COLUMBIA --An MU law professor challenged the war on drugs and current criminal codes during a speech Saturday at a conference advocating marijuana law reform.

"We warehouse, we incarcerate, that's what we do," MU associate law professor S. David Mitchell said. "We don't treat."

The National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws conference was held in MU's Arts and Sciences Building on Friday and Saturday.

Mitchell is not involved with the organization, but Dan Viets, the coordinator of the organization's Missouri chapter, invited him to speak after seeing a comment he made on a newspaper story about Missouri Chief Justice William Ray Price Jr.

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I got the impression from Spencer Pearson (NORML Panel Calls For Marijuana Legalization, March 4, 2011) that Missouri is attempting to legalize cannabis (marijuana) on the 2012 election ballot. The list of states trying to become the 1st to legalize cannabis is growing faster than the plant itself. May the best state win.

Legalizing the relatively safe, extremely popular God-given plant cannabis is one of the most important issues of our time.

By Stan White, stanwmtn@colorado.net

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George Ricketts' life crashed in April 1996, when 13 police officers and an FBI agent searched his house and seized money and cars, convinced he was a drug dealer.

But even though an appeals court later threw out his conviction, he never was compensated for losing all that stuff, including cash and a certificate of deposit together worth $129,482, jewelry worth about $700, a laptop and a BMW.

That may be about to change.

Ricketts and possibly hundreds of others, many of them convicted drug felons, could find themselves with part of a multimillion-dollar settlement of a lawsuit alleging that Kansas City police mismanaged the forfeiture of their property during criminal investigations.

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The Guest Speakers Promoted Activism in Addition to Legislation.

Spencer Pearson puffed two blunts of Mexican schwag for the first time during his senior year of high school. Pearson, the MU National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws president, said it was then he realized he'd been fed lies about what marijuana is and what it does.

With four boxes of Hotbox cookies and a few dozen attendees, NORML monitored a panel discussion Wednesday night. Pearson and four guest speakers strongly urged attendees to advocate legislation in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

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Talk of serious budget cuts are continuing to make people nervous. Which makes sticking to our current drug policies totally insane. Our "War on Drugs" is one of the most expensive, least effective programs we have. It makes about as much sense as cutting funds to education, and programs that help the elderly and disabled to help pay for tax cuts for the rich. It is not drugs, but the "War on Drugs" that is the biggest threat to our American way of life.

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JOPLIN, Mo. - Residents will get a chance at this week's City Council meeting to offer their opinions on a proposal by the Joplin police chief to require a prescription for the purchase of over-the-counter cold medicines like Sudafed and Claritin-D.

A public hearing is scheduled during the council's meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The council normally meets on Mondays, but City Hall will be closed today in observance of Presidents Day.

Chief Lane Roberts has asked the council to adopt an ordinance that would require prescriptions for medicines containing pseudoephedrine. The drug, used in about 15 medications that treat a stuffy nose, is also the key ingredient for making methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant.

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Approximately One in 250 Missouri Residents Is Incarcerated.

County Jail on Oct 22, 2009. Chief Justice Ray Price cited in his State of the Judiciary address that non-violent offenders are the main demographic for Missouri prisons' population problem.

In his State of the Judiciary address, State Chief Justice Ray Price called for a reformation of the Missouri prison system, saying prisons are overpopulated with nonviolent offenders.

"We continue to over-incarcerate nonviolent offenders, while we have failed to expand drug courts and other diversionary and re-entry programs to capacity," Price said in his address. "The result is a state that is not as safe as we want it to be and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

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I am responding to Holly Baggett's letter ("Drug testing affront to poor families," Jan. 9) regarding the drug testing of families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program. Baggett seems to be offended that people receiving this taxpayer government-funded program would have to be drug tested to get these benefits. I find this ironic as the funding for this and other programs like it come from people's taxes paid out of their paycheck. I assure you that most of these people had to have a drug test before they could be considered for employment. She should also be made aware that almost all employers require drug testing pre-employment, random testing and mandatory testing if they are injured on the job.

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Editor, the Tribune: As a retired police detective who worked in the trenches of the drug war for 18 years, I heartily agree with Hank Waters that we need to repeal this modern prohibition. Drug prohibition has increased crime, death, disease and quite probably drug use. I could not see one positive outcome from my position in the trenches. The slaughter of innocents at birthday parties in Mexico merits a shrug from us. We don't care enough to change policy.

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Editor, the Tribune: I'm writing about a thoughtful column from Hank Waters, "Mexico and the drug war" on Jan. 22.

Imagine if we could eliminate almost all of our nation's heroin dealers - Switzerland did. Imagine if we could reduce the number of heroin addicts by 82 percent - Switzerland did. Imagine if we could dramatically reduce our overall crime rate - Switzerland did. Imagine if we could eliminate virtually all deaths from heroin - Switzerland did.

How did they do it? In 1994, Switzerland started an experimental program to sell heroin addicts the drug cheaply, even giving it to the addicts who couldn't afford it. In 2008, 68 percent of the Swiss voted to make the program permanent. Have Swiss heroin-addiction rates skyrocketed? No, they have dramatically fallen. So has Switzerland's overall crime rate.

Will we adopt Switzerland's heroin policy? Probably not. Too many people, industries and institutions have a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo.

Kirk Muse

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Editor, the Tribune: Many thanks to the Tribune for a much-needed editorial, "Mexico and the drug war," on Jan. 22.

