Amy Stalker says she had more control over her own health when she lived in Colorado, where marijuana can be legally prescribed as medicine. Stalker now lives in Kentucky, where medical use of marijuana is banned. A judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday against Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear that called for the legalization of medical marijuana in Kentucky. In his opinion, Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate wrote that the Kentucky Supreme Court clearly established in a 2000 decision involving actor and hemp activist Woody Harrelson that the General Assembly has the sole discretion under the state Constitution to regulate the use of cannabis in the state. The courts do not have the authority to intervene, Wingate wrote. [continues 450 words]
He was licensed to grow hemp in Kentucky. Police say they found marijuana instead. Kentucky officials are reviewing a case that could result in a former sheriff being kicked out of the state's pilot program to grow industrial hemp after he was charged with cultivating marijuana. Former Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman is thought to the first participant in the hemp program to be arrested for allegedly growing marijuana, hemp's psychoactive cousin. Peyman has been approved to grow hemp since 2015, the year after he lost reelection and left office, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. [continues 570 words]
Former Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman was involved in a marijuana-growing operation and possessed enough anabolic steroids to indicate he was trafficking in the drug, Kentucky State Police have charged. A detective for the state police Drug Enforcement/Special Investigations unit for the eastern half of the state arrested Peyman at his farm south of McKee Wednesday at 4:44 p.m. after serving a search warrant, according to the citation. The citation said the warrant was the culmination of an investigation in which 61 marijuana plants had been found earlier growing at Peyman's farm. [continues 353 words]
Other states allow medical marijuana. Judge asks why Kentucky shouldn't join them. A Franklin Circuit Court judge on Tuesday asked attorneys for the state why Kentucky should not make medical marijuana available to patients who believe it might help them, given that "we've pretty much decriminalized" the drug around much of the nation and even in parts of the state. Judge Thomas Wingate is considering motions by Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear to dismiss a lawsuit filed in June by three Kentuckians who want the legal right to use marijuana as medicine in the state where they live. Wingate said he expects to hand down a decision on the motion in the near future. [continues 649 words]
As the death toll from opioid overdoses in Kentucky and the rest of the Midwest continues to soar, it's truly disconcerting to see that policymakers are taking steps that are not only devoid of medical and common sense, but virtually guaranteed to make matters worse. The recent passage of the ill-conceived House Bill 333, which imposes a three-day limit (with certain exceptions) on opioid prescribing, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons behind the addiction epidemic. All this new law will accomplish is to make matters worse for both pain patients and addicts. The former will suffer needlessly; the latter will die in even greater numbers. [continues 519 words]
Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear want a Frankfort judge to dismiss a lawsuit calling for the legalization of medical marijuana in Kentucky. In a motion filed Monday in Franklin Circuit Court, Bevin's attorneys said medical marijuana is a "political question" that should be decided by the General Assembly, not a judge. "Since at least 2014, the legislature has debated bills advocating for the lawful use of medicinal marijuana in every legislative session," attorney Barry Dunn wrote for the governor's office. "The General Assembly will consider legalizing medicinal marijuana again in the 2018 session. It is solely within the General Assembly's constitutional powers to determine whether to make medicinal marijuana lawful." [continues 534 words]
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Saying its time has come, state Sen. Morgan McGarvey on Wednesday called on the legislature to consider legalizing medical marijuana to relieve pain and suffering of terminally ill people. "It's 2017," McGarvey, a Louisville Democrat, told members of the joint House-Senate Health and Welfare Committee. "I think it's time we had a conversation about medical marijuana without snickering." Members of the committee took no action on legislation McGarvey is proposing for the 2018 legislative session but no one spoke against the proposal and some committee members spoke in favor of the measure that went nowhere in the past two legislative sessions. [continues 676 words]
Like most of small town America, Southern Indiana was unprepared for the opioid crisis. That's what Sam Quinones said, who is an expert on the roots of America's heroin and prescription drug crisis. "It's bad all over the country, but I would say it's probably particularly unkempt in areas such as Southern Indiana," he said. Smaller towns "never had to deal with the issues that come along with opiate addiction like how hard it is to kick, all the ancillary effects of having an addict in the family, aE& the lying, the destruction of family savings." [continues 820 words]
