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1 US NC: Proposed Bill Raises Amount Of Pot Leading To ChargesFri, 25 May 2018
Source:Charlotte Observer (NC) Author:Ward, Myah Area:North Carolina Lines:49 Added:05/25/2018

State Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, introduced a bill this week that would significantly increase the amount of marijuana a person could have in his or her possession for personal use before being charged with a misdemeanor or felony.

Under Alexander's bill, a person would not be charged with a misdemeanor unless he or she had more than 4 ounces of marijuana. Under current law, possession of more than a half-ounce is a misdemeanor. A person would have to have more than 16 ounces -- more than 10 times the current limit -- to be charged with a felony.

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2 US NC: Charlotte Area Family Pushes To Legalize Medical MarijuanaFri, 20 Apr 2018
Source:Charlotte Observer (NC) Author:Cope, Cassie Area:North Carolina Lines:178 Added:04/25/2018

Her son was supposed to die 13 years ago. She'll never stop fighting for him.

Doctors predicted Jackson Helms would die by the time he was 6.

Now 19, Jackson has lived longer than expected and gained relief from his severe epilepsy because of cannabidiol, or CBD, says his mom Kelly Helms.

CBD has essentially no THC, which is the psychoactive element in marijuana that causes a high.

The full legalization of medical marijuana could help Jackson, his mom says. Medical experts in North Carolina support more research on medical marijuana.

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3 US NC: Obama Commutes Prison Sentence Of California HealthcareThu, 19 Jan 2017
Source:Charlotte Observer (NC) Author:Doyle, Michael Area:North Carolina Lines:50 Added:01/19/2017

President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted the 20-year prison sentenced imposed on Richard Ruiz Montes, convicted in 2008 for his role in the Modesto's pot-dealing California Healthcare Collective.

In one of his final presidential acts, Obama used his executive authority to cut Montes' sentence by more than half. Now held at a federal facility in Atwater, according to the Bureau of Prisons' inmate locator, the 36-year-old Montes will be released May 19.

He is identified as Richard by the White House and Bureau of Prisons, but has also been known as Ricardo. The White House listed his hometown as Escalon.

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4 US NC: Pew Research Center Poll Finds Two-thirds Of Cops ThinkThu, 12 Jan 2017
Source:Charlotte Observer (NC) Author:Ingraham, Christopher Area:North Carolina Lines:72 Added:01/12/2017

A Pew Research Center survey of nearly 8,000 police officers finds that more than two-thirds of them say that marijuana use should be legal for either personal or medical use.

The nationally representative survey of law enforcement, one of the largest of its kind, found that 32 percent of police officers said marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, while 37 percent said it should be legal for medical use only. Another 30 percent said that marijuana should not be legal at all.

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5 US NC: Sen. Thom Tillis Won't Seek Re-election If Bills Don't PassWed, 30 Nov 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Douglas, William Area:North Carolina Lines:116 Added:12/05/2016

Tillis says he may not return if bills like sentencing changes aren't passed Senate

WASHINGTON - Sen. Thom Tillis said Wednesday that he may not seek re-election in 2020 unless a sweeping overhaul of the nation's prison sentencing system is passed.

Tillis, R-N.C., has sought to make revamping the nation's criminal justice system one of his signature issues since arriving in Washington in 2015, leaning on his experience in pushing through North Carolina's Justice Reinvestment Act when he was state House speaker in 2011.

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6 US NC: LTE: Justice FailsSat, 05 Nov 2016
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Jackson, Fred Area:North Carolina Lines:43 Added:11/08/2016

I extend my deepest sympathies to the family of the child killed in the recent senseless car crash. I can'€™t imagine your grief.

Here'€™s a summary of facts the StarNews reported about the driver charged in this incident:

2010 Convicted on impaired driving charge

2012 Convicted on Level 2 (severe) DWI charge. Released from prison in less than 6 months, probation revoked.

Currently faces charges for 10/15/2016 attempted breaking and entering, for a prior drug possession and for two prior counts of driving with revoked license.

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7 US NC: LTE: Drugs And ViolenceTue, 20 Sep 2016
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Cox, Charles Carrington Area:North Carolina Lines:38 Added:09/22/2016

All the nationwide rhetoric over lamentable black-on-black killings and lives matter doesn't ever seem to highlight the obvious reality that most of the shootings are drug-turf related. Every gang protects its square blocks and guns down intruders, unfortunately putting innocent people in the crossfire no matter where. If the Russians or Mexicans carved out turf and gunfire erupted, the conversation would revolve around white on brown killings, for instance.

