Kenyan immigrant Nancy Njoroge had been living in the United States for a year when a Montgomery County SWAT team burst into her Gaithersburg apartment at 4 a.m., handcuffed her and her two teenage daughters, and searched her apartment, court records show. Police found nothing. The reason: Njoroge lived in No. 202 of her apartment complex. The police had a search warrant for apartment 201. After rejecting an offer from the county’s claims adjuster of a “couple of movie passes,” the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the county on the family’s behalf for unspecified damages, according to ACLU records filed in court. [continues 338 words]
Review Finds No Wrongdoing in SWAT Raid That Killed Dogs The Prince George's County sheriff's office has concluded that deputies did nothing wrong when they charged into the home of the mayor of Berwyn Heights during a drug investigation last summer and fatally shot his family's two dogs. The findings of the internal review "are consistent with what I've felt all along: My deputies did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities," Sheriff Michael Jackson said at a news conference. [continues 339 words]
Our view: Baltimore's police commissioner was right to say that the police alone can't solve it; in the end, it's up to all of us When Baltimore police roll into city neighborhoods known for serious drug violence, the first thing they often hear are shouts of "Five-O! Five-O!" from lookouts warning of their approach. The lookouts, mostly men in their 40s and 50s who are considered too old to play much of a role in the street-level drug trade, earn a meager subsistence on the periphery of the business. Younger, up-and-coming dealers pay them a pittance to keep watch, usually in the form of just enough heroin or crack cocaine to get them through another day. [continues 553 words]
Potheads Should Fear Fillmore On The Holiest Day Of Marijuana Use Your A Idiot. if you don't know what today is. Are you high right now? Awwwwww! I'm telling. Are you paranoid yet? You should be. Fillmore, the drug-sniffing K-9, is standing right behind you. And he wants a hit, that cheap bitch. I'm just kidding. Fillmore is a dude, so he can't be a bitch. Also he sniffs his drugs, so he's much more likely to be into the white stuff. Somehow I just insinuated that Fillmore is both an illegal narcotics user and a racist. Meh, one of those notions is probably true, take your pick. [continues 412 words]
Freedom lovers rejoiced in February when Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. promised the Drug Enforcement Administration would stop raiding small marijuana dispensaries in states where it was legal, as long as they followed state law. Sorry, Maryland is not one of those states yet. But even President Barack Obama's greatest critics on the economy praised him for his new policy. The beneficiaries were likely ecstatic. Old people and sick people were happy because they could alleviate some of their worst pain without worrying about when their shopkeeper would get busted and their supply would disappear, sending prices higher. And college students were happy because it has got to be pretty easy for them to find a doctor to diagnose them with some fake disease so they could carelessly toke up. [continues 406 words]
Defendants in So-Called Problem-Solving Courts Denied Due Process, Official Says Drug courts, a forum designed to give addicted offenders a second chance, are under attack in Maryland -- and not by prosecutors. The state's public defender says Maryland's drug courts give judges too much power and defendants too little protection, and yesterday she argued to the state's high court that the tribunals are not constitutional. Public Defender Nancy S. Forster told the Court of Appeals that judges should not shed impartiality by sitting down with prosecutors, social workers and defense attorneys to try to help a defendant. She argued that judges should not be permitted to send a defendant to jail again and again without a full hearing each time, as she said judges in the drug courts do. [continues 525 words]
Our View: Maryland Is Sending Mixed Messages About The Use Of Marijuana For People With Serious Illnesses Who Are In Need Of Relief For patients suffering from cancer and other debilitating illnesses, the medical use of marijuana can relieve symptoms such as pain, inflammation and nausea in many cases. Currently, 13 states, including California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island and Vermont, allow the medical use marijuana with a doctor's approval or certification. And although possession of the drug remains illegal under federal law, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that the Justice Department will no longer go after small dispensaries that sell cannabis for medical use so long as they comply with state laws. [continues 291 words]
The way the attorney for the family suing Baltimore County describes it, heavily armed paramilitary police officers carrying ballistic shields and dressed in camouflage stormed a suburban Dundalk house over trace amounts of drugs without knocking and fatally shot a "devoted mother and wife" armed with a legally registered handgun to defend herself from intruders. The way the attorney defending the police officers and the county describes it, professionally trained members of the SWAT team raided a suspected narcotics den containing marijuana and cocaine that was occupied by a convicted murderer with access to weapons and a teenager who had just shot another youth in a fight, resulting in the shooting of a woman holding a gun who refused to comply with the cop's commands. [continues 521 words]
Wicomico Schools Swept SALISBURY -- Law enforcement dogs sniffed their way around five Wicomico schools looking for drugs, weapons, ammunition and explosives Thursday, marking the first of several planned searches. The sweeps started as early as 8:05 a.m. with K-9 units from Wicomico County and Worcester County Sheriffs' Offices and the Princess Anne Police Department. "The dogs showed interest in many lockers, and the dogs showed interest in many cars," said Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis. While the search didn't yield any contraband, students conceded drugs had been stored in these areas at one time, according to Lewis. [continues 183 words]
Calls Of Unnecessary Force Prompt Regulation Proposals On a January morning, Howard County police learned that two of their cruisers had been broken into while parked in an Elkridge neighborhood. Someone stole penlights, a Police Department baseball cap, citation books - and a high-powered rifle and nearly 150 rounds of ammunition. The next day, a SWAT team raided Mike Hasenei's nearby mobile home. Hasenei says an officer hit him in the face with a shield, knocked him to the ground and handcuffed him and his wife. Police shot one of the family dogs. [continues 1007 words]
