I would like to say that I urge everyone to support Bill H577 (Medical Cannabis Act). I support it because I suffer from severe pain 24-7, and I know people who would benefit from it being passed - -- cancer survivors, leukemia patients -- there are all kinds would benefit greatly. North Carolina is behind the times. Not only do I know people who would benefit greatly from H577, but the revenue it would produce for the state would be tremendous. It would also alleviate the always stressed court and jail systems and would take a lot of work off of the police officers and let them be able to work on the real problems - -- the methamphetamine and crack problems. [continues 83 words]
Lequian Hudson was a freshman at Dunbar High School when he was slipped his first baggie of marijuana. In four years, his habit progressed to ecstasy and cocaine. But Hudson, now 18 and a senior, said pride kept him from quitting the drugs he sold and used, which eventually landed him in juvenile jail on weapons and drug possession charges. "I wanted to show off," Hudson said. "I saw a lot of other people get involved and I wanted to do it too." [continues 961 words]
One lesson America is reluctant to learn: Wars are easer to declare than to win. Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya elude the kind of total victory our country achieved in World War II. And we have other declared wars that command national resources even though finding a strategy for a decisive victory has been elusive. War on poverty. War on cancer. War on crime. War on terror. These wars confound us because we can find no way to total victory. [continues 594 words]
Steve Winthrop says several years ago he was a "doped-up, drooling zombie. The Wilmington resident was taking large doses of Oxycontin to ease discomfort from a spine injury first caused by a car accident and exacerbated by an injury suffered as a paramedic in New York. Winthrop said he became addicted to the drugs, but with the help of his girlfriend, got off them. Now, he said, he uses marijuana to deal with his pain and it has helped him become more active, without the side effects. [continues 631 words]
The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, we have almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. Experts point to several factors for explanation, but it's clear that a large number of people are imprisoned for drug-related crimes. Officially declared the "War on Drugs" by President Richard Nixon in 1971, this has become the longest and most costly war in American history. The question has become, how much more can we tolerate? America's drug war has failed to curb demand and I suspect we will never become a drug-free society. [continues 707 words]
ASHEVILLE - A favorite food of millions may have been the culprit in false drug-test results that led to a California man's jailing on cocaine charges. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office said Friday an enzyme present in cheese and possibly some types of dough appeared to have yielded false results that led to cocaine charges against Antonio Hernandez Carranza. Hernandez spent four days in the Buncombe County jail until state lab results showed the substances in the back of his truck were tortilla dough, cheese and other food. [continues 676 words]
Perry Parks Says His Push for a New Law Is About Helping Ease Pain Of N.C. Veterans. RALEIGH Perry Parks, a 68-year-old former Vietnam helicopter pilot, is relentless in his campaign to convince the N.C. legislature to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. He doesn't just walk the halls of the legislature, often attired in his old National Guard uniform. To publicize his cause, he agreed to be photographed smoking a bong - a picture seen on national television and in newspapers as far as way as Japan. [continues 851 words]
RALEIGH -- Perry Parks, a 68-year-old former Vietnam helicopter pilot, is relentless in his campaign to persuade North Carolina's legislature to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. He doesn't just walk the halls of the legislature, often attired in his old National Guard uniform. To publicize his cause, he agreed to be photographed smoking a bong - a picture seen on national television and in newspapers as far as way as Japan. "I call it the hit heard around the world," Parks quips. "It's all over the Internet." [continues 764 words]
There is, tragically, a long line of drugs in the United States, and in North Carolina, in the competition to be the most dangerous. Methamphetamine, called a psychostimulant or "upper" because it can produce a feeling of alertness and even euphoria, is certainly in the running, and not just because of the consequences of addiction but also because of the hazards in the amateur "labs" that produce it. The compounds used to make meth can, if not cleaned up by professionals in hazmat suits who know what they're doing, result in explosions and fires. Innocent bystanders at meth lab sites have been burned and injured by the dangers the lab operators left behind. [continues 332 words]
A recent upswing in methamphetamine-lab activity means law-enforcement officers will have to work all the harder to keep up the progress they've made against the drug in recent years. State legislators should help by tightening the law on meth labs. Rep. Craig Horn, a Republican from Union County, told the Journal this week that a bipartisan group of legislators is working with law enforcement on legislation to battle portable labs, and they hope to soon get it passed. [continues 198 words]