Decades ago I read about a supposedly true event in a New York county where Latinos and whites had installed themselves in a poor town where virtually all industries had closed. The underfunded city and county police couldn't cope with them.

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8 US NC: Editorial: DEA Should Ease Marijuana RatingTue, 16 Aug 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:38 Added:08/16/2016

Those who argue against the mass legalization of marijuana say it's dangerous and can lead to more addictive drugs. But that hasn't been the experience of all who casually smoked pot in their younger years and then let it go. And, some in the medical field believe marijuana can relieve side effects of chemotherapy, ease the pressure associated with glaucoma and help with minor maladies.

Thus, the Drug Enforcement Administration's decision to stay with a 46-year-old law categorizing marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a serious drug with no medical value, seems unreasonable. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence from people who have used it for medical reasons, and even as a "recreational" drug, is pot really more harmful than alcohol? That's a difficult argument to make.

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9 US NC: PUB LTE: Legalize DrugsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Mason, Roger Area:North Carolina Lines:39 Added:08/08/2016

Are you tired of hearing about the "opioid epidemic" ? Me too!

As long as we have a "war on drugs" and draconian drug laws, we will continue to have drug epidemics. The answer is as simple as it is shocking to most people...legalize all drugs for all adults.

Anyone who commits any crime while under the influence of any drug (including alcohol) would get doubled penalties. People might not realize all drugs were legal in America for 137 years until the nefarious and evil Harrison Narcotics Act.

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10 US NC: OPED: Who Profits From Keeping The Drug War Going? LawFri, 05 Aug 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Benavie, Arthur Area:North Carolina Lines:97 Added:08/06/2016

As our country mourns the deaths of eight police officers and a series of African-Americans killed during encounters with police, the question we all ask is, how can we stem this horror? One way would be to end the war against nonviolent drug users.

More than 1.2 million Americans are arrested every year for simply possessing an illicit substance. It is widely recognized that the war disproportionately punishes African-Americans and is responsible for millions of confrontational interactions between law enforcement and blacks. Many of these anger-producing and potentially violent contacts would not take place without the drug war.

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11 US NC: OPED: Turning A Corner In Fighting Drugs, Mental IllnessTue, 24 May 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:64 Added:05/24/2016

They studied the state's mental illness and drug abuse problems for 10 months and came up with 32 pages of recommendations.

The important part can be summed up in four words: more treatment, less jail.

What the 24 members of the Governor's Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Abuse found is the wisdom they could have gleaned - and probably did - from any jailer: At least 80 percent of the people behind bars got there through some combination of substance abuse and mental illness. Early intervention and treatment could halt a lot of criminal careers.

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12 US NC: Editorial: Helping Addicts, Not Jailing ThemMon, 16 May 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:54 Added:05/16/2016

Nashville - North Carolina's Nashville, 45 miles east of Raleigh - has a police chief who is changing the way law enforcement deals with drug addicts, who might ordinarily be arrested and put away.

Chief Thomas Bashore has seen the consequences of drug abuse, and he's come to see that conventional law enforcement solutions, meaning arrest and imprisonment, don't seem to come to a constructive end. Addicts go in for a while, come out, get reacquainted with drugs, go back in.

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13 US NC: PUB LTE: Time for N.C. to End the Prohibition onTue, 09 Feb 2016
Source:Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) Author:Fraley, George Area:North Carolina Lines:41 Added:02/09/2016

It's reported our teachers are underpaid and other state employees are having issues with pay and health insurance.

Of course, Raleigh is bemoaning a lack of funds.

Let's see... we all want better paying jobs, better health care, better education - hey, I've got an idea; maybe it's time for N.C. to end the prohibition on cannabis.

While legalization may produce some challenges in the future, the problems with keeping pot illegal - the racial disparities in pot-related arrests and the black market that funds criminal groups around the world for instance are far, far worse.

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14 US NC: Editorial: Right Move For Wake To Give Sheriff MoreMon, 11 Jan 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:40 Added:01/12/2016

Donnie Harrison may figure that, having been sheriff of Wake County since 2002, the Wake Board of Commissioners ought to respect his opinion and follow his recommendations without much question. To some degree, Harrison is right. But it would have been good if the sheriff, seeking more money to expand his drugs and vice unit, had offered up a few more specifics on arrests and seizures and had produced a report on drug busts and Mexican drug cartels he cited in justifying his request for funding.

