The number of Americans killed while fighting in the Middle East has now topped the number of Americans killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. We're fast approaching 3,000 killed in Iraq. In her weekly column, Ann Coulter recently wrote that if we stayed in Iraq 10 years and lost another 3,000, that would be an acceptable loss if we don't have another terrorist attack on American soil. I disagree. Not just because I think she has the worst legs in America (which would have been unleashed at Abu Ghraib if not in direct violation of the Geneva Accords), but also because I think that Ann (at this point, if I were Ann, I'd insert something like, "Ann, which is short for Hassann"--she does that all the time when referring to Democrats and thinks it's funny) epitomizes the face of false and deceptive bravado that is a hallmark of the far right of American politics. [continues 815 words]
Kudos to Gov. Huntsman for Giving Methamphetamine Addiction the Attention It Deserves. Here are some facts about U.S. drug enforcement law, and illegal drugs, you may or may not be aware of: Despite the fact that it's darned hard on your lungs compared to mainstream tobacco, marijuana's toxicity is less than half that of heroin or cocaine. Despite the fact that millions of baby boomers have inhaled marijuana's mind-altering active chemicals, these same people are hardly seeking treatment for addiction. Although psychologically addictive--along with television, desserts and other items offered legally in our society--the evidence that marijuana poses any physiological addictive threat is scant at best. In fact, there's strong evidence it's effective in treating cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. How curious, then, that the Federal Drug Administration licensed a drug called Marinol that mimics marijuana's medicinal effects, even as it prohibits any medical testing of marijuana's benefits. Even the UK's straight-laced Economist magazine chimed in as of late. "Marijuana is medically useful, whether politicians like it or not," it wrote. [continues 795 words]
"This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice." - OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES Jr. (1841-1935) Supreme Court Justice When U.S. District Court Judge Paul Cassell sentenced Utah record producer and pot dealer Weldon Angelos to 55 years in prison, he was following the law. When he joined with a who's who of the American bar to argue that that very sentence was, in Cassell's words, "unjust, cruel and even irrational," he was seeking justice. [continues 323 words]
ST. GEORGE - A group of recovering addicts put a new spin on charity Saturday. Offering secondhand goods and barbecue from a Rite Aid parking lot in St. George, alumni of the Washington County drug court had raised more than $180 midway through a holiday rummage sale. All proceeds will go to local charities to buy food and gifts for needy families. But rarely has service meant so much to the ones lending a hand. "Doing things like this - giving back to the community - that's how we stay clean and sober," said Paul Paget, who has been sober since 2004. [continues 359 words]
Special To The Los Angeles Times One of our most infamous contemporary laws is the 100-1 difference in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Under federal drug laws, prison sentences are usually tied to the quantity of drugs the defendant trafficked. For example, selling 5,000 grams of powder cocaine (about a briefcase full) gets a mandatory 10-year prison sentence, but so does selling only 50 grams of crack cocaine (the weight of a candy bar). Working for the House Judiciary Committee in 1986, I wrote the House bill that was the basis for that law. We made some terrible mistakes. [continues 666 words]
U.S. Poll Finds 45% Would Back Making Cigarettes Illegal A national survey released Thursday by the Drug Policy Alliance indicates a high level of support for making cigarettes illegal over the next 10 years. Forty-five percent of the 1,200 Americans questioned by Zogby International said they would either strongly support or somewhat support a federal law making cigarettes illegal within the next five to 10 years. Just over half, 52 percent, said they would either somewhat or strongly oppose such a measure. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent. [continues 404 words]
As a highly trained physician, with 20 years of emergency room experience and American Board of Emergency Medicine certification in emergency medicine, and newly completed residency training and just completed testing for board certification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, I need to both complement Laura Duncan for her excellent article on drug and heroin abuse and addiction in our community, but also point out a glaring and inexcusable gap in her coverage. That gap is the failure to mention a treatment for opiate abuse/dependence that is and has been available here for two years in the form of a tightly controlled drug called buprenorphine, trade name Suboxone. Both I, as the leading prescriber of this drug locally and a very few other physicians, have been trying to attack the epidemic of drug abuse among the teenagers, housewives, construction workers, businessmen and people from every corner of our society for some time, with very little help, as it turns out. And then comes a front page article that doesn't seem to know that this treatment even exists. [continues 540 words]
