ST. LOUIS -- It's after-school Thursday, and despite the worn furniture and threadbare carpet, St. Louis City Family Drug Court Commissioner Michael Noble is working his bench like he's on the set of Dr. Phil.

"When was the last time you read a book?" he asks a sullen 15-year-old with weighty gold skull earrings tugging at her earlobes. "Would you rather read or get high?"

"Read," the girl mumbles from behind a small podium.

Noble, a former city prosecutor, steadily grills the girl about her future. Someday, she guesses, she wants to be a nurse.

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I am writing in response to Ervin W. Stone's letter to the editor "Substance abusers shouldn't get priority" (Nov. 7).

It is correct that addiction to drugs and alcohol is devastating. Addiction ruins lives, tears apart families, and devastates communities.

However, the reality is that treatment does work, even mandatory treatment imposed by the court system. Men, women and children who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol do not want to be struggling with a disease that destroys their lives nor do they choose to become addicted. Yet once a person is addicted, countless research studies have shown that physiological changes begin to take place in a person's brain that greatly affect the ability to simply stop using. For many, the only way to recover from addiction is through treatment.

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I must respond to Ervin Stone's letter ("Substance abusers shouldn't get priority," Friday) regarding substance treatment, as such judgmental misconceptions can literally contribute to needless continued suffering and deaths. As a 24-year substance professional, I will note some important facts.

Stone claims that people choose to "drink ... or use drugs to the point of addiction," when volumes of medical research over the past 50 years clearly document true substance dependences as genetic physical conditions characterized by compulsion, increased tolerance (more drug needed) and increasingly severe withdrawal symptoms.

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Voters in Michigan approved a medical cannabis proposal, following 12 other states in allowing doctors to recommend cannabis for serious medical conditions.

It should be noted that it passed in every county, too. This should come as no surprise, since polling on the issue shows consistent support for allowing sick people to use medical marijuana on the recommendation of a physician.

In Illinois a lot of progress was made during the 2008 legislative session with the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Pilot Program bill.

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Drug Problem Cited, but Village Board Is Wary

HAMPSHIRE -- This village has a growing drug problem, and one key to fighting that would be to add a four-legged patrolman to the police force, Police Officer James Neblock told the village board's public safety committee last week.

Neblock and Police Chief Thomas Atchison proposed buying a dog and sending it and one officer through police K-9 training. Once trained, the canine could smell out hidden illegal drugs and defend its handler, other officers and the public from threatening people.

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A Flint, Mich., man whose conviction and 12-year prison sentence were overturned by the Illinois Appellate Court has filed suit against the attorney who represented him, claiming legal malpractice.

Gregory Terry filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, against Kewanee attorney Edward Woller, who represented him and his co-defendant, Keith Sanders, also of Michigan, in a drug trafficking case in state court.

The case stemmed from a June 17, 2006, traffic stop in which Terry and Sanders, who was driving, were found to have a box of cannabis in the vehicle's trunk, the suit states.

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Voters in Michigan approved their medical cannabis proposal, following 12 other states in allowing doctors to recommend cannabis for serious medical conditions.

This should come as no surprise since polling on this issue shows consistent support for allowing sick people to use medical marijuana pursuant to the recommendation of a physician. In Illinois a lot of progress was made during the 2008 legislative session with the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Pilot Program bill. SB 2865 picked up three new co-sponsors this year, and the bill's lead sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, sat down with law enforcement to listen to their concerns and then amended the bill to address those concerns.

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Elementary School Students Put Geneva Mayor On Weekly Broadcast

GENEVA -- As President-elect Barack Obama prepared to address the nation in his first post-election press conference, Mayor Kevin Burns stood before a news camera broadcasting to a smaller, but just as important, audience.

Burns appeared Friday on Channel 10 News, Harrison Street School's building-wide cable TV network, to accept anti-drug pledges signed by students' families during Red Ribbon Week.

Students produce the 15-minute live news show each Friday morning with the help of teachers Becky Furnish and Mark Morrison.

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I read Keith A. Kuhn's "Governor must sign bills to restore funds" letter in the Oct. 8 newspaper and I'd like to state a different opinion.

I know and have known many alcoholics and people who abuse drugs, but I myself am neither. Some are even very close to me and I see firsthand how devastating these addictions can be and what they can do to those who use and how it injures relationships, whether it be friend or family.

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Felony Could Be Vacated With Completion Of Program

GALESBURG -- A former Galesburg Police Department lieutenant will spend the next 180 days in the Knox County jail after pleading guilty to stealing drugs from the department's evidence locker.

David W. Hendricks, 50, pleaded guilty Oct. 2 to one count of possession of a controlled substance and official misconduct.

In imposing the sentence Thursday in Knox County Circuit Court, Judge Steven Bordner said Hendricks tarnished the reputation of the police department and brought shame to himself and the community. He said failing to impose a sentence of incarceration would further reflect badly on the police department and justice system.

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Something that Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis said the other day in his speech to local dignitaries struck me as one more reason our troubled society has deteriorated to a level never imagined. Weis said he is giving up on trying to stop the sale of drugs in a large part of Chicago by gangs that ruthlessly control these neighborhoods, in favor of concentrating police efforts on reducing violence.

