Police in Vermont must knock before raiding a home or risk having any evidence they discover thrown out of court, despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to the contrary, an Essex County judge has ruled. Judge Robert Bent, presiding over a drug case in Vermont District Court in Guildhall, wrote in an opinion released Monday that Vermont's constitution gives criminal defendants greater protection than that afforded by the U.S. Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures. "Evidence obtained in violation of the Vermont constitution, or as the result of a violation, cannot be admitted at trial as a matter of state law," Bent wrote, quoting a case he cited as underpinning his ruling. "Introduction of such evidence at trial eviscerates our most sacred rights, impinges on individual privacy, perverts our judicial process, distorts any notion of fairness and encourages official misconduct." [continues 638 words]
When half a dozen or more federal employees endorse a lame, dishonest idea, we have a problem. Here's how it unfolded: U.S. Border Patrol agent Steve Garceau staked out a house in Orleans County near the Canadian border one night in January 2003 and caught a guy picking up 45 pounds of pot. He'd planned to deliver it to someone else at a restaurant in Stowe. Garceau handed the chap over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who cut the fellow, identified in court papers with the pseudonym John Smith, a deal: We'll let you free if you agree to tell us more about this and future marijuana sales. [continues 692 words]
More than 200 Vermont college students were denied federal financial aid in the past six years because they admitted to a drug conviction or declined to answer the question. Vermont's rejection rate -- 204 out of 172,625 applications filed, or 0.12 percent -- is the lowest in the nation, according U.S. Department of Education figures released Monday. Over the same time period, the policy resulted in 541 of 322,761 applicants (0.17 percent) being denied aid in New Hampshire and 669 of 356,394 financial aid applicants (0.19 percent) in Maine. [continues 611 words]
The Low-Down on High Crimes in the United States There's a drug epidemic in this country. Each year it claims 100,000 American lives and costs our country an estimated $58 Billion, according to the Greater Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction. That's enough dough to buy every student in the United States a state-of-the-art computer. The potential for addiction is enormous, with 14 million Americans meeting the criteria for abuse disorders. Users of this terrible drug are 50 times more likely to snort cocaine, yet it is by far the most commonly used drug in the country, especially among youth. [continues 1030 words]
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security proposal to turn two temporary U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints along interstates in central Vermont and northern New York into permanent stations staffed by dozens of agents drew questions, opposition and praise from lawmakers and state and local officials Thursday. "We find nothing to be concerned about," said Hunter Rieseberg, town manager of Hartford, where Border Patrol agents have run a checkpoint out of an Interstate 91 rest area since December 2003. "There's no reason why we would not welcome them as part of our community. We think they'll be great neighbors." [continues 417 words]
Standing near the center of a remote, ice-covered lake on an unseasonably warm winter day, Jeana at first wanted nothing to do with the five-foot saws and giant iron tongs stacked nearby. Her immediate task, to be shared this day with seven others who also battle mental illness, would be to help extract 60-pound blocks of ice in preservation of a Vermont tradition that predates electric freezers. Her long-term task, like theirs, would be to get well enough to live independently - in large part through a program that promotes the healing power of physical labor done in a group. [continues 1150 words]
MANCHESTER -- Reaction to a new policy that sanctions K-9 patrols of school grounds to deter drug use has been largely positive, officials at Burr and Burton Academy say. Headmaster Charles W. Scranton said there has been overwhelming support for the patrols despite the potentially controversial step taken by the school last month to authorize police dog searches for illegal drugs and related paraphernalia. "We expected there would be people that would question the rationale," he said. "Like any other policy we might look at it again six months down the road and see what adjustments might be necessary, but for now we're going ahead." [continues 675 words]
As he opened his remarks about medical marijuana, Dr. Joseph McSherry said he couldn't be as informative as he would like to be. "I asked a very good friend, who happens to be a medical marijuana patient, what I should tell you today," McSherry said. "He said to tell you not to ask a doctor. Doctors don't know (expletive) about medical marijuana." McSherry, a neurophysiologist and PhD associated with Fletcher Allen Medical Center and the University of Vermont, said his friend is largely correct: There have been few scientific studies on the effects of marijuana as a medicine, and even less research has been conducted on its medical effects in humans. [continues 642 words]
I would like to take this time time to applaud Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester for taking a step against teenagers and drugs. I think having the drug dogs go into the school is a wonderful thing. Unlike the Rutland City school system, who apparently thinks it is a joke. I approached the vice principal of Rutland High School and the assistant superintendent about having the high school searched because of the use of the "Happy Trail" on a daily basis by the students to get high and also use tobacco. And I guess no one in Rutland cares about this. Because the request I made was never brought to the attention of the School Board like the assistant superintendent said it would be at the next meeting. If anyone ever asked my opinion of the Rutland City school system, I would tell them to stay as far away as they could, because it is a joke. Rutland [end]
