SALT LAKE CITY -- The push for legalized marijuana has moved into Utah and Oklahoma, two of the most conservative states in the country, further underscoring how quickly feelings about marijuana are changing in the United States. If the two measures pass, Utah and Oklahoma will join 30 other states that have legalized some form of medical marijuana, according to the pro-pot National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws. Nine of those states and Washington, D.C. also have broad legalization where adults 21 and older can use pot for any reason. Michigan could become the 10th state with its ballot initiative this year. [continues 790 words]
Colby Wilde and Lacey Christenson welcomed their third child into the world on April 9 at Utah Valley Hospital. The doctors, nurses and medical staff eventually cleared out of the room, giving the parents a few moments alone with their new daughter. Unlike most new parents, they did not hold the newborn child, overcome with emotion. Instead, Wilde quickly crushed pills of Suboxone, an FDA-approved drug used to treat heroin addiction and withdrawal, police say. He moistened his finger and dipped it in the resulting powder. Then he stuck his finger in his daughter's mouth, smearing it along her tiny, tender gums. Though she had been in the world less than half a day, the baby, like thousands others in the United States, was already addicted to opioids. [continues 907 words]
Marijuana grows in an illegal Southern Utah cultivation in this file photo (Photo: The Spectrum & Daily News file photo) On Sunday, the recreational use of marijuana will become legal in Nevada following passage of the state's "Question 2" during this year's elections. The law will allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of cannabis or one-eighth ounce of cannabis concentrate with the start of the new year, but the need for Nevada to establish a licensing and taxation infrastructure means it will be a while yet before individuals can actually buy pot if they don't already have a medical marijuana prescription card. [continues 1427 words]
Case Sparked Debate Because of Mandatory 55-Year Sentence. Salt Lake City (AP) - A Utah music producer who was ordered to 55 years behind bars for bringing guns to marijuana deals has been set free, after 12 years in prison and national outcry over the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that forced a federal judge to impose the lengthy term. Weldon Angelos, 36, was freed Tuesday. He says he kept his release quiet for a few days because he wanted to spend time with his three teenage children, who were much younger when he was sentenced in 2004 at 24. [continues 283 words]
In the not-too-distant past, we would have considered it unwise, and perhaps even dangerous, to change the federal classification of marijuana from a schedule 1 to a schedule 2 drug. But that was before 24 states and the District of Columbia passed laws legalizing the drug either for medicinal or recreational uses. The fact is, those states acted without any scientific basis, and they have turned wide swaths of the nation into incubator labs for a drug with physical, psychological and, perhaps, some beneficial medicinal consequences. With marijuana already unleashed in such an officially sanctioned way, the need to study it is imperative. [continues 492 words]
SALT LAKE CITY - Medical marijuana advocates, stymied in their recent efforts to legalize medical cannabis in Utah, are taking the fight to the nation's capital. They are calling on Utah's congressional delegation to support a bill that would downgrade marijuana from a schedule I controlled substance to a schedule II substance - something that state legislators urged Congress to do in a resolution sponsored by state Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Salt Lake City. That would open the way for more research on the substance, something both advocates and those concerned about the potential harmful impacts of marijuana support. [continues 1056 words]
I really take issue with Richard Davis' assertion ("Medical marijuana issue will damage Democratic governor campaign," April 27) that gubernatorial hopeful Mike Weinholtz's campaign was damaged by the revelation that his wife, Donna, is under investigation for using marijuana to combat severe arthritis and nerve pain. If anything, his refreshing authenticity and truthfulness will endear him to voters. Meanwhile, local support for medical marijuana continues to increase. A newly-released poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates for Utah Policy shows that 66 percent of Utahns are in favor of legalization. Only 28 percent stand in opposition. [continues 94 words]
Since I was 7 years old, I have suffered from severe and chronic migraines. When I was in my early twenties, a benign brain tumor was discovered. Unsuccessful removal of the tumor left me with unrelenting pain, muscle spasms and vertigo, which became increasingly debilitating. For years, I was prescribed an endless cocktail of heavy painkillers that eventually left me bedridden. Forced to quit my job and unable to engage with my family, I spent 15 years trapped in a bedroom - all the while still wracked with pain. [continues 566 words]
Day after day, Utahns suffering from a wide range of serious medical conditions join us on Capitol Hill to advocate in favor of Senate Bill 73, which would legalize cannabis for those with cancer, chronic pain, Crohn's, epilepsy, MS, ALS and other conditions. They spend hours waiting for legislators to speak with them - and, too often, they are ignored. To be frank, most senators seem sick of them - they don't want to look these people in the eye. Doing so would make it far more difficult to cast a vote that would keep them in the shadows of society, threatened with arrest, fines, incarceration and more. [continues 560 words]