WASHINGTON -- Even as the numbers of small-time meth labs are increasing across the United States, federal funding to clean up the toxic sites has dwindled to almost nothing, and next year's presidential budget proposal cuts the program entirely. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration notified counties and states Feb. 22 that it could no longer pick up the tab to clean up the dangerous chemicals found in methamphetamine labs. The loss of federal dollars has law-enforcement agencies in North Carolina and elsewhere nervous as they scramble to make up for the shortfall amid an ongoing problem. [continues 777 words]
The wheels of justice grind slowly but exceedingly fine. Last week in Asheville, those wheels ground to halt. We trust justice to be served with all officials of the court and law enforcement doing their jobs, and with no one cutting corners. It's not just the job of the police to catch the bad guys. When prosecutors or defense attorneys can't trust police to protect the evidence that could convict or clear defendants at trial, then our whole system of justice is compromised. [continues 683 words]
Three Investigated Over Missing Items ASHEVILLE - The Police Department will use $175,000 in drug seizure money to pay for an audit of its evidence room after guns, drugs and money disappeared, city officials said Wednesday. Three people are under investigation, and two of them, police employees assigned to the evidence room, have been suspended with pay after nearly 400 oxycodone prescription painkillers were found missing April 1, District Attorney Ron Moore said. "Anybody who had access to it has to be investigated," he said. [continues 492 words]
The N.C. House of Representatives will once again take up the issue of medical cannabis in the coming months, with seven representatives signing onto a bill described as "having some merit" by this district's representative. North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network President Perry Parks, of Rockingham, lauded the introduction of House Bill 577 last week, and pointed to efforts to make medicinal marijuana available in this state, the home of Fort Bragg and other large scale military installations, is a key effort to help veterans recovering from wounds they received, especially in combat. [continues 901 words]
RALEIGH -- A local state lawmaker introduced a bill this week that would make it legal to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes. Rep. Patsy Keever, D-Buncombe, is one of three primary sponsors of the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act filed on Thursday. The legislation would allow patients with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana to alleviate their symptoms. It would set up a system for operating medical cannabis centers and growing marijuana for medical use. Keever said marijuana has proved to be a good, affordable pain reliever for people who suffer from chronic illnesses or are undergoing cancer treatments. She said the state could also make money from growing it. [continues 310 words]
Editor: Jackie Heninger is misinformed (letter: "Don't legalize marijuana," Feb. 10). According to science, cannabis (marijuana) does not kill brain cells. The murders at the Mexican/American border are not due to cannabis but rather cannabis prohibition, the same way the original prohibition with alcohol caused high murder rates, which diminished for 10 years after its repeal. Cannabis does not damage lungs more than cigarettes or cause cancer. In over 5,000 years of documented use, there still is not one single dead body to show cannabis has ever caused cancer while cigarettes kill over 1,000 Americans daily. Cannabis prohibition and extermination is luciferous and based on lies, half-truths and propaganda. Heninger is simply parroting prohibitionist government "Reefer Madness" lies. And speaking of hell, that may be where people go who support caging responsible humans for using what God says is good on literally the very first page of the Bible. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Editor: Letter writer Jackie Heninger piously says about marijuana prisoners, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." However, like all other drug crusaders Ms. Heninger neglects to supply any reasons why marijuana should be illegal in the first place. She provides no justification for the 20-year to life sentences given to marijuana growers and sellers. Heninger's health accusations are entirely false because marijuana use does not cause brain damage or injure the body in any way. Marijuana does not cause lung cancer because to date the Centers for Disease Control have yet to trace the first case of cancer of any kind to marijuana use. (See: "Large Study Finds No Link between Marijuana and Lung Cancer," www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0002491F-755F-1473-B55F83414B7F0000, and "Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection," www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html [continues 345 words]
