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101 US TX: PUB LTE: Remember All TragediesSun, 16 Jan 2011
Source:Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Author:Schmitto, Matt Area:Texas Lines:38 Added:01/16/2011

What took place in Arizona was a tragedy and should not go unforgotten, but neither should the ones that happen day in and day out on behalf of government policy.

Thanks to the DEA and the war on drugs, violence is used as a means in the hopes of reaching a particular ends more than 100 times a day. Unfortunately, it often turns out to be just as fatal as what happened in Tucson.

Where are the media reports about the non-violent drug addict shot and killed by police in Utah? What about the 68-year-old grandfather in Massachusetts killed just last week? And what about the pastor in Georgia who only chose to help out a woman who had been suspected of prostitution and drug use? The Cato Institute has an entire map of innocents killed in drug raids - most of whom were not dealing or using.

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102 US TX: PUB LTE: War Only On Certain DrugsFri, 14 Jan 2011
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Casey, Michael Area:Texas Lines:48 Added:01/15/2011

Re: "Losing the drug war," by Charles Guerriero, Saturday Letters.

Guerriero writes, "American drug policy toward marijuana yields nearly one million arrests annually; nine of 10 are for personal possession. We have nothing to show for all this madness, as marijuana is easier to obtain than alcohol for minors and use has only risen since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970."

I am a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, and I do not believe that the War On Certain Drugs has helped this country one bit. Study after study proves that tobacco and alcohol kill millions and that marijuana kills no one.

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103US TX: OPED: Fake Crisis Over a Fake DrugSat, 08 Jan 2011
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Rath, Curtis Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:01/09/2011

Across our nation, elected officials and the media are lamenting the latest scourge plaguing our nation, K2. Introduced in 2000, K2 is a blend of herbs sprayed with synthetic marijuana and sold as incense printed with the warning: "Not for Human Consumption."

Although there have been no official studies of the product, Clemson University Professor John W. Huffman, who first synthesized these chemicals, says, "People who use it are idiots." And, "It's like playing Russian roulette. You don't know what it's going to do to you."

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104 US TX: PUB LTE: Losing the Drug WarSat, 08 Jan 2011
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Guerriero, Charles Area:Texas Lines:34 Added:01/08/2011

Re: "Innovators one step ahead in drug war -- Cities on the front lines of the fight against K2, say Geralyn Kever and Tony Dale," last Saturday Viewpoints.

Unfortunately, the prevalence of K2 is a prime example of the law of unintended consequences. As a substitute for marijuana, a substance less harmful than alcohol, youths seem to have easier access to these far more dangerous alternatives, and adults feel they can skirt drug tests at work.

The endless stream of new replacements even suggest a rumored "K3." This is comparable to the rise of dangerous and highly addictive methamphetamine as a substitute for cocaine use during the 1990s. The problem is not the next new drug so much as the big picture.

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105US TX: Column: Waging War Against War on DrugsMon, 03 Jan 2011
Source:Houston Chronicle (TX) Author:Harrop, Froma Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:01/06/2011

Profound thanks are due televangelist Pat Robertson for stating so clearly what many of us have been screaming in the wilderness for years -- that the criminalization of marijuana is a plague on young people. May he lend courage to politicians who know better but won't do the right thing for fear of seeming soft on drugs.

"We're locking up people who take a couple of puffs of marijuana, and the next thing they know, they've got 10 years," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show, The 700 Club. These are mandatory sentences, he adds, that absurd laws force on judges. Robertson does not call for legalization of all drugs, as do many disillusioned law enforcers, judges and prominent economists of all political stripes. He does say that criminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot is "costing us a fortune, and it's ruining young people."

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106 US TX: PUB LTE: Dealing With DrugsSun, 02 Jan 2011
Source:Austin American-Statesman (TX) Author:Delaney, John Area:Texas Lines:35 Added:01/06/2011

Good for the American-Statesman for printing the Dec. 27 article about Portugal's successful experiment in decriminalizing drugs ("U.S., others look to Portugal for guide to beating drugs").

Texas should decriminalize possession of personal amounts of marijuana - -- not to encourage marijuana use, but because fighting drugs with the criminal law causes more harm than good. Remember alcohol prohibition? Having failed in that war on alcohol, we've now foolishly used the same weapons on other drugs with the same results. More drugs, not less, and far more crime.

We should license and tax the production and sale of personal marijuana, just like we do with alcohol. It's the smart way to reduce drug abuse and the horrific consequences of feeding the black market we have now.