In regards to the LDS Church's opposition to Sen. Mark Madsen's bill to make medical cannabis legal, I have a couple of observations. Utah has the highest rate of prescription opioid abuse in the country and the highest rate of accidental death due to opioid overdose. Wouldn't it be better to give people the option of medical cannabis, that won't kill them, to relieve their suffering? David G. Payne Salt Lake City [end]
As parent of a child with epilepsy, I have been following the Legislature's cannabis bills closely. While I commend Rep. Brad Daw and Sen. Evan Vickers for their interest and their bill, I feel Sen. Mark Madsen is closer to hitting the bulls-eye. Plenty of studies show cannabis works better as a whole plant. Madsen's bill, Senate Bill 73, tightly regulates "whole plant" medical cannabis, so the nightmares touted by recent op-ed pieces are not likely to happen. SB73 doesn't legalize smoking cannabis or growing your own. It regulates growing locations to prevent growing in residential zones. It's for medical purposes under a doctor's supervision, not for recreational purposes. I doubt any doctor would jeopardize their license by allowing cavalier use of cannabis under their direction. [continues 114 words]
Uphill Battle) One Senator Pulls His Support; Madsen Says Church Position a Blow but Still Has Hope for Success. At least one and possibly two senators have abandoned their support of a medical-marijuana bill pending in the Utah Legislature after the LDS Church issued a statement opposing the measure. The measure's sponsor, Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs, said his colleagues' change of heart is a blow to his effort to make Utah the 24th state to legalize medical cannabis, but he hopes there is still time to make the case to senators that the bill is worth passing. [continues 618 words]
Of course not everything that would follow action by the Utah Legislature to allow the medicinal use of marijuana would be positive. There are few chemicals, natural or artificial, in the human environment that do not, when badly or excessively used, have serious, even fatal, downsides. But there has been more than enough evidence presented to convince any compassionate person - or institution - that medical cannabis offers some of us real relief from unimaginable levels of human suffering. Relief that is more effective, with fewer side-effects, than can be had from legal medications. [continues 566 words]
Medical Marijuana A Senator Is Frustrated That Leaders of Utah's Predominant Faith "Put Their Thumb on the Scale" to Influence State Policy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opposes a bill sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen that would make Utah the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana, citing unintended consequences that could come with use of the drug. The state's predominant faith is not taking a position on another measure, sponsored by Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, and Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, that would allow extracts from the plant that do not contain the psychoactive chemical THC. [continues 1141 words]
It is with profound sadness that we once again hear of a family forced to skirt the law to obtain small amounts of what our state deems illegal to treat their children. And to hear the family is being harassed by Child and Family Services! A mother of four is forced to go into hiding for fear of having her child taken away or charges being filed against her. What is unconscionable is the failure of our legislators and administrators to provide a meaningful solution. How are these people, some I assume with children, not moved to act swiftly and decisively? Does our governor not have the legal power or the moral responsibility to make this the priority it should be? [continues 72 words]
For the past six months, Dallas Sainsbury has treated her Crohn's disease with a cocktail of opiates, steroids, muscle relaxers and other medications that made her hazy and sick to her stomach, alongside numerous other side effects. Then, while attending a concert with friends in Colorado, she tried marijuana and it eased her nausea, anxiety and the urgent need to use the bathroom. It also helped her get off the opioids that left her "high every day," led to her quitting school and made it impossible for her to work. [continues 1073 words]
OGDEN - Mark Kastleman got a call this week from a 65-year-old woman who started on pain pills for back surgery recovery and now, a year later, has turned to heroin to feed the opiate addiction she developed. Unfortunately, her situation is not unusual. "At our facility we've seen a big increase over the last year or so in the number of clients coming to us for heroin addiction," said Kastleman, partner and director of operations at Action Recovery Group in Ogden. [continues 1046 words]
Privacy Concerns - DEA Says Utah Officials Are Obstructing Investigations; State Says Feds Have No Right to Trample Privacy Protections. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration may take the state of Utah to court over a law that took effect earlier this year aimed at protecting the privacy of information in the state's controlled-substance database. After discovering that law enforcement had abused the database, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, sponsored the bill that required police agencies to get a warrant from a judge before searching the registry. [continues 735 words]
