Police Bring Back D.A.R.E. After Two-Year Absence After a two-year absence, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is making a comeback in Aberdeen elementary schools. D.A.R.E. replaces CounterAct, which was taught for two years by police to Hub City public and private school students. Like CounterAct, D.A.R.E. is a national program that teaches students how to recognize and resist the pressures of drug and alcohol abuse. "It was a collective decision within the department," Aberdeen Police Officer Brad Erhardt said. "The idea was brought forth by (Police Chief Don Lanpher Jr.), but the decision was made together." [continues 268 words]
By Bob Newland, publisher of the online and print magazine Hemphasis.net from his home near Hermosa. HERMOSA - "Christianity," as practiced by many who proclaim themselves "Christians" loudly, publicly and repeatedly, often resembles "Democratism" or "Republicanism," as often practiced by vociferous endorsers thereof. The dogma they promote frequently has little to do with the party platform. Bob Ellis' attack on Sam Hurst's observations (Journal Forum, Oct. 30) fits this pattern. Jesus' life was a model of careful consideration of the human condition, characterized by thoughtful advice. I submit, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," as an example. Additionally, Jesus, aware of Hosea's Old Testament lament, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," advised the acquisition of knowledge, especially that knowledge available through observation of nature and man. [continues 667 words]
Emily Kellar, 17, still remembers tying little red ribbons on things as part of her elementary school's Red Ribbon Week activities. The Central High School senior grew up with the annual Red Ribbon celebration, started in 1988 to encourage children to adopt a drug-free lifestyle. "Most people know," 11-year-old Maddie Merriam, a fifth-grader at Grandview Elementary School, said. "But if there are kids that don't know what to do and things like that, Red Ribbon is there to teach them." [continues 758 words]
Before you even got near the gymnasium, you could hear the screams. Students at Simmons Middle School were taking part in some pretty heated scooter races last week, and judging by the volume level, it was clear they were having fun. According to Kristi Spitzer, that was precisely the point of a week of fun-filled events that also included pumpkin bowling. "What we're trying to get across to kids is they can have fun doing . . . things" that don't involve drugs or alcohol, said Spitzer, who is a prevention resource specialist at Aberdeen's two public middle schools through Prairie View Prevention Services, Inc. "The ultimate high sometimes is having fun with friends." [continues 240 words]
A number of activities are taking place in Aberdeen schools this week as part of Red Ribbon Week. The week honors the memory of Drug Enforcement Administration special agent "Kiki" Camarena, who was murdered by drug traffickers in 1985. According to a release, this week's activities are organized by school drug and alcohol prevention counselors "as a way for students and the community to take a visible stand against drugs and to help students make a personal commitment to a drug-free lifestyle through the symbol of the red ribbon. Students in Aberdeen will be sporting red ribbons during this week, showing their desire to remain drug-free." [continues 163 words]
With this nation embroiled in what threatens to be an interminable "War on Terrorism," an idea put forward last year by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich has, for me, considerable appeal. Kucinich, who was the one candidate in the Democratic primaries to unfailingly promote the party's traditional Franklin Roosevelt liberalism, proposed the establishment of a Department of Peace. Now he has introduced in the House HR 2459, a bill that would establish a Peace Department, adding a new cabinet post to the executive branch of government. The Department of Peace would "advise the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State on all matters relating to national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention of, amelioration of, and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict." [continues 554 words]
HERMOSA - "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." When Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger said that in 1943, he was trying to get Congress to give his agency more money to fight the largely unknown menace, "marijuana." Worse than that, Anslinger claimed, dark-skinned musicians smoked "marijuana," then used their altered abilities to "insert extra notes into a measure of music," thus creating the abomination known as jazz. "They also give marijuana to white women to seduce them." [continues 750 words]
PIERRE, S.D. - A proposal that would have allowed people who smoke pot for medical reasons to at least use a necessity defense in court was snuffed out Friday by officials who are studying all state criminal laws. Switching to the subject of methamphetamines, the panel embraced a proposal that would ease penalties for light use of the drug but increase them for larger quantities. The medicinal marijuana measure was offered by Republican Rep. Tom Hennies, former Rapid City police chief. [continues 423 words]
RAPID CITY - In communities throughout South Dakota, adolescents are using tobacco, drugs and alcohol more often than the national average, a study shows. And the decisions to use substances are made by younger and younger children, not only in inner cities and metropolitan areas but also in South Dakota's small towns, hamlets and rural areas, according to the 2003 South Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the program director at Youth & Family Services' Western Prevention Resource Center in Rapid City. [continues 540 words]
RAPID CITY - Three Hill City men were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for robbing $24,007 from First Western Bank in Custer last December. They also got a lecture from U.S. District Judge Richard Battey on the evils of marijuana use and its relationship to criminal behavior. In handing down sentences of 36 months in prison to Michael Hobart, 46 months to Duane Garlow and 49 months to Casey Stout, Battey noted that all three had been regular marijuana smokers who were using the drug Dec. 12, when they robbed the bank. [continues 660 words]
