But In Chemung County, The Number Of Plants Seized Drops. ALBANY -- Marijuana plant seizures by state police this year are growing, sparked by some major busts in northern New York. Seizures of marijuana plants have soared 36 percent this year as the state police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team credit tougher enforcement and greater collaboration with local police to smoke out growers. "I think we are being a little more successful," said Lt. Michael Tietz of the Capital Region's narcotics team. [continues 558 words]
Officers Take Flight to Stamp Marijuana Out The undercover police car raced west on Route 8 in Bakers Mills, the officers inside knowing that every second that passed meant there was more chance the evidence had been disposed of. Minutes earlier, a State Police helicopter had hovered over the home of [redacted], looking for marijuana plants a tipster had told police were growing near woods on the east side of the home. Helicopter pilot David Bowden had radioed a "hit" -- their code for a positive sighting -- to the officers on the ground below. [continues 1238 words]
Herkimer, N.Y. - While the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has been discontinued in a neighboring county, the program is going strong in the village of Herkimer and Herkimer County according to two people who have their fingers on the pulse of the program. According to Herkimer D.A.R.E. Officer and Mentor Tony Brindisi, Herkimer has a unique situation when it comes to the anti-drug program. "(D.A.R.E.) starts with the three-legged stool. The theory involves community, parents and the school," said Brindisi. [continues 409 words]
We've heard it before. "Drug abuse is an equal opportunity destroyer." "Drug addiction is a bipartisan illness." "Addiction does not discriminate; it doesn't care if you are rich or poor, famous or unknown, a man or woman, or even a child." The phrase "addiction doesn't care" is not meant to remind us that addiction casts a long shadow -- everyone knows that. Rather, it is supposed to suggest that any individual, no matter who, is vulnerable to the ravages of drugs and alcohol. [continues 722 words]
A veteran city narcotics detective has been arrested for allegedly tipping off his confidential drug informants that they had become the targets of a federal investigation, The Post has learned. Detective Earl Williams, a 19-year NYPD veteran, was indicted on charges of hindering prosecution by allegedly trying to protect a pair of half-brothers from Drug Enforcement Administration scrutiny of their cocaine-distribution ring in Washington Heights. Williams, 42, is accused of warning his two informants that the feds were on to their operation, that their phones were being bugged and, later, that the feds had executed warrants at their drug spots, according to a Criminal Court complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on Aug. 6. [continues 418 words]
STONE RIDGE - A would-be police officer is in the Ulster County jail, accused of selling drugs to an undercover narcotics officer. Twenty-two year old David Wiggins of J Kingston, a student in the Ulster County Community College police academy, faces felony drug charges for allegedly selling cocaine to s member of the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics team. Authorities claim Wiggins sold the cocaine to the officer on Thursday, and they quickly arrested him on Friday after figuring out he was enrolled in the police academy in Stone Ridge, about 60 miles south of Albany. [end]
MALONE - Sharon Elmore, 50, New York City, was charged by state police with sixth-degree conspiracy Saturday after she tried to smuggle marijuana into Franklin Correctional Facility. Ms. Elmore was arraigned in Malone Town Court, where she pleaded guilty. She paid a fine and was sentenced to a six-month conditional charge before being released. [end]
Prescription Medicines A Growing Problem Surveys have shown a decline in illegal drug use by teenagers in recent years, but many of the same surveys have also shown an increase in the teens abusing prescription drugs. And that may continue to rise. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University asked teens what they found easier to buy: cigarettes, beer, marijuana or prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin. Nearly a quarter of the 12- to 17-year-olds answered marijuana and cigarettes. [continues 212 words]
AT ISSUE: Youths need to learn about the dangers of drugs, alcohol. The Oneida County Sheriff's Office's decision not to offer the D.A.R.E. program in coming school years is a poor choice and provides a disservice to impressionable youths. The drug and alcohol awareness program helped educate fifth- and sixth-grade students each year about the dangers of illegal substances as well as the ramifications of getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence. [continues 459 words]
A program aimed at keeping kids off drugs became a topic of conversation earlier this summer when the state announced it would no longer help fund it. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, known as DARE, has been a mainstay in Ontario County schools since 1991. Some 20,000 kids have taken part in the program in the county's nine school districts outside the two cities, with thousands more having been through the program in the city school districts in Geneva and Canandaigua. [continues 1243 words]