If the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it can't do its job without bypassing a judge's signature, it raises reasonable suspicions about law enforcement operating without proper oversight. If the DEA adds that such a bypass is needed to stop Utahns from overdosing at high rates, it exposes just how shameless the war on drugs has become. In a move that raises the specter of indiscriminate NSA phone monitoring, the federal government's drug cops are pushing back against a Utah law that took effect this year that requires a judge to sign a search warrant for access to the state's data base of prescriptions. Before that law, law enforcement could simply use "administrative subpoenas" that required no signoff from a judge. [continues 301 words]
Christine Stenquist suffered for 15 years from debilitating pain and nausea from an inoperable brain tumor that left her bedridden, on disability and unable to function. Doctors tried more than 30 pain medications and she visited three different pain clinics, but nothing worked, she said, until 21/2 years ago when the daughter of a Miami narcotics officer tried marijuana. The relief, Stenquist said in an interview Thursday, was almost instantaneous and today she is drug-free, lobbying on the Utah's Capitol Hill on homeless issues and, lately, in favor of forthcoming legislation that would legalize medical marijuana - the first time such an idea has been proposed in the Beehive State. [continues 728 words]
Human beings are subject to addictions, both physical and psychological. Americans especially love their addictions. Some addictions are more socially acceptable than others. Some are more personally destructive than others and some more socially destructive. But without doubt every addiction is capable of being destructive if unchecked. Perhaps the biggest addiction industry of all is the illegal drug enterprise. It is the most lucrative. The cost of drug addiction can be measured by lives lost, incarceration costs, rehab costs and families destroyed. [continues 136 words]
Public policies regulating alcohol and tobacco - two substances that are objectively more harmful than marijuana - have proven to be far more effective at reducing teens' access. Jay Evensen implies that regulating the adult consumption of marijuana will lead to an uptick in adolescents' access and use of the substance ("Marijuana acceptance will lead to social costs," Aug. 21). He writes: Legalization advocates "would prohibit use by anyone under 21, naively thinking legalization for adults would not trickle down to teenagers." Evensen presumes that criminalization of cannabis will somehow prevent pot from trickling down into the hands of young people. However, America's nearly 100-year experience with marijuana prohibition demonstrates that this presumption to be incorrect. [continues 103 words]
PROVO -- City mayors and a county commissioner were recently warned of the impacts the cities and county may have if recreational marijuana was ever made legal in Utah. On Thursday night at a meeting of the Utah County Council of Governments, a monthly meeting of county and city leaders, the county's Department of Drug and Alcohol Prevention and Treatment made a brief presentation informing the leaders of what has happened in cities and states that have already moved forward with legalizing pot. [continues 705 words]
To paraphrase a recent editorial in the New York Times, "it took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, a time in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished, and it has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana." Effective July 1, "Charlee's Law" went into effect, and Utah joined a number of other states that are re-examining their stand on the use of marijuana -- in one form or another. Make no mistake; House Bill 105 does not legalize the use of marijuana either recreationally or medicinally. It does allows certain patients with severe epilepsy to be prescribed a marijuana extract that is low in the high-inducing chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, but full of cannabidiol, or CBD -- a chemical that many say is unmatched when it comes to conquering seizures but stops short of getting users stoned. It also allows for the cultivation of hemp by institutions of higher learning, under the Department of Agriculture, for research purposes only. [continues 368 words]
Ask experts what parents do wrong when it comes to preventing children from using drugs and alcohol, and many share this image: A parent comes home from a tough day at work and announces he or she needs a drink. Or there's a promotion -- great cause for celebration - -- and the wine bottle comes out. Parents who use alcohol to celebrate, to wind down after a tough day or to rev up to socialize set children up to use alcohol and drugs. Few things have power to derail young lives as thoroughly as substance abuse, but parents are often oblivious to the signs -- and to the messages they send their children that may encourage use, experts told the Deseret News. [continues 1540 words]