ST. GEORGE - While the number of youths using drugs in Utah is lower than the national average, parents and educators are still concerned with the perception youths hold - that use among their peers is much higher than reality. "All these kids seem to think most kids are using and that's the cool thing to do and that's what's happening. But most kids don't (use)," said Kami Farr, with Southwest Center Prevention, who works with prevention advisers at each school throughout the Washington County District, assisting with minigrant applications and in planning activities and assemblies. [continues 315 words]
CEDAR CITY - Contrary to what many people believe, teaching kids about drugs at a young age is perhaps better than letting them figure things out on their own. "They're going to be exposed to it eventually in their life," said Iron County Schools Secondary Education Director Paul Maggio. "You have to acknowledge that it's there." In addition to the DARE program, local schools are joining others in the country for the national Red Ribbon Week, which starts Monday. Red Ribbon Week is designed to teach students, as young as elementary school, about drugs and how to say "no" before they learn the consequences from peers or through using themselves. [continues 798 words]
I'm writing about reporter Laura Duncan's, "A Downward Spiral," printed Oct. 12. The question that needs to be asked is: Why don't children believe those who warn them about the dangers of drugs like heroin? The answer: Because when the drug war cheerleaders lie about or grossly exaggerate the dangers of marijuana, they lose all credibility. When children find out that they have been lied to about marijuana, they make the logical assumption that they are also being lied to about the dangers of other drugs like methamphetamine and heroin. A recipe for disaster. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
Hill Red Ribbon Week Activities There will be an information booth at the Hill Clinic, Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in front of the pharmacy. Goodie bags and information handouts will be given to Hill pediatric patients throughout the week. Drug prevention presentation planned at Wasatch Elementary, Oct. 24 at 1:30 p.m. Drug prevention presentation at the Hill Youth Center, Oct 25 at 4 p.m. For more information on drug and alcohol abuse, contact the Family Advocacy Center at 777-3497. [continues 645 words]
A Guilty-As-Sin Stoner Beats the Rap, but the Sheriff Won't Discuss the One That Got Away. May 2004, Doug Woods packed up his 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon and, with his trusty pooch Sadie riding shotgun, headed home to Boulder, Colo. He'd spent the previous six months with friends and family in Fremont, Calif., after his mother succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Before hitting the road, though, the 40-year-old bohemian scored a half-ounce of top-shelf bud from a California grower--for a steal, he boasts. [continues 3246 words]
ST. GEORGE - Finding the drug is easy. Crushing it, snorting it, smoking it or even injecting it is easy. Determining whether a kid is using opiates is the difficult part. According to local law enforcement officials and substance abuse counselors, opiate abuse is appealing to a younger clientele. The problem may be settling comfortably into some local schools in the form of heroin abuse. Sgt. Scott Lemmon with the St. George Police Department said there has been a rise in heroin use. [continues 5530 words]
Utah Officials Say '04 Law Stifled Requests Western states complain the federal government ignored the nation's methamphetamine problem until the drug made inroads east and popped up in large cities, such as Chicago and Philadelphia. But now that tens of millions of federal dollars are being spent to combat the so-called "epidemic," Utah isn't fighting for its share. Just this week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced $28 million in grant awards for addiction research. Utah's neighbors - Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington - are among the states tapping these and other meth-related monies. [continues 572 words]
Living in close quarters with other students, University of Utah freshman Hailey Cloninger often gets colds and sinus infections that are spreading through her dormitory. She is irked that she will now have to get her preferred medicine, Sudafed, from a pharmacist because of new federal regulations that went into effect this week. The Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] is requiring pharmacies to keep cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter and limit their sales, citing worries about people who use it to make the highly addictive drug methamphetamine. [continues 971 words]
WEST JORDAN - Jasen Calacino, a 20-year-old Draper man who last year helped dispose of the body of a young woman who died of a heroin overdose, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail. But first, Calacino got a lecture from the victim's mother about why the crime can be so devastating to family members. Kathryn Sorich said that after 18-year-old Amelia Sorich disappeared, she and her family lived with terror of the unknown until a passerby discovered the body in the foothills above Bountiful. Then the family had to deal with the reality of her death, as well as the grisly fact that after two days of exposure to sun and insects, Amelia's remains were ravaged beyond the restoration powers of any mortician. She said Amelia's funeral was a closed-casket affair. [continues 547 words]