Any discussion of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's claim that today's marijuana is more potent than in the past ("Boomers, beware: Pot more potent now," July 28) must be prefaced by the fact the agency routinely lies about marijuana. Case in point: A recent report by the agency claimed frequent marijuana ingestion doubles a teen's risk of depression and anxiety. When questioned about the agency's claim that "using marijuana can cause depression and other mental illnesses," drug czar John Walters admitted there is no proof one leads to another. [continues 178 words]
The Oneida County Sheriff's Office has decided not to offer the D.A.R.E. program in coming school years. Sheriff's Capt. Richard Antanavige, who oversaw the 15-year-old program, said its cancellation was an "internal decision based on budget, priorities and manpower." "It has nothing to do with whether we thought the program was successful or not," he said. "We just didn't have the resources to support it anymore." The sheriff's office began D.A.R.E. in 1992 and offered the drug and alcohol awareness program to about 1,000 fifth- and sixth-grade students each year. There was no specific budget for the program, but Antanavige said the primary cost was the salaries of two deputies who served the 10 participating school districts. [continues 493 words]
The United States and NATO cannot be faulted for increased poppy cultivation in Afghanistan since in the final analysis it is up to the Afghan people to eliminate this scourge from their midst. President Hamid Karzai has spoken many times about the need for international assistance, acknowledging that pomegranate orchards and other legal crops were being eradicated to make way for poppies. Unfortunately, he apparently does not have any real power. The complex and complicated nature of Afghan politics, so ably described by Schweich, probably dooms whatever inclination Karzai might have to destroy the poppy fields, as no amount of foreign aid is likely to halt the dynamics of this multibillion-dollar drug trade. Larry Vigon Chicago [end]
Concerning Schweich's simple solution to the problem of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, I have this to say: It's basically old wine in an old bottle in a new store. My federal drug-law-enforcement career at domestic and overseas posts began not long before President Nixon declared our "war on drugs" and ended not long before the problem of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan became so critical. The drugs in question are different (heroin made from opium and cocaine derived from coca), but the situations in Afghanistan and Colombia are similar. In both countries, poverty, corruption, political instability, greed and violence are integral aspects of continuing drug trafficking. [continues 69 words]
Ambassador Thomas Schweich (July 27) just doesn't get it. Afghanistan profits from the opium trade because of prohibition, not in spite of it. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels crime. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has reduced disease, death and crime among chronic users. Heroin-maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Prescription heroin maintenance could deprive organized crime of a core client base, which might render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable. It might also undermine Taliban funding in Afghanistan. Of course, admitting that drug prohibition is the problem rather than the solution is tantamount to admitting the emperor wears no clothes. Robert Sharpe Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington [end]
SYRACUSE, NY -- While smoking a joint in public could land you an appearance ticket, swallowing that joint in front of the officer that would have written the ticket could get you arrested on felony charges. [redacted], learned that lesson first-hand Aug. 1, according to a Syracuse police arrest report. Syracuse Police Officer Richard Cunningham was on patrol at 3:30 p.m. when he said he saw [redacted] trying to light a marijuana cigarette at Bellevue and Midland avenues. Cunningham was able to walk close enough to [redacted] to notice the smell of marijuana burning, Cunningham wrote. [continues 102 words]
Nineteen percent of eighth graders, 36% of 10th graders, and 47% of 12th graders say they have used illegal drugs, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan. These numbers should scare the living daylights out of any parent. But some may just shrug their shoulders and say what can I do? Others will look to government institutions for help. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, now in its 20th year, has consistently taken a diverse approach to combating illegal drug use. Its outreach extends to parents and community groups, and relies on celebrities and athletes to draw attention to its mission. [continues 703 words]