One woman relied on old needles used by her friend's diabetic husband. Another settled for whatever syringes she could find. But for the first time since they started using drugs several years ago, both women have access to fresh syringes. They are getting them through a needle exchange in Frankfort. "If you can have a new one every time, why wouldn't you?" asked the younger of the two women, who both spoke to the CJ on condition of anonymity for fear of being stigmatized or getting fired. "I think it's awesome that they're doing this. [continues 1730 words]
A partnership that's working to fight drug addiction in eastern Kentucky has received a $100,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, Republican Rep. Hal Rogers announced Thursday. Operation UNITE, which operates in 32 counties in southern and eastern Kentucky, was founded in 2003 by Rogers to deal with what was at the time primarily an epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers. Kentucky's Appalachian counties have since seen a surge in overdoses from heroin, as well as opioid painkillers. The competitive grant includes $50,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [continues 123 words]
A year ago, I woke in the night with pain so severe I was crying before I was fully aware what was going on. A 50-year-old cop sobbed like a child in the dark. It was a ruptured disc and related nerve damage. Within a couple of months, it became so severe that I could no longer walk or stand. An MRI later, my surgeon soothingly told me it would all be OK. A nurse practitioner handed me a prescription for painkillers -- 180 tablets, 90 each of oxycodone and hydrocodone. [continues 656 words]
The days-old newborn shook and screamed, his tiny chest fluttering with rapid breaths. Even his mother's arms couldn't soothe him. Withdrawal from heroin was Jordan Barkley's first experience of the world. His mom, Amy Kalber, shot up every day for most of her pregnancy. The drugs coursing through her body sickened Jordan, who spent seven weeks in neonatal intensive care, suffering from diarrhea and tremors, sucking on morphine as he weaned off the heroin. "It breaks my heart. It really does," said Kalber, 33, who is now in recovery. "I just couldn't stop. With heroin, you have to do it. You have to get it. It doesn't stop." [continues 1287 words]
Tiffany Wigginton Carnal is in the fight of her life to save her daughter. Lyndi Carnal, 17, has Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition. Lyndi was diagnosed when she was 14. Since that time, she and her mother have spent three Christmases, three New Year's Days and countless other days at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The medications Lyndi has taken to control the Crohn's and subsequent pain have negatively impacted her heart, kidneys and liver. Lyndi has also had her colon and rectum removed. The medications to control the pain keep Lyndi sedated and unable to function. One of her medications, Dilaudid, is a strong opiate that can be addictive. [continues 464 words]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say officers in Cincinnati intercepted more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine that was concealed inside a statue of a snail. Authorities say the package, which came from Mexico and was labeled "Mexican stone crafts," contained a decorative snail statue that exhibited "interior anomalies" during an X-ray inspection on Dec. 30. Customs officers drilled a hole into the statue and found 53 pounds of a white crystalline powder that tested positive for meth. Richard Gillespie, CBP's Cincinnati Port Director, says the agency's officers excel at preventing dangerous packages from reaching innocent citizens. The snail's intended destination was Lawrenceville, Georgia. [end]
'It's A Mess.' Nicholasville experienced a surge in heroin overdoses Monday and Tuesday, said Aaron Stamper, chief of Jessamine County Emergency Services. "It's a mess right now," Stamper said shortly before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. "We've had five overdoses in the last eight hours, and I think in the last 24 hours, we've had nine overdoses." There was one suspected drug overdose death Saturday, but the overdoses that happened Monday and Tuesday did not result in death, said Jessamine County Coroner Mike Hughes. [continues 180 words]
Backers of marijuana legalization on Monday stepped up their pressure on the U.S. Senate to block the confirmation of Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general. Sessions, a staunch opponent of legalization, angered proponents in April when he called pot "dangerous" and said that "good people don't smoke marijuana." Marijuana backers want the issue aired Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee begins Sessions' confirmation hearing. "It's a national thing: This hearing is make or break for the marijuana folks," said Adam Eidinger, who heads a pro-legalization group in Washington, D.C., called DCMJ. [continues 796 words]
Growing up, Evan Blessett was as an avid soccer player and honor roll student. He loved skateboarding and played the drums later in his teen years. But one role that his dad, Doug, never thought his son would play was one of a recovering drug addict. "The thing that gets me is he got past us," Doug Blessett said about his 29-year-old son, who is a counselor at The Healing Place, an addiction recovery center in Louisville. "When my son went through this, I took it personally. You think you would see it, and I didn't." [continues 1428 words]
Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali didn't back down from a fight and also stood up for underdogs. So it's fitting that his center will house this year's annual event focused on battling drug addiction. Recovery from heroin and other drug addiction can take years and many stints in rehab, but it is possible - the central message of hope is the theme of Recovery Rally 2016, a free event from noon-2:30 p.m., Saturday at the Muhammad Ali Center, 144 N. 6th St. [continues 149 words]
Dr. James Patrick Murphy, a nationally-recognized pain medicine specialist, balances guidelines meant to lessen the risks of addiction with a patient's need for pain relief, examines Marta D. Thomas of Old Louisville. Thomas is a volunteer at Kosair Pediatric Convalescent Center and receives radiofrequency lesioning (which melts the covers off nerves so they don't transmit pain for 4-6 months.) 27 October 2016(Photo: David R. Lutman/Special to The C) Cattle farmer Marquis Smith is in pain, but he doesn't get sick leave. [continues 1207 words]
Tara Moseley was in her early 20s, homeless and addicted to opioids for nearly a year when she walked into The Healing Place in Louisville. Her drinking had escalated after high school and she had stopped going to class two weeks into college. A broken leg led to a five-month opioid prescription and that led to a physical dependence on pain pills. When pills became scarce on the street, she switched to heroin. She needed a bed the day she showed up at The Healing Place and agreed to go through detox. After that, when the staff suggested she try their residential recovery program, she said yes. [continues 962 words]
Ismael Gonzalez-Gonzalez was supposed to be deported nine years ago, but Cuba wouldn't take him. Instead, he wound up in Louisville and, police say, emerged as a local boss directing the flow of drugs in the Louisville area and beyond for a Mexican cartel. It's unclear how Gonzalez, a convicted felon who was arrested in a surprise drug raid last summer, first entered the United States before he ended up in Louisville, where he settled into a house in Jeffersontown. Many details about his case remain hidden in sealed federal court records. [continues 769 words]
After over a year of waiting for a needle exchange, the Clark County Health Department will open its syringe exchange at the end of January. The needle exchange, located at 1301 Akers Ave. in Jeffersonville, will start Jan. 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and be open each Thursday from then on. Dr. Kevin Burke, the Clark County health commissioner, said he hopes the program will eventually provide services two days a week and operate the needle exchange at other locations. [continues 625 words]
Clouded by controversies surrounding the recreational use of pot and a common view that it is a gateway to more serious drug abuse and addiction, medical applications of marijuana are not clearly understood. Based on the reams of disclaimers included with every prescription, all forms of medicine have some unwanted -- and potentially harmful -- side effects. Certainly, marijuana will not be the exception. But it's hard to collect facts when research is not being conducted. The federal Food and Drug Administration requires scientific clinical trials involving thousands of patients to determine the benefits and risks of any possible medication. So far, researchers have not conducted enough large-scale clinical trials to determine if the benefits of the marijuana plant outweigh its risks in patients it is meant to treat, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. [continues 505 words]
A Kenton County jury recommended a 38-year sentence last week for a Covington man who sold heroin five times to a confidential informant with the Covington Police Department, according to the prosecutor's office. Donte Little will be 72 years old when he's released if he serves the full sentence. The 33-year-old was convicted of four counts of trafficking in a controlled substance and one count of complicity to trafficking in a controlled substance. The Covington Police Department's narcotics unit, known as the "D Team," purchased more than 14 grams of heroin from Little on five different days during the fall of 2014, prosecutors said. Investigators testified video and audio recordings were made of the transactions, which totaled more than $2,300. [continues 210 words]
And so another session of the Kentucky Assembly comes to an end without passage of a comprehensive cannabis bill. State Senator John Schickel assured the 75 percent of our citizens who are supporters of cannabis law reform that there would be hearings in the interim and something might get done next year. That's interesting because it's the same thing they have been told for the last five years! One wonders, with 23 states and the District of Columbia having medical cannabis laws, and four states and D.C. having passed recreational cannabis laws, exactly what could possibly be learned from hearings in the interim that haven't already been brought forward? There have been dozens of hearings right here in Kentucky over the last five years. I doubt if our legislators will find anything new on this subject. [continues 360 words]