Hard realities come with being around people with addictions. Perhaps, operative words here are "being around." Coupled with this are suspicion and denial. The third component is the cover-up. Denial, excuses and co-dependency are ways in which we unwittingly participate to prolong the problem of addiction in others. By association we have an addiction, subtle or submerged by the undertow. In ways direct or indirect, we exacerbate the problems of someone with an addiction. Here we are talking about loved ones, family members, co-workers or someone in the public eye. Money is given. [continues 489 words]
Becoming a doctor requires 12 years of elementary and secondary school, a four-year bachelor's degree and years of medical school and residencies. Becoming a teacher requires four years of university training and years of continuing education. To become a parent in today's society most people rely on the training they received in their own homes. That can be a problem, according to David Hawkins, a professor out of the University of Washington. Hawkins believes every parent & even good ones & benefit from ongoing training. [continues 1274 words]
Editor's Note: Remarks appear as prepared in advance and differ slightly from those delivered. Washington Square Salt Lake City, Utah August 30, 2006 A patriot is a person who loves his or her country. Who among you loves your country so much that you have come here today to raise your voice out of deep concern for our nation - and for our world? And who among you loves your country so much that you insist that our nation's leaders tell us the truth? [continues 3316 words]
Lawyers For First-Time Drug Dealer Appeal To U.S. Supreme Court Panamanian military leader Manuel Noriega got less prison time than first-time marijuana dealer Weldon Angelos, his attorneys like to point out. Noriega, a militaristic dictator, was captured in 1989 by invading U.S. forces and tried in the United States for massive cocaine trafficking. In 1992 he was sentenced to serve 40 years in prison. Angelos, a young aspiring rap producer and father of two, sold marijuana to make some cash. After selling three 8-ounce bags of pot to an informant, who later testified that Angelos had a gun during two of the sales, Angelos was swept up in what his attorneys say is a minimum-mandatory sentencing system out of control. [continues 837 words]
They said they were his friends, but he didn't know that fear was their master and a merciless one; it demanded his life and they gave it willingly. When he collapsed on the floor, struggling for breath after accidentally overdosing on heroin, they decided a call to 911 was too much to risk - the possibility of arrest for possession held greater dread than his imminent death. They hid the drugs in the backyard and fled, abandoning their friend to die alone. [continues 756 words]
Surrounded by friends and supporters, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson announced Friday that he will not seek a third term in the fall 2007 election. "I have made this decision because I want to spend my remaining days working on grass-roots advocacy," Anderson said of his declaration to pursue human rights and environmental causes after he leaves office. "It rests upon all of us to lead, to recognize and to make a positive difference by pushing our elected officials." Anderson did not specify what, if any, job he would seek. His term does not end until early 2008, when the next mayor will be sworn in, and Anderson gave no indication Friday that he would resign before then. Anderson's spokesman Patrick Thronson said the mayor had no comment; neither has commented to the Deseret Morning News for the past 37 days. [continues 1038 words]
Second Term Is The Last, Mayor Says Rocky Anderson - the maverick mayor who defied stereotypes about Utah and conventional wisdom about what a city leader is supposed to do - will not seek a third term. Anderson made the announcement Friday at Salt Lake City's Main Library, surrounded by a crowd of supporters and employees. "Although it saddens me in many ways, I have decided I will not seek a third term as Salt Lake City mayor," an emotional Anderson said. [continues 1138 words]
Out Of Sync The Senator's Involved In Pulling A Music Producer From A Dubai Jail WASHINGTON - Sen. Orrin Hatch is standing firm on his decision to help a famed R&B music producer out of a four-year jail sentence for possession of cocaine in the United Arab Emirates. But Hatch's actions have raised questions with some Utahns, who wonder why the conservative Republican lent his influence to someone convicted in an illegal drug case. Hatch made several phone calls to the United Arab Emirates' consul in Washington on behalf of Grammy Award-winning producer Dallas Austin, who was arrested May 19 and pleaded guilty to possession of 1.26 grams of cocaine. Drug possession is a serious crime in the Persian Gulf emirates, and Austin could have faced more than a decade in prison for simple possession. [continues 667 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court just eviscerated the "knock and announce" rules that require police to announce their presence and give residents a bit of time before smashing in their door. Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion in Hudson v. Michigan discounted the privacy interest involved, sneering that "knock and announce" amounts to little more than the right "not to be intruded upon in one's nightclothes." (I don't know about him, but I would put a pretty hefty premium on avoiding that particular scenario.) [continues 770 words]
