As simple as some things are in life, there are others that are not just a fight, they are a belief in what is right and something that is humane. With all of my children, I have had to choose which hills to die on, and giving in on the hills I thought ridiculous for me to defend.

Our country is at a crossroads right now. There are many hills we march our armed forces into and tell them, "defend this hill to the death." We will take a stand right here and as a result, people will live and enjoy their American freedom because of those who sacrificed.

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The District 158 school board took a big step last week, implementing a policy to randomly drug-test students involved in extracurricular activities.

Drug testing students is controversial and will have consequences, but it is within the rights of the school district to set such a policy. Participating in extracurricular activities is a privilege and something schools should encourage. Such participation is valued by universities and society.

If schools want to force students to choose between extracurricular activities and using drugs, we hope students will make the only sensible choice.

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More than 10 months ago, Springfield aldermen changed the rules so getting caught with a small amount of marijuana or drug paraphernalia wouldn't automatically result in a criminal record.

But since that Feb. 3 vote, city police haven't issued any ordinance violations for those two offenses, instead opting to continue to cite people under the state statute, which makes it a crime.

That means the change, pushed by Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson largely as a way to generate money for the city, which faces a multimillion-dollar budget crisis, hasn't brought in any extra revenue.

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HUNTLEY -- McHenry County sheriff's police announced Monday that they seized three-quarters of a ton of marijuana, with a street value estimated at $1.5 million, and arrested five men in a raid near Huntley and Hampshire Sunday evening.

Sheriff Keith Nygren said the arrests resulted from a joint investigation by the sheriff's department's narcotics division and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Nygren said investigators became aware on Sunday that a semi-trailer truck of a certain description contained a large shipment of marijuana and was driving along I-90.

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HUNTLEY - Authorities arrested five men and seized a record 1,464 pounds of marijuana that rode into McHenry County inside pallets of onions.

Sheriff's police and federal drug agents tracked a semitrailer Sunday to a pole barn at 14206 Harmony Road outside Huntley, Sheriff Keith Nygren announced Monday.

Authorities saw subjects using a fork lift to unload what appeared to be pallets of onions inside an outbuilding at the farm, police said. Ultimately, they found 58 bales of marijuana inside the pallets.

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Here's how powerful heroin is.

In September 2007, 18-year-old Nick Beinlich overdosed on it in the Buffalo Grove home of his Stevenson High School classmate Matt McGovern and never regained consciousness, dying five days later.

Four months later, River Forest police found McGovern in a shopping center parking lot, slumped over the steering wheel of his car with a needle dangling from his arm.

Just think about that. A friend essentially died in his house, and that didn't stop McGovern from using. It wasn't enough to scare him straight, wasn't enough to shame him straight, wasn't enough to force him to face his addiction.

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I'm writing about Kristen Ziman's column: "DARE on hold, but does it matter?" (Dec. 13).

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs -- not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited.

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Please contact your state lawmakers and urge them to support the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, Senate Bill 1381 and House Bill 2514. The recent calling for a review of cannabis as a "schedule one drug" by the American Medical Association is one more reason why lawmakers need to protect Illinois cannabis patients. The scheduling of cannabis as a schedule one drug is ridiculous because there has not been one documented overdose fatality.

The medical cannabis legislation in Springfield has been revised and redrafted over the years to ensure a safe, regulated and controlled medical cannabis program, not anything like the one in California. The sponsors have taken what is working from the 13 states with medical cannabis programs and avoided what is not working in some of those states when writing these bills. Plus, there are increased penalties for those who break the law by abusing the program.

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Forced DUI blood draws have been happening around the country. The issue has now made it to Springfield. Strong opinions exist on both sides of the issue. Please consider these questions as you think about the type of country we should have.

Should we force blood draws on all people for the war on drugs? It could save lives. Should we force open all homes for mandatory searches for the war on drugs, terror or any other criminal activity? It could save lives. Should we mandate doctors to search all people medically for crime? Let's deputize the medical industry. Prescription drug abuse, unapproved medicine, risky behavior, all could be criminal.

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A not so jolly drug-war Santa has delivered Chicago's Southwest Siders a really big lump of coal in the form of 650 pounds of that dreaded weed, America's favorite illegal and uncontrolled substance -- cannabis sativa. ["650 lbs. of pot seized in Stickney," suntimes.com.]

The drugs, valued at nearly $2 million, were imported from Mexico, despite a really big fence partially constructed along the 1,952-mile border.

The DEA isn't saying whether the drugs got over, under, around or through the really big fence, but chances are, given the season, the drugs were stowed, unbeknownst to Santa, inside one of his really big sleighs that regularly evade radar in the Caribbean.

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As you may have heard, due to the financial times we are all currently experiencing, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program has been suspended as a cost-saving measure by Aurora Police.

