In many ways, the spread of meth through the heart of America feels like last year's story. It's something we've already tsk-tsked over and then moved past, especially once it seemed like the epidemic had ebbed after federal intervention - such as limiting customer access to over-the-counter cold and allergy drugs containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, meth's basic ingredients.

But in his new book, "Methland," journalist Nick Reding makes the case that the epidemic is still with us, as is the devastation it wrought in small-town America - particularly across the Midwest.

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People of All Ages Came Together in Support of Students for Sensible Drug Policy's Campaign to Legalize Marijuana

Students and those who fondly remembered being students decades ago gathered on the South Oval for Hempfest on Saturday. Hempfest is an annual event hosted by Students for Sensible Drug Policy to promote the legalization of marijuana. This year's theme was the harm caused by the drug war. This year it carried on from noon until midnight.

The ages of those in attendance were diverse. Ohio State students roamed The Oval alongside other young Columbus natives, but many 40- and 50 year-olds took in the event while wearing old Grateful Dead and tie-dye T-shirts.

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Opposition Awaits Possible Legislation

COLUMBUS - From football to taxes, the rivalry between Ohio and its neighbor up north is the stuff of legend. But when it comes to legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Ohio is showing little sign of following Michigan's lead.

A bill is being negotiated behind the scenes for possible introduction this fall, but even the concept's strongest supporters know it faces an improbable climb in the General Assembly.

The spear carrier this time may be Rep. Kenny Yuko (D., Richmond Heights), who believes he has a special perspective given his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

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Officials To Educate Citizens On Recognizing Signs, Reporting Suspicious Activity

LANCASTER -Concerns that the heroin and prescription drug problem in Lancaster is too close for comfort spurred local officials to organize meetings to assuage residents' fears.

Lancaster police and Prevention Works for a Drug Free Fairfield County are trying a new approach to the problem by playing host to two neighborhood discussions.

Officials from both agencies hope the neighborhood meetings will help educate residents so they can report helpful information to the police, said Prevention Works Director Toni Ashton. Not only that, but Ashton hopes the education will reduce the instances of prescription drug and heroin abuse.

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Although I do not know whether it is an intelligent decision or not to legalize marijuana, I do feel that the opinion to have marijuana remain illegal should not be justified on the basis that it is addictive or the effects that it has on any other aspect of the human body. I say this due to the fact that there are countless numbers of items on the market, to which the average American citizen consumes or uses, that also contribute to depression, anxiety, loss of motor skills, increased heart rate etc. We as human beings accept these effects because we are told by propaganda and the media that a particular item will cure a sickness, enhance sexual performance, increase physical endurance, allow you to be more socially accepted by your peers, and more, Or maybe it's just to relax after a hard days work.

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An issue that has been slowly gained acceptance around the country now has gained notice in Ohio.

Supporters of medical marijuana usage want state lawmakers to consider the new evidence that could put the issue before voters in November.

The first one involves Michigan legalizing medical marijuana. It recently joined 12 other states that have made it legal since 1996 - Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

But advocates also want state lawmakers to consider that a new poll shows 73 percent of Ohioans favor its legalization.

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In the article [editorial] "Finance the bailout: Legalize weed" written April 7, 2009, I found that it lacked strong points for the legalization of marijuana. While the author does make good arguments such as it "generate between 2.4 billion dollars and 6.2 billion dollars in tax revenues." And the point on law enforcement cost. "Costs of law enforcement are estimated to be almost 8 billion dollars a year." I believe the author had the right idea but failed to mention some major points.

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This letter is in regard to the article [editorial] "Finance the bailout: Legalize weed" published on April 7, 2009 where the author proposes the legalization of marijuana as a possible solution to funding our fumbled economy.

While I feel this article touched on some good points I feel it could have elaborated on a few others that would have produced stronger support, and less opposition. For example the author proposes it as a healthier alternative, but does not produce any facts to back it up. A simple Google search would produce statistics from the Journal of the American Medical Association that show alcohol deaths a year at 85,000 and tobacco deaths at a whopping 450,000. Marijuana however, produces zero recorded deaths a year, and will continue to. This would have been a tremendous asset to the argument, seeing as tobacco and alcohol are legal, while marijuana remains illegal.

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This letter is in response to the article titled, "Finance the Bailout: Legalize Weed" from April 7, 2009. In the article it states that "marijuana is non-addictive, according to health experts." Legalizing marijuana would be a poor choice for this nation considering the additional medical effects it can have on people. Peoples' lives aren't worth the risk for the government to finance the bailout.

Marijuana is an addictive drug in more ways than one. It has both a physiological, psychological, and physical effect on people. By definition an addiction is "the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming" (Dictionary.com). Going by the definition alone, marijuana can be deemed an addictive substance.

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The article [editorial] entitled, "Finance the bailout: Legalize weed", was published on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. It argued that legalizing marijuana would benefit the government by reducing costs on drug control and police resources, and could even be used as a source of tax income.

According to the article, the market on legalizing marijuana would bring "between 2.4 billion dollars and 6.2 billion dollars in tax revenues" which would easily counterbalance the 8 billion dollars spent annually on law enforcement. I feel that they are overlooking the fact that if marijuana were to be legalized, there would no doubt be a mass surge of people buying the drug, which would lead to bigger problems. Instead of drunk driving, people may be driving while high, which would still call for police intervention, not to mention the possibility of violence and vandalism while high.

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Results from the University of Cincinnati's Institute for Policy Research show that a strong majority of Ohioans polled support prescribing medical marijuana.

The figures, published May 8 from the Ohio Poll, reported, "73 percent of Ohioans say they favor (either 'strongly' or 'somewhat') allowing Ohio doctors to prescribe medical marijuana."