John Delaney

Retired district judge

Bryan

[end]

107US TX: Editorial: Reimbursements: UMC Should Get Help From FedsTue, 04 Jan 2011
Source:El Paso Times (TX)          Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:01/05/2011

University Medical Center continues to play a role in the Mexican drug-driven violence, even though the facility is in El Paso.

It's understood that under federal law, the hospital cannot refuse emergency service to anyone on American soil. And it's hardly a surprise that injured survivors on the blood-letting prefer to come to the United States and UMC for treatment of their injuries.

Seeking treatment in Juarez can be the equivalent of a death sentence, because hit men don't hesitate to come into hospitals to kill targets being treated.

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108US TX: Column: The Pros And Cons Of Medical MarijuanaMon, 03 Jan 2011
Source:San Antonio Express-News (TX) Author:Roizen, Michael Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:01/03/2011

Don't let boutique-style dispensaries and a respectable new name - medical marijuana - blow smoke in your eyes. Marijuana has solid credentials for relieving serious problems such as cancer pain, nausea, anorexia and tough-to-ease nerve pain, but it's far from an all-purpose healer.

Here are some of its risks:

HEART STRAIN: In the hour after you smoke a joint, the danger of a heart attack rises five-fold because pot boosts levels of a compound called apolipoprotein III that keeps fats stuck in your bloodstream. Plus, pot revs up your heart rate.

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109 US TX: Looking Back in AnguishFri, 31 Dec 2010
Source:Los Angeles Times (CA) Author:Tobar, Hector Area:Texas Lines:258 Added:12/31/2010

Fleeing Ciudad Juarez's drug violence, Mexicans find safety - and torment - across the river in El Paso

They go about their lives here, trying to begin anew. They want to forget about the clean-shaven assassins, the sound of gunfire, the graves and the homes they've left behind in Ciudad Juarez.

A 41-year-old mother of three sees a Juarez neighbor shopping in the discount stores of downtown El Paso. She looks for a place to hide.

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110US TX: Drug-war Patients' Treatment Costs $4.7mThu, 30 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Borunda, Daniel Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/31/2010

It has become routine.

A person is shot and wounded in Juarez, a Mexican ambulance carries the victim across an international bridge and a U.S. ambulance takes the patient to University Medical Center of El Paso.

Since the start of the Juarez drug war three years ago, 200 people wounded in Mexico have been treated at El Paso's county-run hospital at a cost of $4.7 million, according to the latest figures from UMC. Three-quarters were U.S. citizens.

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111US TX: Column: Drug War On Our Doorstep Requires Times' Best ReportingSun, 26 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Lopez, Chris Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/27/2010

A letter writer the other day complained that the only stories he can find in the newspaper are stories related to the drug war in Mexico. It is Mexico's problem, he reasoned, and not something he should be burdened with as a reader of this newspaper, or as he put it, this "rag."

Thank you for the compliment.

We publish more local El Paso stories than anything else -- and we always will -- but we frankly are proud of the journalism we have done out of Ciudad Juarez and Mexico in 2010.

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112US TX: Texan of the Year: Readers' NominationsSun, 26 Dec 2010
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX)          Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/26/2010

Richard Lee of Houston, who has relocated to Oakland, Calif., should be considered one of the top Texans of the Year. I am sure you are aware that he was the inspired leader of California's Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana, which received 46 percent of the vote last month.

Trailblazing? Independence? Staring down adversity?

His project had those in spades.

Hard to see other projects measure up!

Eric E. Sterling, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, Silver Spring, Md.

[end]

113US TX: An ICE Veteran's Look at Drug WarSun, 19 Dec 2010
Source:Houston Chronicle (TX) Author:Pinkerton, James Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/20/2010

South Texas native Alonzo R. Pena leaves the deputy director job at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a rare perspective. Starting as a highway patrolman along the Texas-Mexico border in 1982, Pena's nearly three decade law enforcement career has included assignments representing the Department of Homeland Security in Mexico City, stopping arms shipments to Iran, dismantling Mexican drug cartel operations and human trafficking rings, and interrupting the illicit trade in endangered birds and animals from Mexico. Below are some excerpts from a recent conversation with Chronicle reporter James Pinkerton.

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114US TX: Editorial: Gunning for TroubleMon, 20 Dec 2010
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX)          Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/20/2010

Texas Dealers Must Stop Fueling Mexican Violence

Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, registered a macabre milestone last week: its 3,000th homicide in 2010. Reports of the city's deadliest year on record coincided with publication of a Washington Post investigation pointing to a big source of Mexico's deadly violence - Texas gun sales.

