Suspicions Over A Late-night Landing At The Anoka County Airport Set Off An Investigation That Led To Arrests And The Breakup Of A California-to-minnesota Drug Ring.

Federal agents swung open the doors of the Mooney M20 minutes after it taxied to a stop at 3:30 a.m. on the darkened runway at the Anoka County Airport.

Two nervous pilots were in the cockpit, several large hockey bags filled the cabin. But the pungent aroma wasn't sweaty pads and skates.

[continues 659 words]

Support for legalization of marijuana is quickly getting higher.

A local survey of whether people think marijuana should be legalized conducted on The Journal's Facebook page showed the majority of respondents support marijuana legalization, as did 50 percent of Americans according to a national Gallup survey conducted last month.

While half of Americans believe marijuana should become legal, 46 percent do not and 4 percent are undecided, according to Gallup.

A recent Facebook survey brought in 19 comments from current and past residents of the International Falls area showing support for legalization of marijuana in general or for medicinal purposes only. One respondent spoke against legalization.

[continues 696 words]

There was a quake last week, but you likely didn't feel it. See, this particular quake was not of the Earth, involved no shifting of the planetary crust. No, what shifted was a paradigm, and the implications are hopeful and profound.

On Tuesday, you see, the NAACP passed a resolution calling for an end to the War on Drugs.

Said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous in a written statement, "These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African-American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidence-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America."

[continues 468 words]

In his July 24 column ("Drug war is a failure, so let's experiment"), Jason Lewis quotes me as saying that "in the grand scheme, it [the 'war on drugs'] has not been successful."

I have long believed that we cannot simply arrest our way out of our drug problem. The "war on drugs" rhetoric represents an overly simplistic approach to a complex public health and public safety problem.

However, it is just as simplistic -- and just as misguided -- to think that decriminalization is the solution to America's drug problem. Lewis refers to the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an advocacy group that recently called for the decriminalization of all illegal drugs.

[continues 148 words]

I'm writing about the thoughtful letter of July 18, headlined, "Legalized pot would provide jobs -- and a better high."

If legalizing marijuana creates more marijuana use, why do the Dutch use marijuana at less than half the rate as Americans?

Marijuana has been quasi-legal in the Netherlands for several decades, according to drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm. Since there are lots of reasons for American marijuana users to deny using it to someone conducting a so-called anonymous survey and no reasons for a Dutch citizen to do so, Americans probably use marijuana at much higher rates than surveys indicate.

The Dutch have succeeded in making pot boring and have removed the "lure of the forbidden fruit" that makes pot so attractive to our youth.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

Without being rash, can we at least appraise the impact of prohibition?

Imagine a nightmare in which terrorists brutally murder 40,000 people in just five years. Now imagine that their base of operations is not across the globe, but directly adjacent to the United States. No doubt, hearing of such a thing, many of my conservative colleagues would be demanding a massive mobilization against the latest evils of Islamofacism.

But the real-life killers I have in mind, who revel in decapitating their victims (Al Capone's got nothing on these guys), aren't Muslim fanatics. They're narco-terrorists exploiting Mexico's failed war on drugs.

[continues 672 words]

I am not a pot smoker, but I do think marijuana should be legalized. An ethics book I read for a class stated: "The U.S. would save about $7.7 billion per year in enforcement costs and would generate between $2.4 (billion) and $6.2 billion in tax revenue if marijuana were legalized. In the U.S., there are (more than) 850,000 marijuana arrests made each year, and more than 44,000 people are currently in prison for marijuana offenses."

[continues 224 words]

Dear President Obama:

Right after your election, somebody asked if I thought having a black president meant black people's concerns would now receive attention at the executive level. I told them I expected the opposite.

There used to be a saying -- only Nixon could go to China. Meaning, of course, that only he, as a staunch anti-communist, had the credibility to make overtures to that nation without accusations of being soft on communism. By the inverse of that political calculus, I never expected that you, as a black man, would do much to address black issues.

[continues 481 words]

Inadequate pain treatment is a public health crisis, too.

The latest battle in the war on drugs must not create a new and innocent group of victims -- patients imprisoned by their own pain because doctors are unwilling or unable to prescribe the powerful pain medications that they need.

That is the risk of a well-intentioned but potentially detrimental push by the Obama administration this week to rein in abuse of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone, morphine and methadone.

Federal drug enforcement officials rightly called attention to the scourge of crime and addiction that street use of opioid drugs cause. This is a public health crisis.

[continues 449 words]

Regarding Sanho Tree's March 28 op-ed, drugs did not spawn Mexico's organized crime networks. Just like alcohol, prohibition gave rise to Al Capone, drug prohibition created the violent drug-trafficking organizations behind all the killings in Mexico.

With alcohol prohibition repealed in the United States, liquor bootleggers no longer gunned each other down in drive-by shootings. It's worth noting that Mexico's upsurge in violence only began after an anti-drug crackdown created a power vacuum among competing cartels.

[continues 96 words]

When Washington ramped up its anti-drug efforts through Plan Colombia, more than 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States came through Colombia. A decade later, we get about 97 percent of our cocaine via Colombia.