Recently I read a national article about a medical team that looked the other way while a patient was smoking marijuana in the bathroom. On a closer reading of the article, the medical case was from over 20 years ago. First mistake: not doing the math (we'll get to this in a minute). Second mistake: concluding that the answer is "medical" marijuana. Did you know that the two major compounds that are medicinal in marijuana are already 100 percent legal here in Kentucky? [continues 557 words]
In a recent op-ed piece, Frank Rapier, the director of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area based in London, made a few statements that I think a great deal of Kentucky residents should take issue with. Rapier begins his column by claiming that the push for marijuana is propagated by corporations that make money off its sale. I would say that is completely true; but to view that in a negative light is overtly hypocritical. Both our state and federal governments are heavily influenced by special-interest monies. Rapier's job is to help aid the state in the government's war on drugs. A war that, in 2014, led to the arrest of seven times the number of people for possession of marijuana than for distribution or trafficking. [continues 552 words]
Big Business, Not Public Safety, Is the Goal In Colorado, Teen Pot Use Has Increased Only a Fraction of Prisoners Convicted for Possession In response to the column, "Stop waste of money, lives in criminalizing pot," let me say that I agree with Sen. Perry B. Clark on one point: America is being bamboozled. We are being bamboozled by Big Marijuana. For several years now, we have witnessed a highly financed, deceptive campaign to legalize marijuana. It started with the premise that marijuana is medicine. Marijuana may contain medical components, but so does opium. We don't smoke opium to get the pain-killing effects of morphine. How could you dose smoked marijuana? [continues 341 words]
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky's evolving battle with drug abuse will continue into the 2016 General Assembly as lawmakers intensify efforts against synthetic drugs that can slip into communities via the Internet, wreaking sudden havoc. The legislature has enacted at least four bills targeting synthetics since 2010 and is seeking to amp up penalties for traffickers next year following an outbreak in Lewis County of the toxic synthetic drug called "flakka." "They are no less dangerous than anything else out there, and in many cases, more dangerous," said Van Ingram, head of the state Office of Drug Control Policy. "It seems to pop up in a certain community and makes a run for a short time. Then it fizzles out there and shows up somewhere else." [continues 1242 words]
Seventy seven years after marijuana prohibition began with the claim it would turn people into violent murderers, remember "'Reefer Madness" and little Timmy killing Grandma with a skillet, pretty much all the claims about the harms of marijuana use have been proven to be false. Not one of the predicted outcomes cited by prohibitionists have happened. Ohio is currently in a battle for legalization and the Cincinnati Enquirer has been following and reporting on it. In a column titled, "Who are the opponents of issue 3, which will legalize marijuana and is on the ballot this fall, the paper reports what the reasons for opposing legalization are. It seems to come down to 3 items. [continues 341 words]
VANCEBURG, Ky. - In six months, Ashley lost 50 pounds, blew through $15,000 of a settlement and sold her house for $700. She lost feeling in her fingertips. Her hands turned raw and scaly, almost black. She was convinced her old man talked to people through the vents, that strangers lurked outside and that she was once in a high-speed chase - sirens blaring - with the law. She stayed awake for nine straight days, rarely ate and drank even less. A stench clung to her body. In the shower, she could feel something seep out of the pores in her face. She never could get clean enough. [continues 1887 words]
Kentucky law enforcement officials are pushing state legislators to stiffen the penalties for possession and trafficking of synthetic drugs. Possession of synthetic drugs like flakka, a new illegal drug that has been seen in pockets across the commonwealth and has inundated Lewis County, is only a misdemeanor under state law. No matter how many times a person is arrested or how much they're caught with, they can only be charged with a Class B misdemeanor for possession. And a first-offense trafficking charge is a Class A misdemeanor. [continues 258 words]
Stivers Argues Exchange Provision Wasn't Meant to Allow Program As Needle Dispensary Senate President Robert Stivers has requested an opinion from Attorney General Jack Conway on whether Louisville's needle exchange program overreaches the authority granted in the contentious heroin bill passed in the last legislative session. During the numerous conference committee meetings about the heroin bill, the proposal for a local-option needle exchange program didn't set well with conservative legislators who believed the program would only condone more drug use. [continues 296 words]