Since the announcement went public, many have asked me if DARE really works. I have heard from those whose opinions I respect say unequivocally that DARE does not work. On the other end of the spectrum, I have heard others declare that the program absolutely works. Unfortunately, there is no scientific method for proving that either side is correct.

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From cancer victims to the person who lives with severe chronic pain, the words "pain and suffering " remind us of some distress that we lived with or through. Someone you might know is living in pain right now. Taking many medications that have numerous terrible side effects, some of which could cause death, just trying to ease the pain. There are times that the prescribed medicine is being stretched out because the cost is so high a patient cannot afford to take as prescribed.

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Signing for Sudafed can be a pain for customers and store clerks alike. But as the recent meth-related arrests in Highland and Bond County remind us, it's worth the inconvenience.

Since 2006, Illinois has tightly controlled the sale of cold and sinus medicine that contains pseudoephedrine -- a key ingredient in methamphetamine. The law requires that stores keep the drugs behind their counters, limit the amount sold and maintain a log of purchasers.

The law has helped dramatically reduce the number of meth labs in Illinois. The attorney general's office said that in 2003 through 2005, authorities seized more than 900 meth labs per year. By 2008, the number seized had dropped to 390.

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A few weeks back, I wrote a story called "Is DARE a GREAT loss?"

It was in response to the Aurora Police Department canceling Drug Abuse Resistance Education, a program it taught to fifth-graders. There's no lack of support for DARE in the department, but with the city's eight-figure budget deficit, there is a lack of money.

The story questioned the value of DARE, an anti-drug program with a spotty record of influencing drug choices. As the U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman I talked to said, "there isn't any credible evidence that the (DARE) program works."

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WOODSTOCK ­ A 21-year-old Wonder Lake remained in police custody on $25,000 bond Friday after police said he tried to smuggle in someone else's urine for a drug and alcohol test.

[name redacted], of [address redacted], had the urine in a plastic container taped to his thigh, said Sgt. Michael Cisner of the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.

"People don't understand that they have to take a urine test for a reason and to try to bring someone else's urine to fool the testing process just makes their situation more severe," Cisner said. "Then they get caught and go back to jail."

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Itasca police and officials are making the best of some drivers' bad situations.

The Itasca village board on Tuesday unanimously passed a measure that allows the village to prosecute drivers who are pulled over and found to have marijuana or drug paraphernalia in their possession.

Formerly, the village could only prosecute moving violations. But criminal charges had to be booked through the DuPage County state's attorney's office, said Deputy Itasca Police Chief Bob O'Connor.

"A lot of times we had a subject who would be arrested for DUI and we would find a cannabis pipe on him and would automatically have to book under a state statute," he said. "This change just makes sense."

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It was with some consternation that I read the column by George Will in Sunday's paper. The arrogance with which Will casually dismissed those of us who could be greatly helped by medical marijuana as mere dopers trying to con the lawmakers into giving them an easy way to get high was shocking. How dare that man dismiss me and my suffering without any information on the subject.

Only someone as pompous as George Will can make statements like that. I can only wish there was some mechanism that would allow me to give Will my disease for a couple of months and then see what this arrogant man has to say on the subject of pain relief and constant nausea and lack of appetite, to say nothing of dealing with the side effects of morphine, Fentanyl, Lyrica and Cymbalta, to mention just some of the drugs I have to ingest.

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State law continues to incarcerate individuals who use, possess, cultivate or distribute marijuana, even if the marijuana is for personal use by adults.

Incarceration of nonviolent individuals not only wastes taxpayer money, it overcrowds prisons so much that violent criminals are often allowed to go free when they are eligible for parole.

Also, look at law-abiding taxpayers, people who had jobs and families who have been torn apart because they used marijuana and were caught. They might have used it to help fight pain and emotional distress, where pills couldn't do what marijuana can. Right now these nonviolent people sit in prison.

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MATTOON -- Area law officers claim a marijuana arrest last week put a major dent in the drug trade for Central Illinois.

[redacted] faces delivery of cannabis charges for a Nov. 23 East Central Illinois Task Force arrest in the Mattoon Steak N Shake parking lot. Officers confiscated 1.25 pounds of cannabis and $100,030 in cash, according to Coles County Circuit Court documents.

"This guy was obviously a major supplier," said Coles County Sheriff Darrell Cox after a press conference Monday at Mattoon Police Department. "And the best part is we will be using the money to fight our war against this. This case is one of the reasons we have the task force. And this was the second-largest amount of cash seized by the task force in its history."

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I was involved in a car accident. Since that time, I have had three back surgeries and have not been able to work. I was told by my doctor last week that I may need yet another surgery.

I am 45 years old and was a union painter before the accident.

I am on six different medications for all of my symptoms. What is one medication that could ease my symptoms without causing so much bodily harm? After much reading and gathering facts I have found that miracle medication - marijuana.

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