According to the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, more than 20 percent of high school students in Wisconsin had been offered, given or sold illegal drugs on school property in the span of a year.

Dodge County school administrators and police say they are working to decrease those numbers locally.

"We take really seriously students and their learning and their education," said Dodgeland administrator Annette Thompson. "We are fortunate that we are a small school. Most teachers know the students by name. We've got excellent counselors that are building these trusting relationships with students."

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Whenever a professional athlete is suspended for smoking marijuana, as happened with two players on Washington's football team recently, a question usually arises: Why would they risk so much for so little? Turns out, the benefits of taking a few puffs aren't so little.

At the low doses reportedly consumed by the athletes, "smoked cannabis can decrease anxiety, fear, depression and tension," three researchers wrote in the November issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. "Furthermore, cannabinoids play a major role in the extinction of fear memories by interfering with learned adversive behaviors. Athletes who experienced traumatic events in their career could benefit from such an effect."

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Charles Wood's letter on medical marijuana points to the problems when law enforcement agencies attempt to legislate public health ("Not a good choice for those in pain," Nov. 7). He puts forth a pained argument.

Alcohol is not an analgesic, as he claims. Analgesics are medicines used for the control of pain. Do they administer Jack Daniels at hospice care? Analgesics are either over the counter, such as acetaminophen (causing liver damage and death), or prescription opioids (responsible for more deaths today than car accidents.)

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Regarding "Not a good choice for those in pain," when one's health is in question, we consult a health care professional, not law enforcement professionals such as Charles Wood (Your Opinions, Dec. 7).

The truth is that in the 16 states and the District of Columbia where medical cannabis is now legal, the experience has been mostly positive. Fees from state medical cannabis programs have helped balance state budgets. California estimates it gets $100 million per year in state tax revenues from medical cannabis.

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The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board feels that medical marijuana for the sick and suffering is a no-brainer (On, Wisconsin, Dec. 3). Perhaps the board should PolitiFact itself.

Marijuana is an analgesic, just like alcohol - consume enough and you are numbed; numbing is not specific to what ails you. Because of this, marijuana is not a good choice for a painkiller. If someone is truly sick and suffering, let's get them access to Food and Drug Adminstration-approved medications, where we understand effects and dosage amounts and know the drugs are manufactured in a clean, safe environment.

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Opponents of a bill that would allow marijuana use for medical purposes in Wisconsin say there's not enough evidence the change is needed in the state.

Introduced by state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, the proposed Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act would give patients with various chronic conditions the option to get a prescription for the drug from their doctors.

However, the issue, which previously failed to gain traction when Democratic lawmakers introduced the bill a few years ago, is not a topic of discussion at the Capitol, said state Rep. Scott Krug, R-Wisconsin Rapids, who does not support the legislation.

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Dear Editor of the Marquette Tribune,

Another reason to decriminalize and completely legalize the relatively safe plant cannabis (marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned ("Chicago looks to go green with marijuana economics," Nov. 8, 2011) is because it is biblically correct since God indicates he created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Truthfully,

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado

[end]

How low can drug cartels sink? I thought the worst was when I heard about drug dealers making meth in strawberry and grape flavors to lure children in grade school to use drugs. Now the cartels are using 11- and 12-year-olds to move the drugs around, calling them "expendables."

The war on drugs has never worked. The only way to end the cartels' reign of death and addiction is to legalize and tax drugs. Use the taxes to pay off national debt and the cost of treatment for addicts.

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Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against a plan in the works at a technical college in Missouri that would require all students to undergo comprehensive drug testing. The students would be charged $50 each to cover the cost of the testing.

The college maintains there is a need for such testing at the school because the students operate heavy machinery, so there is a valid safety concern for the policy.

Marquette does not currently have a drug testing policy in place for its students. But should the question arise in the near future among administration in response to other colleges' policies, we would urge the university to avoid instituting a similar plan.

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The Eau Claire Police Department urged county supervisors in a letter sent Monday not to cut $40,000 from the West Central Drug Task Force, as proposed by the county administrator.

The cut would result in the loss of a key task force supervisor at a time when methamphetamine and heroin use is on the rise, said Deputy Chief Eric Larsen in a letter written on behalf of police Chief Jerry Matysik.

"Drug trafficking is the single largest contributing factor to crime in the Chippewa Valley. Drug trafficking has been the motivation for burglaries, home invasion, kidnappings, attempted homicides and armed robberies, just in the past few years," wrote Larsen, who also leads the task force's oversight committee.

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MADISON - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has accepted a Beloit man's challenge to the authority of court commissioners to issue search warrants and other judicial functions.

Parties on both sides agree that the decision will have a huge impact on the functioning of the state's court system.

