Governor's Office Cites Related Florida Case.

Opponents of Law That Took Effect Tuesday Preparing to Sue.

The state will hold off on implementation until a court rules on a related Florida case, As a new state law to drug test welfare recipients went into effect Tuesday, state officials said they will delay enforcing it, even as opponents were girding to sue.

With the passage this spring of House Bill 772, the Georgia Legislature and Gov. Nathan Deal approved the nation's hardest-hitting law that calls for drug tests on recipients of poverty aid.

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Committee Will Look at Legalizing Limited Use.

Georgia lawmakers are moving ahead with plans to study the legalization of medical marijuana.

General Assembly leaders began this week to appoint committee members charged with making recommendations on the issue, after the state House and Senate failed to reach a compromise in the waning hours of this year's legislative session. State Rep. Allen Peake, RMacon, will lead the committee along with Senate Health and Human Services Chairwoman Renee Unterman, R-Buford.

The appointments come amid a flurry of announcements from the state Capitol over assignments to a number of panels. Some study committees spend state money to look into issues of debatable value, such as self-driving cars. Others will tackle serious issues, such as the state's controversial attempts to store water in underground aquifers.

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Congratulations to the leadership of Holly Springs and to their police for preparing all their officers with drug overdose kits and the first to do so in the state of Georgia. As a result, they saved a life recently with one of these kits, recommended by one of their own who had lost her child to drug-induced asthma. What are the rest of our communities going to do? Sandy Springs, wake up.

RALPH MARION, SANDY SPRINGS

[end]

Trained last week, Holly Springs cop saved woman from overdose

In the nine months since her daughter's death, Holly Springs Lieutenant Tanya Smith has done more than grieve.

Smith was instrumental in the passage of legislation allowing drug overdose kits to be carried by non-medical personnel.

Last week her department became the first in the state to carry the naloxone kits and now it has paid off. Sergeant Nathan Ernst used it Wednesday morning to save a 24-year-old woman who was unconscious and experiencing seizures from an overdose.

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It doesn't matter whether you credit God or Charles Darwin. The looks that babies give us are designed to bring out our most protective instincts.

And so the image of 19-month-old Bounkham "Bou Bou" Phonesavanh, with his face burned away by a flash-bang police grenade hurled into his playpen, has done more than wring a few hearts.

In little more than a week, the injured toddler has sparked a rare alliance of Georgia's disparate political factions: rural Republicans and urban blacks, tea partyers and liberal Democrats - all out to rein in the use of "no-knock" search warrants.

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Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday he's awaiting an investigation of the botched drug raid in Habersham County that left a child on life support to determine if any executive action or state legislation is needed.

"Any time you have bad facts like this one, it does give you cause for concern," Deal said. "It's one of those things that require a thorough investigation =C2=85 to know what if anything we can learn from it."

Habersham County District Attorney Brian Rickman said he is investigating whether any officers violated the law when they used a controversial "no-knock warrant" for a raid on a Cornelia house Wednesday =2E

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The Habersham County toddler's injuries ("Toddler severely hurt in police raid," News, May 30) are the predictable result of our militarized policing and the drug war. After four decades of the "War on Drugs," America's police forces have more military hardware than do many countries' armies. According to the Cato Institute, more than 50,000 "no knock" warrants are issued here each year. These military-style raids predictably lead to tragedies like the one Thursday. Countries like Switzerland and Portugal, in contrast, treat addiction and drug abuse as a public health issue. It's time we follow their examples; it's time for a cease fire.

WARREN GOODWIN, ATLANTA

[end]

All citizens should be outraged by the Habersham County Sheriff's office. ("Toddler severely hurt in police raid," News, May 30). Police officers stormed a house and threw a "distraction device" into a 19-month-old boy's playpen. The child now has a 50 percent chance of survival and extensive facial injuries for life and possible brain damage, assuming he survives. Apparently Sheriff Joey Terrell relied on a confidential informant to get a "no knock" warrant for a house where the informant allegedly bought drugs. Apparently no surveillance was done prior to busting down the door and inflicting carnage on an innocent baby boy. The person the sheriff wanted to arrest was not even home and those who were there were visitors from Wisconsin. They had no connection to the alleged drug activity. If the sheriff's office would have simply done some cursory surveillance it would have discovered the van parked in front of the house had infant car seats and other indications of the baby being there. If they would have staked out the house to determine if and when the person they were looking for was there, they most likely would have discovered the baby and family.

T. DENNIS BICKHAM III, ATLANTA

[end]

State, Federal Agencies Look into Incident That Left Child Badly Hurt.

The investigation into the botched drug raid that left a baby critically injured is growing to include state and federal authorities.

"As a parent, I can't imagine the horrible nightmare that this family is enduring," said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates on Tuesday. "Federal and state authorities are coordinating to get to the bottom of what happened."

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday that at the request of the district attorney it would investigate whether narcotics officers violated the law in executing a controversial "no-knock" search warrant last Wednesday.

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Attorney: 2010 Raid Mirrors Botched One in Habersham County.

Injured Parties in Both Cases Were Not Targets.

Like the baby in Habersham County, a woman ended up in intensive care after Clayton County SWAT officers tossed a flash-bang grenade that she contends landed on her as she slept.

Treneshia Dukes, now 27, said in an ongoing federal lawsuit that police tossed the grenade through her bedroom window nearly four years ago when executing a "no-knock" search warrant. She spent three days in Grady Memorial Hospital's intensive care burn unit.