In the morass that is Afghanistan, not just the Taliban are flourishing. So too is opium production, which increasingly finances the group's activities. There is no easy way to end this narcotics threat, a symptom of wider instability. Even a wise and coordinated plan of attack would take years to bear real results. But the United States and the rest of the international community are failing to develop one. They must work harder, smarter and more cooperatively to rescue this narco-state. [continues 519 words]
Daniel Kurtz-Phelan states in his article (July 13) that there "has been no significant decrease in drug flows out of Colombia or in the availability of cocaine or heroin in the United States." Law-enforcement officials in 38 U.S. cities, however, have reported decreased availability of cocaine since January 2007. This coincides with a 30 percent jump in the price per gram of cocaine on American streets over the past year. Even The Times covered the significance of this rise in price and its effect on availability in an article published in October 2007 ("Citing Price Rise, U.S. and Mexico See Antidrug Progress"). Since then, positive drug-test rates for cocaine among our work force have been in a free fall, reaching their lowest levels in 10 years. We've also seen even more dramatic declines in the effective availability of heroin, particularly east of the Mississippi, where the bulk of Colombian heroin is sold, because huge drops in potential production of heroin in Colombia have led to decreased purity and increased price of the drug here. [continues 67 words]
In his article on Mexico's drug cartels, Kurtz-Phelan notes that even though Colombia has received billions of dollars from the U.S. in the war against drugs, "there has been no significant decrease in drug flows out of Colombia or in the availability of cocaine or heroin in the United States -- and yet Colombia is considered a success story." I am sure the next time the D.E.A. announces the seizure of a large quantity of illegal drugs, the newspapers will publish this "news" without putting it into context -- namely, that if 10,000 tons are seized, at least that much probably got through. I am also sure that during Prohibition, the papers published the claims by authorities about the confiscation of thousands of gallons of illicit alcohol as if it were "news," instead of a denial of reality. Seymour Amlen New York [end]
Tobacco Has No Place in Addiction Treatment Centers in New York In dealing with addictive behaviors, it's important, among other things, to be consistent. Giving an alcoholic a beer on the theory that it's less potent and less dangerous is, to an addict, a license to drink anything. The same goes for illegal drugs. And the same applies to nicotine, among the most addictive of all substances. If the goal in treatment is to get to the core of this kind of compulsive behavior, then it makes no sense to allow smoking in treatment centers. [continues 158 words]
There Are Fewer Local Labs, But Problems Remain, Officials Say. The bad news: From 2004 to 2006, Chemung County had more clandestine methamphetamine drug labs than any other county in New York. The good news: The number of known meth labs in the Twin Tiers had significantly dropped. The bad news: Drug abusers in the Tiers are still getting high on meth, but now much of it is coming from labs and suppliers in Canada and Mexico. That's the latest good news-bad news from federal and local law enforcement officials. [continues 644 words]
Agency Warns About Drug's 'Harmless' Image The Office of National Drug Control Policy is warning baby boomers the marijuana their children could be smoking is not the same as the drug of their generation. Studies by the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project found the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana seized throughout the country have more than doubled since the 1960s. "It's very serious. Marijuana is a huge blind spot among many Americans, particularly baby boomer parents," Rafael Lemaitre, the agency's deputy press secretary, said. "Many parents grew up in the '60s and '70s, where the image of the drug was that of a harmless drug, and clearly, things have changed." [continues 308 words]
New York became the first state in the country to require all state- run addiction treatment centers to help their patients quit smoking. The plan, which went into effect last week, requires treatment centers to help patients quit smoking by offering nicotine replacement therapy, including nicotine gum and patches, to all smokers. For those lacking health insurance, the nicotine replacement therapy will be free of charge. The treatment centers also will be required to be smoke-free. Officials estimate the new law will impact up to 250,000 patients. Approximately 92 percent of those in alcohol and other drug treatment programs are cigarette smokers, according to estimates. [continues 379 words]
A deadly form of heroin continues to destroy lives across Long Island, trampling across age groups and economic lines. Amanda Singer, a teenager from Sayville, is still escaping a scene known well to girls such as Natalie Ciappa, a Massapequa teenager whose death from an apparent opiate overdose last month underscored what police say is a rise in heroin use among young people. Shaun Collins, a former military medic, looks back on the 20 years he's given to the drug life. For the parents of 17-year-old Michelle "Misha" Nardone, the lessons have come too late. They are three faces of heroin addiction on Long Island, right now. One could not tell her story. Two others are now clean, and fighting to stay that way. [continues 647 words]
