Project to Prevent Spread of Disease Legal Only in Bexar, Yet Isn't

SAN ANTONIO -- Bill Day uses his shoe to brush aside a couple of used needles littering the ground near a concrete arroyo in a seedy west side neighborhood.

The 73-year-old lay chaplain said he used to work with drug addicts at this spot all the time. He'd park the white minivan paid for in part by St. Mark's Episcopal Church and throw open the trunk.

[continues 870 words]

WORTHAM - The Wortham Independent School District, interested in adopting a drug-fee program, heard a presentation from the "Drug Dog Program" in the Mexia Police Department (PD).

Dog handler Thomas Sinclair of the Mexia PD, made the presentation during a meeting of the Wortham School Board. Officer Sinclair told Wortham trustees that, "We have a Drug Dog Program which is offered to all area cities and schools." Such a program has found varying degrees of success, both on the city level and in the schools.

[continues 237 words]

Re: "A recession in the drug market," Tuesday Business.

Despite the claims of John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, government surveys show that use of marijuana and other drugs is far higher than it was 15 years ago. And the Justice Department's 2008 Drug Threat Assessment predicts that increased marijuana cultivation - particularly of high-potency marijuana grown indoors - will lead to a drop in prices. Given that marijuana arrests recently hit an all-time record of 830,000 in 2006, this is astonishing.

[continues 64 words]

William F. Buckley Approved of Drug Legalization. Is It Time More Conservatives Reconsidered?

When William F. Buckley died Feb. 27, I thought a tribute column would be in order. But rather than walk in the footsteps of others who have sung his praises, I decided to do something that genuinely invokes his legacy of lively debate: a hard look at one of the most controversial views he held.

Mr. Buckley was a conservative's conservative, a modern icon of what it means to favor less government, lower taxes and free markets. But at some point in his intellectual journey, he adopted a view that alienated many of his admirers.

[continues 656 words]

Local fifth-graders took a dare this year. And right now, the message of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program seems easy: substance abuse hurts your body, just say "No."

The students are fascinated by statistics, facts and figures that they discuss with their classmates, illustrate on posters and write about in class. Nearly every fifth-grader understands that there are thousands of reasons to reject drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Though most of them haven't yet tasted a beer or set eyes on illegal drugs, the lessons taught now are meant to serve as ammunition in years ahead.

[continues 270 words]

December 10, 2007 the Lewisville School board approved the new drug testing policy for all high schools in the district.

The drug testing will begin on April 14 with a pool of students drawn from 80 percent of the school population.

"In June 2002 the Supreme Court of the United States made it legal for schools to test students for drugs if they are involved in any extracurricular activities," said Lynn Charles, a councilor in the Safe and Drug Free office for LISD.

[continues 684 words]

Starting next school year, the Goose Creek school district will implement random drug-testing program for high school students in grades nine through 12 who participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities or have a permit to drive and park at the campus. Why? Because school officials want to take whatever steps necessary to protect the health and future of these same students.

In fact, we believe the school district is obligated to use every means at its disposal to deter kids from drug use.

[continues 315 words]

If Mark Davis believes the government has the right to put you in prison because it disapproves of what you put in your body, why does he not favor a ban against nicotine, which kills over a thousand people in America every day? If drug policy is reasonable based on the dangers drugs pose, how do you leave tobacco off the list?

And what evidence does he offer to substantiate the outrageous claim that millions of Americans are only waiting for the legal opportunity to become dope fiends? I've lived all over the country and have never met a single person who's only objection to drug use is its legal status.

[continues 81 words]

Re: "My view's evolving - William F. Buckley approved of drug legalization. Is it time more conservatives reconsidered? asks Mark Davis," Sunday Points.

Reflecting on William F. Buckley's progressive drug stance, Mr. Davis does not seem to have evolved his view at all. It is Mr. Davis' opinion that the teen who passes on drugs out of fear of arrest proves the system works. How? His hypothetical drugs were manufactured, distributed, made available and probably sold to someone else.

The real problem is threefold for the average citizen: theft/robbery committed to pay for drugs, a criminal culture arising from drug distribution, and bloody turf wars and the rise of international drug cartels.

[continues 55 words]

Re: March 1 World Digest item "2007 opium production sets record (http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/world/03/01/0301world.html)."

I recently wrote a letter to the editor about legalizing drugs, and I received a lot of heated e-mails in response.

My opinion was that drugs should not be legalized. Now I have to ask myself, "Why not go ahead and make it legal and reap the benefits?"

Afghan farmers grew 93 percent of the world's opium, and the profits supply the Taliban with money and weapons.

[continues 64 words]

How can we trust this ex-cop turned profiteer? How can someone trust a profiteer like Barry Cooper to serve in Congress? Mr. Cooper is not suitable to be a representative because of his greediness.

While he has the right to make a living, he does not have the right to do so by manipulating our state's laws. There should be agreements that officers must sign preventing the use of any privileged information to aid others in breaking the law. Also, Mr. Cooper's proposed reality show comparing the effects of drug and alcohol abuse is a worthless attempt to disprove something that has already been proven by medical studies.

Mr. Cooper needs to be held accountable for his actions.

Taylor Dilbeck,

10th grade, The Hockaday School,

Dallas

[end]

Re: "Ex-officer goes to pot for DVDs - Man who sells tips on how to avoid arrest is running for Congress," Monday news story.