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15 US NC: OPED: We Know How To Win The War On DrugsSun, 03 Jan 2016
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Allen, Danielle Area:North Carolina Lines:133 Added:01/06/2016

Contrast what has happened since 1964 with tobacco, on the one hand, and marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other banned substances, on the other

We can compare the effects of choosing a public-health paradigm or a criminalization paradigm for dealing with addictive substances

The progress against smoking has been steady and impressive, but ita??s an altogether different tale with banned substances

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In January 1964, the Beatles first broke onto the Billboard chart with a??I Wantto Hold Your Hand.a?? By June, Ringo Starr had collapsed from tonsillitis and pharyngitis. In January, the surgeon general announced that scientists had found conclusive evidence linking smoking to cancer and launched our highly successful 50-year public-health fight against tobacco. In August, the North Vietnamese fired on a U.S. naval ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, which led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the public phase of the Vietnam War. Alongside an accelerating deployment of conventional troops would come their widespread use of marijuana and heroin. By 1971, cigarette ads had been banned from radio and television, the surgeon general had called for regulation of tobacco, and cigarette smoking had begun its long decline. The impact of drug use among troops and returning veterans provoked President Richard M. Nixon to declare a war on drugs.

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16 US NC: Law Freeing Drug Antidote For Public Use Has SavedSat, 26 Dec 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:McDonald, Thomasi Area:North Carolina Lines:103 Added:12/27/2015

DURHAM - Officials with a statewide non-profit dedicated to reducing drug overdose deaths say a law passed by the General Assembly in 2013 has resulted in hundreds of lives saved from drug overdoses.

The N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to reducing drug overdose deaths, says that since Aug. 1, 2013, naloxone has saved the lives of more than 1,500 people who were overdosing on heroin or other opioid drugs. The agency has partnered with about 40 police departments across the state to train officers and provide the agencies with drug overdose prevention kits.

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17 US NC: PUB LTE: 'War on Drugs' A WasteMon, 30 Nov 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Phares, Gail S. Area:North Carolina Lines:37 Added:12/01/2015

I agree with Jorge Castaneda's Nov. 12 column "Mexico's marijuana legalization could ease drug war." It is time to legalize marijuana and end the war on drugs not only in Mexico but here in the United States. This terrible war has caused thousands to be killed in Mexico, and Mexican society has been ripped apart.

I have visited both Mexico and Colombia as a Witness for Peace. The war on drugs has caused extreme pain and suffering in Colombia as well as in Mexico. Now over five million Colombians have been displaced by the U.S. funded "war on drugs."

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18 US NC: Industrial Hemp Poised to Become NC's Newest Legal CropThu, 29 Oct 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Campbell, Colin Area:North Carolina Lines:163 Added:10/31/2015

Legalization Bill Will Become Law Unless Mccrory Vetoes

Spring Hope Has One of the Only Hemp Processing Plants in the Country

Supporters Battle Stigma: 'We're For Rope, Not Dope'

Farmers in North Carolina are likely to wake up Saturday morning with a new option for growing crops: Industrial hemp production is expected to become legal at the stroke of midnight.

Lawmakers passed the legalization legislation in September, in the final days of the session. The proposal hadn't previously been made public, and some conservative groups worry that questions about the plant's connections to its cousin, marijuana, didn't get answered.

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19 US NC: OPED: Let's Prepare to Help NC Prisoners Released UnderThu, 29 Oct 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Roesch, Erin Area:North Carolina Lines:60 Added:10/30/2015

It costs approximately $80 a day to house a person in a North Carolina prison. With over 37,000 people serving time in our state, officials have understandably prioritized reducing prison populations with considerable gusto over the past decade. While many of those efforts have been successful, the effect of one particular change has yet to be seen - that of the U.S. Sentencing Commission's unanimous decision to reduce the sentencing guidelines for most federal drug trafficking charges beginning Sunday.

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20 US NC: The Disproportionate Risk Of Driving While BlackSun, 25 Oct 2015
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:LaFraniere, Sharon Area:North Carolina Lines:638 Added:10/25/2015

An Examination of Traffic Stops and Arrests in Greensboro, N.C., Uncovered Wide Racial Differences in Measure After Measure of Police Conduct.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Rufus Scales, 26 and black, was driving his younger brother Devin to his hair-cutting class in this genteel, leafy city when they heard the siren's whoop and saw the blue light in the rearview mirror of their black pickup. Two police officers pulled them over for minor infractions that included expired plates and failing to hang a flag from a load of scrap metal in the pickup's bed. But what happened next was nothing like a routine traffic stop.

