I am so tired of hearing that we are sending "the wrong message" about marijuana to our youth. In my 68 years of living I have learned that often the "experts" are in error and also that the public is often way ahead of its legislators. I think that is the case with marijuana.

Case in point: Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie says "the bill proposes to solve a nonexistent problem" ("Marijuana bill headed in wrong direction," Feb. 17). If it's not a problem, then why are we discussing it? In the Free Press editorial on Feb. 17, the question was asked about why supporters don't "have the guts" to say they want marijuana to become a legal, recreational drug. At the hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 30, State's Attorney Bobby Sand stated that that decriminalization is his goal. He does have the courage to say what he wants, but he is also smart enough to know that movements like this are done in small incremental steps.

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State legislators have included $50,000 in its major spending bill to help Rutland with its drug problem.

But whether the appropriation weathers what promises to be a tight budget year remains to be seen.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved an appropriation bill containing $50,000 explicitly for the city. The appropriation is intended to pay for overtime in drug interdiction cases, according to the bill.

"I think everyone has read the news stories and Sen. (Patrick) Leahy's visit attracted a lot of attention," Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rep. Martha Heath, D-Westford, said Sunday when asked why the city was singled out. "The appropriation was supported by the whole committee."

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MONTPELIER -- The Vermont Supreme Court today ruled that a helicopter surveillance of a man's property during a marijuana investigation violated his constitutional right to privacy that includes the airspace above a person's home and property.

The case involved a man who was convicted of felony possession and cultivation of marijuana.

In the 4-1 decision, the court concluded that the National Guard helicopter that flew over the man's property in the Goshen area to detect marijuana cultivation flew too low -- at 100 feet above the groud for up to 30 minutes -- and was "an unreasonable intrusion of privacy that triggers constitutional protection."

[end]

Leahy, Specter Praise Local Involvement

The two most prominent members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee picked up tips Monday for dealing with drugs and violence on a national level from examples being set in Rutland and Vermont.

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., convened a rare meeting of the powerful committee outside Washington on Monday.

Gathered before an audience of roughly 200 people who stood when the seating ran out inside the Franklin Center, the senators and seven witnesses tried to get at the heart of a national problem by looking at what has been taking place in Rutland and other communities in Vermont.

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Mark Miller didn't testify Monday before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing held in Rutland.

But his T-shirt did.

"Keep Rutland Beautiful/Keep Out The Drug Dealers," read the words emblazoned across his chest and printed on his white and green short-sleeved shirt.

Miller took time off Monday from work at his business, Marble Valley Reprographics, to attend the hearing.

The Rutland resident wasn't alone.

However, his early arrival allowed him to sit in the front row among the standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people gathered in the Franklin Center for the Senate hearing, "The Rise of Drug-Related Violent Crime in Rural America: Finding Solutions to a Growing Problem."

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New sentencing guidelines mean that a handful of convicted drug dealers may spend less time in prison than their earlier sentences might have indicated. Some of these inmates had done business in the Rutland region, and their potential release may be raising alarms.

But the new guidelines do not represent a sudden surrender on drugs. Rather, they mean that our drug laws are not as warped as they were by inequities caused by racism. Convicted drug dealers do time in prison, and then they are released. The new guidelines bring greater fairness to the duration of the inmates' imprisonment.

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Slowly but surely, the progressive forces that control the power in the Vermont Legislature are doing what they can to weaken the quality of life that makes Vermont a unique place to live.

With their support of the marijuana decriminalization bill, their attitude seems to be that smoking pot is such a casual indiscretion there is no harm in letting users have their way with it.

Perhaps this could be added to the legislation: The warning to teenagers that smoking pot is OK, but when your concentration levels fall to the point where your grades in school suffer, or if you are out on your own and can't keep a job, then you should know where your problems have originated.

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Law enforcement officers from three agencies in Rutland County, along with aerial support from the Vermont National Guard, conducted a roving war on drugs in the city Friday afternoon.

Officers from Rutland police, Vermont State Police and the Rutland County Sheriff's Department patrolled the streets pulling over more than 100 motorists whose vehicles were subjected to cursory searches for illegal drugs.

Police were looking for any plainly evident signs of drug trafficking within the vehicles.

The stops appeared to be taking place all over the city, according to residents who noted the high volume of police activity on the streets.

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I'm writing about Laura Zink's letter: "Why encourage drug use?" (2-25-08). Harsh drug laws do not deter drug use, they encourage it.

I'd like to add that if tough-on-drugs policies worked, the idealistic goal of a drug-free America would have been reached a long time ago. And if tolerant drug policies created more drug use, the Netherlands would have much higher drug usage rates than the United States.

They do not. In fact, the Dutch use marijuana and other recreational drugs at much lower rates than Americans do. See the Web site: www.drugwarfacts. org/thenethe.htm.

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Vermont state Senator Dick McCormack of Windsor was quoted in the Banner regarding the marijuana bill as saying, "The harm that is done to actual people's lives because they're pot smokers is not done by pot smoking ... It comes from getting caught."