Editor: I had to reply to Marvin Callahan's letter on legalizing marijuana. I will admit I am a straight-laced prude. I don't drink, smoke or do drugs nor have I ever understood some people's need for such things. North Carolina is not California nor should we strive to be. California is morally corrupt and financially bankrupt. It is on the edge of a cliff and doesn't have the moral backbone to back away. Mexico is a prime example of the true nature of the drug culture and the criminals behind it. Don't you read about the murders and how horrible it is on our border because of these drug lords? Do you really want the state to be a drug pusher? [continues 393 words]
Editor: My grandson was in the car with someone who had marijuana in his possession. The man admitted to the officers and in court that my grandson had nothing to do with it, but he was charged and convicted anyway, placed on probation and given fines over $3,000. There was no way he could pay, so now he's in jail. I sat in his probation office, and everyone was there for drug offences. One did 10 years in jail and a lady eight years. The only way they could pay their fines was to sell more drugs or steal. Probationers must pay to see their probation officer and even pay a fee to do community service. If you lose your case, you pay both the court-appointed lawyer's fee and court costs (his court costs alone were over $800). If found not guilty, he owed nothing, so where then is there an incentive for his lawyer to defend him? That lawyer would lose his fee defending him, wouldn't he? [continues 257 words]
DAVIDSON COUNTY - Under a proposal reviewed by the Davidson County Board of Commissioners this week, approximately 200 of the county's employees could be subject to random drug testing. Commissioners on Tuesday will consider updates to the county's substance abuse policy. The biggest change is random drug testing for employees who have safety sensitive positions, said Jim Tysinger, the county's human resources director. Tysinger said the updates to the policy are needed because it was written in 1996. Since that time, the U.S. Department of Transportation has mandated random testing for drivers within the county's transportation department. "We don't have a major problem that we are aware of," Tysinger said. "We haven't did the random testing of safety sensitive positions in the past other than the drivers, but this will enhance our random testing pool by about 200 employees." [continues 194 words]
THOMASVILLE - Thomasville City Manager Kelly Craver on Friday issued a public apology concerning his recent arrest on drug charges and released the results of a clean drug test. Paul Mitchell, the city's interim manager and city attorney, released the information following a request by The High Point Enterprise. He said the city received the drug test results and apology from Craver's attorney, Misti Whitman of Thomasville, Friday afternoon. "First of all, I would like to share my deepest regrets for having cause for this situation," Craver wrote. "Mere words cannot express my remorse in how this has hurt those that I care most about, city staff, City Council and the citizens of Thomasville that I have the honor of serving. I am truly sorry." [continues 503 words]
I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter ("Decriminalizing marijuana would save public resources" AC-T, Dec. 26). The war on drugs is just a metaphor. A metaphor that has transformed the United States into the most incarcerated nation in the history of human civilization. The war on drugs metaphor was created by the Nixon Administration to go after African Americans without appearing to do so, according to the diary of H. R. Haldeman, Nixon's Chief of Staff. Based upon its original goals, the war on drugs has been a tremendous success. Real wars are fought against other nations with armies, navies and air forces. Metaphorical wars cannot be won. Who is going to surrender and sign the peace treaty? Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Regarding Carl Mumpower's column "The war on illegal drugs has to be won at home," (AC-T, Dec. 19), the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the U.S., almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. [continues 88 words]
Rockingham resident Perry Parks is continuing his mission to make medical marijuana a reality in North Carolina as the president of the state's foremost advocacy group for the issue. Parks is hoping to use his experience as a decorated Vietnam veteran and retired corporate safety director to further the issue through his service with the North Carolina Cannabis Patents Network, which now boasts more than 1,000 members. He previously served as the organization's veterans outreach coordinator. He said he is compelled to advocate for medical marijuana by the sheer number of people who have an interest in using it as an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs, which tend to have more dangerous side effects. [continues 617 words]
America's drug war is an abysmal failure. Like all foreign entanglements, it finds us arrogantly pretending to fix other countries while stumbling to manage our own. Success will not be found in Mexican border towns, Colombian jungles, or Afghan poppy fields. We will win or lose right here at home. A search for solutions begins with a commitment to liberty versus freedom. Liberty is freedom seasoned with accountability. One does not work without the other - which is precisely why drug legalization fails. [continues 337 words]