Deadly Form Of Heroin Continues To Destroy Lives Across Long Island, Trampling Across Age Groups And Economic Lines. Amanda Singer, a teenager from Sayville, is still escaping a scene known well to girls such as Natalie Ciappa, a Massapequa teenager whose death from an apparent opiate overdose last month underscored what police say is a rise in heroin use among young people. Shaun Collins, a former military medic, looks back on the 20 years he's given to the drug life. For the parents of 17-year-old Michelle "Misha" Nardone, the lessons have come too late. They are three faces of heroin addiction on Long Island, right now. One could not tell her story. Two others are now clean, and fighting to stay that way. [continues 846 words]
Legal Herb Is Hallucinogenic NEW YORK STATE — Two years ago, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services put an informational item about a little-known hallucinogenic herb called Salvia divinorum on its Web site. Salvia is unregulated and can be purchased in head or smoke shops or on the Internet by anyone with a credit card, and it isn't illegal. Now, a growing number of states are considering banning or regulating salvia, which is said to trigger intense but relatively brief hallucinations. [continues 840 words]
Successes in the battle against methamphetamine have opened the door to imports from Canada, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. "We've won battles against meth in upstate New York, but we haven't won the war," Schumer said. "We want to make sure that declines in local production are not matched by an increase in local importation." Schumer is proposing a three-part plan designed to continue the fight against meth, which is primarily manufactured in clandestine labs and mostly in rural and suburban areas. [continues 543 words]
Regarding Anthony Papa's July 8 op-ed, the zero tolerance 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. Zero tolerance results in easily preventable deaths. Rehabilitation is also confounded. I think it's safe to say that turnout at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings would be rather low if alcoholism were a crime pursued with zero tolerance zeal. Eliminating the penalties associated with illicit drug use would encourage the type of honest discussion necessary to facilitate rehabilitation and save lives. Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Arlington, Va. [end]
On March 1, 2006, I met Hamid Karzai for the first time. It was a clear, crisp day in Kabul. The Afghan president joined President and Mrs. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ambassador Ronald Neumann to dedicate the new United States Embassy. He thanked the American people for all they had done for Afghanistan. I was a senior counternarcotics official recently arrived in a country that supplied 90 percent of the world's heroin. I took to heart Karzai's strong statements against the Afghan drug trade. [continues 5557 words]
Last week, Josh Hamilton became the new golden boy of baseball. His record-breaking performance in Major League Baseball's All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium was a living testament to the fact that people who struggled with drugs in the past can change their lives in a positive way. A few years ago, Hamilton, who developed an addiction to alcohol and drugs - primarily crack cocaine - was at a lowest point of his life when he was suspended from baseball for three years. [continues 524 words]
Last week, Josh Hamilton became the new golden boy of baseball. His record-breaking performance in Major League Baseball's All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium was a living testament to the fact that people who struggled with drugs in the past can change their lives in a positive way. A few years ago, Hamilton, who developed an addiction to alcohol and drugs - primarily crack cocaine - was at a lowest point of his life when he was suspended from baseball for three years. [continues 502 words]
Fame Buys a Free Pass While Others Bear Brunt of Harsh Laws To the Editor: A celebrity is arrested and charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class C felony. If you pick up People magazine, watch "E.T." or have friends who follow celebrity gossip, you know how this story is going to end. Steven Page will, according to the band's Web site, be "heading into the studio later this year to record a new album." [continues 179 words]
Where does a junkie's time go? Mostly in 15-minute increments, like a bug-eyed Tarzan, swinging from hit to hit. For months on end in 1988, I sat inside a house in north Minneapolis, doing coke and listening to Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and finding my own pathetic resonance in the lyrics. "Any place is better," she sang. "Starting from zero, got nothing to lose." After shooting or smoking a large dose, there would be the tweaking and a vigil at the front window, pulling up the corner of the blinds to look for the squads I was always convinced were on their way. All day. All night. A frantic kind of boring. End-stage addiction is mostly about waiting for the police, or someone, to come and bury you in your shame. [continues 7778 words]