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21 US NC: PUB LTE: The New Jim CrowFri, 14 Aug 2015
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Vlasits, George Area:North Carolina Lines:37 Added:08/14/2015

The op/ed on mass incarceration (StarNews, Aug. 8) points out the fact that the United States jails people at a much higher rate than even China or Russia. It states that this is due to the war on drugs and "tough-on-crime" policies, and that black males are imprisoned at more than six times the rate of white males. All true, but what it fails to add is that mass incarceration has created a new class of millions of "untouchables" (prisoners and those who have served their time), who are denied basic rights and who can be legally discriminated against. Once you enter the system, you become part of a permanent underclass -- poor, powerless and mostly black and brown.

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22 US NC: An Innocent Beginning For Synthetic MarijuanaMon, 10 Aug 2015
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:McCoy, Terrence Area:North Carolina Lines:241 Added:08/10/2015

UNICORPORATED JACKSON COUNTRY, N.C - The chemist who unwittingly helped spawn the District's synthetic drug epidemic is a hard man to find. His phone numbers are listed under his wife's name. Strangers who call his laboratories at Clemson University are told he doesn't return messages.

To find him, you must travel deep into the Smoky Mountains and take a road that winds into the clouds. There, atop a mountain, you will discover a stooped, elderly man padding about a house cloaked in mist.

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23 US NC: PUB LTE: Marijuana's Medical Uses IgnoredThu, 25 Jun 2015
Source:Fayetteville Observer (NC) Author:Armentano, Paul Area:North Carolina Lines:47 Added:06/28/2015

The marijuana plant possesses an extensive history of human use dating back thousands of years, thus providing society with ample empirical evidence as to its relative safety and efficacy ("Our View: Medical marijuana should be allowed in North Carolina," June 1). Moreover, cannabis and its compounds are among some of the most well-studied biologically active substances of modern times. A search on PubMed, the repository for all peer-reviewed scientific papers, using the term "marijuana," yields more than 20,000 scientific papers referencing the plant and/or its constituents, nearly half of which have been published just within the past decade.

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24 US NC: PUB LTE: Reefer MadnessTue, 16 Jun 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Galdy, Elliot Area:North Carolina Lines:36 Added:06/17/2015

I understand The N&O's desire to present all sides of an issue, but sometimes science and facts override "fairness." The June 9 letter "No medicinal purpose" regarding medical marijuana was so full of misinformation and factually incorrect statements that it bears a response.

The reason medical marijuana is listed in the Controlled Substances Act as Schedule I has nothing to do with any actual inherent dangers, but everything to do with politics and dates back to the 1930s and then "drug czar" Harry Anslinger.

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25 US NC: LTE: No Medicinal Purpose To MarijuanaTue, 09 Jun 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Lawn, Jack Area:North Carolina Lines:37 Added:06/10/2015

Regarding the June 2 editorial "Yes to medical marijuana" reprinted from the Fayetteville Observer: How disappointing that you would publish, without comment, a guest editorial extolling the medical benefits of marijuana.

Marijuana is listed in the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I, which means a drug "with no currently accepted medical use." Marinol is a synthetic version of THC, which was approved by the FDA in 1985 and supported by the National Cancer Institute.

THC in marijuana indisputably damages cognition, especially among teenagers, and results in auto and industrial accidents and decreased mental acuity and academic achievement. Different from alcohol, a legal drug, THC is not water soluble like alcohol, and trace amounts remain in the brain for extended periods, with potential brain damage.

Marijuana is not bad because it is illegal; marijuana is illegal because it has no medical value. Check with the scientists and the doctors. It is said that "emotion is the enemy of analysis."

Jack Lawn

Chapel Hill

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26 US NC: Eastern Eastern NC Law Enforcement Officers FaceFri, 01 May 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Blythe, Anne Area:North Carolina Lines:100 Added:05/02/2015

Thirteen current and former law enforcement officers from Eastern North Carolina were arrested Thursday as part of an undercover drug-trafficking sting that started with a tip to the Halifax County Sheriff's Office almost two years ago.

The sting led to drug conspiracy and weapon charges against seven current or former Northampton County deputies, three state corrections officers, a Northampton County emergency dispatcher, a Windsor police officer, a former Weldon police officer, a Raleigh resident and a Virginia corrections officer.

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27 US NC: Volunteers Collect Needles, Other Drug Materials Around CitySat, 28 Mar 2015
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Bellamy, Cammie Area:North Carolina Lines:67 Added:04/01/2015

WILMINGTON - An object about the size of a AA battery glinted in the dirt. Susan Stroup turned it over with her tongs, revealing milliliter markings along the side.

