Poor, miserable, depressed people take drugs. That's the way it always has been and that's the way it always will be. It's a fact of modern life. Our solution to this situation is a "war on drugs." The reality is that it's not a war on drugs, it's a war against people. There is no doubt that the government has the right and obligation to regulate the sales of addictive, destructive and deadly substances. However, it should not come as a surprise that people will possess these substances regardless of sales regulations. It should not be a crime. By eliminating "possession" laws, the biggest point of contention between citizens and the police would be effectively removed. It really is nobody's business what "substance" an otherwise law-abiding citizen may have in their possession, even to the police. The police should really have no business searching people's bodies and effects for these substances. It's ludicrous, it's ridiculous, and it is certainly unfair to the downtrodden in our society. ... Give the police a break. Let's stop tasking them with enforcing ridiculous laws and fighting our drug war. It's not fair to them or to the people. Paul Denny, Leland [end]
Buoyed by dozens of supporters on Monday - so many that they didn't all fit in the courtroom - former New Hanover County Sheriff's Office lieutenant Joseph Antoine LeBlanc was sentenced to more than four years in prison for crimes he committed to feed his pain pill addiction while he was second in command of the vice unit. After being fired in June 2013, being indicted on 128 counts related to the stealing of drug evidence and the forging of a judge's signature to procure more pain pills, and the dismissal of at least nine drug cases, LeBlanc could have received 285 years in prison for the charges to which he pleaded Monday, said Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Parsons. [continues 670 words]
Want better funding for education, healthcare, better help for the mentally ill and homeless? Stop the longest war the U.S. has ever fought. Getting out of Afghanistan would be great, but=C2=85I'm not referring to Afghanistan. I'm referring to the never-ending "War on drugs''. There are more drugs available now than 40 years ago when the war began. What we have managed to do is raise the price for users and the profits for the traffickers. [continues 137 words]
Pro-pot forces dominated a town hall discussion on marijuana laws hosted by two television stations Thursday at the WNC Ag Center. By a show of hands, most of the roughly 100 people attending the televised forum favored legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational uses. But at least two panelists urged caution before North Carolina goes the way of Colorado and Washington in legalizing adult use of pot. The "Your Voice, Your Future" town hall was sponsored by WLOS News 13 and WMYA and moderated by Mark Hyman, host of Sinclair Broadcast Group's opinion segment, "Behind the Headlines." News 13 streamed the program live on its website and WMYA will broadcast it Saturday at noon. [continues 578 words]
Several Durham police officers lied about non-existent 911 calls to try to convince residents to allow them to search their homes, a tactic several lawyers say is illegal. The officers targeted residences where individuals with outstanding warrants were thought to be living, and told them that dispatch had received a 911 call from that address, when no such call had been made. However, Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez says the 911 tactic was never a part of official policy. Last month, the department officially banned the practice, according to a memo from Lopez. [continues 489 words]
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a law Thursday allowing limited use of medical marijuana to treat seizures. North Carolina joins states that include Alabama, Mississippi and Florida in allowing the controlled use of a cannabis extract, cannabidiol. [end]
RALEIGH (AP) - Gov. Pat McCrory says a new law he signed allowing some physicians to treat epilepsy in North Carolina using an extract from a marijuana plant could also lead to the discovery of other therapies. McCrory signed the hemp oil bill Thursday during an Executive Mansion ceremony. The legislature sent him the bill supported by family members whose children aren't responding to conventional drug treatments. The law allows neurologists to participate in clinical trials with the oil, which is taken orally. Lawmakers say the oil doesn't produce a high. Patients and physicians would register in a state database. Possession of the oil wouldn't be illegal in these cases. Universities would be encouraged to conduct hemp extract research. The law was named for 5-year-old Haley Ward, who attended the ceremony. [end]
Several local parents are celebrating the move by the state House and Senate to approve oil that is derived from marijuana plants that has shown some early success in other states treating children with severe seizure disorders. "I was really surprised that it all happened so quickly," said Wilmington school teacher Annetta Saggese. "Not only could it be so incredible for our kids, but it's also refreshing to see that it was bipartisan, that our representatives listened and took the time and cared." Annetta and her husband Matt are the parents of 4-year-old Netta, who began having seizures at about 6 weeks old, severely stunting her development. The StarNews featured the Saggeses and other North Carolina families in an article in September, during which time parents were gearing up for a fight to push legislation legalizing what's known as CBD oil during the short session. Parents largely connected through a Facebook page lobbied their legislators hard, and their educational efforts paid off. The bill passed with very little opposition, and Gov. Pat McCrory said last week that he intended to sign it into law. [continues 450 words]