In other words, he's saying it's OK to sell dope to a population already overcome with social problems, as long as these poisoners-of-society don't kill too many people. Another downward step in this decaying democracy which held so much promise to the people of the world in past years.

Things go from bad to near impossible, it seems.

Al Carli,

Archer Heights

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I totally disagree with the bill for a medical marijuana pilot program. I personally believe if the law allows patients or primary caregivers to grow eight plants, and they are able to walk around with marijuana, people will also want cocaine and heroin to became legal to treat illness and sick people. An illegal drug is an illegal drug whether the drug is marijuana or any other drug.

If marijuana is going to be legal for some people and not others is unfair. The bill should ask for marijuana to become a legal drug instead of being partially legal.

Ernestine Remer

Springfield

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Let me illustrate why Peter Bensinger is wrong on drug policy ["Make fighting drug, alcohol abuse a priority," Oct. 31].

There are those who can function and be responsible members of society and use drugs that are illegal. There are also those who abuse these same drugs and are not functional. The problem is that the law does not distinguish between the two.

America needs to remember that alcohol prohibition failed, and the war on drugs is just another prohibition.

Establishing regulated and controlled policies for illegal drugs is much more sensible than continuing to outlaw these potentially dangerous substances. Treating addiction as a public health matter and not one for the criminal justice systems is beneficial for addicts and their families, plus it has proved to be more cost-effective than incarceration.

Dan Linn

West Town

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Man does this guy Peter B. Bensinger ["Make fighting drug, alcohol abuse a priority," Friday] have his head in the sand -- real deep sand.

Kevin Meehan, Park Ridge

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State Laws, County Efforts Credited With Decline

TOVEY -- It's been a while since Dennis Braeuninger has run across anyone cooking up a batch of methamphetamine in his cornfield about three miles south of Tovey.

About five years ago, it was a different story for the Christian County farmer.

One day in June or July, while transferring a load of corn from a storage bin to a truck, Braeuninger saw a small pickup speed out of his field just yards from where he was working. The tall summer corn had hidden the truck, and when he walked back to investigate, he found empty blister packets from a package of pseudoephedrine tablets.

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I would like to thank state Sen. Michael Noland for taking a stand to protect Illinois patients and co-sponsoring Senate Bill 2865.

Senate Bill 2865 and its partner bill, House Bill 5938, would protect medical cannabis patients in Illinois. HB 5938 is sponsored by a Republican, so hopefully this vital issue will not get caught up in partisan politics.

If passed, the Illinois Department of Public Health would administer the medical cannabis program and to qualify, patients would need written certification from a doctor to obtain a state-issued medical cannabis identification card, which must be renewed at regular intervals.

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The Sun-Times commentary by Joe Conason of Oct. 23 was a mixed blessing. On the positive side, it brought attention to a subject completely neglected during the presidential debates and by the media in interviews with the candidates.

On the negative side, it was misleading. The writer proposes abandoning control of illegal drugs and investing money elsewhere. The result of that action would be more addiction, more crime and much higher social and economic costs.

England tried this approach in the early 1970s and made heroin legal and obtainable at pharmacies, with the objective of reducing heroin imports and illegal sales.

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In Illinois, anyone convicted of a felony or misdemeanor drug offense is required to pay a fee that helps fund drug rehabilitation programs statewide, such as the Duane Dean Behavioral Health Center in Kankakee.

But local officials say the large fees, known as drug assessments, place an impossible burden on convicts already facing incarceration, and often go unpaid.

Records show that since the Cannabis Control Act was passed in 1992, drug convicts in Kankakee County have paid $1.4 million in assessments - -- only 40 percent of the $3.5 million charged. This year, $209,080 has been assessed as of Sept. 30, but only $100,181, or 48 percent, has been paid.

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Hopefully Illinois lawmakers can join 12 other states in protecting some of the most vulnerable members of society by granting them access to an alternative form of treatment, medical cannabis. While some might think that medical cannabis is a joke, for those who consume the plant for their day to day functioning it is no laughing matter.

Illinois lawmakers should pass Senate Bill 2865 and let doctors and patients decide what treatment is best for their condition. The act would allow for the compassionate use of cannabis by those whose doctors recommend using the plant. The bill has been amended to limit the amount of patients to just 1,200 statewide and would be administered by the Dept. of Public Health. Plus, it will expire three years after enacted, so any concerns of it being de facto legalization or sending the wrong message to children are wrong.

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I'm writing about Logan Short's not-so-thoughtful article: "Marijuana poses environmental threat" (10-23-08).

I'd like to ask how much tobacco, the kind that contains nicotine, is grown in our national forests?

None, because it is legal.

Marijuana is the foundation of our so-called war on drugs. Remove marijuana from the equation, and the whole drug war will collapse.

The so-called war on drugs is a huge industry and huge bureaucracy. Victory in the drug war is not possible, nor is it the goal. Victory in the drug war would mean that the drug war industry and bureaucracy are out of business.

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