She picked up the broken syringe just a few feet from a jungle gym at the edge of Robert Strange Park.

"Yep, that's exactly what that is," said Stroup, an N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition volunteer, as she dropped the syringe into a biohazard container.

On Saturday, the coalition hosted an event to collect needles discarded by injection drug users around Wilmington. Volunteers searched areas including Greenfield Lake Park, parts of Orange and Ann Streets, and the railroad tracks near 17th Street and Oleander Drive, finding eight syringes, one crack cocaine pipe and other drug paraphernalia.

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28 US NC: NC House Panel Rejects Proposal For Medical MarijuanaThu, 26 Mar 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Campbell, Colin Area:North Carolina Lines:71 Added:03/28/2015

A state House committee unanimously rejected a proposal to legalize medical marijuana after an emotional hourlong hearing that ended with a legislator saying he was assaulted by a marijuana advocate.

House Bill 78 marks the most progress any marijuana proposal has had in the N.C. General Assembly. Two years ago, a similar bill was directed to the House Rules Committee, where Republican leaders allowed four people to speak before cutting off discussion and killing the bill.

Wednesday's hearing took place in the more prominent House Judiciary I Committee, and more than a dozen people spoke about the proposal in a packed meeting room. "For those in the room speaking today, this is huge - - that you're even here allowed to speak before the Judiciary I Committee," said Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat who co-sponsored the bill. "That's a big step. It's not a defeat."

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29 US NC: OPED: Congress Must Address Scourge Of MandatoryTue, 20 Jan 2015
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Prince, Erich Area:North Carolina Lines:92 Added:01/20/2015

In a notable instance of bipartisanship, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) co-sponsored a bill last session seeking to address concerns about the harmful effects of mandatory minimum sentencing. If it had passed, the Justice Safety Valve Act would have allowed judges to deviate from mandatory minimums in instances where they deemed a lesser sentence to be warranted. Mandatory minimums imposed by legislatures prescribe specific sentences for certain offenses, particularly those involving drugs. This policy was intended to alleviate reasonable concerns that the discretion afforded to judges resulted in varied sentences for defendants who had committed similar crimes. Although uniformity in punishment and equal treatment under law ought to be objectives of a functioning legal system, mandatory minimums routinely result in unnecessarily lengthy prison sentences while also failing to deter crime.

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30 US NC: PUB LTE: Decriminalize DrugsFri, 26 Dec 2014
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Denny, Paul Area:North Carolina Lines:33 Added:12/26/2014

Poor, miserable, depressed people take drugs. That's the way it always has been and that's the way it always will be. It's a fact of modern life. Our solution to this situation is a "war on drugs." The reality is that it's not a war on drugs, it's a war against people. There is no doubt that the government has the right and obligation to regulate the sales of addictive, destructive and deadly substances. However, it should not come as a surprise that people will possess these substances regardless of sales regulations. It should not be a crime. By eliminating "possession" laws, the biggest point of contention between citizens and the police would be effectively removed. It really is nobody's business what "substance" an otherwise law-abiding citizen may have in their possession, even to the police. The police should really have no business searching people's bodies and effects for these substances. It's ludicrous, it's ridiculous, and it is certainly unfair to the downtrodden in our society. ... Give the police a break. Let's stop tasking them with enforcing ridiculous laws and fighting our drug war. It's not fair to them or to the people.

Paul Denny, Leland

[end]

31 US NC: Ex-lieutenant With Sheriff's Office Pleads Guilty ToTue, 14 Oct 2014
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Norton, F. T. Area:North Carolina Lines:103 Added:10/14/2014

Buoyed by dozens of supporters on Monday - so many that they didn't all fit in the courtroom - former New Hanover County Sheriff's Office lieutenant Joseph Antoine LeBlanc was sentenced to more than four years in prison for crimes he committed to feed his pain pill addiction while he was second in command of the vice unit.

After being fired in June 2013, being indicted on 128 counts related to the stealing of drug evidence and the forging of a judge's signature to procure more pain pills, and the dismissal of at least nine drug cases, LeBlanc could have received 285 years in prison for the charges to which he pleaded Monday, said Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Parsons.

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32 US NC: PUB LTE: Time To End Expensive, Senseless Drug WarMon, 06 Oct 2014
Source:Asheville Citizen-Times (NC) Author:Fraley, George Area:North Carolina Lines:39 Added:10/09/2014

Want better funding for education, healthcare, better help for the mentally ill and homeless? Stop the longest war the U.S. has ever fought. Getting out of Afghanistan would be great, but=C2=85I'm not referring to Afghanistan.