Court Documents; Tumultuous Night Detailed In Deposition The trio look haggard and worn. Mascara stains one woman's cheeks; the other stares into the camera with a half-smile. Steven Page, the Barenaked Ladies frontman now charged with cocaine possession, is unshaven. His trademark glasses are missing and he stares blankly into the camera for his mug shot in New York state, after a long night of allegedly fighting with his girlfriend and snorting cocaine. According to documents filed with Fayetteville Village Court, Mr. Page, 38, admitted to a police officer that a white powder he was snorting at an apartment in a suburb of Syracuse, N. Y., late last week was cocaine. "Yeah, it's cocaine," the court documents quote Mr. Page as saying. [continues 626 words]
Despite a decline in overall drug use, the rate at which young Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 have been dying from drug overdoses has jumped dramatically -- more than doubling between 1999 and 2005. In the same period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "accidental poisoning deaths" in this age group, mostly drug overdoses, have jumped from 849 to 2,355. Instead of rushing to save these young people, state governments are actually shortchanging them. Only a tiny fraction of the money that Washington sends to the states under the Substance Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Block Grant program is aimed at young drug abusers. This cannot go on. [continues 283 words]
IN the months to come, John McCain and Barack Obama will be vying for the support of various voting blocs. It is safe to say, however, that one group won't get much attention: economists. The American Economic Association represents only a small fraction of 1 percent of the electorate. In every election season, we economists expect to be largely ignored, and, unlike many of our other forecasts, that one often turns out to be right. But suppose it were otherwise. Imagine that those running for office tailored their economic positions to attract the experts in the field. What would it take to put the nation's economists solidly behind a candidate? [continues 811 words]
New York State Court of Appeals judges recently made an ignorant and short-sighted ruling that a small amount of marijuana in prison is not considered dangerous contraband, and reduced the sentences of both inmates and visitors caught introducing contraband into state correction facilities. Contrary to the court's ruling, any illegal substance smuggled into a correctional facility is dangerous and causes major security, death or injury threats to both staff and inmates. This is a court creating the law rather than merely interpreting what legislatures enacted. [continues 378 words]
Regarding John Stossel's article, there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization [Oped, "Legalize All Drugs," June 18, 2008]. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. Heroin maintenance pilot projects are underway in Canada, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. [continues 97 words]
Ten weeks after her 18th birthday, Natalie Ciappa spent an evening with friends before returning to Massapequa and the safety of her bed. The Plainedge High School senior even made curfew, which, in recognition of her recently conferred adulthood, had been moved back one hour, to 2:30 a.m. At 9 a.m., in a room adjacent to her own, Natalie's parents woke to an alarm clock. They had planned a family outing to Jones Beach to watch the Blue Angels in celebration of Memorial Day. [continues 1628 words]
To the Editor: Re "Not Winning the War on Drugs" (editorial, July 2): You say that "some experts argue that the rising price of cocaine on American streets is mostly the result of a strong euro and fast-growing demand in Europe." But this argument doesn't take into account the even greater disruption for methamphetamine, which no one is diverting to Europe. You selectively slice the Monitoring the Future data, citing 12th graders' annual use of cocaine in 2007, to claim that teenagers are using "more" cocaine than they did in 2001. But examination of that data shows a decrease in use by 12th graders from the previous year, to 5.2 percent in 2007 from 5.7 percent in 2006. And this is far below the peak of 6.2 percent in 1999. [continues 99 words]
On June 30, there was a letter from Dr. Nicholas Pace of New York University expressing concern about young people thinking marijuana harmless if a medical marijuana bill is enacted. Doctors prescribe methamphetamine, cocaine and morphine. Do teens think those drugs are harmless? Moreover, a study by Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D, associate professor of psychology at the State University at Albany, and others reviewed all public data about teen use of marijuana before and after the enactment of the medical marijuana law in 10 states. In every state there was a decrease, more than 50 percent in some cases, in youthful use after implementation of the law. [continues 200 words]