Police are supposed to serve and protect, but increasingly special police units are being used to attack with military-style raids to serve search warrants or look for drugs. Sometimes these pumped-up Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations target the wrong house or injure children living with a suspect. Last month in Georgia, for instance, a SWAT team looking for drugs battered down the door of a home in the middle of the night and tossed in a stun grenade that landed in a playpen where a 19-month-old boy was sleeping. The toddler, whose family was visiting the home, suffered serious injury and was put in a medically-induced coma. No drugs were found. [continues 476 words]
While medical marijuana activists march along U.S. 70 ramping up awareness of House Bill 1161 -- the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act -- it could, perhaps, be all for not. At least that's the opinion of N.C. House Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-86). While he has not viewed the bill, Blackwell said he doesn't think it will make it out of its assigned committee. Once bills are introduced in the General Assembly, they are reviewed by judiciary committees before they are brought before the voting body of government. [continues 457 words]
With 2014 being an election year for the North Carolina General Assembly many issues will be debated and decide races. As the public becomes more aware of House Bill 1161 -- otherwise known as the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act -- it will perhaps become one of the most debated topics during the election season. The North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-107), Carla Cunningham (D-106), Susi Hamilton (D-18), Pricey Harrison (D-57) and Annie Mobley (D-5), seeks to legalize the use of marijuana to for medicinal purposes for patients with debilitating medical conditions. [continues 548 words]
A civil case filed by Ronda Mayor Victor Varela and his wife, Teri against Ronda Commissioner Kevin Reece and former commissioner Manuel Wood began in Wilkes Superior Court on Tuesday morning. The suit charges Reece and Wood with invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. It revolves around a video taken secretly in the Varelas' home in the fall of 2012 showing Teri Varela smoking pot. Presiding over the case is Superior Court Judge Todd Burke. Before the jury trial began, Burke asked both parties about the possibility of mediation. Both lawyers indicated mediation had not been successful. [continues 811 words]
HICKORY -- Todd Stimson's potted marijuana plant is a plastic replica. But that didn't stop the afternoon U.S. 70 traffic from honking and yelling at the trio of men. Hickory was another city they had to pass on their walk from Asheville to Raleigh. The march on the state's capital is in support of House Bill 1161 -- the controversial bill to legalize cannabis for medical use -- Stimson said. As Stimson explained the group's purpose, a white SUV pulled into a parking lot, horn blaring. Girls jumped out of the car, expressed their support and snapped a couple photos before driving away. A few minutes later, another car pulled in. A woman hopped out to take a few pictures. [continues 168 words]
MORGANTON, N.C. -- With the hot sun beaming on his back and sweat gathering on his forehead, Jason Humes marched along Fleming Drive carrying a skateboard in one hand and a sign in the other. Humes walked through the heat Tuesday, not for himself, but for others to have a choice - the option to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in North Carolina. Humes and five other members of the March Against Fear 2014 group are walking from Asheville to Raleigh along U.S. 70 to raise awareness for House Bill 1161 - a bill that has been referred to as the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act. [continues 543 words]
If North Carolina and American citizens honestly want to "address the root problems contributing to prescription drug abuse" and hard drug addiction rates in the future (Editorial: Pitt fights overdose deaths, May 5, 2014) end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. An important reason to end cannabis prohibition that doesn't get mentioned is because it increases hard-drug addiction rates. It puts citizens who choose to use the relatively safe plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs. Further, government claims heroin is no worse than cannabis and methamphetamine and cocaine is less harmful by insisting cannabis is a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. [continues 51 words]
Regarding your May 5 editorial commending the Pitt County Sheriff'=C2=80=C2 =99s Office for being the first law enforcement agency in North Carolina to equip its officers with the overdose prevention drug Narcan: Nasal administration of the Narcan reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. This harm-reduction approach to a growing prescription drug abuse problem will save lives. The drug war is part of the problem. Illegal drug users are reluctant to seek medical attention in the event of an overdose for fear of being charged with a crime. Attempting to save the life of a friend could result in a murder charge. Overzealous drug war enforcement results in easily preventable deaths. [continues 125 words]
The Pitt County Sheriff's Office is to be commended for leading North Carolina law enforcement agencies in becoming the first to equip its officers with a drug that can save the life of someone overdosing on opioids. Sheriff Neil Elks announced last week that his deputies will begin carrying Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose of several opioid painkillers. Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden said his department will soon begin carrying the drug as well. The number of deaths from overdoses in the United States involving prescription opioids more than quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, according to an April 23 article in the New England Journal of Medicine. [continues 231 words]
