Jack Delaney Imposed a Gag Order on Political Activist Bob Newland

Circuit Court Judge Jack Delaney had given plenty of thought to his sentencing options by the time he arrived in court July 6.

It was a fairly typical charge but a not-so-typical defendant: Bob Newland.

The well-known public advocate for the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes had previously pleaded guilty to felony possession of the drug. And Delaney wanted to make the sentence sting without imposing an unduly harsh prison term on a 60-year-old man with a relatively clean criminal record.

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The gag order imposed by a Rapid City judge on medical marijuana advocate Bob Newland as part of his sentence is an unusual penalty that injects political views over public policy into a legal process, a spokesman for a national criminal-defense association said Friday.

Jack King, director of public affairs and communications for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Washington, D.C., said Judge John "Jack" Delaney took an unusual step in forbidding Newland from taking any public role in the campaign to legalize marijuana for medical uses for one year. The restriction was part of the judge's sentence issued Monday for Newland's conviction for felony pot possession.

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Medical marijuana proponent Bob Newland's advocacy days are over - at least for a year while he is under court supervision.

Newland, who pleaded guilty to felony possession of marijuana, was sentenced Monday to one year in the Pennington County Jail.

Before his sentencing, Newland told Seventh Circuit Judge John "Jack" Delaney that he has had butterflies in his stomach since his arrest in March. Newland said he was humbled by the letters of support that were forwarded to the judge.

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A longtime South Dakota supporter of legalized marijuana has been sentenced to serve 45 days in jail for possessing the illegal drug.

Authorities say Bob Newland of Hermosa was found with four bags of marijuana, a scale and $385 in cash when he was stopped for speeding in March.

He pleaded guilty in May to a possession charge under a plea agreement in which prosecutors agreed to drop a more serious charge of possession with intent to distribute.

Newland will be on probation for the rest of the year following his jail term. During his probation, he is barred from publicly advocating the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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This letter is in response to the column by Matt Okerlund in the Feb. 28 Argus Leader titled "Some bad company to keep." This was the classic case of someone projecting the qualities they don't like about themselves onto someone else. In this case, Okerlund was trying to claim that people who smoke pot are responsible for the violence in Mexico when it actually is anyone who has supported this immoral war on drugs for the past 40 years who are responsible for the violence. They finally are getting what they wanted: a war.

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We've come a long way from "I didn't inhale," former President Clinton's rather lame attempt to explain away a marijuana toke. President Obama has been candid about his use of marijuana and cocaine as a young man, when he was grappling with his identity. In his autobiographical "Dreams From My Father," he wrote, "I got high (to) push questions of who I was out of my mind."

The revelation barely caused a ripple during the campaign.

Maybe America is maturing on the question of what to do about illicit drug use. When youthful experimentation no longer dooms a career in politics, it means that people have stopped equating former drug use with degeneracy. Most adults in our country have either used a banned drug themselves or know someone who has - someone perfectly upstanding today. And that will help us move beyond the sensational and destructive "war on drugs" rhetoric to a place where drugs are viewed primarily as a public health problem.

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PIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota isn't ready to legalize marijuana as a medical treatment for severe and chronic pain, a legislative committee decided.

The House Health and Human Services Committee voted 9-4 on Tuesday to kill HB1127, which would have legalized limited use of marijuana to treat symptoms of illnesses such as MS or the nausea that can accompany chemotherapy treatments.

Supporters of the bill said marijuana relieves symptoms that other drugs can't touch. But opponents said marijuana already is a major law-enforcement problem and legalizing a medical version of the substance would make that worse.

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Bob Newland's op-ed, "Depriving ill people marijuana is `evil' (Thursday, Jan. 8) is outstanding. Kudos to The Weekly News for publishing it.

Newland rightly points out that those who dismiss cannabis as medicine are, uh, free to go outside and play while we adults discuss reality. I would like to add a few points to Mr. Newland's article.

- - While it denies any medical use, the U.S. government happens to be the only federally legal growers and distributors of medical cannabis in the U.S.. That marijuana, grown in Mississippi, is distributed as medicine to the few remaining patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program (CIND).

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Anything causing harm, pain, etc." is the definition of the word "evil" as a noun in my dictionary. For "evil" as an adjective, the definition reads, "morally bad or wrong." While the argument over what is "morally wrong" too often extends to trying to criminalize the merely annoying, I'd think we could agree on the following premises:

It is morally wrong to purposefully withhold relief from someone suffering the pain and nausea caused by many medical conditions. To withhold such relief is synonymous with "causing pain, harm, etc."

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Supporters of a medical marijuana law in South Dakota are preparing to ask the 2009 Legislature to reconsider the issue.

After the 2005 Legislature rejected a bill to legalize the use of marijuana for legitimate health problems, a 2006 ballot measure drew 48 percent support.

Bob Newland of Hermosa, who has pushed the issue for years, says marijuana can be a savior for people undergoing cancer treatment, dealing with glaucoma, or experiencing severe or chronic pain or nausea.