WASHINGTON--Twenty years have passed since the cocaine-induced death of basketball wizard Len Bias touched off a war on drugs. His legacy, in the odd way that politics play out, is harsher penalties for crack cocaine, which is not quite the same drug that Bias used. On June 19, 1986, two nights after the Boston Celtics selected him as the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, Bias died of a cocaine overdose. He was 22. Eight days later, Don Rogers, a defensive player for the Cleveland Browns, also died of a cocaine overdose. [continues 731 words]
Huntsman: He Hopes The Shocking Spots Would Help Deter Use In Utah A youthful blonde approaches a circle of teenagers at an outdoor party and asks, "What about me?" "You want meth, kid? Here's your meth," says a man emerging from the shadows with a glass pipe. The camera cuts to two lecherous-looking men, a squealing baby and a close-up of the blonde with sunken eyes and oozing scabs as the voice-over says, "And here's your meth dealer, your meth boyfriends, your meth baby, and don't forget, your meth face." Ads like this have invaded prime-time television, covered billboards and saturated radio shows in Montana as part of the Montana Meth Project, a shock-and-awe style campaign graphically depicting the ugly underbelly of methamphetamine use. And Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants to blitz Utah with a similar ad campaign, though some in Utah's drug treatment and prevention community are skeptical about Montana's meth-fighting methods. "We will be working on a meth initiative," Huntsman promised. "This is becoming an epidemic that must be addressed communitywide." The Montana project is funded by tech billionaire Thomas Siebel, who has personally overseen the creation of the ads meant to stop teens from trying meth by terrifying them. Huntsman and Siebel hobnobbed at a recent Western Governors Association meeting and afterward Siebel accepted an invitation to come to Utah. He is expected to arrive at the end of the month, in an attempt to persuade the governor's meth task force that his prevention campaign is worth adopting. But members of the task force say the ads target the wrong population and unrealistically portray all meth addicts as twitchy, pock-marked junkies who will do anything for their next fix. "There are some who think they're a little hard-hitting for Utah. My kids didn't. They watched them, and it got their attention," said Patrick Fleming, a task force member and Salt Lake County substance abuse director. "But kids are so literal. [continues 727 words]
In and Out of Courts: The Lieutenant Was Fired for Using Peyote In Religious Ceremonies Since firing police Lt. Terry Begay in 2003 for using peyote as part of a Native American religious ceremony, the Salt Lake City Police Department has mounted a vigorous fight to prevent her from returning to work. But this week, the city and the Utah Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) agreed to enter into settlement negotiations later this summer that will be presided over by a mediator. [continues 634 words]
WEST POINT -- Now that she's clean and sober, one of the things that amazes Angie Barfuss is the amount of effort she used to put into her meth use. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning NewsAngie Barfuss, who recently finished her drug treatment program, sits with one of her daughters, Sydney, in West Point. "Drug addiction is like a job -- it takes all your time," the 33-year-old mother of four says now. "You have to make the call, get the money, get the hook-up, drive to get it and do the drug." She's also stunned at how deluded she was. She didn't even see what her two-year bout of methamphetamine addiction was doing to every aspect of her life. She could be malnourished and haggard, but thought she looked slim and pretty. She was a frenzied whirl of activity and truly believed all her divorced-mom "multi-tasking" was helping her children. "I thought I was Supermom," she said. "For two years, I was probably incoherent, but I thought I was a good mom." She was wrong. [continues 938 words]
When it comes to people who break the law by doing illegal drugs, the solution often is to lock them up. But a decade ago, 3rd District Judge Dennis Fuchs heard a presentation about a different approach: drug court. Dennis Fuchs Fuchs didn't invent it -- that honor goes to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno when she worked as Dade County's top prosecutor in Miami, Fla. However, Fuchs was the first Utah judge to embrace the idea and he has conducted drug court ever since. [continues 645 words]