DURHAM -- Long before the overdose death of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman thrust heroin back into the headlines this winter, the return of the potent narcotic was already known to police and public health officials in North Carolina. Heroin, which emerged in popular culture in the 1940s as an exotic product associated with jazz musicians and later became known as the dead-end drug of junkies in movies and songs, had never gone away. A few dozen people died of heroin overdoses in North Carolina each year since 2000, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. [continues 1371 words]
DURHAM - Heroin may be a new drug for some who are switching from prescription painkillers. It is not new to April Elizabeth. Elizabeth, 32, is a heroin addict. She grew up in East Durham in a family ravaged by drugs a father she described as a raging alcoholic, a mother hooked on prescription pills and an older brother whose addiction to crack keeps him in and out of prison. At her request, The News & Observer agreed not to use her full name. [continues 495 words]
One "workable solution" to help lower heroin addiction rates that wasn't mentioned in the March 18 editorial "As long as demand is strong, heroin will continue to plague region" is to end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. Cannabis prohibition ... puts citizens who choose to use the relatively safe plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs. Further, government claims heroin is no worse than cannabis, and that methamphetamine and cocaine are less harmful by classifying cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. [continues 53 words]
The reality of the number of people tied to heroin trafficking - and, more generally, the drug trade - led the criminal justice system to shift its emphasis away from users. "We're not fighting a war on drugs. That was lost years ago," said Ben David, New Hanover County's district attorney. "We're fighting a war against drug dealers." As part of that effort, the district attorney's offices in Brunswick and New Hanover counties are willing to try cases in federal court, where there are stiff penalties and no probation, and to try dealers for trafficking, which, depending on the amount of drugs seized, carries minimum sentences of from five years and 10 months to 23 years and six months on a state level. Often, prosecutors see an overlap between gang activity and the heroin trade. "It's a bad guy drug, and it is something that a lot of the rich kids crave," David said. "It's that rare intersection of high demand with a ready supply. ... It's mixing people with money with people who are desperately poor, and that often leads to other crimes of violence like armed robberies, home invasions and sometimes murder." [continues 809 words]
Heroin has made a comeback, and it is destroying lives in the Cape Fear region. It's cheap, plentiful, addictive - and deadly. What is most discouraging is that the experts admit demand for the opiate will ensure a steady supply, even as police take down major dealers and traffickers. Arresting key players disrupts the market for a while, but soon other suppliers will take their place. StarNews reporters Mike Voorheis and Adam Wagner dug beneath the surface for a grim look into Wilmington's heroin problem and the people who can't function without it. It was a stark look at just how easy it is to get heroin, and how tough it is to kick the habit. [continues 462 words]
Regarding Ned Barnett's March 9 column "When might N.C. go to pot?": The sooner the better. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as criminals control marijuana distribution, consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. Marijuana prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Marijuana is less harmful than legal alcohol. The plant has never been shown to cause an overdose death. It makes no sense to waste tax dollars on failed marijuana policies that finance violent drug cartels and facilitate the use of hard drugs. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly. WASHINGTON, D.C. [end]
The Durham boom has been something to behold, from the American Tobacco Campus to the ever-expanding reputation of Duke University in the City of Medicine to the Durham Performing Arts Center, drawing big shows and big performers and big audiences from all over. So why can't a city with so much going for it get the police department right? Here we go again. Now a coalition examining drug law enforcement and punishment has offered documents it says support its contention that there is racial profiling in the Durham Police Department's drug enforcement unit. In the cases examined by the coalition, called Foster Alternative Drug Enforcement or FADE, all suspects were black or Hispanic. [continues 401 words]
In September 2012, the then-captain of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office's Vice and Narcotics Unit predicted that efforts to curb prescription drug use could be a "double-edged sword" causing users to seek out heroin instead. Now, 18 months later, that prognosis looks spot-on as the streets of Wilmington and highways of Brunswick County are awash with heroin, a drug Ben and Jon David, the district attorneys for New Hanover and Brunswick counties, respectively, both call "suicide on the installment plan." [continues 2327 words]
DURHAM -- A coalition presented evidence Wednesday that it says shows Durham police paid informants extra money for convictions in criminal cases without telling defense attorneys or the district attorney's office. The FADE (Fostering Alternative Drug Enforcement) coalition says the documents support its claims of racial profiling by the Durham Police Department's drug enforcement officers; all the suspects in the cases were black or Hispanic. Ian Mance, an attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, said the documents indicating $300 paid to informants as a "bonus" for convictions and/or testimony show the department participated in unconstitutional conduct. [continues 526 words]