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Venturing into the epicenter of Kentucky's fight against heroin addiction, national drug czar Michael Botticelli on Thursday touted needle-exchange programs as effective grassroots initiatives to combat the spread of infectious disease and to steer heroin users into treatment. Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, also urged the medical community's vigilance against overprescribing pain medications. He called for mandatory medical education for prescribers as a way to stop the abuse of painkillers. [continues 548 words]
It's been one year since the Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Response Task Force came out with a "Call to Action" to fight the heroin epidemic. On Tuesday night the group, made up of business leaders, law enforcement, health care workers, prevention and recovery leaders and families, will introduce the next phase of the attack on heroin. Their plan has inspired 17 free overdose-prevention clinics providing 129 free kits containing a life-saving drug, naloxone. With five documented rescues, the latest is a boy who was celebrating his 15th birthday with heroin and overdosed in Covington. [continues 822 words]
There is a new normal in our communities. For some children, stumbling across used, dirty needles at the park is more common than a pick-up game. Heroin addiction is a big disease with an even bigger negative impact on everyone. Kentucky has the third-highest drug overdose ranking in the United States. Of the 722 drug overdose death fatalities autopsied in 2013, 31.9 percent were attributed to heroin, compared to 19.6 percent in 2012. The estimated cost of substance abuse in Kentucky is over $6 billion. [continues 650 words]
With heroin use continuing to outstrip Kentucky's ability to treat addicts, Louisville's only no-fee drug recovery facility plans to nearly double its capacity for men. The Healing Place on Friday will announce a two-year, $20 million expansion of its West Market Street men's complex, increasing detox beds from 24 to at least 50 and long-term recovery beds from 250 to 426 - a move officials say is driven primarily by the heroin epidemic. Karyn Hascal, head of the nonprofit organization, said once-rare heroin has "overwhelmed" the facility and now accounts for 90 percent of clients in detox and 60 percent to 70 percent in the recovery program. She said waiting lists had grown so long they stopped keeping them. [continues 737 words]
Researchers and Farmers Are Producing the First Legal Crop in the State in Generations Murray, KY. (AP) - Call it a homecoming for hemp: Marijuana's non-intoxicating cousin is undergoing a rebirth in a state at the forefront of efforts to reclaim it as a mainstream crop. Researchers and farmers are producing the first legal hemp crop in generations in Kentucky, where hemp has turned into a political cause decades after it was banned by the federal government. Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul advocate for it, as does state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, a Republican who is running for governor next year. [continues 692 words]
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Call it a homecoming for hemp: Marijuana's nonintoxicating cousin is undergoing a rebirth in a state at the forefront of efforts to reclaim it as a mainstream crop. Researchers and farmers are producing the first legal hemp crop in generations in Kentucky, where hemp has turned into a political cause decades after it was banned by the federal government. Republican U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul advocate for it, as does state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, a Republican who is running for governor next year. [continues 277 words]
State Is Gauging Economic Power of Long-Banned Plant LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Hemp has turned legitimate in Kentucky, where researchers are starting to plant test plots that will help gauge the economic potency of the nonintoxicating plant banned for decades due to its family ties to marijuana. As part of the comeback, University of Kentucky agronomy researchers planted a small hemp plot Tuesday in central Kentucky. The seeds used were part of a shipment from Italy that was released last week after a legal standoff between Kentucky's Agriculture Department and the federal government. [continues 520 words]
The long-delayed hemp seed arrived at the Kentucky Department of Agriculture in Frankfort about noon Friday, after being released by U.S. Customs in Louisville. The seeds were imported from Italy for as many as eight pilot projects that the Agriculture Department will conduct with universities across the state. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration had seized the seeds and demanded that the state obtain a controlled substance permit to import and plant them. The DEA said that even though the federal Farm Bill that Congress passed earlier this year allows growing hemp for research, the plant, Cannabis sativa, is the same as marijuana even though it has negligible amounts of high-inducing THC. [continues 359 words]
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Tiny hemp seeds that produced a drawn-out legal fight were freed from confinement and delivered Friday to Kentucky's Agriculture Department for experimental plantings, marking a limited comeback for the nonintoxicating cousin of marijuana. The seeds from Italy that drew so much suspicion from federal drug officials were unceremoniously unloaded from a UPS truck and then weighed by state agriculture officials. The shipment featuring 13 seed varieties came in at 286 pounds. It marked an uneventful conclusion to a standoff that pitted the state's Agriculture Department against the federal government. [continues 146 words]