Many salient points were made and important questions raised, but the problem is those in charge don't and won't listen or even discuss the topic publicly.

When first appointed as our nation's chief of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, former Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske admitted the word "legalization" wasn't even in his vocabulary. In such a context, I doubt our drug czar will ever publicly debate the issue or ever hold an unscripted interview with journalists.

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Despite Drop, Law Enforcement Officials See Little Decrease in Demand

The Buchanan County Drug Strike Force unveiled 2010 statistics on methamphetamine lab busts, both locally and nationally, with the numbers providing proof of mixed results in America's ongoing "War on Drugs."

In 2009, the Drug Strike Force identified and infiltrated 13 meth labs. The agency that is manned and supervised by the Buchanan County Sheriff's Department but also serves Clinton, Nodaway, Holt and Andrew counties cut that number down to eight in 2010 -- a drop of nearly 40 percent. But Lt. Steve Gumm said those numbers don't tell the whole story.

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Incomprehensible Reactions

Daily reports of drug war violence seem to slip past our consciousness. What are we thinking?

Gang warfare wracks Mexico from border to border. Outlaws murder judges and police officers when they aren't busy killing each other. The crime is beyond control in Mexico. Drugs make too much money.

In America it's the same, except it's compounded because we have a huge crime problem related to drug use as well as drug-trafficking. Even in a quiet town like Columbia, local drug war violence has made enough news to fill a book. Our police do as well as one can expect, but the drug trade simply is too lucrative to deny. The crime will continue, and we will keep paying billions to fight a losing war on drugs.

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Councilmen taking issue to citizens after it doesn't make council priority list.

After failing to gain traction with their fellows on City Council, two Springfield officials hope to strike up a conversation about medicinal marijuana with the public.

Councilmen Doug Burlison and Dan Chiles have scheduled a public meeting tonight at the Library Center to talk about the topic, which they failed to have added to the city's list of 2011 legislative priorities.

The 6:30 p.m. event is expected to run through about 9 p.m. and will feature an airing of the film, "What if Cannabis Cured Cancer?"

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I have a confession to make. I hope it won't make you think ill of me.

I have never smoked marijuana, not even a puff. Not ever.

Not that I didn't have my chances. Back in 1970, I was covering the Wadena Rock Festival in Iowa (sort of Woodstock lite) when a young woman came up to me and said: "Want me to turn you on?" I'm pretty sure she was talking about pot. I respectfully declined.

Yes, I know, it was weak of me. The best and the brightest of my generation were courageously yielding to temptation while I, coward that I was, retreated from it.

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Could Other Music Festivals Face Trouble, Too?

Is this SWAT team coming to a music festival near you?

Carrie Goebel went to sleep this Halloween in her own version of paradise. She woke up to a nightmare.

The 46-year-old artist from Warrenton, Missouri, spent the last weekend in October camping out at Camp Zoe's Spookstock music festival. "It was a good time, the weather was great, there were lots of good costumes," she recalls. "Little kids were trick-or-treating from campsite to campsite. It was a good time. It was a great weekend."

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Regarding Bill McClellan's "It would be great if state went to pot" (Nov. 12): If Missouri is going to be the first state to offer tourists a joint it must get it in gear. California's Proposition 19 organizers already are planning another proposition for 2012. Colorado also is preparing initiatives for 2012 to legalize the relatively safe, God-given cannabis plant. Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and others may join it.

Becoming the first state could appeal to America's competitive spirit and may help get cannabis legalized sooner. As a Colorado cannabis activist and citizen, I challenge Missouri, California and the rest of the states to a race to legalize cannabis.

If I were a gamblin' man, I'd bet on Colorado by an hour.

Stan White . Dillon, Colo.

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Grateful Dead music lovers will no longer be truckin' down to Shannon County for outdoor music festivals if three law enforcement agencies get their way in federal court.

On Monday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Missouri Highway Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a joint complaint in the Eastern District of Missouri asking to seize the 350-acre Zoe Farm, alleging rampant drug dealing and drug use at events.

According to its website, the farm, called Camp Zoe, is located 150 miles southwest of St. Louis near Salem and hosts a popular Grateful Dead festival call Schwagstock every year, as well as biker and pagan rallies and individual concerts. Once a popular summer camp for kids, the property was purchased in 2004 by Jimmy Tebeau, a member of the Schwag, a Grateful Dead tribute band. He opened the grounds to recreational camping and float trips and began hosting the festivals soon after the purchase.

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Would you like to see Missouri become a tourist destination?

It's possible. The door is open. The zany voters of California -- once again, they elected Gov. Moonbeam -- voted not to legalize pot. What were they thinking? What were they smoking?

Actually, that's it. They were smoking marijuana. You know who was against the proposition to legalize pot? The medical marijuana industry.

And why not? At the moment, they have the market cornered. Approximately 250,000 people have prescriptions. Some suffer from anxiety or insomnia. If each shares his or her legal pot with just one friend, that's half a million pot smokers.

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A sane argument to continue cannabis (marijuana) prohibition and extermination doesn't exist (NORML Conference Brings State and National Speakers to MU, Nov. 9, 2010).

Another reason to legalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is Biblically correct since God, The Ecologician, indicates He created all the seed bearing plants saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

What kind of government cages responsible adults for using what God says is good?

Stan White

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