RAPID CITY -- Fifth-graders at Black Hawk Elementary School startled state Sen. Mac McCracken Tuesday with their knowledge of substance abuse. "These students are well aware of the dangers of alcohol and drugs," McCracken, R-Rapid City, said. He was at the school as part of Lifeway's "Reach Out Now Teach In" alcohol awareness campaign. "The choices you make in life as you move forward will affect you for the rest of your life," McCracken told the children. "You are the future leaders of this community, city, South Dakota and maybe even the nation." [continues 406 words]
The use of illegal drugs by students is a problem in many places, and we'd guess that some students at Madison Central take drugs regularly while others have just tried them. We know drugs can lead to serious health, social, financial and criminal problems. We'd like to see them eradicated. Some people may believe drug-testing will catch the users or the possibility of being caught may reduce drug use. They may be right. But there are serious issues with drug-testing that the school board will learn. They include: [continues 180 words]
Dave Johnson was sitting in his Huron, SD, home minding his own business last year when local police showed up at his door with a search warrant alleging he was a marijuana trafficker. They didn't find any evidence of drug dealing or even any pot on the 50-year-old disabled former meat-cutter living on Social Security payments, but they did manage to come up with a used pipe. They arrested Johnson on paraphernalia charges, and in most states that would have been the end of it. But not in South Dakota. Dave Johnson's ordeal was just beginning. [continues 1111 words]
In a strange effort to protect the American public, the federal government has taken a hard stand against using marijuana for medicinal purposes. Proponents of the use of medical marijuana tell us that pot is effective in alleviating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and the nausea associated with radiation treatment and AIDS. It does not have to be ingested by smoking, they say, but can be used as a vapor, a tea or in food. "Unhealthy, addictive" screams those federal watchdogs who would try to save us from ourselves. But then, so is morphine and Valium and doctors can legally prescribe those chemicals as needed. Is the motivation to protect American consumers or is it to allow pharmaceutical companies sufficient time to develop a synthetic version of cannabis in pill form? [end]
Eagle Butte Man's Possession Conviction Upheld PIERRE - A paralyzed Eagle Butte man who claims he must smoke marijuana for his health and wants legal immunity for it couldn't sell his argument to the state Supreme Court. The justices unanimously upheld Matthew Ducheneaux's pot possession conviction on Thursday. Ducheneaux's lawyer told the high court last month that a judge should have let his client to use a medical-necessity defense in his trial. Ducheneaux, confined to a wheelchair since a 1985 car crash, said he uses pot to ease chronic muscle spasms that do not respond well to prescription drugs. [continues 305 words]
HIA Goes to the Pine Ridge Reservation An estimated 50 to 70 hardy hempsters from the US and Canada made their way to one of the most remote spots in the country on August 20-23 to attend the annual Hemp Industries Association convention (http://www.hempindustries.org) and to pay homage Alex White Plume and family, Lakota Indians who last year managed to grow, harvest, and sell the nation's first hemp harvest since the hoary days of "Grow Hemp for Victory." White Plume lives on the Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Pine Ridge Reservation in southwest South Dakota, a stark, austere landscape of parched hills and looming Badlands just east of the sacred Paha Sapa Mountains, known as the Black Hills since white men found gold there and stole them by force of arms five generations ago. [continues 1367 words]
Students in the Madison Central School District who violate a revised alcohol, tobacco and other drugs policy could be barred from participating in co-curricular activities for a year. Monday night, school board members voted 8-1 to pass a tougher general training rules policy (policy JFCH). The policy was brought up for review in an effort to close loopholes, increase parental involvement and toughen the consequences students could face for violating the district's drug policy. School board member Craig Walker cast the lone dissenting vote. [continues 434 words]
Governor Mike Rounds has proclaimed August as Methamphetamine Awareness Month. "Meth" is considered South Dakota's own "home-grown" epidemic. What follows is the first of three articles dealing with methamphetamines. South Dakota, like many states across the country, is struggling to find ways to combat this latest epidemic. Methamphetamine (Meth) can affect every part of a community from the criminal or health systems to people moving into a new apartment encountering chemicals from a Meth lab that was never cleaned up. In South Dakota, 57 out of 66 counties report problems with Meth use. [continues 928 words]
Methamphetamine as a serious problem in our state has received a lot of media attention recently. The accessibility of the drug, as well as the health and environmental consequences associated with its use, has even prompted Gov. Mike Rounds to proclaim August as Methamphetamine Awareness Month. While we agree that South Dakotans need to be aware of the dangers of methamphetamine and the signs and symptoms associated with its use, we also believe South Dakotans need to be reminded that there are substances which are more prevalent -- especially among young people -- and even easier to get: alcohol and marijuana. [continues 253 words]
To the editor - On Feb. 26, the Northeast Council of Governments hosted its monthly NECOG Council meeting. The focus of the meeting this month was drug awareness in our area communities. NECOG would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Sgt. Dale Kotzea, Highway Patrol Trooper Rick Olauson and the drug dog, Katie. Also a thank-you to Kandis Schwab, community coordinator for Methamphetamine Awareness and Prevention Project of South Dakota and Kristi Spitzer, community prevention networker for NADRIC. [continues 97 words]
Inside South Dakota