LOUISVILLE - A week after suing the federal government for the release of a shipment of hemp to plant, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture appears to be on the verge of getting its seeds. After a second conference with U.S. District Judge John Heyburn on Wednesday, the KDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration reached a deal: the state, now a licensed importer of controlled substances as of Tuesday, will file paperwork for a permit to plant. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Schecter, representing the Justice Department and the DEA, said once the permit is approved the seeds could be released immediately. [continues 485 words]
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky's industrial hemp commission on Tuesday approved regulations setting guidelines for research projects that are meant to reintroduce the crop but are being stalled by a legal fight over distribution of seeds. The regulations aimed at keeping track of test hemp plots were drafted by the state Agriculture Department. The guidelines next go to Gov. Steve Beshear for his review. Later Tuesday, Holly Harris VonLuehrte, Agriculture Commissioner James Comer's chief of staff, said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had approved an import permit for hemp seeds. State officials have been assured they will be able Wednesday to get a shipment of hemp seed that has been held up. [continues 583 words]
After a week of legal drama, the hemp seed will be freed. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture was informed around 5 p.m. Thursday that the Drug Enforcement Administration has granted the state's permit to import hemp seed, according to Holly Harris VonLuehrte, chief of staff for Agriculture Commissioner James Comer. "It's historic," Comer said Thursday night from Louisville. "We've paved the way for the rest of the nation to be able to do this, and I think it's exciting. Judging by interest exhibited by so many states wanting to get into this, that shows it's economically viable. ... We're in the lead here in Kentucky, and I hope it will be very profitable." [continues 516 words]
A federal judge in Louisville has scheduled a hearing for Friday on the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's motion to force the U.S. Justice Department to release imported hemp seeds. U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II has set a 1 p.m. hearing on a motion for a restraining order and preliminary injunction filed Wednesday by Agriculture Commissioner James Comer. The state has imported 250 pounds of Italian hemp seed that must be planted by June 1. U.S. Customs in Louisville has detained the seeds for more than a week. [continues 863 words]
LOUISVILLE - Kentucky's Agriculture Department sued the federal government Wednesday, seeking the release of imported hemp seeds that have been held up by customs officials. The 250-pound shipment from Italy has been held for more than a week by customs officials in Louisville. "No state should have to endure what Kentucky has gone through in this process. We must take a stand against federal government overreach," Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said. Defendants in the lawsuit include the Justice Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Attorney General Eric Holder. Hemp is the same species as the marijuana plant but has a negligible amount of THC, the chemical that gets users high. The new federal farm bill lets state agriculture departments designate hemp projects for research. [end]
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time believing that heroin and marijuana should be lumped together in the same class of drug. But that is exactly what the DEA does. They list them both as Schedule I drugs, and that is the main reason marijuana is illegal. The DEA website describes these types of drugs as having "no accepted medical use" and having "a high potential for abuse." It also calls them "the most dangerous drugs ... with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence." [continues 406 words]
Rep. Robert Benvenuti, the most vocal opponent of the medical marijuana legalization bills in the Kentucky Legislature, is not the only one concerned about the growing acceptance of what is still considered a Schedule I drug under federal law. Benvenuti has called for more research on cannabis use, a sentiment echoed last week by Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health. Collins' comments were regarding the legalization of marijuana in general, not just for medicinal purposes. "I'm afraid I'm sounding like this is an evil drug that's going to ruin our civilization and I don't really think that," he told USA TODAY. "But there are aspects of this that probably should be looked at more closely than some of the legalization experts are willing to admit." [continues 464 words]
It's encouraging to read in Sen. Rand Paul's Feb. 6 column that American farmers may finally grow hemp - just like communist Chinese farmers. I've been purchasing products made with hemp for many years, which is all imported and I would prefer to purchase those products made with hemp grown by American farmers. A sane or moral argument to prohibit American farmers from cultivating hemp doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Inside Kentucky