The drug war is its own drug. You start with a little, and pretty soon you just need more, and more, until it has consumed your life. Unable to stem the demand for illegal drugs, and unwilling to fully fund workable alternatives such as treatment and drug courts, lawmakers around the country have become addicted to applying criminal justice solutions to a public health problem. The result has been similar to the individual who is disappointed to find that casual use of a softish drug hasn't solved all of his problems so, instead of getting clean, he moves on to larger amounts and/or harder drugs. [continues 293 words]
Overdoses: Courts Have Been Busy With Cases In Which Friends Abandoned Dying Companions WEST JORDAN - Utah law has no specific statute that requires rendering assistance to someone in distress. But Michael and Georgia Martinez - whose son died of a heroin overdose in the basement of a friend - believe there should be. "If you see someone dying of an overdose, or anything, you should have to help, or at least call 911," Michael Martinez said Wednesday. His wife Georgia has collected 600 signatures in support of such a law, and the couple hopes to find a lawmaker to sponsor it in time for next year's Legislature. [continues 430 words]
Maximum Penalty For Abandoning Victim WEST JORDAN - While most other mothers were telling their daughters, "Just say no," Macall Petersen and her mom were using drugs together, her attorney said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday. And while another teen might have called 911 to save a best friend from overdosing, Macall Petersen let Amelia Sorich die last summer and then dumped the body in the hills above Bountiful. Third District Judge Royal Hansen said Petersen's troubled upbringing was "no excuse" for injecting Sorich with a fatal mixture of heroin and cocaine and then doing nothing when she passed out. "You abandoned your friend and failed to assist her in the hour of her greatest need. Friends don't do what you did to Amelia Sorich," Hansen said, handing down the maximum possible sentence of zero to six years in prison. Hansen recommended the 18-year-old Draper teen complete a prison drug treatment program, obtain her high school diploma and have no contact with her mother. "That has not been a good thing in your life," the judge said. Hansen went well beyond the recommendations of the defense and prosecution, which asked for a year in jail, probation and drug treatment. The parents of the victim said they hope the stiff sentence will allow them to move on. "It feels good to know [Petersen] will have to think about this for a long time," Kathryn Sorich told news reporters. Sorich had told the judge her 18-year-old daughter was bright, talented and always ready to help a friend in need. She said Amelia took a special interest in Petersen, even inviting the girl to stay with them after she absconded from a drug treatment program. "But the one time [Amelia] needed someone to take action on her behalf, where were you?" Sorich asked, glaring at Petersen. "What were you thinking?" Sorich said her only daughter's death has left her bereft and contemplating suicide. "I have nothing. [continues 446 words]
School, Church Zones Misused To Beef Up Sentences, They Say Carol Tafoya was a small-time Cedar City drug dealer. The 63-year-old woman had six clients - three married couples - to whom she sold methamphetamine so she could support her own daily habit of snorting lines. When one of her customers decided to become a confidential informant and wear a hidden wire, police busted Tafoya in February 2004 on three counts of possession and distribution of a controlled substance for selling $50 and $100 bags of meth - in a "drug-free zone." [continues 1045 words]
A former Salt Lake City police lieutenant, who happens to be Native American, says she was fired after her superiors found out she and her husband used the hallucinogenic plant peyote in religious ceremonies. Now, attorneys for Salt Lake City have agreed to enter into settlement negotiations and seek to have the suit dismissed outside of court. During a hearing in U.S. District court Wednesday, attorney Erik Strindberg said after months of discussion, Salt Lake City has agreed to enter into supervised mediation with his client, Terry Begay. Begay claims she is seeking compensation for religious and racial discrimination by Salt Lake City. According to her suit, she was hired as a police officer by the Salt Lake Police Department in 1986. Begay and her husband are both practicing members of the Native American Church. Begay says she is a member of the Cherokee Chippewa Tribe of Oklahoma and her husband is a member of the Shoshone Tribe of Nevada. As part of their religious beliefs, Begay acknowledges that she uses peyote in some of the sacraments at the Native American Church. According to the suit, Begay also noted that she and her husband had peyote in their possession and maintained the peyote according to their religion's standard practices. In August 2002 the Salt Lake City police received an anonymous letter alleging that Begay was using and providing peyote to others in Native American ceremonies. In January 2003, the department opened a formal investigation into the allegations and Begay admitted to using peyote as part of her religious belief. [continues 318 words]
On Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Royal Hansen imposed the maximum sentence on Macall Aubrey Petersen in the overdose death of 18-year-old Amelia Sorich. Petersen, 19, earlier admitted injecting Sorich with drugs, causing a deadly overdose and then hiding the body. Petersen will spend a year in jail for class A misdemeanor negligent homicide and zero-to-five years in prison for third-degree felony desecration of a human body. She also was ordered to undergo drug treatment and to have no contact with her mother, who was described in court as a longtime drug addict who did drugs with her daughter. [continues 270 words]
Teens Failed To Call '1 -- Then Dumped Friend's Body WEST JORDAN -- Two teenagers who dumped the body of their friend near the Point of the Mountain after he fatally overdosed on drugs were sentenced to jail and juvenile detention Wednesday. Zachary Tyler Martinez Zachary Tyler Martinez, 18, died of a drug overdose March 11, 2005. Rather than call for help when Martinez appeared to be in trouble or even after he died, the teens dumped his body at the Salt Lake County Hang-Gliding Park. Wednesday, two boys, now aged 17 and 18, were sentenced in juvenile court for their roles in the crime. [continues 655 words]
Just six years after Utah was near the top in the nation for the number of meth lab raids per capita, such seizures in Utah have plummeted. Ravell Call, Deseret Morning NewsCold and allergy medicines such as Sudafed, which has ingredients that can be used to make meth, are kept behind the counter at Jolley's Corner Pharmacy in Salt Lake City. The number of illicit methamphetamine-producing operations shut down in Utah last year dropped by 84 percent from 1999's total. [continues 787 words]
Kathleen Parker ignored the basics in her May 5 on-line column blasting Dr. James Dobson for his stand against massive taxpayer spending for The Global Fund. The Global Fund controversy is over how billions of dollars will be misused in the fight against global AIDS. The truth is that President Bush has adopted the Ugandan strategy of A (abstinence), B (be faithful) and C (condoms) to lower HIV rates as the U.S. strategy. Look at the research: Between 1990 and 2002, the prevalence rate of HIV in Uganda in major urban areas plummeted from 31 percent to 6.5 percent. The ABC model is the only strategy that has effectively combated AIDS in a general population. Another truth: Once U.S. money leaves our government's hands, taxpayers must expect absolutely no accountability for how their money is spent. The Fund has and will continue to finance the efforts of liberals, such as George Soros, to legalize prostitution, legalize drug use and sponsor Advertisementhuge dancing condoms that "educate" small children. Soros' organizations have already been awarded more than $80 million by the Fund. Enough! Dr. Dobson strongly supports the fight against AIDS, but when American money is being hijacked to fund the destructive agenda of radical liberals to legalize prostitution and drug use, you better believe he'll speak up. Tom Minnery Focus on the Family Colorado Springs, Colo. [end]
Family Behind Schools With Checkered Record Calls In Political Favors, Critics Say A bill permitting state regulation of boarding schools for troubled teens was quietly smothered in the Utah Capitol this year after the founder of a chain of controversial schools, who is a major Republican donor, lobbied key lawmakers. Powerful legislators, including House Speaker Marty Stephens, held back the measure until the Legislature's clock ran out at midnight on March 3 - the final day of the session. Six days later, the bill's biggest opponent, World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools founder Robert Lichfield, presented a $30,000 check to Stephens' campaign for governor. [continues 1894 words]
The rise and fall of Mexican drug-law reform over recent weeks has been, for drug legalizers, a dizzying high followed by a painfully abrupt crash. U.S. drug authorities laid down their usual bummer: No user is going to get off easy on "their" watch. And thanks to the United States' overwhelming power and influence, their watch extends everywhere. Mexico isn't the first nation to suffer side effects from America's estimated $30 billion-a-year drug war. A 2003 attempt by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien to liberalize drug possession laws met with threats from U.S. drug czar John Walters that the tougher resulting border security could hold up U.S.-Canadian trade, and the idea soon went up in smoke. Colombia has been for years the site of what is essentially a damaging and expensive proxy war in the service of the United States' delusion that it can wipe out cocaine production. [continues 724 words]
Police on Monday recovered two rare copies of the Book of Mormon believed to have been stolen last fall from a Mormon Institute of Religion. SWAT teams from Murray and Midvale, conducting a routine drug raid, searched a home in the 400 East block of Larchwood Drive (6770 South) in Midvale about 9:30 p.m., according to a Midvale police press release. In addition to finding methamphetamine, officers located an 1840 Nauvoo edition of the Book of Mormon and an 1841 Liverpool edition, valued at $35,000 and $25,000, respectively. The books were believed to have been stolen in late October or early November from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion on the U. campus. Also recovered in Monday's raid were two issues of the Salt Lake Herald newspaper from the late 1800s. It is unknown whether those newspapers had been stolen. Assisting in Monday's raid were narcotics detectives from West Jordan and Taylorsville police departments. So far, Monday's raid appears to be unrelated to last week's recovery in Magna of 11 rare copies of the Book of Mormon believed to have been stolen from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Memorial Museum in Salt Lake City. [end]
