Rep. Kenny Yuko and a handful of House Democrats has pretty much already gone up in smoke, despite what most Ohioans may think.

A May 2009 Ohio Poll, conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati, found that 73 percent of Ohio adults favored allowing medical marijuana. And earlier this month, a national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press came up with the same results.

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Legislation to legalize dispensing, growing and using marijuana for medical purposes has been introduced in the Ohio House. Passage is unlikely, but if that happens, Ohio would become the 15th state to make medical marijuana legal.

The primary sponsor is Rep. Kenny Yuko, D-Richmond Heights, but there are five other sponsors. The Drug Policy Alliance in Ohio worked with Yuko in drafting the bill, which is similar to Senate Bill 343 from the last session but has significant changes, backers said.

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