Offbeat former cop Barry Cooper gets more attention in this story than the serious analysis of marijuana prohibition and the critical role it plays as the financial backbone of many cartels, as a danger to the young and as a medical boon to many suffering people.

According to the 1982 National Academy of Sciences report, the last serious national discussion of marijuana, "prohibition of the supply of marijuana increases access to and use of other illegal drugs through the creation of an illegal marketing system for all drugs" and "[teenage] marijuana sellers may become socialized into other illegal activities." The study also said that "today's kind of illegal market for marijuana would probably shrink greatly under a regulatory system in the same way that illegal alcohol distribution systems have become so scarce."

We ignored our 1982 national commission (and its 1972 predecessor), but the Dutch did not. While we made over 15 million marijuana arrests, they collected taxes and have less marijuana use than we do.

Jerry Epstein,

Houston

[end]

Editor:

Not many people get to see the War On Drugs from the viewpoint of an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent. I have and it is not a pretty sight. Twelve of my 20 years in law enforcement were spent in the DEA, six straight years of them in undercover operations in North, Central and South America.

Based on my experience, I can assure you that our drug war is a vile and despicable presence doing irreparable harm to all of the American landscape. Nowhere has this war presented itself as a positive policy.

[continues 632 words]

Our troops will die in Afghanistan with our public never understanding that many of the deaths could easily be prevented if we would change our policy on heroin. In the process we would strike a cost-free blow to the terrorists.

Repeated stories describe the huge role of opium poppies, by far the most important crop to millions of starving farmers, in economically ravaged Aghanistan. ( Please see "Thriving drug operation fuels Taliban resurgence/Bloodshed rises in an insurgency largely funded by Afghan opium," Page A3, Saturday.) The illegal profits help fund independent war lords, al-Quaida and the Taliban. They fuel the growing insurgency and threaten the glimmer of democracy there. Our allies are already pulling their troops out of danger, and we will have to put more of ours in.

[continues 133 words]

Re: "U.S. users bankroll cartels - Officials say $14 billion spent each year on drugs fueling Mexican violence," last Friday news story.

What the U.S. government is choosing to do is to produce a market that is lucrative for the cartels. It is not consumers that are "making these people powerful." It is the aforementioned profits generated by prohibition.

The reason we made alcohol legal was to put an end to the violence, official corruption and all the other unintended consequences surrounding prohibition.

We wisely decided to make alcoholism a public health rather than a criminal justice problem. We should begin to consider doing the same with all forms of drug abuse, and particularly marijuana.

Rodney W. Pirtle, Farmers Branch

[end]

Recently I moderated a debate to a sellout audience at Allen Theater, euphemistically called: "Heads vs. Feds." During that debate, Steve Hager, editor of "High Times" maintained marijuana was a very good thing that should be encouraged by government. Bob Stutman, on the other hand, a former DEA leader, maintained marijuana was not a good thing and should be criminalized.

As a good moderator should, I disagreed with both debaters. In my mind, Mr. Stutman was much closer than Mr. Hager in describing the net impact of marijuana on individuals. On the other hand, Mr. Stutman only discussed the harm that marijuana does. He did not discuss the harm that laws against marijuana cause.

[continues 557 words]

Randall County Commissioners met Tuesday and approved an application for grant money from the Texas Governor's Office to research the possible implementation of a drug court for Randall and Potter counties.

The money would allow for research and planning but would not fund the actual implementation of the facility, said Randall County Sheriff Joel Richardson.

"Most local government officials think it can work here," Richardson said. "It would reduce the jail population and help people with drug and alcohol problems. We ought to be doing something other than locking people up."

[continues 217 words]

It's The Perfect Use Of His Clemency Powers

Crack is back before Congress. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has come out against a new sentencing policy designed to bring a partial measure of fairness to the sentencing of federal crack offenders.

Crack is creeping back into the presidential campaign, where there is great need for leadership on this fundamental issue of race and justice.

More than 20 years ago, Congress told judges to give the same sentence for dealers responsible for 5 grams of crack cocaine and 500 grams of powder cocaine despite the fact that crack and powder are pharmacologically the same.

[continues 573 words]

The other day in El Paso, an 18-year-old heard two of the cruelest words that can be hurled at a teenager -- 10 years.

That's 10 years, as in a prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge David Briones sentenced the youth, a Horizon High School graduate, for recruiting students to run drugs for him, the El Paso Times reported.

A partner in his scheme, an 18-year-old girl, received almost four years, according to the Times.

"I am aware of my mistakes that my immaturity brought," he told the judge in a plea for leniency.

[continues 174 words]

It's the only way for the US to control the demand for drugs, say Andres Rozental and Stanley A. Weiss

Despite a surge of military and police forces across the country, the killings continue - more than 5,000 last year. Some regions are terrorized by a wave of kidnappings, assassinations and beheadings.

Iraq? Afghanistan? Pakistan? Somalia? In fact, the country - which a recent U.S military study warned could be at risk of "a rapid and sudden collapse" - is none other than Mexico. Two years into President Felipe Calderon's war against the drug cartels, and the cartels' ensuing war with each other, this is a nation at war with itself. To be sure, the government has had its successes. Huge weapons caches have been seized, large tracts of illegal drug crops have been eradicated and an increasing number of cartel kingpins, couriers and foot soldiers have been put behind bars.

[continues 465 words]