Marijuana has now been legalized or decriminalized in 17 states and the District of Columbia, with Maryland joining the list just last week. Not to harsh anyone's mellow, but it may be an appropriate time (and day) to bring back another useful verb to associate with marijuana use: stigmatize. The drive toward legitimization will be hard to stop. Most Americans favor it, and ballot measures to loosen rules on marijuana use could come to a vote this year in at least five states. Twenty-one states already allow marijuana for medical use. [continues 597 words]
Let it be clear at the outset: I am definitely not an advocate for recreational psychoactive drugs! But I've never been enamored with staying uninformed on the issue either. So with that caveat, and with two countries now experimenting a little with legalization of such drugs, let's summarize a bit. It should be well-known that the states of Colorado and Washington have recently legalized certain broad uses of recreational marijuana and are still working out the fine details of how to control the use thereof. Uruguay has thrown the doors wide open for marijuana. And New Zealand has now formalized legislation for all new psychoactive drugs, while still banning the ones that have heretofore been internationally illegal. [continues 520 words]
Salt Lake City (AP) - Parents of Utah children with severe epilepsy are cheering a new state law that allows them to obtain a marijuana extract they say helps with seizures, but getting it involves navigating a thorny set of state and federal laws. Utah's Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has already approved the law and held a signing ceremony for about 50 parents and children at the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon. The new law doesn't allow medical marijuana production in Utah but allows families meeting certain restrictions to obtain the extract from other states. Similar legislation is pending in at least one other state. The marijuana extract, which some believe helps with a severe form of epilepsy, is produced in Colorado and is designed not to produce a high. [end]
Ceremonial Signing - Logistics Are Months From Being Worked Out; University of Utah Hopes to Study Effectiveness of Cannabis Treatments. Utah's hemp supplement bill, better known as "Charlee's Law," is a technical piece of legislation, packed with a lot of "legalese," said sponsor Rep. Gage Froerer at the governor's ceremonial signing of the law on Tuesday. But it's a symbol of compassion for parents who have exhausted all medical remedies for their children, and a promise of hope for a better future, he said. [continues 902 words]
Medical Marijuana) Utah Families With Children Who Suffer From Intractable Epilepsy Are Eager for Relief. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed "Charlee's Law" on Thursday, giving Utahns with epilepsy trial access to a non-intoxicating, seizure-stopping cannabis oil. The Republican signed HB105 in a private ceremony with the parents of the bill's namesake, Charlee Nelson, one of 50 Utah children on a Colorado waiting list for nonintoxicating cannabis oil. The 6-year-old West Jordan girl, died last weekend, days after being honored by the Legislature. [continues 565 words]
The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused. Marijuana prohibition doesn't make the plant any safer, in fact prohibition opens up a gateway to hard drugs by granting a monopoly on marijuana distribution to drug cartels that also sell meth, cocaine and heroin. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. [continues 111 words]
If educated adults do not speak out about the real hazards, lives could be lost. And if Washington continues to stand idly by as the falsehoods persist, it will be increasingly difficult to stop the momentum toward public acceptance. If educated adults do not speak out about the real hazards, lives could be lost. And if Washington continues to stand idly by as the falsehoods persist, it will be increasingly difficult to stop the momentum toward public acceptance. Smoking marijuana alters perceptions, impairs coordination, makes it difficult to think and solve problems and inhibits the brain's ability to learn and remember. It leads to respiratory problems similar to those caused by smoking tobacco, increases the risk of heart attack and can lead to mental illness. And just like tobacco, it is addictive. [continues 594 words]
A jury Friday found a Utah man guilty of child abuse homicide in the death of a teenage baby sitter who prosecutors say died after the man gave her a lethal dose of drugs during a night of drugs and sex that also included the man's wife. The eight jurors reached their verdict about two hours after they were given the case. Eric Millerberg, 38, was also found guilty of unlawful sexual contact with a minor, obstruction of justice and desecration of a dead body in the 2011 death of Alexis Rasmussen, 16. [continues 719 words]
Settlement - an Attorney Says the Woman Was Not Able to Continue Living There. Salt Lake City will pay $75,000 to the then-76-year-old woman whose door police rammed open during a mistaken drug raid in 2012. The intended house was next door. The homeowner signed the settlement Nov. 25, 2013. The Tribune obtained a copy this month through a records request. The settlement ends all of the homeowner's claims against the city. The attorney for the homeowner, Stephen Clark, said his client has not pursued a claim against the Drug Enforcement Administration, which had an agent present during the raid but was not implicated in the error. [continues 400 words]