I'm referring to the never-ending "War on drugs''. There are more drugs available now than 40 years ago when the war began. What we have managed to do is raise the price for users and the profits for the traffickers.

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33 US NC: Marijuana Law Forum Draws Pro-Pot Crowd At AG CenterFri, 22 Aug 2014
Source:Hendersonville Times-News (NC) Author:Axtell, Nathaniel Area:North Carolina Lines:101 Added:08/25/2014

Pro-pot forces dominated a town hall discussion on marijuana laws hosted by two television stations Thursday at the WNC Ag Center.

By a show of hands, most of the roughly 100 people attending the televised forum favored legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational uses. But at least two panelists urged caution before North Carolina goes the way of Colorado and Washington in legalizing adult use of pot.

The "Your Voice, Your Future" town hall was sponsored by WLOS News 13 and WMYA and moderated by Mark Hyman, host of Sinclair Broadcast Group's opinion segment, "Behind the Headlines." News 13 streamed the program live on its website and WMYA will broadcast it Saturday at noon.

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34 US NC: Durham Cops Lied About 911 CallsMon, 14 Jul 2014
Source:Week, The (Delavan, WI)          Area:North Carolina Lines:94 Added:07/14/2014

Several Durham police officers lied about non-existent 911 calls to try to convince residents to allow them to search their homes, a tactic several lawyers say is illegal. The officers targeted residences where individuals with outstanding warrants were thought to be living, and told them that dispatch had received a 911 call from that address, when no such call had been made.

However, Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez says the 911 tactic was never a part of official policy. Last month, the department officially banned the practice, according to a memo from Lopez.

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35 US NC: N.C. Allows Limited Use Of Medical MarijuanaFri, 04 Jul 2014
Source:Washington Post (DC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:17 Added:07/06/2014

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a law Thursday allowing limited use of medical marijuana to treat seizures. North Carolina joins states that include Alabama, Mississippi and Florida in allowing the controlled use of a cannabis extract, cannabidiol.

[end]

36US NC: McCrory Signs Marijuana Oil Bill Into LawFri, 04 Jul 2014
Source:Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:Excerpt Added:07/06/2014

RALEIGH (AP) - Gov. Pat McCrory says a new law he signed allowing some physicians to treat epilepsy in North Carolina using an extract from a marijuana plant could also lead to the discovery of other therapies.

McCrory signed the hemp oil bill Thursday during an Executive Mansion ceremony. The legislature sent him the bill supported by family members whose children aren't responding to conventional drug treatments.

The law allows neurologists to participate in clinical trials with the oil, which is taken orally. Lawmakers say the oil doesn't produce a high.

Patients and physicians would register in a state database. Possession of the oil wouldn't be illegal in these cases. Universities would be encouraged to conduct hemp extract research.

The law was named for 5-year-old Haley Ward, who attended the ceremony.

[end]

37 US NC: Parents Talk About N.C.'s Legalization Of Marijuana OilTue, 01 Jul 2014
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Parker, Molly Area:North Carolina Lines:77 Added:07/03/2014

Several local parents are celebrating the move by the state House and Senate to approve oil that is derived from marijuana plants that has shown some early success in other states treating children with severe seizure disorders. "I was really surprised that it all happened so quickly," said Wilmington school teacher Annetta Saggese. "Not only could it be so incredible for our kids, but it's also refreshing to see that it was bipartisan, that our representatives listened and took the time and cared." Annetta and her husband Matt are the parents of 4-year-old Netta, who began having seizures at about 6 weeks old, severely stunting her development. The StarNews featured the Saggeses and other North Carolina families in an article in September, during which time parents were gearing up for a fight to push legislation legalizing what's known as CBD oil during the short session. Parents largely connected through a Facebook page lobbied their legislators hard, and their educational efforts paid off. The bill passed with very little opposition, and Gov. Pat McCrory said last week that he intended to sign it into law.

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38 US NC: Editorial: Police Need More Funding, Not More WeaponsSat, 28 Jun 2014
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:76 Added:06/28/2014

Police are supposed to serve and protect, but increasingly special police units are being used to attack with military-style raids to serve search warrants or look for drugs. Sometimes these pumped-up Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations target the wrong house or injure children living with a suspect.