Amazingly, officials are hailing the program's "success" and want Mexico to learn from Colombia's experience. While Plan Colombia may have helped make that country safer from guerrilla attacks, it has failed as a drug-control strategy. Adapting that program in Mexico won't staunch that country's bloodbath and isn't likely to produce better results.

[continues 608 words]

Head Shops Must Toss Some Items Out

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has outlawed the sale of five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana.

The DEA filed a final notice Monday that chemicals used in some so-called incense will be banned for sale for at least a year. The ruling becomes official today.

Marc Kurzman, a Minneapolis attorney who represents four shops that sell the products, said he filed petitions for court injunctions Monday to stop the action.

He has argued that the DEA has no authority to ban the chemicals and that its claims about their effects are false.

[continues 245 words]

MINNEAPOLIS - A federal judge has rejected an attempt by Minnesota businesses to stop the government from cracking down on synthetic marijuana.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to prevent a nationwide ban on so-called "fake pot."

Schiltz says he lacks authority to act on the Drug Enforcement Administration's move to outlaw chemicals used in synthetic marijuana, which is sold as incense.

Three Twin Cities businesses and one in Duluth joined in a lawsuit against the DEA and the U.S. Department of Justice.

In November, the DEA issued an emergency order to outlaw the chemicals after receiving reports of seizures, hallucinations and dependency.

Attorney Marc Kurzman, who represents the business owners, tells KSTP-TV he plans to go to the federal appeals court as soon as Monday.

[end]

- - Six decades ago, the Supreme Court ruled that police could not enter a residence without a warrant just because they smelled burning drugs - in that case, opium.

Today, the high court is revisiting the issue and its decision could have profound implications for personal privacy and police power.

In Kentucky, in 2005, police went to an apartment looking for a suspect, knocked loudly on the door, shouting "This is the police." They had no warrant.

The officers said they smelled marijuana and heard noises inside that led them to believe someone may be preparing to destroy evidence. They kicked in the door. Police didn't find their suspect - he was in another apartment - but did arrest a man for possessing marijuana.

[continues 247 words]

My three-step solution to solving our budget woes:

1)Tax the church. Religion is a business; let's tax it like one.

2) Legalize marijuana and save money by no longer arresting people for its use. How have we not learned our lesson from Prohibition? Such bans flat-out don't work and are a waste of taxpayer dollars.

3) Insist on term limits for everyone to stop the waste of dollars caused by partisan politics.

I firmly believe that if we take these three steps, we might get this country back on the right track.

Brett Harris, Bloomington

[end]

It can be made to look like tobacco, herbal incense or a typical baking spice.

But it packs twice as much of the active ingredient in marijuana, and the side effects can be life-threatening. Synthetic marijuana is legal for all ages and typically sold as an incense. Officials are seeing more of it in St. Cloud-area schools.

Several Minnesota cities have banned the substance, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plans to temporarily control five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana.

[continues 1306 words]

2 State Lawmakers Plan To Seek Ban; DEA Studies Illegal-Drug ClassificationThe days of Spice, K2, Yucatan Fire, Smoke, Skunk and Red X Dawn may be numbered. In fact, "fake pot" needs to be off store shelves in 30 days.

While federal regulators are promising a yearlong crackdown, two Minnesota lawmakers are pushing statewide legislation to ban fake pot, or synthetic marijuana, an increasingly popular recreational drug that police say has led to a proliferation of calls to poison control centers for symptoms far more serious than anything typically associated with cannabis.

[continues 790 words]

This debate over the legalization of marijuana is getting old. If you take a look at states with legalized medical marijuana, it's pretty evident that it can easily be cheated.

Under California law, you don't even need a prescription to gain access to the medical marijuana dispensaries. All you need is a written or oral recommendation from a physician. The medical marijuana is not regulated by FDA standards. For obvious reasons, the FDA must do extensive testing on drugs hitting the market in case the drugs are potentially harmful or ineffective.

[continues 108 words]

At the start of the school year, school officials got a startling realization - there's a new drug in town. And, it's legal.

"Basically, it's poisonous," Angie Horner, chemical health coordinator at Detroit Lakes Public Schools, said of synthetic marijuana.

The fake marijuana contains JWH-018, a chemical similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, only it's higher potency and gives a stronger, longer high.

"It's sold as incense, that's why it's legal," Horner said of the tobacco shops that sell the fake pot. "They know what it's being used for though."

[continues 1155 words]

Advocates for medical marijuana are awaiting the results of the Nov. 2 election, which will factor into the success or failure of their causes.

Dr. Philip Denney walked into an examination room in his Sacramento, Calif., office and sat across from a 19-year-old who complained of insomnia.

As Denney considered the teen's chains, piercings and tattoos, the patient asked him for a marijuana prescription.

Denney's skepticism was confirmed by a quick look at his medical history. Denney declined the request, walked into the next room and rolled his eyes when he saw his next patient. Another one, he thought.

[continues 1161 words]