A man whose home Columbia police raided in February on a narcotics search warrant has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and is contemplating a civil action against the department for shooting his two dogs during the raid. Jonathan E. Whitworth, 25, of 1501 Kinloch Court entered into a plea agreement with the state to drop charges of possession of marijuana and second-degree child endangerment for a guilty plea to possession of drug paraphernalia.

Investigators believed Whitworth was in possession of a large amount of marijuana and was considered a distributor, Deputy Chief Tom Dresner said in February. Police, who found a grinder, a pipe and a small amount of marijuana, shot two dogs upon entering Whitworth's home around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 11.

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In December, a Pennsylvania teenager asked Obama if he had considered legalizing drugs to stimulate the economy. The audience broke into laughter, and Obama deflected after complimenting the boy's "boldness."

I posed a similar question to Jack Riley, a senior member of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and a panelist at last week's "Within our Borders: The Mexican Drug War" event hosted by Sigma Iota Rho. I asked how the War on Drugs continues to be a good use of U.S. resources and wondered if violence could be neutralized in this and other countries by legalizing and regulating illicit substances as part of the formal economy (I realize that President Obama has shied from using this terminology for ideological reasons. In the DEA, though, this change has been interpreted as purely nomenclature).

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ST. LOUIS - Don Yarber joked that he has managed to earn the nickname Mayor Juana through his efforts to legalize cannabis.

Last week, two nonbinding referendums seeking support on statewide legalization of marijuana use for medical purposes narrowly failed in Cottleville, where Yarber has been mayor for five years. He had hoped its passage would have sparked state legislators to put the matter to a statewide vote.

"We have to start working to convince the nonbelievers," Yarber told a small gathering Saturday at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws state spring conference in St. Louis.

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Question on City's Ballot Focuses on State Legislation

Marijuana will still be illegal in Cottleville after the April 6 election, even if the city's voters approve two nonbinding propositions supporting legalizing the drug for medical purposes.

Proposition C asks voters if they support Missouri House Bill 1670, which would legalize medical marijuana. If passed by the Legislature, the House bill would trigger a statewide vote in November 2011.

Proposition V on the Cottleville ballot asks voters if they want the Legislature to put the provisions of HB1670 on the state's Nov. 2, 2010, ballot.

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Editor, the Tribune:

Former New Mexico Republican Gov. Gary Johnson is not the only elected official to have voiced support for legalized cannabis while in office ("Former GOP Governor Wants Pot Legal," March 20). Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who campaigned for president, has said if elected he will regulate cannabis similar to alcohol.

For the record, as a registered Democrat, if a Republican gets on the election ballot for president who vows to RE-legalize cannabis, I will strongly consider changing political parties. I'm not alone; millions of voting Americans also oppose discrimination of cannabis users.

Stan White

116 Climax Drive

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Former governor of New Mexico, Republican Gary Johnson, was at the UMKC School of Law student lounge delivering a message to a group of students and faculty Tuesday.

"Congress will pass laws regarding anything and everything," Johnson said. "This is our America, take it back."

Johnson occupied the governor's seat in New Mexico for two terms. He proudly vetoed 750 bills during that time and he was only overridden twice.

However, Johnson did not begin as a politician.

He was an entrepreneur, starting his own construction business that turned in to a 1,000 person operation.

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A former New Mexico Republican governor on a national campaign to push for the legalization of marijuana found support yesterday in Columbia at the Muleskinners Democratic Club.

Gary Johnson, an entrepreneur-turned-two-term governor, was making the rounds in Columbia this week. He spoke to University of Missouri School of Law students Thursday and addressed the Muleskinners at their weekly luncheon before heading to a meeting last night of the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the ACLU.

Johnson dubbed himself the only elected official to have voiced support for legalized marijuana while in office from 1995 to 2003. That said, he has talked to lawmakers from both political parties who said privately that they support the idea.

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I am grateful to Cape Girardeau lawyer John L. Cook for his op-ed piece against drug prohibition. It takes courage and clarity of vision. I have much respect for the Teen Challenge program and the individuals who are taking advantage of its help, as well as Dr. Jack Smart for directing the program. It takes gumption and faith.

In his rebuttal to Mr. Cook, Dr. Smart was, however, substantively wrong in his assertion that this country has never been without drug prohibition.

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Pettis County commissioners will consider a proposed ordinance Monday to ban the sale and possession of a substance thought to be similar to marijuana.

Greene County doesn't have any plans in the near-term to look at a ban.

K2 is an herbal incense that, when smoked, is thought to have the same chemical effect on the brain as marijuana.

A bill working its way through the General Assembly would ban the substance, but Pettis County Presiding Commissioner Rusty Kahrs said the commission is concerned for the health of its citizens and wants to get a ban in place more quickly.