Apparently South Carolina is so flush with cash during this economic crisis that it can afford to expend precious resources building a case against gold medal-winner Michael Phelps for allegedly smoking pot ("Lawyer: S.C. police targeting Phelps," Feb. 13). But wasting time and money prosecuting someone for a harmless activity epitomizes the failed war on drugs; indeed, it suggests a good argument for legalizing marijuana. Keeping pot illegal drains our resources while keeping the narcotics business buzzing and the Mexican murder rate high. John G Bailey Edgemere [end]
As a retired police detective, I heartily agree with Katherine Heerbrandt's Feb. 9 column, "Smoke signals." During my 18 years of service, I was sent to zero calls generated by the use of marijuana. Its prohibition caused several shootings, as dealers shot other dealers for the money and the green stuff. I never handled a call where a beer distributor had a gunfight with a whiskey salesman. The only aspect that was not mentioned was the tremendous reduction in public safety. As officers and deputies in Frederick spend thousands of hours finding and arresting for marijuana, they have less time for the deadly DUI, child predators and other public safety threats. If you have a drug problem one day, see a doctor. The police have much more important tasks. Howard J Wooldridge Frederick [end]
The Baltimore Sun made a number of valid points in its editorial about Michael Phelps ("Snark attack," Feb. 6). But there is more that needs to be said. No one would bat an eyelash if Mr. Phelps had been photographed hoisting a Budweiser. Yet the data show unmistakably that alcohol is more addictive than marijuana, vastly more toxic and orders of magnitude more likely to make its users aggressive or violent. Given the laws, Mr. Phelps took a big risk. But it's our laws that are truly stupid and irresponsible when they punish someone for choosing to unwind with a substance that is safer than beer. It's even dumber, in this era of fiscal crisis, for our government to forgo the billions of dollars in tax revenues that could be generated if marijuana were legally regulated in the ways that alcohol and tobacco are. Bruce Mirken Washington [end]
Most Americans seem content to let Olympic star Michael Phelps, President Barack Obama and other high-profile folks off the hook for smoking the whacky weed, whether it was last week or three decades ago. Even that sheriff from South Carolina who wants to bust Phelps isn't getting any support from other law enforcement officials in his state. The standard response when publicly confronted with evidence of pot smoking is "Sorry, I was/am young," accompanied by a sheepish grin and an acknowledgment that millions of Americans can relate. [continues 504 words]
Giving Drug To Addicts Could Reduce Crime, Some Say, But Critics Call Method Costly, Dangerous A new study done for Baltimore's Abell Foundation concludes that programs that give heroin to hard-core addicts can reduce crime and improve public health - findings some hope will spur renewed debate about whether such an effort could help combat the city's unrelenting drug problem. Peter Reuter, a drug policy expert at the University of Maryland, College Park, analyzed heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Vancouver, Canada. He found some positive results. In Germany, for instance, participants were less likely to commit crimes, and in Switzerland, many addicts moved from the heroin distribution program to drug treatment aimed at helping them kick their habit. [continues 1005 words]
ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers reviewed a bill that would outlaw salvia divinorum, a powerful hallucinogenic herb that hit new heights of popularity last summer at Ocean City's Boardwalk shops. State legislators held hearings last week to review the bill, which was sponsored by Delegate Adelaide C. Eckardt, R-37B-Wicomico, Delegate Jeannie Haddaway, R-37B-Wicomico, and Sen. Richard Colbourn, R-37-Wicomico. The draft legislation would place salvia on Maryland's list of Schedule I drugs, making it illegal to possess or sell, as well as eliminating possible medical research. [continues 613 words]
If anyone should be embarrassed about the recent photo that surfaced in a British tabloid showing Michael Phelps apparently smoking marijuana, it should be each American citizen ("Phelps: 'I am sorry,'" Feb. 2). And it is not Mr. Phelps we should be embarrassed by. Rather, we should be ashamed of our lawmakers who continue to support marijuana prohibition. There are no more absurd laws on the books than those that criminalize the use of marijuana by responsible adults. Billions of dollars are wasted annually in the United States as we wage a war on drugs, and they accomplish little - with the notable exception of creating a black market that makes some violent criminals very wealthy. [continues 115 words]
Salvia Found In Boardwalk Shops Last Summer ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers reviewed a bill that would outlaw salvia divinorum, a powerful hallucinogenic herb that hit new heights of popularity last summer at Ocean City Boardwalk shops. State legislators held hearings Tuesday to review the bill, which was sponsored by Delegates Adelaide C. Eckardt R-37B-Dorchester, and Jeannie Haddaway R-37B-Talbot and Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Dorchester. The draft legislation would place salvia on Maryland's list of Schedule I drugs, making it illegal to possess or sell, as well as eliminating possible medical research. [continues 523 words]
YouTube videos show young people laughing uncontrollably, slurring their words or hallucinating -- all after smoking an herb that's completely legal in Maryland. But if state Sen. Richard Colburn has his way, Salvia divinorum -- also known as Sally D or Magic Mint, a herb widely available in smoke shops and on the Internet -- will be in the same category as heroin and LSD. "It's pretty disturbing," Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican, said of the hundreds of videos showing the affects of the herb. [continues 392 words]
As a retired police detective and student of history, I believe the only way to "clean up" Orchard Mews of the violence associated with the drug trade is to end the prohibition of drugs ("Two sides of the street, but one problem bedeviling both," Jan. 25). After 40 years of drug war, we still have large parts of Baltimore and many other major cities in America that are more dangerous than the streets in Iraq. This madness of prohibition has not produced one positive outcome. So why are we still on this failed road? Howard Wooldridge Frederick The writer is a retired police officer and an education specialist for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition [end]
Inside Maryland