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A drug buy, a no-knock police raid and a flash-bang grenade have left a 19-month-old child clinging to life today and his family and commentators questioning the tactics that put him in intensive care. The 3 a.m. raid Wednesday in Habersham County unearthed no drugs, no weapons, no bundles of cash and not even the suspect drug dealer.

It left a visiting family from Wisconsin -- whom authorities described as unlucky innocents -- terrified, and their son on a ventilator. The raid also puts the spotlight on the controversial no-knock warrants and whether magistrates too easily approve them, said Robert Friedmann, a policing expert at Georgia State University. Friedmann noted the no-knock warrants -- where police officers kick in doors instead of announcing their presence -- are common in drug cases but "the problem is you come up with consequences like this. Police have a hard time explaining. They can explain and they can explain.

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CORNELIA, Ga. -- A toddler caught in the middle of a drug raid was seriously injured Wednesday when a police flash grenade exploded in his playpen.

The raid in which the 19-month-old child, who is recovering at Grady Hospital's burn unit in Atlanta, was injured was at a house in Habersham County.

Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell, who described the device in various ways - a "stun grenade" and "flash grenade" and "flash bang" - said there was no indication that a family with four children were guests in the suspected drug dealer's house when his team went in and threw that flash grenade to try to arrest the suspect.

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Heroin use is on the rise statewide, while many other drugs appear to be waning, according to an analysis of drug submissions to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab.

The analysis shows heroin submissions have increased by more than 300 percent since 2011. The current fiscal year has seen a 20 percent increase, while all other drugs during that period have decreased by 22 percent.

It's a problem local police are also dealing with.

Richmond County sheriff's Sgt. Jason Vinson took a four-year break from the narcotics division to work in criminal investigations. When he recently returned to narcotics, he said he was surprised at the drug's sudden popularity.

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Supporters for marijuana law reform rallied outside the Athens-Clarke County City Hall on Monday.

"Marijuana is a popular issue around the country right now, and we are here to basically bring public attention to the fact that we are not criminals and people who use marijuana are no more criminal than a person who drinks wine," said James Bell, director of the Georgia Campaign for Access Reform and Education Project.

The rally was facilitated by the Georgia CARE Project.

Bell said he expected up to 50 people, from different areas of Georgia and other states, to attend the event.

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It swallowed people up.

That's what it really did, if you want to know the truth. It swallowed them up whole, swallowed them up by the millions.

In the process, it hollowed out communities, broke families, stranded hope. Politicians brayed that they were being "tough on crime" -- as if anyone is really in favor of crime -- as they imposed ever longer and more inflexible sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. But the "War on Drugs" didn't hurt drugs at all: Usage rose by 2,800 percent - -- that's not a typo -- in the 40 years after it began in 1971. The "War" also made America the biggest jailer on Earth and drained a trillion dollars -- still not a typo -- from the treasury.

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ATLANTA - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed into law a bill that would grant amnesty in some cases to those who seek medical help in the event of a drug overdose.

Deal signed the bill Thursday, and it takes immediate effect. Lawmakers had overwhelmingly passed the "Georgia 911 Medical Amnesty Law."

Supporters of the law argue some people are too afraid to call for medical help for themselves or others because they fear prosecution on drug charges. The law would grant amnesty only on drug possession charges when amounts are small.

Supporters say the bill won't help drug dealers, but could save lives.

Some 17 states have passed similar so-called "Good Samaritan laws."

[end]

Americans are confused about medical marijuana.

On the one hand, research shows some of marijuana's components may become useful medicines. Two, Marinol and Cesamet, already are. Both are synthetic versions of THC, marijuana's psychoactive component. Doctors prescribe them to reduce chemotherapy-related nausea and AIDS wasting in patients when nothing else works.

Two more, Sativex and Epidiolex, are undergoing U.S. clinical trials. Sativex is equal parts THC and cannabidiol. If it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, doctors will prescribe it to treat advanced cancer pain, muscle spasticity and neuropathic pain caused by multiple sclerosis. Epidiolex is purified cannabidiol that contains no THC. It is just beginning clinical trials here to treat seizures caused by Dravet and LennoxGastaut syndromes.

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Diverse Range Of People Said To Be Involved

Even without a law to cover them in Georgia, dozens and maybe hundreds of people in the Augusta area are using marijuana or a derivative to treat ailments, one activist said.

Medical marijuana activist Maison Harley said their shadowy use clamors for the state to extend legal protection amid an evolving understanding of the potential health benefits of cannabis.

"That's the gray area that all of these families are having to go into," he said. "Most of them have taken it upon themselves to find these products via any means necessary."

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ATLANTA - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday announced two separate efforts to pursue clinical trials on a cannabis-based drug that has shown promise in helping children who suffer from seizure disorders.

The first would pair a private pharmaceutical company with a Georgia Regents University professor and expand ongoing clinical trials of a product using cannabidiol, or CDB, a compound in marijuana that doesn't produce a high in users.

The second model would create a new clinical trial led by the university, with cannabis obtained from the National Institute on Drug Abuse research farm at the University of Mississippi. A new trial likely would take longer to begin because it requires more steps for federal approval, Deal said.

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Georgia Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon is to be commended for making the case for medical cannabis. While there have been studies showing that cannabis can shrink cancerous tumors, medical cannabis is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends cannabis to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical cannabis is a quality of life decision best left to patients and their doctors.

Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic cannabis is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical cannabis patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating health-care decisions. It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick patients should not be criminalized for daring to seek relief using cannabis.

- -- Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C.

[end]