Some of the Texas gun sellers see no link between their lax scrutiny of suspicious arms purchasers and the escalating level of gun violence south of the border. But when Americans supply weapons used in Mexico's cartel wars and when dollars from American illicit-drug purchases fuel the violence, the blood stains all our hands.

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115US TX: Drug Crime Tip? You Can Text DEAThu, 16 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Chave, Adriana M. Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/19/2010

People can text information on criminal activity directly to the Drug Enforcement Administration through a new system launched Wednesday.

DEA officials introduced their Tip411 anonymous texting tip line that allows anyone with a cell phone to report drug trafficking, money laundering or related suspicious activity directly to a DEA agent.

"Through the Tip411 service, we are strengthening our partnership with the community whose members want to rid their neighborhoods of drug traffickers," said Joseph Arabit, special agent in charge of the DEA's El Paso division.

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116 US TX: LTE: Tilting WindmillsFri, 17 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Tyler, Ty Area:Texas Lines:51 Added:12/19/2010

Times headline: "Mexico-bound traffic may face customs check."

Stop the flow of guns and cash into Mexico?

Like airport security, it's another waste of taxpayer dollars!

Why?

Cartels can purchase arms by the boatload from international arms dealers. Simply put, cartels wouldn't miss what little weaponry they currently purchase from USA flea markets, gun shows and unscrupulous dealers.

Additionally, any Mexican with property, a job or a business is now a candidate for extortion and/or kidnapping throughout Mexico. An entire nation is being victimized.

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117US TX: Case Files Of Drug-cartel Suspects Extradited From MexicoTue, 14 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Bracamontes, Ramon Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/17/2010

The extradition of two high-profile criminal suspects from Mexico has thrown them and federal authorities in a world of secrecy that may remain hidden from the public forever.

The West Texas prison where two drug-cartel suspects are being detained remains a secret Monday and federal authorities have sealed their court hearing dates and case files.

And because of security concerns, the whereabouts of Jose Rodolfo Escajeda and Jesus Ernesto Chavez Castillo will probably never be released, officials said.

Escajeda, known as "El Rikin," was extradited from Mexico into the U.S. by the Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday. Chavez Castillo, known as "El Camello," was brought from Mexico by the FBI in September.

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118 US TX: FBI Agent: Bribery Tempts OfficialsMon, 13 Dec 2010
Source:Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX) Author:Del, Fernando Area:Texas Lines:66 Added:12/13/2010

SAN BENITO -- Drug trafficking that has spurred violence across Mexico is spreading corruption into the Rio Grande Valley in the form of bribery that tempts some U.S. officials, a top FBI agent said.

"Our main threat in the Valley emanates from drug trafficking cartels," Miles Hutchinson, the FBI's supervisory senior resident agent in Brownsville, said in a speech before the San Benito Rotary Club on Thursday.

The Gulf Cartel moves an estimated $20 million to $40 million worth of drugs through the Valley every month "and a lot of that money stays here," said Hutchinson, who has served as an FBI supervisor in Mexico City.

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119US TX: Mexico-bound Traffic May Face Customs ChecksSat, 11 Dec 2010
Source:El Paso Times (TX) Author:Roberts, Chris Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/13/2010

Travelers headed into Mexico could soon face border-crossing delays similar to those endured by northbound travelers.

Cartel violence persists in Mexico, and U.S. officials are looking for ways to slow the southbound flow of illicit drug profits and weapons that fuel the bloodshed.

One way to do that is to require customs inspections of all outbound traffic.

Customs and Border Protection officials seized about $41 million in illegal cash between March 2009 and June 2010, but as much as $39 billion is smuggled annually, according to a National Drug Intelligence Center estimate.

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120US TX: OPED: Keeping America's Prisons OvercrowdedSun, 12 Dec 2010
Source:Dallas Morning News (TX) Author:Ifill, Sherrilyn A. Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:12/12/2010

Our nation's love affair with incarceration continues. In a case before the Supreme Court, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is arguing that judges have no right to tell states to reduce their prison populations.

America's prisons, like many of our public schools, reflect our country's most shameful and profound failings. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court took on one aspect of our nation's love affair with incarceration.

In Schwarzenegger vs. Plata, the state of California has challenged a federal court order under the Prison Reform Litigation Act, which requires the state to reduce its prison population to deal with overcrowding. The court found that overpopulation is directly responsible for the failure of the California system to provide inmates with adequate physical and mental health services. California argues that the prison reduction order goes beyond the scope of the statute and infringes on the state's power.

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