It's God-awesome to read hemp is being used ("Asheville Area Leads Nation In Hempcrete Construction," AC-T, Nov. 29) more in the United States. Communist Chinese farmers grow hemp, but free American farmers cannot, and that's anti-American. It's time to reintroduce hemp as a component of American agriculture. It's also time for the federal government to stop classifying hemp as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin. That's anti-intelligent. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
For the past while, I've wondered something. With our economy in such poor shape, why have we not legalized and capitalized on the medicinal use of marijuana. It's incredulous to me, because it would help people with debilitating illnesses, and government taxes would help everyone. The medicinal marijuana industry is yet to be tapped, and when it is it will flow and flow. Critics will say smoking marijuana is worse because of the actual smoke inhalation. That is responded with the fact you don't have to smoke marijuana to get the medicinal needs. Easily oils, butters, and edibles can be made. With those butters you can cook with it, thus no smoke. Its estimated that marijuana farmers make upwards of $80,000 annually, where medicinal marijuana is legal. Those jobs could help, they could change lives. When will congress put their pride on hold and allow us as Americans to overcome this economic state? Bryan Cruse Leland [end]
When it comes to hemp building, business is booming. "Western North Carolina essentially is the capital of hempcrete building in the United States right now," said Gregory Flavall, the co-founder of Hemp Technologies, the Asheville-based company that supplies the hemp-based building material to contractors. Two hemp-based homes have been completed in Asheville, one in West Asheville and another off Town Mountain Road, and another is going up in Haywood County near Lake Junaluska. Flavall says his company has dozens of projects lined up, both in WNC and throughout the country, including in Texas, Colorado and Hawaii. [continues 756 words]
GREENSBORO - Law enforcement and legislators across the country are scrambling to ban a legal, synthetic form of marijuana that is giving youths a new high. The spice cannaboid, known as K2, is an herb-and-spice mixture that is sprayed with a chemical compound similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the pyschoactive ingredient in marijuana. People smoke K2, also known by names such as spice and genie, through pipes or rolled in paper. It's sold on the Internet and in gas stations, convenience stores and head shops for prices ranging from $15 to $150 per 3-gram bag. [continues 675 words]
For many soldiers - and plenty of civilians too - Spice is nice. For military commanders and some concerned legislators, it's anything but. That's why the designer drug that mimics the effect of marijuana has been banned on Fort Bragg and soldiers face random testing for its use. State Sen. William Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat and retired pediatrician, says he may introduce legislation next year to ban the product, widely sold as incense in tobacco shops and convenience stores, also under names such as K2, Funky Monkey and Afghan Kush. [continues 340 words]
Wilmington cocaine bust not relevant, newsworthy The only word I can use to describe the story on Dan Paustian ("UNC student arrested in Wilmington on charges of cocaine, marijuana possession," Nov. 1) is inappropriate. Yes, he is a UNC student and yes, the student body is entitled to know what is going on in the lives of our peers. But whereas last year's cocaine incident involved multiple UNC students that were arrested in our actual vicinity, this occurrence involved solely one student positioned a good two and half hours away from our campus at the time of his arrest. Is this really worthy of the front page? [continues 139 words]
Pot, weed, dope, Mary Jane, Cannabis -- marijuana goes by many names. But whatever you want to call it, it is a drug worthy of legalization - -- at least for medicinal purposes. In the U.S., medical marijuana legalization is done on a state-by-state basis. So far, 14 states have already legalized the use of medical marijuana -- and with good reason. In California, the big debate is whether or not to legalize marijuana for personal use other than medicinal purposes. But in North Carolina, the bill to legalize it for medicinal purposes has still not passed. [continues 446 words]
The police operations in high crime areas as stated in the Sept. 2 Daily Reflector is a great effort in trying to reduce crime. However, until there are stricter rules in housing and the mentality of those who prey on others for their drug habits and financial needs have been changed, they will only leave one neighborhood and go to another to destroy. The majority of the people in those neighborhoods are decent, law-abiding citizens who want safety for their families, but there are always bad seeds who seem to germinate and spread their foul behavior. [continues 88 words]