Marijuana >> Drug Policy Expert Says Opening Borders to Cannabis Oil a Bad Idea. An outspoken opponent of legalizing marijuana visited Utah on Friday to urge lawmakers to put the brakes on a bill that would give epileptic children access to nonintoxicating cannabis oils. "These parents are not part of the marijuana movement .They are very good parents in a desperate situation. My heart goes out to them," said Kevin Sabet, director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida and co-founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana). [continues 618 words]
This injustice is worthy of clemency. We didn't think Rocky Anderson and Jake Garn could agree on mom and apple pie, let alone pardoning a convicted felon sent to prison on drug and gun charges. But there it is, both of their signatures on a letter to President Obama asking that Weldon Angelos' 55-year sentence be commuted. The letter is not the first effort to free Angelos, who has been in federal prison since 2004 after he was convicted in federal court in Utah for selling $350 worth of marijuana while in possession of a firearm. Because of federal mandatory-minimum sentencing guidelines, the judge had no choice but to put a man in his early 20s with no prior adult record in prison until he was a senior citizen. [continues 334 words]
Health) Utahn Moves to Colorado for Treatment Amid Push to Approve Use of Extract Here. Brian Scott endured six grueling months of chemo-therapy in 2012 only to see his acute myeloid leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood, return. The St. George man was admitted this summer to Primary Children's Medical Center for a second, more intensive infusion of toxic chemicals in preparation for a stem cell transplant. This time, the treatments nearly killed him. The 225-pound fullback, who carried the Hurricane Tigers to their first state championship, captured three state wrestling crowns and won a Southern Utah University football scholarship, called it quits on chemo. Brian, now 20, moved to Colorado this summer for an alternative treatment: medical marijuana. [continues 644 words]
It is obvious that Utahns should be allowed access to a marijuana-derived medicine to limit epileptic seizures. One need only hear the stories about heroic parents to know this is not about dodging drug laws. That is not to say the science has been proven. It's simply that the science should be allowed to go forward, including in Utah. While some of the medical marijuana industry may indeed be a smokescreen for access to recreational pot, it is impossible to dismiss the real research that has produced promising results. This past weekend Salt Lake Tribune reporter Kirsten Stewart detailed results on children in Colorado whose seizures have not been controlled by more widely prescribed pharmaceuticals. And while there is evidence of success in many young patients, there has been no evidence of harm. [continues 326 words]
Since 1996 Californians have been able to legally possess cannabis (marijuana) for medical purposes deemed necessary by a licensed doctor. Seventeen years later, 21 states including Arizona, Oregon, Colorado and Montana have passed similar laws. Utah is behind the curve. Medical cannabis has helped people with many different illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's and many others. Medical marijuana isn't just helping adults. A report in The Huffington Post by Andrea Rael states that, "parents calling themselves marijuana 'refugees' are heading to Colorado ... for their children who suffer from epilepsy." ("Medical Marijuana Treatment Of Pediatric Epilepsy Attracts More Parents To Colorado," Oct. 21) [continues 81 words]
Treatment - a Strain of Medical Marijuana Low in THC Has Stopped Seizures in Children With Severe Epilepsy. Every week a tutor comes to April Sintz's home to teach 7-year-old Isaac his letters. Developmentally delayed due to a rare seizure disorder, he is able to grasp the shapes and sounds but soon forgets them. "It's one step forward and two steps back," said Sintz, who hasn't lost hope that Isaac will one day read. Nor has she given up her pursuit of an "herbal" treatment - available only from a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado - that has worked miracles for some children with severe, intractable forms of epilepsy. [continues 920 words]
New Program Aims to Help Prevent Drug Users From Spreading Disease For decades, the message about drugs has been to just say no. But some advocates are taking the approach that people make bad choices, and when they do, there's often no one to tell them the safest way to do something wrong, like shooting heroin or crack. Zach Baker, head of Salt Lake Community College's Students for Sensible Drug Policy, is preparing to launch the Harm Reduction Project, an organization that, besides offering literature to addicts on healthier ways to get high, will also serve as the state's first-ever clean-needle-distribution program. While some of Baker's literature, like Getting Off Right: A Safety Manual for Injection Users, will likely be criticized for encouraging bad behavior, Baker says the reality is that addicts who don't share needles don't spread disease and therefore are less of a medical burden to the state. [continues 979 words]
Davis County Sheriff: Legalizing marijuana would harm society Editor, True conservatives oppose nanny-state policies. Obviously, I was wrong. What could be more pro-nanny-state than marijuana prohibition? Beyond the fact that marijuana prohibition is counterproductive and a complete waste of money, what about the right of adult citizens to be left alone - especially in the privacy of our own homes? We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive. So why do we punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs? I don't want my government attempting to protect me from myself. I want my government to protect me from those who want to harm me against my will. [continues 77 words]