Last month in Georgia, for instance, a SWAT team looking for drugs battered down the door of a home in the middle of the night and tossed in a stun grenade that landed in a playpen where a 19-month-old boy was sleeping. The toddler, whose family was visiting the home, suffered serious injury and was put in a medically-induced coma. No drugs were found.

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39 US NC: Rep. Blackwell Weighs In On Medical Cannabis ActSat, 14 Jun 2014
Source:Morganton News Herald, The (NC) Author:Johnson, Tyler Area:North Carolina Lines:80 Added:06/15/2014

While medical marijuana activists march along U.S. 70 ramping up awareness of House Bill 1161 -- the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act -- it could, perhaps, be all for not.

At least that's the opinion of N.C. House Rep. Hugh Blackwell (R-86).

While he has not viewed the bill, Blackwell said he doesn't think it will make it out of its assigned committee.

Once bills are introduced in the General Assembly, they are reviewed by judiciary committees before they are brought before the voting body of government.

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40 US NC: House 86 Candidate Sounds Off On Medical Cannabis ActSat, 14 Jun 2014
Source:Morganton News Herald, The (NC) Author:Johnson, Tyler Area:North Carolina Lines:89 Added:06/15/2014

With 2014 being an election year for the North Carolina General Assembly many issues will be debated and decide races.

As the public becomes more aware of House Bill 1161 -- otherwise known as the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act -- it will perhaps become one of the most debated topics during the election season.

The North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Kelly Alexander (D-107), Carla Cunningham (D-106), Susi Hamilton (D-18), Pricey Harrison (D-57) and Annie Mobley (D-5), seeks to legalize the use of marijuana to for medicinal purposes for patients with debilitating medical conditions.

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41 US NC: Jury Hears Dispute Between Members Of Ronda BoardWed, 11 Jun 2014
Source:Wilkes Journal-Patriot (NC) Author:Hayes, Frances Area:North Carolina Lines:130 Added:06/15/2014

A civil case filed by Ronda Mayor Victor Varela and his wife, Teri against Ronda Commissioner Kevin Reece and former commissioner Manuel Wood began in Wilkes Superior Court on Tuesday morning.

The suit charges Reece and Wood with invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. It revolves around a video taken secretly in the Varelas' home in the fall of 2012 showing Teri Varela smoking pot.

Presiding over the case is Superior Court Judge Todd Burke. Before the jury trial began, Burke asked both parties about the possibility of mediation. Both lawyers indicated mediation had not been successful.

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42 US NC: Drug Or Medicine? These Guys Are Walking 240 Miles In SupportThu, 12 Jun 2014
Source:Hickory Daily Record (NC) Author:Matsumoto, Evan Area:North Carolina Lines:48 Added:06/15/2014

HICKORY -- Todd Stimson's potted marijuana plant is a plastic replica. But that didn't stop the afternoon U.S. 70 traffic from honking and yelling at the trio of men.

Hickory was another city they had to pass on their walk from Asheville to Raleigh. The march on the state's capital is in support of House Bill 1161 -- the controversial bill to legalize cannabis for medical use -- Stimson said.

As Stimson explained the group's purpose, a white SUV pulled into a parking lot, horn blaring. Girls jumped out of the car, expressed their support and snapped a couple photos before driving away. A few minutes later, another car pulled in. A woman hopped out to take a few pictures.

[continues 168 words]

43 US NC: Medical Marijuana Activists Visit MorgantonWed, 11 Jun 2014
Source:Morganton News Herald, The (NC) Author:Johnson, Tyler Area:North Carolina Lines:95 Added:06/13/2014

MORGANTON, N.C. -- With the hot sun beaming on his back and sweat gathering on his forehead, Jason Humes marched along Fleming Drive carrying a skateboard in one hand and a sign in the other.

Humes walked through the heat Tuesday, not for himself, but for others to have a choice - the option to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in North Carolina.

Humes and five other members of the March Against Fear 2014 group are walking from Asheville to Raleigh along U.S. 70 to raise awareness for House Bill 1161 - a bill that has been referred to as the North Carolina Medical Cannabis Act.

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44 US NC: PUB LTE: Pot Prohibition Aids AddictionsSun, 11 May 2014
Source:Daily Reflector (Greenville, NC) Author:White, Stan Area:North Carolina Lines:36 Added:05/13/2014

If North Carolina and American citizens honestly want to "address the root problems contributing to prescription drug abuse" and hard drug addiction rates in the future (Editorial: Pitt fights overdose deaths, May 5, 2014) end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. An important reason to end cannabis prohibition that doesn't get mentioned is because it increases hard-drug addiction rates. It puts citizens who choose to use the relatively safe plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs.