WEST JORDAN - An 18-year-old Draper woman admitted Thursday to giving her friend a lethal injection of heroin and cocaine last year and then dumping the body in the hills above Bountiful. Macall Petersen pleaded guilty to a class A misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide in connection with the June 25 death of 18-year-old Amelia Sorich. For dumping the body, Petersen pleaded guilty to desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony. In exchange for her pleas, three other third-degree felonies - two counts of drug possession and one count of obstructing justice - were dismissed. [continues 304 words]
Opiate Addiction: 3-Day Program Allegedly Kicks Cravings Without Withdrawals; Critics Bash The Process Mike Brown's descent into prescription pain pill addiction began innocently, when he was given Vicodin by a dentist after a root canal. "In three days I took all 30 pills and got hooked," he said. "I couldn't believe the high. It became a quest to find doctors who would write me prescriptions." The Salt Lake Valley salesman, then 36, had no history of substance abuse. His use soon began spiraling out of control when his wife died in 2000, eight months after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. [continues 608 words]
PROVO - Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy is supporting the actions of a deputy accused of targeting substance-abuse patients for arrest. Tracy says he has spoken with the deputy criticized late last month for allegedly waiting outside the Utah County Substance Abuse clinic to nab patients with outstanding warrants. He said his officer is not acting out of line. "I told him he's not to sit there . . . and do what we call direct enforcement," Tracy said. "But if we see something in and around that area, we're not going to turn a blind eye - that's what they pay us for." [continues 295 words]
I was reading Ted McDonough's article "Crossing the Line" [March 23, City Weekly], and I have to say, I can't even believe that this is an issue. So people get stiffer fines for selling drugs inside of a drug-free zone, and the drug-free zones are so large that they have nowhere to sell their drugs safely? Boo-hoo. The easiest way to avoid a large fine for selling drugs in a drug-free zone? Don't sell drugs anywhere! I thought that the point of our judicial system was to discourage people from breaking the law. If that means that they get stiffer fines for selling drugs anywhere within the city limits, too bad. [continues 76 words]
There is currently a provision within the Higher Education Act that is under fire by both the ACLU and the SSDP: the Students for Sensible Drug Policy. This provision blocks any person who has been convicted of a drug offense to be eligible for financial aid. Thus far, this provision had blocked more than 200,000 prospective college students from receiving financial aid since it was enacted in 2000. More than 250 organizations have called for the full repeal of the law, citing various reasons, but most of all, that it is unconstitutional. [continues 719 words]
It is most certainly disturbing to read with abhorrence about violence and death along the U.S.-Mexico border. After all, that is "their" problem and we must wall it out. The fact however is that this narcoterrorism, and the voracious drug habits in the United States, are synonymous. The demand brings the supply to those who grow or manufacture, package, ship, warehouse, transport, sell, and buy it, which brings the violence and human destruction right to our easy chairs. Yet addicts, casual users, proponents of the legalization of drugs, and many bystanders seem indifferent to the bloodbaths that follow the deliveries to consumers and users. [continues 660 words]
Controversy Simmers Over Whether Non-Indians Can Understand and Respect Native Spirituality When news spread that Arvol Looking Horse would be visiting Utah, many who practice American Indian spirituality were thrilled. Some also felt a chill. Looking Horse, after all, has come to represent the growing sentiment among many American Indians that non-Indians do not belong in the center of sacred ceremonial practice. A Lakota spiritual leader, Looking Horse - with the support of dozens of Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders - issued a proclamation in 2003 calling for an end to exploitation of ceremonies. [continues 1049 words]
I'm writing about Bruce Mirken's outstanding letter, "Prohibition Doesn't Work" [Feb. 2, City Weekly]. I'd like to add that if tough-on-drugs policies worked, the quixotic goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago. And, if tolerant drug policies created more drug use, the Netherlands would have much higher drug usage rates than the United States. They do not. In fact, the Dutch use marijuana and other recreational drugs at much lower rates than Americans do. See the Website: DrugWarFacts.org/TheNethe.htm. And, if tolerant drug policies caused more overall crime, especially violent crime, the Dutch would have much higher crime rates than the United States. [continues 105 words]
Inside Utah