WEST JORDAN - A Utah mother whose 11-year-old son has severe epilepsy is helping to launch a legislative initiative to legalize a liquid form of medical marijuana in the Beehive state, which may put a new face on the issue. The face will be of children who could potentially be helped by a strain of the drug, not of unkempt potheads who roll their own weed. Jennifer May, of Pleasant Grove, believes a hybrid form of cannabis offers hope to patients, such as her son, who suffer from Dravet syndrome, which can trigger hundreds of seizures a day for its victims and limit the life expectancy to 18 years or fewer. Her family currently spends more than $75,000 a year on medication in an effort to provide some relief and hope for their child in dealing with his epilepsy. [continues 593 words]
As the pro-marijuana movement continues to gain national traction following an important concession from the Department of Justice, multiple local law enforcement agencies are adamant that enacting any measures to legalize the drug would mean treading down a dangerous path. Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the DOJ would not challenge state laws passed last year in Colorado and Washington state that allow the distribution and recreational use of marijuana. The announcement comes just months after a poll released by the Pew Research Center showed that a majority of Americans support legalizing the drug. [continues 992 words]
"No other options are left" for the 11-year-old, she says. Pleasant Grove - Jennifer May has tried 25 treatments in 10 years, a mix of prescribed diets and drugs, to quiet the lightning in her son's brain. Only two eased Stockton May's seizures. But their toxic side effects ravaged his bones and immune system, and the relief was temporary. His rare and intractable form of epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, "always found a way around the treatment," said his mom, a self-described conservative and devout Mormon who is now pursuing what for her was once unthinkable: medical marijuana. [continues 1150 words]
Onetime Defendant in Dismissed Drug Case Is First to Sue. A onetime defendant in a drug case tossed out amid allegations of misconduct in the West Valley City Police Department has sued the department in federal court, claiming the agency's narcotics officers violated his constitutional rights when they detained his family and searched their home without a warrant last year. Attorneys filed the lawsuit on behalf of Dante Donell Ketchens, his girlfriend, Danielle Swasey, and Ketchens' two children on Wednesday in Salt Lake City's U.S. District Court. [continues 368 words]
I would like to applaud Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, along with Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., for their bipartisan effort to give judges more discretion in handing out drug sentences. They are using the correct avenues to change the flawed mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes that flood our prisons with low-level offenders. Attorney General Eric Holder recently announced a similar policy shift within the Justic Department, but it is not his place to choose how to enforce current laws. He must wait for Congress to amend the drug laws first, and once they have done their jobs, he can do his. Marcor Peterson Alpine [end]
Crime) Police officers were unprepared for what happened Jan. 4, 2012, investigators say. Hindsight is always 20/20, and for prosecutors involved in the Matthew David Stewart case, one thing became clear after the Jan. 4, 2012, shootout in Ogden that killed one police officer and injured five others: You can never let your guard down. Weber Morgan Narcotics Strike Force agents who served a knock-and-announce warrant at Stewart's Jackson Avenue home on that winter evening were not expecting to be met with gunfire, Deputy Weber County Attorney Branden Miles said in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune this week. [continues 1098 words]
OGDEN -- The war on drugs may have been declared over by national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske in 2009, but the controversy over the laws in place to control drug use continues to incense people on both sides of the legal argument. According to LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - the problems caused by America's drug laws warrant enough attention to be kept in the public consciousness. James Mooney, a former undercover narcotics officer who is now a public speaker on behalf of LEAP, spoke about his experience at Tuesday's Weber County Commission meeting. [continues 479 words]
Cartels escalate drug war with tanks Drug war death squads prowling Mexico OGDEN -- The war on drugs may have been declared over by national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske in 2009, but the controversy over the laws in place to control drug use continues to incense people on both sides of the legal argument. According to LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - the problems caused by America's drug laws warrant enough attention to be kept in the public consciousness. James Mooney, a former undercover narcotics officer who is now a public speaker on behalf of LEAP, spoke about his experience at Tuesday's Weber County Commission meeting. [continues 582 words]
Inside Utah
