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. [continues 184 words]
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. [continues 424 words]
S.C. legislators are gearing up for another fight over a bill that would allow the legal use of medical marijuana in the Palmetto State. A half-dozen lawmakers Tuesday made their first order of business on the session's opening day the unveiling of the S.C. Compassionate Care Act. The bill would allow South Carolinians with "debilitating medical conditions" to use medical pot, when approved by a doctor. Last year, bipartisan efforts to legalize medical marijuana died in House and Senate committees. That effort was opposed by law enforcement officials, who said they feared that legalizing medical marijuana would lead to more pot being available in the state for non-medical uses. [continues 305 words]
Mary Louise received her first dose of CBD oil Saturday, about four months after the bill allowing children to receive the oil extracted from marijuana was signed into law. The oil helps children like Mary Louise with severe epilepsy control their seizures. It took only a simple phrase to see how Mary Louise Swing's life would improve from cannabidiol. On vacation with family in Myrtle Beach last weekend, Mary Louise stunned her mother, Jill, and a roomful of relatives with a simple "Hi everybody" as she got out of bed. [continues 685 words]
Nearly half of the states have approved the medical use of marijuana, as prescribed by a physician, recognizing its therapeutic value for patients with long term pain from cancer, seizures, PTSD, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and other ailments. Not South Carolina, though. Not yet. Members of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee on Thursday expressed their sympathy for those South Carolinians who could benefit from having marijuana medically prescribed for pain or nausea. Then they voted to kill the bill, after first rejecting an amendment that would have resolved many of the issues raised by those who had opposed the bill, including law enforcement officials. [continues 407 words]
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Hillary Clinton, who has long declined to endorse legalized medical or recreational marijuana at the federal level, said over the weekend that she favors changing the rules to allow more research into medical marijuana. Clinton said she supports removing marijuana from a list of schedule 1 drugs, a classification that prevents federally sponsored research into its effects. As a schedule 1 drug, marijuana is classified among the most dangerous drugs that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency regulates. "We haven't done research, why? Because it's considered a schedule 1 drug," Clinton said Saturday during a town hall meeting at Claflin University in South Carolina. "I'd like to move it from schedule 1 to schedule 2." [continues 189 words]
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday proposed reclassifying marijuana to make it a less dangerous substance and to encourage more research into its medicinal benefits. At a town hall in Orangeburg, S.C., Clinton said marijuana, classified in the most dangerous category ("Schedule I") of the Controlled Substances Act, should be "Schedule II" so it can be experimented with and implemented for medical use. "I do support the use of medical marijuana," she said at the town hall, hosted by journalist Roland Martin and held at Claflin University. [continues 101 words]
A local prosecutor in South Carolina said Tuesday that she would not bring charges against a police lieutenant who fatally shot a 19-year-old man during an attempted drug arrest in a Hardee's parking lot in July. The case has drawn outrage in some quarters, partly because a private autopsy on the man, Zachary Hammond, who was unarmed, indicated that he had been shot from the side and the back, and through his car's side window. That seemed to contradict the account of the officer who killed him, Lt. Mark Tiller of the Seneca Police Department, who said that he had fired two shots at point-blank range because Mr. Hammond had rapidly accelerated as he drove toward the officer, and that he would have been run over had he not pushed himself off Mr. Hammond's car. [continues 584 words]
It took only a simple phrase to see how Mary Louise Swing's life would improve from cannabidiol. On vacation with family in Myrtle Beach last weekend, Mary Louise stunned her mother, Jill, and a roomful of relatives with a simple "Hi everybody" as she got out of bed. For 6-year-old Mary Louise, who suffers from intractable epilepsy, it was a small, uplifting first step. "She just doesn't say that," Jill Swing said. "It's been delightful. She was nonverbal, but she's saying more words now. She's a chatterbox." [continues 641 words]