Several years ago I was walking home to my Manhattan apartment from Columbia University, just having delivered a lecture on New York state's notorious "Rockefeller Drug Laws." The state's mandatory-minimum sentencing laws had thrown tens of thousands of nonviolent drug offenders into state prisons with violent convicts. In my lecture I had called for more generous prisoner reentry programs, the restoration of felons' voting rights, increased educational programs inside prisons, and a restoration of judges' sentencing authority. A white administrator from another local university, a woman, who I had always judged to be fairly conservative and probably a Republican, had attended my lecture and was walking along with me to go to the subway. She told me that my lecture about the "prison industrial complex" had been a real "eye opener." The fact that two million Americans were imprisoned, she expressed, was a "real scandal." [continues 943 words]
Tatum O'Neal, the Oscar-winning actress, took a plea deal last week stemming from her June 1 arrest while supposedly trying to score some crack cocaine on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She was initially charged with possession of a controlled substance and faced a year in prison if convicted. The court allowed her to plead out to a disorderly conduct charge and ordered her to attend two half-day drug treatment sessions. If she follows the court's orders, the cocaine possession charges will be dismissed. [continues 508 words]
To the Editor: "Not Winning the War on Drugs," your July 2 editorial about the importance of treating drug addicts and recognizing that drug abuse is a public health problem and not just a criminal problem, is on the mark. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has done analyses of the nation's prison population that show that 80 percent of felony inmates and juvenile arrestees either committed their crime while high on alcohol or drugs, stole money to buy drugs, have a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse and addiction, violated the alcohol or drug laws, or share some combination of those characteristics. [continues 102 words]
To the Editor: It is time to recognize that the war on drugs is simply not winnable. Prohibition didn't stop people from consuming alcohol, and the war on drugs will never stop them from using drugs. Until our policy makers come to grips with that reality, we will continue to suffer from a drug policy that creates a vicious black market economy and wastes billions of dollars on futile interdiction efforts. Jerry Wallingford San Diego [end]
To the Editor: Your editorial, while accurate, misses the overarching point. Prohibition failed in the past, and it is not working now. The scarce tax dollars currently being wasted by the White House on quixotic interdiction adventures pale in comparison to the decades of tax revenues we haven't been collecting because of prohibition. These funds could help pay for honest drug education, free drug treatment on demand and better health care -- all things we need right now. Instead of flawed government hype, we need policy alternatives to the drug war that uphold the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies and are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. Anthony Papa Communications Specialist Drug Policy Alliance [end]
To the Editor: Your editorial includes powerful information on the futility of the United States war on drugs but then makes the fatuous recommendation that the next administration should provide funds to reform Mexico's judicial system -- a process that is already under way. Mexico faces a killing spree affecting thousands of innocent people that is financed by American money going to the drug cartels that fight for dominance of the lucrative United States market for illegal drugs. The earnings from this trade amount to at least $15 billion a year -- enough to buy arms to outgun the Mexican police and bribe underpaid security officials. [continues 77 words]
To the Editor: Your editorial made an important point about the need for more effort to reduce the demand for drugs. The United States should devote more resources to preventing and treating substance abuse and dependence. But these resources should be allocated based on need. Alcohol is the drug of choice for the overwhelming majority of people suffering from a substance use disorder. According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 16 million Americans were dependent on or abusing alcohol. That's five times greater than the number of people who were dependent on or abusing illicit drugs and almost 15 times greater than the number of people dependent on or abusing cocaine. [continues 61 words]
CAPITAL REGION -- An aggressive new campaign seeks to educate Capital Region residents -- and gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people, in particular -- about the dangers of crystal meth. A new website, www.crystalfree.org, provides information on crystal meth and where to seek treatment for an addiction. Billboards on the campaign were displayed for over a month in Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Montgomery and Saratoga counties, and another round is scheduled to go up in late July. Advertisements have also run in local newspapers, and a brochure on the risks of crystal meth has been created. [continues 764 words]
Inside New York