That is the same reasoning offered to my husband many years ago when he served our community as a law enforcement officer. Having made an arrest, the person charged with a crime told my husband that the only crime was in getting caught.

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MONTPELIER -- Two weeks after lowering criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday approved a bill that boosts the fines and jail times for possessing heroin and cocaine.

The new proposal, which passed the committee in a 5-0 vote, lowers the levels of possession for the two illegal drugs at which trafficking charges would kick in -- thereby boosting the penalties a person could face when arrested.

Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, the chairman of the committee, said the bill is directly targeted at stopping the inflow of hard drugs into Vermont from larger, out-of-state cities in Massachusetts, New York and Canada.

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MONTPELIER -- The mayors of Barre and Rutland joined Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie in opposing a bill that lowers the criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, warning that it is a step backward in the battle against drugs.

Dubie, who presided over the Vermont Senate last week as it easily passed a bill removing jail time for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, said Friday Vermont's prosecutors told him they worry the bill will make their jobs harder.

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The debate on the state's marijuana laws and the Rutland City debate on police overtime are essentially the same. In both cases, the debate is over what the best use of limited police resources and how the state should be wielding its power.

At the state level, the discussion was triggered largely by the decision of Windsor County Attorney Bobby Sands to send a case involving a judge growing and possessing marijuana to diversion.

The eventual upshot is the state Senate passing a bill decriminalizing possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. That still needs to pass the House and the governor's desk to become law, but it's a sound, common-sense measure.

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Vermont senators got it backward when the upper house passed a bill that reduces the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana and ordered a study to see if the state's drug laws are working. It makes little sense to change a law without knowing the effectiveness of current laws.

The bill the Senate passed 22-7 Wednesday would send those caught with an ounce or less of marijuana to court diversion and offer them a chance to keep their records clean.

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MONTPELIER The mayors of Barre and Rutland joined Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie on Friday in opposing a bill that lowers the criminal penalties for small amounts of marijuana, warning that it is a step backwards in the battle against drug use.

Dubie, who presided over the Vermont Senate this week as it easily passed a bill removing jail time for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, said Friday that Vermont's prosecutors told him they worry the bill will make their jobs harder.

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MONTPELIER -- A bill that would end jail terms for first- and second-time offenders caught with small amounts of marijuana won final approval in the state Senate on Thursday.

Senate action on the marijuana bill came after members rejected an amendment offered by Sen. George Coppenrath, R-Caledonia, that would have given state's attorneys the option of charging those caught with an ounce or less with a crime or sending them to a court diversion program through which they would not have a criminal record. Instead the bill leaves the decision of whether to accept diversion up to the defendant.

The measure goes to the House, where the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. William Lippert, D-Hinesburg, said Thursday he hadn't read it and couldn't predict its fate.

[end]

This morning in my paper I read this: "More than 20 speakers took a hard look from multiple angles at Rutland's newly declared war on drugs and violent crime during a packed-house special meeting of the city aldermen on Thursday."

Go, Rutland! Then I turn a few pages and read this:

"The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that strips jail time out as a possible penalty for most people arrested with small amounts of marijuana (one ounce or less) ... This version would ensure that an arrest does not appear on a person's criminal record -- thereby not putting in jeopardy their ability to secure public housing, job opportunities, or financial assistance."

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ESSEX JUNCTION -- More than two dozen people -- teens, police officers, educators and legislators -- braved Thursday night's wintry weather to discuss how a law to decriminalize marijuana could affect Essex's youth.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-1 last week to lessen penalties for those caught with an ounce or less of the drug. Such offenders would be eligible for court diversion, a process by which their criminal record could be erased.

Essex CHIPS director Ray Coffey showed a series of slides depicting the possible dangers of marijuana. The adults in the room echoed similar warnings and stressed that decriminalization was not legalization. Eventually, Essex Junction Rep. Tim Jerman, a Democrat, opened up the floor to the kids.

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I would like to congratulate the mayor of Rutland on his swift action on behalf of the people of his city. It has become obvious that violent organized drug crime is making Rutland County a scary place to live. The level of the violence that has happened in the county over the last two years is unprecedented in this county. The state of Vermont and the federal government cannot expect the Rutland City Police Department, or the small local police departments, to foot the bill and provide the resources to stop or even slow the influx of organized crime coming from New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and parts beyond. Rutland City just by the nature of its location as a city located on the major east-west corridor, between New York and Maine, and the north south corridor between Montreal and major cities in southern New England, makes it the ideal area to set up distribution points for the drug cartels. This county and this city need support from the governments beyond our own local governments.

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I strongly agree, the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis (kaneh bosm marijuana) should be "legal completely" (Burlington Says 'Nope' To Dope, Jan. 29, 2008) and one reason that doesn't get mentioned is because it is biblically correct according to Christ God Our Father.

The Ecologician indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page.

The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Respectfully,

Stan White

Dillon, CO

[end]