COLUMBIA - A bill that would allow for patients who have severe epilepsy to be treated with a type of medical marijuana is headed for a final vote in the General Assembly next week, where it's expected to pass. The bill, H. 4803, has already moved through the S.C. House and its passage in the S.C. Senate is expected next week after a key Senate committee moved it unanimously on Thursday. The bill provides for the potential use of cannabidiol oil (CBD), which contains marijuana extract but little THC, the chemical that produces a "high." The drug has offered hope to many who have difficult-to-treat epileptic symptoms, although clinical trials and extensive medical research is in early stages. [continues 445 words]
South Carolina superintendent of education candidate Sheila Gallagher called for legalizing marijuana when she addressed Democrats at the South Carolina Democratic Party convention in Columbia on Saturday afternoon. Gallagher, of Florence, said legalizing marijuana should be put to a vote and the revenue that would be gained could go toward investing in the state's education system. "It isn't about getting high," Gallagher said. The revenue that could be obtained from legalizing marijuana could be used to invest millions of dollars into the education system until S.C. has the best schools in the nation, she said. [continues 167 words]
In 2010, Congress acted to reduce the disparity in mandatory minimum standards used to sentence criminals, particularly in regard to drug offenders. Last week, President Barack Obama announced that the Justice Department would take the next logical step - rescuing some of the thousands of inmates still serving time under the old, unfair sentencing rules. The president intends to canvass the entire federal prison population - - now numbering about 216,000 - to find inmates who are languishing behind bars under the unjustly harsh sentencing laws established during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s. While the clemency program will not specifically target the roughly 7,000 inmates serving time for crack-related crimes, the guidelines for granting clemency would cover most of them. [continues 418 words]
Columbia, SC - It is good news that legislators are considering a law to allow doctor-prescribed use of marijuana. More than 20 states that have approved its use for nausea. The primary reason, as I understand it, is that most pain medication has after-effects of severe nausea. I am prescribed several medications to eliminate the pain I experience due to neuropathy; however, they cause extreme nausea. I certainly would appreciate being able to use medical marijuana to relieve severe nausea, as I am sure many others would be. I believe that legislators will find more and more states approving marijuana for the treatment of nausea. Ronald B. Bolton Aiken [end]
Never mind that Roger Goodell didn't officially open the door to medical marijuana use within a National Football League beset with concussion controversy. The drive-by mention by the NFL commissioner at the Super Bowl struck a chord. Pro football players, agents and media types continue to chime in, most without scientific input. Before this goes too far - indeed before the notion of pot as concussion treatment trickles into a serious college football discussion - it might be beneficial to seek actual medical facts. [continues 782 words]
Columbia - With little debate but many qualifications, a state Senate panel Thursday advanced a bill to allow the cultivation of hemp in South Carolina. That's industrial hemp, not marijuana. The distinction is why qualifications came with nearly every statement in the Senate agriculture subcommittee meeting. "This has nothing to do with legalizing marijuana," was the opening statement of subcommittee chairman Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Williamsburg. The bill, S.839, makes the difference clear. Industrial hemp is genetically different from the hemp plants that produce the quality of tetrahydrocannabinol that gives marijuana its mind-altering properties. The S.C. legislation also would remove industrial hemp from the state's current definition of marijuana. [continues 655 words]
Where does the Herald-Journal get these columnists, such as Kathleen Parker (Jan. 22 edition), who advocated legalizing marijuana? She describes forming this opinion through maturity and experience. She rightly says that alcohol or any drugs are bad for children. Then why are drugs OK for adults? The truth is that they are harmful to adults as well. One of the arguments made against the drug war is that it is ruining young lives by giving them criminal records. Our law enforcement officers are not giving our young people criminal records. They are doing this to themselves. [continues 98 words]
I believe marijuana should be legalized. Legalizing pot and taxing it would generate millions in extra revenue to help provide health insurance for the poor and help maintain Social Security. Pot is no more harmful than alcohol. If it's legal for bars, stores and restaurants to sell alcohol to rake in money, legalizing pot seems logical. Marijuana users should have the same freedom as the millions of alcohol users. A person should be able to make his or her own choice. [continues 126 words]
LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. - Shortly after midnight on June 5, Lexington County sheriff's deputies and narcotics officers swooped down on a single-story home in one of the county's rural areas. Acting on a tip that people were inside cooking up batches of methamphetamine in not one but two kitchens, officers surrounded the house. Deputies tiptoed to a window and peered inside. "I was at this time able to detect a strong chemical emitting from the residence," investigator M.L. McCaw later wrote in his report. [continues 1280 words]
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon says accusations that his deputies are arresting too many blacks on pot charges are part of the American Civil Liberty Union's agenda to get marijuana legalized in South Carolina. What's next? NAACP leaders are holding a town-hall meeting to talk about racial disparities in marijuana arrests at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Morris Brown AME Church, 13 Morris St. in downtown Charleston. "I think they make it pretty clear that South Carolina ought to decriminalize marijuana," Cannon said at a press conference outside his office Tuesday. "This is their method of promoting that agenda." [continues 386 words]
PICKENS - Employees of Pickens County schools will soon have to undergo random drug testing if the school board votes to follow the recommendation of its policy committee. The proposed policy could go to the board for approval at its Oct. 22 meeting. Plans to rewrite the district's drug policy were already in action before Saturday, when two employees were charged with multiple counts of distributing marijuana near a school. The employees were Kimberly Dawn Anthony, 43, and Daniel John Fahey, 48, Fahey resigned from his job as the district's school-to-work program coordinator, said John Eby, spokesman for the school district. Fahey was released from the Pickens County Detention Center Monday on $10,000 worth of surety bonds. Anthony, a computer keyboarding teacher at Gettys Middle School, was at the detention center Tuesday with bail set at $250,000. She is on suspension from the district. [continues 600 words]
Regarding the recent column "Drug dealers protecting their turf" by David Sirota, published in the AikenStandard on Tuesday, his proposition to legalize marijuana seems to make sense. He supports his position stating: 1."Marijuana is already 'almost universally available.'" 2."Because it is available but not legal ... (it is) not adequately regulated for quality, and ... poses safety hazards." 3."It makes no sense health-wise to only let users choose a dangerous substance (alcohol) rather than a safer alternative (pot)." Add to this several other considerations: [continues 217 words]
Lawmakers Urged to Make Ingredients Prescription Only Drug control experts and prosecutors are calling for federal lawmakers to require prescriptions for medications containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to help stop the "meth epidemic." The number of methamphetamine cases are up nationwide -- specifically in South Carolina -- despite federal purchasing restrictions on cold medicines containing ephedrine and psuedoephedrine, which also are used to make meth. Prior to 1976, medications containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine were available only by prescription. The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 limits an individual's ability to buy more than 3.6 grams of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine daily and nine grams per month. The law also requires retailers to keep records on who buys those products, and police have access to those records. [continues 1176 words]
End Prohibition Now Thomas Ravenel in the Visitation room at The Federal Correctional Institution in Jesup, Ga., with his mother and sister in the summer of 2008. The most obvious racial divide in America is the one between black and white incarceration rates. By ending the failed War on Drugs, we would effectively end the most glaring example of government-sanctioned racism remaining in America today. Many Americans today blindly believe that all of our laws are just. They believe these laws, drafted by imperfect human beings, are somehow perfect rules and regulations. Americans seem to forget that at one time our country legalized slavery, promoted Jim Crow segregation, and criminalized homosexuality. [continues 1625 words]
Former state trooper Kurt Steffen used his badge to shield himself from scrutiny while he and others grew marijuana on his Dorchester County land and ferried it about in his police cruiser. But the tarnish on his shield worked against Steffen on Monday as a judge sentenced him to five years in federal prison for his crimes. Steffen, 30, pleaded guilty in February to growing and possessing at least 100 marijuana plants with intent to distribute. He entered his plea on the day jury selection was to have begun in his case. [continues 422 words]