MOCKSVILLE - A former deputy for the Davie County Sheriff's Office pleaded guilty to charges that he and a former evidence technician with the sheriff's office conspired to distribute crack cocaine stolen from the sheriff's evidence room. Bobby Lee Mabe Jr., 38, of Mocksville, pleaded guilty to being an unlawful user of controlled substances while possessing firearms and with maintaining a drug-involved premises. On May 13, Malinda York, the former evidence technician, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 5 grams or more of crack and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. [continues 233 words]
K2 Is A Legal, Though Possibly Dangerous, Synthetic Cousin To Marijuana. As college students return to school in Charlotte and the Triangle, some are cracking open lip balm-size jars and plastic bags of a legal herb product that mimics the effects of marijuana. K2, or "Spice," is a lab-made leafy green drug that looks and smells like oregano, with hints of blueberry, citrus and other flavors. The designer drug is showing up at tobacco and head shops, misleadingly labeled as "incense." The labels also inform buyers that the contents are not fit for human consumption, but behind closed doors the "incense" is being puffed as a legal alternative to marijuana. [continues 1165 words]
Heroin use is on the rise in Burlington and authorities are concerned about its potential impact on the community. It's not that the drug is available on every street corner in the city. But it is creeping its way in and investigators in the Burlington Police Department's special operations division say the drug's potency is much higher than it was when it was popular among inner-city junkies injecting it in the 1970s. The typical user in this area is white, between 20 and 25 years old and from west Burlington, and pain killers that they find in mom and dad's medicine cabinet are often the gateway to their heroin addiction, said a Burlington police undercover drug officer who asked to remain anonymous because of ongoing investigations. [continues 754 words]
The Democratic Party State Executive Committee passed a resolution supporting the legalization of medical marijuana at its convention Sunday in Fayettevillle. The vote came after a speech from Richmond County resident and party official Perry Parks, and marks the second time Democratic leaders from the local level have asked their elected representatives to pass a bill legalizing marijuana for medical use. The vote was nearly unanimous and, according to the party's Eighth District Chair June Mabry, the mood of the room left no doubt what party leaders expect of those they sent to Raleigh. [continues 619 words]
Ron Allen probably thinks Alice Huffman has been smoking something. Huffman, president of the California Conference of the NAACP, recently declared support for an initiative that, if passed by voters in November, will decriminalize the use and possession of marijuana. Huffman sees it as a civil rights issue. In response, Bishop Allen, founder of a religious social activism group called the International Faith-Based Coalition, has come out swinging. "Why would the state NAACP advocate for blacks to stay high?" he demanded last week at a news conference in Sacramento. "It's going to cause crime to go up. There will be more drug babies." Allen wants Huffman to resign. [continues 537 words]
This week, I helped form a new North Carolina non-profit-- The North Carolina National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NC NORML). Yes, that's right. Weed, dope, pot, ganja, reefer, cannabis. Everyone knows it illegal, but when asked, nobody really knows why. Alcohol, which leads directly to violence and death, is perfectly fine so long as you are of age. Ask any police officer if someone being arrested for marijuana without alcohol has ever resisted, or ask any domestic violence victim if marijuana led to a battering? [continues 739 words]
ASHEVILLE -- Twenty years from now, Jennifer Foster thinks that the marijuana prohibition will be relegated to the history books. And if this happens, some of the early steps toward decriminalization in this state can be traced to the North Carolina National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) inaugural meeting Sunday evening at The French Broad Brewing Co. Norml is a national nonprofit organization supporting the removal of all criminal penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults. [continues 252 words]
The state Supreme Court has ruled that an expert witnesses' visual identification of prescription drugs was insufficient to prove their substance and should not have been allowed in a New Hanover County man's trial. But the court's ruling on Thursday was not unanimous, and in a dissenting opinion, Justice Paul Newby writes that the decision changes the law significantly as it pertains to witness testimony. The opinion, which affirms an appellate court's decision, stems from the case of Jimmy Waylon Ward, who was convicted on Jan. 14, 2008, of drug-related felony offenses, including opium trafficking, after an SBI agent testified that out of hundreds of pills seized from Ward's home and car, only about half of them were actually tested by the crime lab. [continues 566 words]
In spite of opposition from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other "drug warriors," marijuana can bring relief to a variety of medical conditions, especially migraines and cancer chemo nausea. I had to resort to synthetic THC, but it was not helpful in dealing with my reactions to the chemo I had to take for my brain tumor. In 1989, the DEA's administrative judge, Francis L. Young, ruled in favor of moving marijuana to Schedule II, where it could be used under a doctor's care. He wrote: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care. . It would be unreasoning, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefit of this substance in light of the evidence on record." [continues 60 words]
