Referring to the legalization of marijuana and its effect on drug cartels in his Sept. 3 column "An inconvenient truth," Vikram Srinivasan reminds us "that drugs are illegal now and any discussion of their ethics must be grounded in the universe of current realities and consequences." That said, Srinivasan recommends we change said "current realit[y]" by curtailing private drug use. Let us take a moment, however, to actually consider the current reality. We have violent drug cartels, and these cartels exist because of two reasons: 1) a powerful American appetite for marijuana, and 2) a refusal to legalize and regulate marijuana. If we are to stop the drug cartels, we must change one of these causal circumstances. Which event is better grounded in reality: millions of people suddenly growing a conscience and dropping their drug habits, or a government legalizing and regulating marijuana? Is one option not a complete fantasy? [continues 176 words]
Sampson County Sheriff's deputies say they seized $6 million worth of marijuana in a wooded area in Ivanhoe this week. The 2,400 marijuana plants were discovered through aerial surveillance, according to the Sampson County Sheriff's Office. The people who were growing the plants evacuated just before the raid on Thursday, the sheriff's office said. Officers found tents, food, grooming items and irrigation equipment at a campsite near the plants. "The living conditions were unsanitary with a toothbrush and razor hanging over a murky creek, where the tenants apparently took their baths and washed their clothes," the sheriff's office said in a news release. "The irrigation system was comprised of a water pump and generator that were placed in the dug-out area of the creek bed, and it fed several different hoses that went to different plots." The people growing the marijuana were "squatters" who were using someone else's land, the sheriff's office said. [end]
In response to the article "Meth lab operator gets 19-23 months" in the Aug. 26 edition of the Cherokee Scout. This should have been titled, "Our judicial system, who does it represent?" I wish to express my deepest sympathy for all the law enforcement agencies involved with the investigation of this meth lab - the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, State Bureau of Investigation, and other agents of the multiple agency narcotics unit. After all the investigation work to put together enough evidence in order to prosecute the people arrested in this "clandestine meth lab," the best our judicial system can come up with is 19-24 months. Maybe with good behavior the guilty will serve 6-8 months. [continues 192 words]
Gathering at Dash Field Paid for With Seized Drug Money Today, more than 500 parents and children will take part in activities at Wake Forest Baseball Park to help youngsters learn about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. They will also be given free Winston-Salem Dash hats and T-shirts for taking a short quiz about those risks. And it is being paid for by the very people who peddle those illegal drugs. The Parent Kid Challenge is the latest activity sponsored by a partnership between the Winston-Salem Police Department, the Dash baseball team, and Drug Free North Carolina, an anti-drug advocacy group. [continues 418 words]
Dear Editor, What is Mitchell County thinking? All the students at Mitchell High must now check their constitutional rights at the door of the school? Every time government encroaches on our civil liberties it is always in the name of a "good cause." DSS and the DEA can suspend constitutional rights in the name of the "child" and "a drug free" country? Now, it is our local government in the disguise of concern over drug use in public schools! This is socialism and communism, take away the rights of all because of the supposed actions of a few. [continues 499 words]
Charlotte woman recalls a like-minded, peaceful aura amid the crowded confusion. After attending Woodstock 40 years ago this weekend, Christina Palmer, now 61 and living in Charlotte, is still a hippie. Just ask her children, Moment and Stone. The iconic music festival that some say defined the 1960s was life-changing for Palmer, who now teaches art out of her Dilworth apartment and works as a restaurant reservationist. Last week, she channeled her 21-year-old hippie self to remember a moment in American history. [continues 481 words]
Globallab Solutions of Charlotte Is Handing Out Far Fewer Test Cups These Days, Thanks to the Hiring Drought. As GlobalLab Solutions searched for a new office a few years ago, when the economy was thriving and jobs were easier to find, one of the big questions on owner Mike Sullivan's mind was whether the space had two bathrooms. His company's waiting room was often full. Dozens of job candidates lined up for the plastic cups and quick instructions - don't flush and don't wash your hands - that come with pre-employment drug tests. [continues 1185 words]
As the clock wound down on the 2009 session of the General Assembly, lawmakers approved a bill cutting the length of sentences for a number of criminals serving in state prisons, including some put there for committing violent felonies. The change was aimed at reducing prison crowding, a not-so-insignificant issue during a time when tight budgets are resulting in the state closing a number of smaller prisons and transferring inmates to larger and more efficient facilities. It's important to note that the closures will result in inmates being double-bunked in some prisons. [continues 319 words]
Mumpower Calls for Public Canine Patrol In an effort to address what he calls an active downtown drug market, a city councilman wants police to use a drug dog to patrol public places. Carl Mumpower raised the issue at last week's City Council meeting, but it was deferred to the council's Public Safety Committee for discussion. It's far from going before the council for a vote, but some question the constitutionality of such a practice. "I want to do anything we can to address the active drug market in our downtown," Mumpower said, adding that Pritchard Park is a notorious spot for drug activity. "Downtown is a drug-free zone, but we've got too many people that are dealing and/or using drugs in public spaces downtown and I don't like it. I think it's harmful to let that go on." [continues 538 words]