Legislative action is needed in the fight against synthetic drugs. As soon as a substance is controlled, someone changes the compounds to make it legal again. The news is filled with frightening tales about the problem caused by bath salts, spice and other synthetic drug threats. Last year I introduced legislation to combat this threat, H.3793. There are 65 co-sponsors to my bill, which enjoys bipartisan support in the House. Working with my fellow lawmakers and law enforcement, an important amendment has been crafted to keep our laws light years ahead of the criminals. This amendment, which will be before the House Judiciary Committee today, is a crucial step in making sure law enforcement has the tools it needs to combat the synthetic drug threat. [continues 58 words]
They're said to cause psychotic episodes and belligerent behavior well beyond a hit of cocaine. And now the synthetic drugs labeled as "bath salts" can lead to a prison sentence. "As soon as the emergency law was passed by DHEC, we went out to all of our convenience stores," said Commander Ronda Bamberg of the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office. "All of them had already pulled it from their shelves." On Oct. 21, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classified what authorities call synthetic cocaine and marijuana as illegal drugs. If a drug becomes illegal under federal law, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control can make it illegal under state law, too. It followed the DEA within days. [continues 484 words]
Group Says Rural Areas Could Benefit Dezz Archie, the executive director of the Columbia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, doesn't want you to think his nonprofit group is all about half-baked ideas on how to make it legal to puff and grow the green stuff - it's more interested in using weed to grow the state's sputtering economy. "We're really changing up our approach to how cannabis could affect South Carolina," Archie, 22, said on a recent Sunday over coffee at Cool Beans near the University of South Carolina campus. [continues 643 words]
Abuse of a dangerous, highly- addictive recreational drug called "bath salts" sold on the Internet and at some gas stations and convenience stores has made its way to the Lowcountry. Some local doctors, including Summerville Medical Center emergency department physician Tim Osbon, worry bath salt abuse is on the brink of spiking in the Palmetto State, following the trend nationally. "It's going to be a real problem," Osbon said of the powerful new stimulant with side effects he compared to those of methamphetamine. "It's about to get out of control. We're going to see a lot of it in the next year." [continues 506 words]
My letter for today is to inform the great citizens of South Carolina about the benefits of medical marijuana. Many of you know that medical marijuana, also known as cannabis, has been helping people in states that have passed laws to allow it. What many of you don't know is that South Carolina has had a similar act on the books for over 30 years. It's called the South Carolina Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act. Approved in February 1980, it makes marijuana available to cancer chemotherapy patients, radiology and glaucoma patients under certain conditions for the purpose of alleviating the patient's pain and discomfort. [continues 70 words]
GREENVILLE, S.C.-The first debate of the Republican presidential race featured a series of spirited exchanges, with five largely lesser-known candidates taking shots at President Barack Obama on foreign policy and the new health-care law while showing differences among themselves. Just days after Mr. Obama scored one of the biggest triumphs of his presidency with the killing of Osama bin Laden, several of the candidates laid into Mr. Obama for actions taken elsewhere in the world. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty congratulated Mr. Obama on the bin Laden killing but complained that the president had deferred to allies in the intervention in Libya. "If he said [Libyan leader] Moammar Gadhafi must go, he needs to maintain the options to make Gadhafi go. And he didn't do that," Mr. Pawlenty said. [continues 512 words]
Required Stamps Once Raised More Than $31,000 COLUMBIA --- In South Carolina, even drug dealers are expected to pay taxes. Perhaps more surprising: Some of them do. Or at least they used to. The Department of Revenue collections from the Marijuana and Controlled Substance Tax Act has evaporated to almost nothing during the peak recession years. The last fiscal year brought in just $149 from people purchasing an official stamp to place on their products or to add to their stamp collections. [continues 347 words]