"That 48 percent is a pretty big hammer to take to the Legislature," he said.

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The Yankton Police Department, Yankton School District and Sacred Heart Schools have renewed their joint effort to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol by reintroducing the D.A.R.E. program to the local elementary schools.

Entering into its 19th year of joint education, the D.A.R.E. program was initially started in Yankton in 1989. Offered nationally to children in grades k-12, the local program is targeted at the elementary school-age children, with the fifth grade classes of Yankton receiving the entire 10-12 week program.

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VERMILLION, S.D. -- So your college-age daughter comes home and tells you that in order to learn more about drug culture and policies, she's going to Europe to spend a few days in Amsterdam.

Yes, that Amsterdam. The one that's famous worldwide for its red-light district and coffee shops in which you can order various types of marijuana off a menu much the way you can order different cuts of beef in an American steakhouse.

And remember, your kid is still in college and heading over there with a group of other students. You've seen the Cheech and Chong movies. You're no dummy.

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Former fifth grader and 2007 D.A.R.E. graduate in the Spearfish School District, Maddie Drumm, said in an essay: "Officer Candi Watts is the best D.A.R.E. officer ever. She really helps you make good decisions."

Others in the state expressed similar feelings recently by awarding Watts the Ron Tennill D.A.R.E. Officer the Year Award.

Watts accepted the award at the annual D.A.R.E. officers training conference in Pierre, which also marked the 20th anniversary for the South Dakota D.A.R.E. Officers Association.

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Sioux Falls Police See Surge In Coke-Related Arrests

Law enforcement's assault on methamphetamine in recent years has succeeded in suppressing the drug's production here, but it might have opened a hole in the local drug market that now is being filled by cocaine.

In recent years, cocaine has increased in prominence, with arrests for possession and distribution on the rise in the Sioux Falls area.

Cocaine offers a similar high for about the same cost as methamphetamine, and its popularity hinges in part on the decreased supply of locally produced methamphetamine.

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The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) culmination ceremony for the fifth-grade students at Sturgis Williams Middle School (SWMS) was held last week with 108 students participating.

The special speaker was Luke Lynass, president of the student council at Sturgis Brown High School. He began by reading from his personal-commitment essay that he wrote and was selected to read when he was a fifth-grader at SWMS.

"So many people and families have been destroyed each day by drugs and alcohol; don't you be one," he said to the students. "None of us is perfect, but I know that by staying drug-free, I am able to be active and involved in school, and to help others. It is cool to be drug-free," he said.

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PINE RIDGE - Death to Meth, an all-day music and art event Saturday at Pine Ridge High School, hosted several bands connected to the reservation in addition to local speakers and an art workshop, providing a positive, drug-free message for the youths of Pine Ridge.

Death to Meth, which began as a memorial for Saunie Wilson's 15-year-old niece who died from a methamphetamine overdose, continues in its third year to grow as a community awareness event addressing the negative effect drugs have on reservation youths. Eight-year-old Jaden Turning Holy of Pine Ridge has attended each year and has learned the message well: "I'd say meth is very bad to do, and it will actually ... make you die."

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This letter is in reference to the letter in the April 7 Argus Leader by Tony Ryan, a former police officer. What a stupid idea to legalize drugs. This only would create more problems.

Those people who are afraid of getting caught now would start using drugs, which only would create more problems. With this type of reasoning, maybe Ryan would believe lowering the drinking age also would help - and lowering the driving age, and the age to buy tobacco products, and on and on.

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The March 2 article in the Argus Leader about meth labs - "Buyer beware: Labs leave toxic legacy" - details more malfunctions of our failed drug policy.

I'm a former police officer, and I believe we've created the problem of meth-contaminated homes by making this drug illegal. In fact, most of our current drug woes have been created specifically because of our prohibition-style drug policies.

How can a former cop blame our drug woes on the policies aimed at stopping the scourge of drugs? Let's examine the facts.

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Attorney General Larry Long will get to build a new, secured building in the Rapid City area to store vehicles confiscated in drug busts and other criminal cases, presuming that Gov. Mike Rounds agrees with a bill passed by the South Dakota Legislature.

The state Senate gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to HB1068, which authorizes Long to spend up to $100,000 from a drug-control fund in his office budget to build a structure to store confiscated vehicles - mostly through busts on drug dealers. Long said the new building is needed because thieves have been raiding confiscated vehicles in the storage area now used in Rapid City.

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Belle Fourche Schools Retain Services Of Private Company

The Belle Fourche School District has hired a service that uses dogs to detect drugs on campus, and the public can watch a demonstration of the dogs at work today.

The demonstrations are at 1 p.m. at the middle school gym and at 2 p.m. at the high school gym.

Superintendent Bill O'Dea said the school has contracted with Interquest Detection Canines to make random, unannounced visits to the middle and high school.

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