OLD TOWN - Police used drug-detecting dogs Tuesday morning to sniff around students' vehicles at the Old Town High School parking lot, as school officials and police ramp up efforts to curb drug use at the school.

"Like a lot of high schools in Maine and across the country, we recognize there's a problem, and we're trying to be proactive," Old Town High School Principal Joe Gallant said during the search around about 100 vehicles in the school parking lot.

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BANGOR - A methadone clinic set to open this summer in a Hogan Road strip mall already has a waiting list of 10 patients, according to a representative of the Florida-based company that is going to run it.

Ultimately, however, Colonial Management Group's Penobscot County Metro Treatment Center could serve as many as 250 people struggling with addiction to opiates.

During a meeting Thursday with members of a local advisory group, Lynn Costigan, Colonial's associate director for new development, provided a tour of the company's clinical space and answered questions about the operation, expected to start up sometime this summer.

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AUGUSTA - Hoping to recoup state drug enforcement funds eliminated by federal cutbacks, the Baldacci administration is coming down hard on pot smokers in a clear message that the price of getting high is getting higher.

Those committing the civil violation of possession of marijuana not only will face mandatory fines, but fines that will be double what they have been. Penalties for possession of drug paraphernalia also will increase.

The Legislature's Appropriations Committee was briefed Thursday on the governor's Part 2 budget by Rebecca Wyke and Ryan Lowe, from the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

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I'm writing about "3 arrested in marijuana bust" (May 1).

I'm sure that many marijuana growers and sellers are thankful to the police for this latest marijuana bust and others like it.

Without operations like this, marijuana would be worth what other easy-to-grow weeds are worth -- very little. Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other so-called "drug warriors," the easy-to-grow weed is worth more than pure gold -- and completely tax-free.

Any marijuana growers, sellers or traffickers arrested will soon be replaced. They always are.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

The organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy is rightly upset about a provision in the Higher Education Act.

The group says the HEA's drug provision has thwarted the educational aspirations of more than 160,000 prospective students since 1998.

The provision denies or delays eligibility for federal financial aid for any student who has been convicted of a drug violation, even misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Students in Maine - including the University of Maine at Orono and the University of Southern Maine - are calling on Sen. Susan Collins to introduce a bill to reinstate such aid.

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Collins Urged To Support Student Aid Change

WASHINGTON - Wayne Toothaker Jr. says he knows he made a mistake in using and trafficking in drugs. But he does not think a lifestyle he put behind him a year ago should be preventing him now from getting financial aid for college. "I learned my lesson," said Toothaker, who said he is in a drug rehabilitation program and has been clean for nearly a year. "I don't get involved with drugs or alcohol anymore. But because of that in my past, I can't get money to pay for college now."

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Some THC Side-Effects Less Pleasant Than Others

Dear Dr. Jeff: I like to smoke a little pot now and then. Is that a problem? W.N.

Dear W.N.: An increasing body of research suggests that marijuana is neither the deadly toxin its foes portray, nor the benign herb its advocates promote. What has become clearer is this--heavy, regular use of marijuana may be more harmful and habit-forming than previously suspected.

The principal active ingredient in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC. Researchers have discovered THC-binding receptors throughout the body and brain, and naturally occurring THC-like endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids, which bind to these receptors.

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If Lt. Carl Gottardi's opinion ("Reform group criticizes state's marijuana fight, Mar. 18) about whether to re-legalize cannabis (marijuana) depends on whether marijuana is a gateway to other stronger drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin, then it is time to change the laws. The gateway theory has been discredited by nearly every recent study. Re-legalizing and regulating cannabis separates it from sales that occur next to those hard drugs. Surely the sheriff's office has confiscated enough cannabis to see it is a plant, not a drug.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Maine's methamphetamine problem is minor compared to other states, but its rate of growth has drug enforcement officials bracing for a crisis down the road.

The state's Office of Substance Abuse reports that those treated for methamphetamine addiction jumped from about 100 annually to 160 last year.

And, more people are getting caught with the drug. In the 7 1/2 months since July 2004, 13 people were arrested - up from the dozen arrests in the previous 12 months.

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Portland officials are moving forward with a program to provide the anti-overdose drug naloxone to heroin addicts in an effort to reduce the number of drug-related deaths.

They also plan to begin stocking the drug on Portland firetrucks as well as ambulances, and to train intermediate emergency medical technicians to administer the drug along with paramedics.

Portland police, fire and public health officials met Wednesday to begin developing a strategy to deal with the growing number of overdose deaths. Portland has tallied more than 200 overdoses and 20 overdose deaths since January, up from 16 overdose deaths in all of 2001.

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Let's go back a few days to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush and tweak that solemn Capitol scene just a little.

Imagine for a moment that when Bush raised his right hand to take the oath of office from Chief Justice William H. Rehn-quist, Rehnquist had leaned forward to say quietly, "Sir, put your hand down, if you would. Let's make a little change in the program. Instead of my giving you the oath of office, let's have you give it to me. I've always wanted to be president."

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MACHIAS -- The Washington County Drug Action Team, whose members represent several organizations working on drug abuse issues across the county, is drawing up a plan on how to best spend $100,000. That's the portion allotted to the Washington County group from a $400,000 federal grant to address drug problems within Maine. Called the Maine Rural Substance Abuse Partnership, the grant was awarded last April to the University of Maine's Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy.

Now the Washington County drug watchdogs are narrowing down the ways the money can help bring awareness of the area's drug problems - and possible solutions.

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An Unfair Federal Sentencing System Has Rightly Been Overturned by The U.S. Supreme Court - but Sensible Guidelines Are Still Needed.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the current sentencing system violates a person's Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. Judges have been forced to impose tougher sentences when certain factors are present - such as whether a convict was armed - but those facts are considered after the jury trial.

The Court also found, however, that as long as the sentencing guidelines aren't mandatory they don't violate a person's constitutional rights.

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This letter is in regard to "Drugs drive crime in central Maine" (Dec. 29).

Please do not make the common mistake of confusing drug-related crime with prohibition-related crime. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war does not fight crime, it fuels crime.

With alcohol prohibition repealed, liquor bootleggers no longer gun each other down in drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go blind drinking unregulated bathtub gin. While U.S. politicians ignore the drug war's historical precedent, European countries are embracing harm reduction, a public health alternative based on the principle that both drug abuse and prohibition have the potential to cause harm.

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BANGOR - As Colonial Management Group continues to work toward a March opening for its Bangor methadone clinic, city officials are considering a moratorium on any other drug treatment centers that might come their way. On the agenda of Monday night's City Council meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, is a proposed ordinance that would place a 180-day moratorium on issuing certificates of occupancy for drug treatment facilities.

If necessary, the moratorium could be extended for an additional 180 days, according to the proposed council order.

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