Some South Carolina lawmakers said Thursday that unemployed residents should lose jobless benefits if they don't show up for a drug test offered by a prospective employer. Legislation under debate by senators also would strip any of South Carolina's thousands of unemployed residents of benefits for failing a drug test. Its advocates said job seekers who refuse or miss tests - even while on a different job interview - should lose benefits. "A lot of time we'll offer a job, but when we tell them where to go do drug testing, they never show up because they know they're going to fail it," said state Sen. Ray Cleary, a Murrells Inlet Republican. [continues 464 words]
The League of Women Voters of the Charleston Area thanks The Post and Courier and Thomas Ravenel for bringing public attention to the important issue of widespread illegal drug use. We think the public needs a fact-based understanding about drug use and related government policy, including an unbiased consideration about whether the criminalization of drug use has made the problem better or worse. Recently our Charleston Area League members decided to educate ourselves on these matters. Before the League of Women Voters adopts a position on an issue, we are required to investigate all sides of the issue with an open mind. Therefore, in 2010 we did a year-long study on illegal drugs in South Carolina. [continues 381 words]
After some "shouting" following Thomas Ravenel's op-ed article last month, the talk about illegal drugs seems to have subsided. I think this is unfortunate because the issue isn't going away, and I think it is clear to almost any observer that the current policy, costing us hundreds of millions, no billions, of dollars each year isn't working. In addition to the damage it is causing here, it is damaging our relationships with many countries, but most importantly, it isn't working. [continues 300 words]
Charleston County is expanding its drug rehabilitation efforts to include a special court for veterans. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson on Monday announced the creation of a Veterans Treatment Court, where vets who end up in the criminal justice system can receive targeted attention to move them away from the addiction that got them arrested. The strategy, which has been used in other parts of the country, is being done in conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Crisis Ministries. [continues 330 words]
I understand that Thomas Ravenel wants any kind of drug to be available to one and all, and to be legal. But his breakdown of the number of deaths from the various drugs used is not the whole picture. Some young men have cocaine delivered to their door by personal drug dealers, but thousands do not. These are the outcasts of society whose only thought is how, when, where do I get my next fix? There is nothing they won't do to stop this craving. They lie, steal, murder. Lose a wife, family, job, home, friends. Nothing is as important as cocaine and that next high. [continues 231 words]
Bravo, Thomas Ravenel. I agree 100 percent. Gwen Tims Terns Nest Road Charleston [end]
Thomas Ravenel might be the wrong spokesman for legalizing drugs; I believe he is. But he does make some good points. The problem with legalizing drugs, though, is the impact it would have on the socio-economic fabric of our state. Drug criminalization keeps lawyers and judges employed. Prison systems provide jobs in South Carolina, including hard hit rural areas. The trickle-down economic benefits are the life-blood of many communities. Branding drug users as felons keeps them from competing with the rest of us for jobs and educational scholarships. Do we really want to divert funding away from such a well-oiled system as the Drug War "industrial complex"? For what possible use? Betsy Grund Wesson Avenue Charleston [end]
I want to clarify my position on drugs. Schuyler Kropf asked me if I thought cocaine and marijuana should be legal and I said yes, but that would never be my policy initiative nor was it the object of my op-ed. As I told Schuyler, my position was to repeal prohibition as it was done in 1933. In 1933, the repeal of alcohol prohibition didn't legalize the sale of alcohol at the federal level. It simply turned it over to the states. [continues 105 words]
Thomas Ravenel's Feb. 5 commentary regarding legalizing drugs gives me grave concern. Legalization could severely impact the socio-economic fabric of our state. He asks, 'Has all that incarcerating (of drug users) helped?' Yes! The Drug War 'industrial complex' is thriving. South Carolina law enforcement agencies, criminal courts and prison systems are expanding. As a defense attorney, I fear legalization could reduce the number of employed prosecutors, public defenders and judges who handle drug cases. Judges and lawyers would come off government payrolls. I say, let's keep them in state and federal courts. [continues 152 words]
You brand Thomas Ravenel as 'playing the victim.' Then you add to his victimization by denigrating him as a drug law reformer. Yes, he is a victim of both your editorial and the drug laws. When he broke the existing law, he knew he was running the risk of paying the consequences however unjust. So did anti-abolitionists when liquor drinking was illegal. So did freedom fighters when racial discrimination was legal. So do prostitutes who have no other way to make a living. [continues 167 words]