Beloit Police searched Douglas M. Williams' Shopiere Road residence in 2008 after obtaining a search warrant from Rock County Court Commissioner Stephen Meyer. Police found marijuana plants and growing equipment.

Williams, 52, was charged with three marijuana offenses but his attorney, Jonas Benarek, contested Meyer's authority to issue the warrant. Bednark argued that issuing a search warrant is a judicial function and commissioners, who preside over some criminal proceedings, conduct probate matters and officiate at weddings, aren't granted judicial powers by the state constitution.

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EDITOR: There is often confusion between hemp and marijuana. Marijuana and hemp are different varieties of the same species of plant, cannabis sativa. Hemp is a grown for its seeds, oil and fiber to create a variety of consumer products. Hemp does contain traces of the drug THC, but not enough to get a person high.

Marijuana is the flowering tops and leaves of a specific variety of hemp grown for its high THC content. This psychoactive drug affects the users mind and behavior and has been linked to significant health, safety, social, learning and behavioral problems.

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Problems facing the state of Wisconsin are formidable but not impossible.

For far too long, Washington's drug prohibition program has created more problems than it has solved. The history of prohibition of hemp (cannabis, marijuana) is an interesting, if disturbing, story. For further reading, go to the Marathon County Public Library and check out "Drug Crazy: How We Got Into this Mess and How We Can Get Out" by Mike Gray.

The instigators of our prohibition problem were powerful commercial interests that convinced Congress that an amazing plant with numerous applications was a danger to Americans.

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BARRON - The Barron County Sheriff is warning about the danger of a new group of designer drugs called "bath salts," that have required six Barron County residents to seek emergency medical treatment this year.

"Bath salts" contain the drug mephedrone, or MDPV, which is similar to ecstasy, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said in a press release issued Monday.

"Bath salts have proven to be very dangerous here and across the nation," Fitzgerald said. "Every batch can contain different variations and amounts of these drugs, making it hard to know how individuals will respond."

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Fail a drug test or refuse to take one and you can lose your unemployment benefits.

It's now the law in Wisconsin.

Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, originally wanted a failed drug test to result in a yearlong ban, but the feds said that went too far. The compromise is a four-week ban.

I know some of you are thinking, " Why should anyone receive an unemployment check for getting high?"

Good point. But I don't think it's that cut and dried. The law leaves too many unanswered questions. More on that later.

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I really had to wonder about the attitude of the responses to the recent Question of the Week about the war on drugs. One person felt sorry for the drug abusers ruining their lives without thinking of their families in the process. We had another opinion stating the drug war was just an injustice towards black Americans, ruining their lives. I'm gonna have to tell President Barack Obama that one! One person wrote about eliminating jails. I truthfully feel jails should be turned into treatment centers. Then Eau Claire County Board Chairman Gregg Moore said he wants to legalize marijuana!

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Regarding the Journal Sentinel's June 19 editorial, don't look to the Obama administration for change ("Rethinking the war on drugs").

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy immediately rejected the high-profile Global Commission on Drug Policy call for reform and defended the "balanced drug control efforts" of the federal government. These so-called balanced efforts have given the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world.

Prohibition-related violence has caused upward of 35,000 deaths in Mexico over the past four years. Despite criminal penalties, the United States has higher rates of drug use than European Union countries such as Portugal that have decriminalized.

With the national debt soaring, we can no longer afford to throw good money after bad drug policy.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.

[end]

This letter is in reference to the Journal Sentinel's June 19 editorial, "Rethinking the war on drugs."

This opinion could be described as thinking out of the box or, stated another way, we all must at times think differently but, most important, act in an uncommon way, as the old thinking has only resulted in failure.

To get specific, I am suggesting that we adopt the British system. I must confess that I am not well-versed in the British system, but it has provided an excellent result. It requires all drug users to register with legal drug pharmacists who sell needed drugs at a reasonable price, thereby eliminating the competition among gangs.

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The Global Commission On Drug Policy Has Declared The War On Drugs lost. It's Time To Rethink Our Strategy

Now that the Global Commission on Drug Policy has declared that America has lost the war on drugs, it's time to develop new strategies, ones that treat drug addiction as a health problem, not a criminal problem.

Illegal drugs have touched every sector of the community from cities to suburbs to rural areas. The victims range from the very young - babies being born with drugs in their systems - to senior citizens.

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5 Shops Found Selling Products Made With Banned Chemicals

Authorities seized $160,000 worth of apparent synthetic marijuana from a store following an investigation launched when two Green Bay East High School freshmen who smoked some of it were rushed to the hospital last month.

Police seized the suspected fake pot, also known as K2, on April 15 from Northern Lights Smoke Shop, 322 N. Baird St., Green Bay, according to a search warrant filed in Brown County Circuit Court. The store, located about three blocks from the high school, has since closed. The owner, Christopher Andrews, declined comment.

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