Polarization and gridlock create the impression of a nation stuck, but beneath the frozen political machinery cultural and demographic currents are shifting dramatically. The most obvious is the speed with which the nation is changing its mind about same-sex marriage. The next big sea change may be in attitudes about legalizing marijuana. Opposition to easing laws on marijuana has gone up in smoke in Colorado and Washington state. Last week, the Washington, D.C. city council voted to decriminalize small quantities of pot, joining 17 states. Since California voters approved the medical use of marijuana in 1996, 19 more states have followed. More than a dozen states are weighing doing the same this year. [continues 680 words]
The death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent heroin overdose is but a high-profile example of what plays out every day in Main Street America. The main difference is that most of those victims remain virtually anonymous, statistical casualties in a futile war on drugs. Hoffman died Sunday in a New York, but our corner of North Carolina is not immune to the addiction that drives the illegal drug trade. Commenting on the latest crime report, Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous blamed heroin as a factor in the recent increase in violent crimes. It's cheaper than ever, and more potent. Also more deadly. [continues 470 words]
Kathleen Parker ("Weed should be a choice," Jan. 20) scored lots of points, supporting the legalization of cannabis (marijuana). Another reason to re-legalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is biblically correct, since God created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they're all good, on literally the very first page of the Bible. A sane or moral argument to continue punishing and caging humans for using cannabis simply doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 recognizes the old adage: If you remember the '60s, you weren't there. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. It is true that marijuana smoking tends to affect one's short-term memory, but the good news is that, while stoned, one does relatively little worth remembering. At least that's my own recollection. So, yes, I toked, too. This doesn't mean anyone else should, and I haven't in decades, but our debate might have more value if more of us were forthcoming. [continues 566 words]
Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 recognizes the old adage: If you remember the '60s, you weren't there. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. It is true that marijuana smoking tends to affect one's short-term memory, but the good news is that, while stoned, one does relatively little worth remembering. At least that's my own recollection. So, yes, I toked, too. This doesn't mean anyone else should, and I haven't in decades, but our debate might have more value if more of us were forthcoming. [continues 561 words]
The other day I read George Will's "Sledgehammer Justice." I always thought he was a conservative, but after reading this piece, he has me confused (which, I admit, is not hard to do.) Is he a real conservative, or is he just another bleeding-heart liberal? The subject he wrote about was prison sentences dealt to drug pushers. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me he thought life in prison -- or even 10-20 years -- in prison for pushing illegal drugs was too harsh. Hmmm. [continues 119 words]
Since Jan. 1, it has been legal to buy and sell marijuana in Colorado and Washington states. News reports predict that this is the first step toward nationwide acceptance of this drug as a legal product on par with alcohol. If our country's experience with lotteries and gambling is any precedent, those reports are likely correct. How can that be? Federal law provides for up to one year in jail for a first conviction for possession of any amount of marijuana. The answer is "prosecutorial discretion." In much the same way the federal government allows certain illegal aliens to continue to live openly in our country, a memorandum from the Department of Justice directs U.S. Attorneys to defer to the states (with some exceptions) in enforcing laws pertaining to marijuana. [continues 476 words]
After weighing the pros and cons, the good citizens of Colorado voted to allow the sale and use of pot. What are the cons? It is a means of impairing drivers. It is potentially addictive. It will be even easier for teens to obtain it. It will be bootlegged and marketed outside the state. It will probably lead to at least one federal case to set a precedent. It is purported to cause learning impairment in teens. It is one more thing that young people see us accept as normal behavior. [continues 144 words]
Regarding George Will's recent column "Blunt force justice for drug offenses" regarding federal "draconian sentences": I applaud publicity of the problem but remain frustrated that the media fail to see the elephant in the room. That elephant is: Why do (sometimes innocent) defendants bend to the federal prosecutors' pressure to plead guilty in the face of Section 851 notice of enhancements or mandatory minimum sentences or threat of superseding indictments elevating risk of increased prison exposure? The answer: Because of a prosecutorial conviction tactic neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers have any incentive to reveal. [continues 388 words]
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. has long marched to the beat of his own drum, politically speaking. A Republican who once led the effort insisting that the House cafeteria bill its crispy potato sticks as "Freedom Fries" to spite the French, he broke ranks with his party on the war in Iraq and has So it is not surprising that Jones, who represents North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District, which includes a chunk of the Cape Fear region, has stepped forward on behalf of parents seeking to allow their children who suffer from life-threatening conditions legal access to an oral form of medical marijuana. These parents say they and their family doctors have tried every available treatment. Some of the most vocal advocates have been parents whose children who suffer uncontrollable epileptic seizures that have not responded to other medications. [continues 404 words]
Inside North Carolina