I can't believe The Post and Courier would use the old shoot-the-messenger defense in its editorial criticizing Thomas Ravenel's column in favor of legalizing drugs. That is, if you can't attack the argument, attack the person making the argument which is what you did. While you admitted he offered some persuasive points, you replied only that he's the wrong spokesman. When he decried drug prohibition as "a violation of our civil rights," you answered that "he sounds as if he's playing the victim." [continues 128 words]
In the many years I have spent as a law enforcement officer, I don't recall ever consciously using the term "Drug War" as my appellation for the societal problem of substance abuse. I may have used the term as a quote, giving in to the reality that it is so widely misused that if I stopped to discuss the term, I would deviate from the main point of my discussion. I do not know the genesis of the use of the term, but I feel certain it was a misguided law enforcement official trying to "sell" some law enforcement program, or a politician. Thomas Ravenel's siren song of legalization or de-criminalization of drugs prompts me to address that issue. His is an old song with merely a new verse, or is it simply a re-arranging of the lyrics by a new singer? [continues 1145 words]
Former state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is back in the news, this time on the op-ed page as he writes in favor of the legalization of cocaine and marijuana. Readers might recall (unless they've been under a big old rock) that Ravenel spent 10 months in federal prison on a cocaine conspiracy charge and is still on probation for three years. (His defense at the time was that he was not buying cocaine to distribute but rather to "gift" his friends at parties at his home.) [continues 624 words]
Ex-S.C. Treasurer Says Prohibition Is Destructive, Costly and Futile Strategy Former S.C. Treasurer Thomas Ravenel is breaking his silence and taking on America's drug war, saying he advocates a repeal of the prohibition on drugs and calling the government's response a failure. "Drug abuse is a medical, health care and spiritual problem, not a problem to be solved within a criminal justice model," he said. Prohibition is "our government's most destructive policy since slavery," he also said. [continues 722 words]
William F. Buckley, conservative icon, warned 16 years ago: "The War on Drugs is lost." Since then, increasing numbers of Americans across a wide ideological range have raised practical and constitutional objections to the flawed law-enforcement approach to the problem of illegal drugs. So it's hardly a surprise to see a man elected to statewide office in South Carolina as a self-billed conservative Republican in 2006 joining the chorus against the drug war. But while Thomas Ravenel offers some persuasive -- and some not so persuasive -- points on that issue in a column on today's Commentary page, he's the wrong spokesman for this particular cause. That's not because of the arguments he put in his column. [continues 195 words]
No matter how bad you might think illegal drugs are, drug prohibition (the War on Drugs) makes it infinitely worse. We must, again, repeal prohibition, not for drug users but for all Americans who are forced to endure the violence, street crime, erosion of civil liberties, corruption and social and economic decay caused by prohibition. Drug abuse is a medical, health care and spiritual problem, not a problem to be solved within a criminal justice model. What historical precedent is there to recommend our current prohibitionist policy? Isn't history abundantly clear about such foolishness? [continues 961 words]
8 opt for job help over prosecution: New program aimed at curbing drug trade Eight suspects caught up in the North Charleston drug trade have signed up for a second-chance program in which they will be steered toward job training in lieu of being prosecuted. As long as they stay clean, the drug charges they potentially face won't be pursued, a key provision of an experimental reform program launched this month. The men, all between ages 18 and 30, were snared as part of a six-month undercover investigation of the crack cocaine trade around the drug-plagued Charleston Farms neighborhood. [continues 272 words]
Critics Say Law Gives Officers Too Much Power, Profit Motive Thousands of dollars that help Greenville County sheriff's deputies pay for their dog team and aircraft maintenance are the fruits of what critics say are state laws making it too easy for authorities to seize alleged drug money. The Sheriff's Office spent $107,870 in forfeited drug money last year, much of it on its K-9 team, two helicopters and a Cessna airplane, according to records obtained by The Greenville News through the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act. [continues 1158 words]
Inside South Carolina