Of all the big-government abuses of Americans' constitutional rights, the war on marijuana perpetrates some of the worst. "Asset forfeitures" such as the Oakview Road resident suffered are, in my opinion, little more than official looting, since they allow police (and informants, who get a percentage) to seize growers' homes and cash prior to a trial, with practically no oversight. No wonder law enforcement lobbyists oppose every effort in North Carolina to legalize industrial hemp or medical marijuana, despite the abundant evidence of hemp's utility and environmental benefits, marijuana's lifesaving medicinal qualities for many patients, and the millions of dollars that the state would save and collect if either form of cannabis were licensed or taxed. [continues 100 words]
GREENVILLE - Another plea has been entered in a case involving the embezzlement of drug investigation funds by former members of the Carteret County Sheriff's Office. Thomas "Mark" Farlow, a former narcotics detective with the sheriff's office, pleaded guilty in federal court this week to count six of the indictment, misprision of a felony, according to Robin Zier, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. The offense indicates Farlow knew about the embezzlement activities but did not report it. [continues 311 words]
Swansboro Police Chief Ed Parrish is concerned about a legal form of synthetic marijuana that has been wrinkling the brows of police departments across the country. "It's being sold as potpourri," Parrish said of the synthetic marijuana, now available for sale in the community. However, its effects when smoked are similar to the real thing, and it's also priced a lot like the real thing. "This stuff sells for about $30 an ounce," Parrish said. The "potpourri" is a blend of various spices and herbs that have been sprayed with a synthetic chemical similar to THC, the psychoactive compound found in marijuana. Though most packages are marked with the disclaimer "not for human consumption," the spice blends are not generally sought for their aromatic appeal. [continues 629 words]
To the editor: I have the perfect solution to the world's drug problem. It would eradicate the need to incarcerate traffickers, saving tens of thousands of dollars by not having to prosecute them or confine them in prison. It would make possible the return of our military from Colombia and other places. It would cut down on robberies. It is so easy that I'm surprised no one else has thought about it. All the government has to do is legalize all drugs. Let them have as much as they want. They'll all get too much and be dead in a week. End of users and pushers. If they want to kill themselves - let them. Society is fed up with paying for their foolishness. We all have choices of how we live. If they want it they can get it - all they want. Thanks for reading this letter. I know others won't agree, but it's worth thinking about. Patricia A. Jones Jacksonville [end]
The April 24 article "Pot profession has no room for hippies" gave no details of the multitude of cannabis' medical applications. Duke doctors have told me there is no drug as effective for treating nausea, yet they are legally forbidden even to recommend it to their patients in misery. Harvard researchers found THC to reduce tumor growth in lung cancer by 50 percent. Madrid scientists found chemicals in cannabis to promote death of brain cancer cells. Studies show its promise to treat breast and colorectal cancer. Who knows what cancer cures would have been discovered years ago had people not been frozen in a 1930s prohibitionist mentality in which cannabis is defined not by its chemical makeup but by the stereotype of people who used it. We all need to ask our representatives to stop needless suffering and open wide the door for research and medical application of cannabis. Catherine Lyle, Raleigh [end]
In response to "Decades-long U.S. drug war lags on goals" (May 16 The Big Picture): The U.S. war on drugs has failed to eliminate the importation and use of recreational drugs, just as Prohibition failed to stop the importation and use of alcohol. It's time for a new strategy. We legalized alcohol and control its use today, even with the problems still associated with it. Society has learned to accept it and deal with it. Why wouldn't the same strategy work for recreational drugs? Ronald McCraw Salisbury [end]
DA's Office Seeks Funds From Wilmington to Keep Federal Program A program that law enforcement officials say has targeted the area's worst drug dealers for federal prosecution and helped ease crowding at the New Hanover County jail will end either this year or next, officials said. At a Wilmington City Council work session on Monday, District Attorney Ben David asked the city for $27,421 to help support the program for one more year. Without the money, the program would end this summer, David said, but even with the 25 percent local match, the upcoming 2010-11 fiscal year would be the last of local funding. [continues 385 words]
Inside North Carolina