In his Jan. 4 article, Benjamin Dangl is to be commended for raising awareness of the supply-side drug war's utter failure. Creating a global welfare state in which every developing country is paid not to grow illicit drug crops is an expensive proposition. The militaristic approach is no bargain either. Destroy the Bolivian coca crop and production will boom in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Destroy every last plant in South America and domestic methamphetamine production will increase to meet the demand for cocaine-like drugs. The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to U.S. drug policy. Instead of wasting scarce resources waging a futile supply-side war abroad, we should be funding cost-effective drug treatment here at home. Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy [end]
MONTPELIER -- The Senate on Friday gave final approval to a bill that would create a drug database to help prevent the illegal use of prescription drugs. The electronic database would hold information about prescriptions written or filled. The database is designed to crack down on the illegal use or sale of dangerous drugs, such as painkillers OxyContin and Percocet, which has become a problem in Vermont, officials said. "A surprising number of heroin addicts first became addicted to prescription drugs," said Sen. James Leddy, D-Chittenden, a member of the Judiciary Committee that drafted the bill. The state is seeing "a tremendous impact from the abuse of legally prescribed medicines." [continues 222 words]
Washington and Morales Tangle Over the Coca Leaf and the Drug Trade After winning a landslide election victory on Dec. 18, Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales announced plans to fully legalize the production of coca leaves and change the rules of the U.S.-led war on drugs in his country. White House officials are wary of any deviation from its anti-narcotics plan in Latin America, a strategy they claim has been successful. However, U.S. government statistics and reports from analysts in Bolivia tell a different story. [continues 250 words]
ST. JOHNSBURY -- Before dawn in a snowy parking lot, the first patients arrive for their daily doses of methadone. One by one, they climb into what looks like a big white camper. Inside the 38-foot truck converted into a clinic they talk to a nurse who is standing in an office behind plate glass. They down their liquid medicine out of a plastic cup and within minutes are on their way home or off to work. By 8 a.m., the clinic has served nearly two dozen patients. [continues 897 words]
LUDLOW -- Two years ago Paul Faenza, 47, retired as a New York City police sergeant and moved to Mount Holly with his wife and two children. He has come out of his retirement to serve as the new project assistant for the Black River Area Community Coalition, an anti-drug and -alcohol initiative serving Ludlow, Mount Holly and Plymouth. BRACC Coordinator Brigid Sullivan said Faenza's nine years of experience in narcotics investigation and enforcement will be used to educate students and parents about the risks of youth intoxication. [continues 203 words]
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A U.S. Border Patrol agent has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements stemming from the release of a drug smuggling suspect in exchange for information about future smuggling. Steven Garceau, 33, entered his plea Tuesday. A second agent, Ross Schofield, 33, is scheduled to plead Thursday. The charges stem from a Feb. 5 incident in which Garceau and Schofield went to the Newport City Motel and apprehended a man who just received a shipment of 60 pounds of marijuana, the indictment says. The agents then took the man and the drugs back to the Border Patrol's Newport station. [continues 143 words]
CABOT - Ginger Katz knows something about denial and enabling, two factors that contributed to her son's death by heroin overdose nine years ago. Since that time, she's dealt with the disaster by speaking out to kids, parents and whomever will listen about her son's killer. Sunday night, Katz brought her presentation to the Cabot School before a crowd of about 100 students and parents. The 58-year-old Norwalk, Conn., mother spun a heart-wrenching tale that detailed her son Ian Eaccarino's introduction to the drugs that ended his life on Sept. 10, 1996. [continues 589 words]
The Rutland Area Prevention Coalition wishes to thank our partners in the community who helped in the celebration of National Red Ribbon Week (October 23-31 this year) -- a time set aside to stress the importance of healthy lifestyle choices, especially among youth. Anti-drunk-or-drugged driving messages are appropriately part of this event. Last week, drivers along South Main Street and Route 7 south noticed clusters of red vehicles placed prominently at several auto dealerships: Smith Buick/Pontiac/GMC, Formula Ford of Rutland County, Alderman's Chevrolet, Alderman's Toyota/Scion, and Shearer Honda. We wish to thank the managers who agreed to participate with us, and all the staff involved in moving and arranging the vehicle displays. The ribbon of red/maroon vehicles along the road was impressive. [continues 214 words]
Cheech Marin and Thomas Chong have been talking about doing a reunion film sometime in the very near future. The question on all of our minds is: Will they film on location in the Cambridge School District? In Wednesday's Banner, we ran a story with the headline "CCS is 'higher' than rest of nation." That refers to an informal study conducted within the school system which found that Cambridge' students are using more drugs and alcohol than their counterparts at both the county and national levels. [continues 391 words]
MONTPELIER - The Vermont Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union will go to federal appeals court this week, trying to reverse a lower-court ruling allowing officials at a Vermont school ban images of drugs or alcohol on student clothing. The ACLU will also ask the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York to overturn another lower-court ruling allowing the federal government to conduct random screening of automobiles and luggage on ferries that cross Lake Champlain. The ACLU claims the ferry searches violate passenger rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protecting against unreasonable search and seizures, while the Williamstown Middletown School's dress code violates a student's First Amendment right to free speech - a political statement that used drug and alcohol images. [continues 641 words]
Inside Vermont