The number of cases involving heroin and methadone is on the rise and causing some concern for law enforcement agencies in Alamance County. We are starting to see this stuff much more," said Randy Jones, Alamance County Sheriff's Department spokesman. "It's becoming much more common place." The Burlington Police Department is also seeing more heroin on the streets and more methadone-related offenses, which frequently involve forged prescriptions, said Burlington police Assistant Chief Greg Seel. On Aug. 7, the sheriff's department executed a search warrant at a home on Mountain Trail in Snow Camp where undercover officers had bought .4 grams of heroin, 32 units of dilaudid and 62 units of methadone in the last few months. Six people were charged with several drug offenses, including trafficking. [continues 662 words]
As the clock wound down on the 2009 session of the General Assembly, lawmakers approved a bill decreasing the length of sentences for a number of criminals serving in our prisons, including some serving time for violent felonies. The change was aimed at reducing prison crowding, a not-so-insignificant issue during a time when tight budgets are resulting in the state closing a number of smaller prisons and transferring inmates to larger and more efficient facilities. With prison population hovering around 41,000 and the average cost of supervising a prisoner put at $27,911 a year, it's easy to see how lawmakers want to take a hard look at the possibilities of changing the sentencing guidelines in order to save taxpayers some money. [continues 216 words]
I read with interest at story in the July 29 Times-News by Keren Rivas, Dozens of marijuana plants found in county. Unless you are in complete denial, the 1937 Congressional Record tells us America prohibited pot without any real scientific testimony, no medical expertise and a media campaign based on bigotry three generations ago. Meanwhile, science finds all over again a host of medical conditions that marijuana treats effectively and every objective review of the past century finds it less harmful than tobacco or alcohol products. [continues 124 words]
It's growing season for a number of plants in North Carolina, including illegal ones such as marijuana. That's one of the reasons why the Alamance County Sheriff's Department decided to conduct an aerial search Monday as part of the marijuana eradication program, a joint federally funded effort that combines state-owned aircraft and county sheriff's deputies to find and destroy marijuana plants. The result? The eradication of 40 plants ranging in height from one to four feet growing in the southern part of the county behind a mobile home park off Swepsonville-Saxapahaw Road. [continues 325 words]
RALEIGH - Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison says the Corvette Z06 being used by his deputies to pull over cars on Interstate 40 is a potent tool for fighting illegal drugs. "We saw a need for it," Harrison said Wednesday about the special-model Chevy that goes 198 mph and was seized from a cocaine dealer. "We're going to get a lot of drugs off the road." A Wake judge ordered Lawrence Creech Jr., the Corvette's previous owner, to forfeit it to the Wake Sheriff's Office following his arrest in December for cocaine possession and maintaining a vehicle for the keeping of controlled substances, according to court records. The 2007 car has a current retail value of $56,990, according to Kelley Blue Book. [continues 668 words]
He walks a winding road knowing he can't afford to look back. It's a beaten path lined in drugs, firearms and crime. But he's not part of the problem. John Doe is part of the solution. Doe, whose identity is being concealed for his own protection, is a nameless, faceless man who works among Cleveland County's roughest pill pushers, drug dealers and gun smugglers. An informant for Shelby Police, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and other organizations, Doe's been fighting an undercover war on crime for nearly 20 years. [continues 843 words]
The hysterical attitude of the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Department about marijuana reminds me of Chicken Little's fear of falling skies and the idiotic wars between Lilliput and Blefescu because they could not agree on whether to break eggs on the small or the large end. Then I remember that Chicken Little's weather prediction and Lilliput's egg wars are fiction, leaving marijuana prohibition in Pasquotank County as the most lunatic activity on the planet. Floyd Krautner Bakersfield, Calif. [end]
Local Lawmakers Have Mixed Views About Medical Marijuana Prescription painkillers made her retch. Muscle relaxants ravaged her liver. So Jean Marlowe put down her pills and rolled a joint. "I tried marijuana, and in five minutes, my stomach stopped shaking for the first time in five years," said Marlowe, who has used marijuana as medicine since a doctor recommended the drug in 1990. "It really does work." The founder and executive director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, Marlowe is asking state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana use. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives' Health Committee, and two of Gaston County's three House delegates who serve on the committee have indicated they would likely vote against it. [continues 1202 words]
Prescription painkillers made her retch. Muscle relaxants ravaged her liver. So Jean Marlowe put down her pills and rolled a joint. "I tried marijuana, and in five minutes, my stomach stopped shaking for the first time in five years," said Marlowe, who has used marijuana as medicine since a doctor recommended the drug in 1990. "It really does work." The founder and executive director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, Marlowe is asking state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana use. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives' Health Committee, and two of Gaston County's three House delegates who serve on the committee have indicated they would likely vote against it. [continues 1202 words]
I think that legalizing or decriminalizing and taxing cannabis just like alcohol and cigarettes would be the right thing to do in all states. And for the sick and disabled it ought to be automatically legal if needed. Because I voted for a change in government, please think about this, President Obama. Darrell Newton Connelly Springs, NC [end]
'Paid for with drug dealers' money' is a common theme for law enforcement agencies across the nation. From new helicopters to uniforms, agencies use money seized from drug busts to enhance their budgets. A StarNews analysis of federal drug seizure expenditure reports over the past five years in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender county sheriff's offices as well as the Wilmington Police Department found that the majority of the drug money is being spent to buy things normal budgets don't cover. [continues 1395 words]
Inside North Carolina