The poll was conducted from April 16 to April 27, using a random sample of 818 Ohio adults via telephone.

The demographic reported to be most in favor of prescription marijuana were respondents between the ages of 18 and 29.

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On Tuesday, April 7, 2009, the article [editorial] "Finance the bailout: Legalize Weed" simply stated that due to millions of dollars spent every year, marijuana should be legalized.

I have many mixed feelings about this being said. It may be true that law enforcement spends too much money on drug control (almost 8 billion states the article) but is it worth the fight. No matter the consequences illegal use in its many forms will continue to be a problem.

Legalizing marijuana may lower enforcement costs but I don't understand how it can be a healthy alternative. Marijuana is clamed to not be an addictive drug, so what's the big deal. The article says it's a gateway drug, that leads to other drugs, some more consequential than others.

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This letter to the editor is in response to the article "Finance the bailout: Legalize weed." In the editorial, the author points out that "there were 117,752 deaths from smoking related cardiovascular diseases and 101,043 deaths from smoking related respiratory diseases in 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The author can list all the numbers involving smoke related respiratory or cardiovascular deaths that they want but to use these numbers as a valid argument in biases of marijuana being less harmful than cigarettes is completely inaccurate. These numbers are calculated, as you said by smoke related respiratory and or cardiovascular deaths.

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On Tuesday April 7th an article [editorial appeared titled "Fight [Finance] the bailout: Legalize Weed", the article was an informative piece letting the reader know the advantages that legalizing weed would give to our country in a time of economic decline. After reading the article I found my self strongly agreeing with the author and admired them for speaking out on an issue that is so strongly opposed.

I believe that Marijuana is no more dangerous then cigarettes maybe even less dangerous. As the author pointed out many believe that smoking Marijuana can lead to harder drugs and crimes, but lets face it if people want to smoke they are going to smoke legal or not. Legalizing Marijuana may even lower that crime rate, if it was free to purchase without fear of being caught people would be free to purchase it themselves not through a dealer. The economy would be able to save so much money if they stopped trying to locate sellers.

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The article [editorial] that I will be writing about is called "Finance the Bailout:Legalize Weed" that was published on Tuesday April 7, 2009. The article is about how legalizing weed would be a better use of resources for all levels of government.

It talks a lot about how legalizing weed can save us a lot of money from not spending money on Treatment and research, drug education, drug control, imprisonment, and persecution. I feel that it would save some money for people and our country but we would need to do more then just this. Another thing is what about are younger ones that are doing the drugs right now. We will still need them things to make sure or at least try not to have are kids doing the drugs.

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Finance the Bailout: Legalize Weed" was an editorial published on April 7, 2009. I don't agree with this article [editorial] about legalizing and taxing weed to help produce money , reducing the cost of law enforcement, and a better alternative to cigarettes.

Legalizing would generate money, but not enough to make a difference. Today's drug dealers have came up with ways to continue to sell weed while its illegal. If it becomes legal they are going to find ways to sale other things such as heroin, cocaine, and etc. The drug dealers are going to find a way to make money. As long as it's a demand for those harder drug, then that how they are going to make it. The only way the government would be able to make a profit is to sell the weed cheaper than on the street.

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The number of drug related arrests on campus has occurred most often during the beginning of January to the end of March. Over a four year period Wright State drug related arrest has gradually increased and decreased. According to the "Article Drug Arrest Down twenty six drug related arrest occurred in 2005, and twelve arrests in 2006 and twenty three in 2007" over a three month time frame.

This year the number of drug related arrests had dropped twenty one percent compared to the twenty eight drug related arrests of 2008. The editor [writer] (Allison Lewis) "fills that the new narcotics police dog is one of the main factors why there has only been six drug related arrests this year". I somewhat agree with this opinion the editor makes. From my point of view the students that do use drugs get a little skeptical and careful about using drugs on campus because they know it's at a higher risk of them getting caught with the new police dog in effect. I strongly believe just the presence of the police dog has caused some of the Dayton drug dealers to stop coming on campus as much.

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The response to the article [editorial] "Finance the Bailout: Legalize Weed" was published on 4-29-2009. The author feels that legalizing marijuana for tax dollars has a larger moral cost to it. The reasons that the author gives for not legalizing marijuana are that marijuana leads to harder drugs, marijuana is a harmful substance, and that there would still be other drugs.

For some people marijuana leads to harder drugs, for others caffeine, alcohol, or prescription medication leads to other drugs.

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Recovery Center Trying to Expand Suboxone's Use

LANCASTER - Rampant opiate use in Fairfield County has local recovery officials wondering what they can do to help more addicted individuals.

Pressed with time and a growing number of patients, many doctors are forced to turn away people hooked on opiates such as heroin, OxyContin, Vicodin, morphine and other pain relievers.

Some even die on waiting lists for a widely used medication called Suboxone: A touted "miracle drug" that suppresses symptoms of withdrawal, reduces cravings, reduces drug use and helps patients stay in treatment.

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CLEVELAND -- Lee Lucas, the federal drug agent whose full-throttle approach led to major convictions and questions about his credibility, faced the toughest court appearance of his 19-year career Wednesday.

His own.

A federal grand jury in Cleveland charged Lucas, 41, of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, in an 18-count indictment that accuses him of perjury, making false statements and violating three people's civil rights.

The charges stem from a bungled drug sting in Mansfield that led to the arrests of 26 people in 2005. Lucas led a DEA task force that used informant Jerrell Bray to make undercover drug buys and help scoop up drug dealers. But Bray lied his way through the probe.

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