Further, government claims heroin is no worse than cannabis and methamphetamine and cocaine is less harmful by insisting cannabis is a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances.

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45 US NC: PUB LTE: Drug War Part Of The ProblemWed, 07 May 2014
Source:Daily Reflector (Greenville, NC) Author:Sharpe, Robert Area:North Carolina Lines:47 Added:05/10/2014

Regarding your May 5 editorial commending the Pitt County Sheriff'=C2=80=C2 =99s Office for being the first law enforcement agency in North Carolina to equip its officers with the overdose prevention drug Narcan: Nasal administration of the Narcan reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

This harm-reduction approach to a growing prescription drug abuse problem will save lives.

The drug war is part of the problem. Illegal drug users are reluctant to seek medical attention in the event of an overdose for fear of being charged with a crime. Attempting to save the life of a friend could result in a murder charge. Overzealous drug war enforcement results in easily preventable deaths.

[continues 125 words]

46 US NC: Editorial: Pitt Fights Overdose DeathsMon, 05 May 2014
Source:Daily Reflector (Greenville, NC)          Area:North Carolina Lines:57 Added:05/06/2014

The Pitt County Sheriff's Office is to be commended for leading North Carolina law enforcement agencies in becoming the first to equip its officers with a drug that can save the life of someone overdosing on opioids.

Sheriff Neil Elks announced last week that his deputies will begin carrying Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an overdose of several opioid painkillers. Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden said his department will soon begin carrying the drug as well.

The number of deaths from overdoses in the United States involving prescription opioids more than quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, according to an April 23 article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

[continues 231 words]

47 US NC: Heroin Use, And Deaths, On The Rise In North CarolinaSun, 06 Apr 2014
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:Mcdonald, Thomasi Area:North Carolina Lines:192 Added:04/07/2014

DURHAM -- Long before the overdose death of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman thrust heroin back into the headlines this winter, the return of the potent narcotic was already known to police and public health officials in North Carolina. Heroin, which emerged in popular culture in the 1940s as an exotic product associated with jazz musicians and later became known as the dead-end drug of junkies in movies and songs, had never gone away. A few dozen people died of heroin overdoses in North Carolina each year since 2000, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

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48 US NC: In Durham, One Woman's Struggle With Heroin AddictionSun, 06 Apr 2014
Source:News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Author:McDonald, Thomasi Area:North Carolina Lines:84 Added:04/06/2014

DURHAM - Heroin may be a new drug for some who are switching from prescription painkillers. It is not new to April Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, 32, is a heroin addict. She grew up in East Durham in a family ravaged by drugs a father she described as a raging alcoholic, a mother hooked on prescription pills and an older brother whose addiction to crack keeps him in and out of prison. At her request, The News & Observer agreed not to use her full name.

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49 US NC: PUB LTE: Cannabis Prohibition A Source Of HarmSun, 23 Mar 2014
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:White, Stan Area:North Carolina Lines:32 Added:03/25/2014

One "workable solution" to help lower heroin addiction rates that wasn't mentioned in the March 18 editorial "As long as demand is strong, heroin will continue to plague region" is to end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition. Cannabis prohibition ... puts citizens who choose to use the relatively safe plant into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs.

Further, government claims heroin is no worse than cannabis, and that methamphetamine and cocaine are less harmful by classifying cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances.

[continues 53 words]

50 US NC: Law Enforcement Going After Heroin Dealers, Not UsersMon, 17 Mar 2014
Source:Star-News (Wilmington, NC) Author:Wagner, Adam Area:North Carolina Lines:127 Added:03/20/2014

The reality of the number of people tied to heroin trafficking - and, more generally, the drug trade - led the criminal justice system to shift its emphasis away from users.

"We're not fighting a war on drugs. That was lost years ago," said Ben David, New Hanover County's district attorney. "We're fighting a war against drug dealers."

As part of that effort, the district attorney's offices in Brunswick and New Hanover counties are willing to try cases in federal court, where there are stiff penalties and no probation, and to try dealers for trafficking, which, depending on the amount of drugs seized, carries minimum sentences of from five years and 10 months to 23 years and six months on a state level. Often, prosecutors see an overlap between gang activity and the heroin trade. "It's a bad guy drug, and it is something that a lot of the rich kids crave," David said. "It's that rare intersection of high demand with a ready supply. ... It's mixing people with money with people who are desperately poor, and that often leads to other crimes of violence like armed robberies, home invasions and sometimes murder."

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