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I noticed an interesting pair of articles on Thursday's front page. One of the articles was about K2. K2 is a marijuana-like herbal blend that contains a synthetic version of the active ingredient of marijuana. The article states that "police and school officials say they are concerned about its unknown health risks". It also states that State Rep. Ward Franz has introduced a bill to add the chemical compound in K2 to Missouri's list of illegal drugs. He also said "We've got to do something, because somebody's going to be using this, driving a vehicle and killing somebody."

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Regarding Brandon Boatman's thoughtful Jan. 1 op-ed, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

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Cottleville Mayor Don Yarber is on a mission to put medical marijuana on the state ballot.

"This has to be done almost undercover, but the support is there," said 70-year-old Yarber. "I think politicians would be surprised at the number of people that would approve medical marijuana use."

The Cottleville Board of Aldermen in July unanimously adopted a resolution Yarber drafted supporting legalizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes.

"The feedback was all positive," Yarber said. "I tried to take what I consider a daring step by bringing the topic up and getting people talking about it."

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For more than 70 years, now otherwise law-abiding and productive members of society have been punished and turned into criminals for possessing a plant that is as natural as the air we breathe. With the government's multi-billion dollar anti-pot propaganda machine, they have convinced a majority of Americans that cannabis is an evil plant that is dangerous to our society. Most people don't realize that humans have an 8,500-year relationship with marijuana dating back to our earliest civilizations. People have used cannabis for ropes, clothing, oils, food, medicine and for recreational purposes. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew cannabis in early America and encouraged every one to do so.

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JEFFERSON CITY - Amid a national push to make health care cheaper and simpler, Missouri is considering legislation that intentionally makes it a little more cumbersome.

State lawmakers have filed several bills for the 2010 session that would require a doctor's prescription to get certain cold and allergy medications that currently can be bought over the counter. Supporters hope that creating a new barrier to the medication will make it harder to get the pseudoephedrine used to make methamphetamine.

That Republicans and Democrats, House members and a senator all are proposing an extra step for Missourians seeking relief from colds and allergies, highlights the extent of the state's meth problem.

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Though equal protection of the law is a cardinal principle in our Constitution, most citizens don't care much for the plight of poor people accused of crime who can't afford counsel. Large numbers of defendants depend on lawyers provided at taxpayer expense. Funding the public defender budget is an increasing challenge as "get tough" laws proliferate and particularly now when the state is in a real budget crunch.

It's a bind. The Constitution requires the provision of defenders, and state lawmakers see no way to pay the bill. Recently the Missouri Supreme Court said public defenders can't turn away cases even though the system is overloaded and sent the problem back to circuit courts and local prosecutors to work out solutions, which might include reducing the number of charges involving potential incarceration, naming private attorneys more often to defend indigent clients pro bono, or simply dragging feet by not naming defense attorneys as promptly.

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Cole said users should be rehabilitated, not sent to prison.

Jack Cole, the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, spoke at MU on the legalization of drugs.

The event took place at 7 p.m. Monday in Tucker Hall and was sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policies. Students from the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws also attended.

Cole is a retired detective lieutenant with 26 years of experience in the New Jersey State Police force. Cole also worked as an undercover narcotics officer for 14 years and co-founded LEAP in March 2002.

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I hope lawmakers in Springfield, Ill., will pass medical cannabis legislation, Senate Bill 1381 and House Bill 2514. Until then, patients will have to turn to the criminal market to get such medicine.

Recently, the American Medical Association called for a review of the scheduling of cannabis, at the same time stating that it was not endorsing states' medical cannabis programs. The Department of Justice has ended raids on law-abiding patients and caregivers, making good on President Barack Obama's promise to stop interfering with states that have legally protected medical cannabis patients. That Illinois and Missouri have not protected these vulnerable citizens is astonishing and downright cruel.

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First let me say that I consider both Rep. Stephen Webber and Rep. Mary Still to be friends and good Democrats. However, I can not agree with their stance on medical marijuana.

In November 2004, we, the people of Columbia, voted to support medical marijuana by 70 percent. The federal government no longer threatens to prosecute those who comply with such laws and the American Medical Association no longer opposes rescheduling of marijuana. Many of our citizens could benefit if we wake up and stop living in the past.

I call on Rep. Still and Rep. Webber to do the right thing and stand up for the people of Columbia by signing on with other Democrats as co-sponsors of the medical marijuana bill this year.

Kathleen Weinschenk, Columbia

[end]

DENVER -- Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store -- which is what it really is -- involve medicine.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana.

Since the Justice Department's decision, the average age of the 400 people a day seeking "prescriptions" at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It burns like marijuana, works like marijuana and it sort of looks like it, too.

And it's perfectly legal.

It's called K2, and area police confirm that the little bags of dried herbs are starting to pop up among teens and young adults.

Although it may be new on the local drug scene, K2 and similar brands have the attention of a Kansas lawmaker who said she would consider outlawing the substance. That's because the health risks of smoking one of these dubious doobies is unknown. Some European countries already have moved to ban it.

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