An East Texas assistant district attorney out on bond could face additional charges after more than two pounds of prescription drugs were found in his car. Michael Hamilton Rodgers, 53, posted bond Wednesday after being arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rodgers had been employed with the DA's office since July 1 and was still within his probationary period, said Van Zandt County District Attorney Leslie Poynter Dixon. He has been fired from his job, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in its Thursday editions. [continues 176 words]
The Editor, Re: "City may be sued over bill," the Now, Aug. 16. Being a landlord and a activist against drug use, I can see both sides of this issue. We had a house that was being abused by our tenants as a drug house. We found that the provincial residential tenancy office was totally useless in helping us to get inside. They came across as being more concerned about the tenants' rights than ours. The RCMP was even worse. Our repeated calls for help were put aside as a landlord/tenant dispute to be addressed in court. Getting these tenants out took some hard stands by us, and frankly bordered on vigilanteeism. [continues 87 words]
Dear Editor, Recently a group of Sneads Ferry Citizens formed a group we call Sneads Ferry Citizens in Action (SFCIA). The purpose of this group is to work to eradicate drug use and drug dealing in our community. We have a serious problem in Sneads Ferry with both drug dealers and users. It is affecting our business environment and our schools. Almost every crime issue in Sneads Ferry in recent months has been related directly or indirectly to drugs, whether it is murder, assault, fights, domestic violence, child abuse or robbery. It's time for all citizens to be aware of this problem and its impact on Sneads Ferry, and to do something about it. [continues 258 words]
Matt White has seen his south Burnaby neighbourhood go from bad to worse in the seven months he's lived there. "(We) came in February. It was chilly and raining and everything was pretty sedate and quiet," he says. "It seemed fine. It didn't seem that bad, but it's deteriorated." White, originally a Vancouverite, wasn't familiar with his new area's bad reputation, but his co-workers at City TV were and joked around about it. Now he knows why. [continues 774 words]
GETTING aerosol paint cans is not as easy as it was, as concern becomes more widespread about graffiti and other illegal uses. Most hardware retailers lock aerosol paint displays or store the cans behind counters after realising children usually buy - and sometimes steal - - them to get high. The extra security arrangements were implemented after increasing incidents of theft and solvent abuse. For eight years, Bunnings stores throughout Australia have locked aerosol paint can shelves to lessen solvent abuse and graffiti. Innaloo Bunnings complex manager Marilyn Green said aerosol paints and paint tins containing gold or silver paint were locked in a wire cage. [continues 81 words]
NEW laws designed to torpedo the drug trade at the production stage have been endorsed by the Legislative Assembly. The Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill 2003 places strict controls on who is able to buy chemicals and equipment that can be used to make amphetamines and other drugs. Police Minister Michelle Roberts has championed the legislation as having the potential to break the back of WA's outlaw bikie gangs, which have made millions from the sale of amphetamines. If the Legislative Council agrees to the legislation, people buying chemicals and equipment will have to provie photographic identification and a declaration outlining the reason for the purchase. [end]
CHRONIC solvent abusers such as the 14-year-old boy driving the car in Monday's fatal crash in Wilson do not have access to specific treatment or rehabilitation to help them fight their addiction. Mission Australia WA manager Anne Russel-Brown said it was difficult to attract money for programs which dealt with legal substances such as solvents. The issue had been left out of the State Government's drug summit. There were also fears that in group therapy the sniffers could be exposed to illicit drug users. [continues 286 words]
The young men under investigation in connection with the beating of a disabled Port Hadlock man may have been trying to get his medical marijuana, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says. The victim, 45, who was beaten as he sat in his wheelchair, remained in serious condition yesterday at Harborview Medical Center. He apparently suffered a blow to the back of the head from a baseball bat. Jefferson County investigators are uncertain what role three Chimacum High School students played in the attack, but deputies seized their car, which was seen leaving the disabled man's apartment complex. A 20-year-old man who was with the students is suspected of the attack and was booked into the Jefferson County Jail under investigation of assault and burglary. [end]
ATLANTA - The government said Friday that public vaccination efforts to prevent hepatitis outbreaks should be extended to prisons, a move one expert said could save many lives. "Medical prevention measures can be delivered effectively in prisons," said Dr. Cindy Weinbaum of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Prison is a great place for preventing these infections from getting transmitted because it's a venue where we can vaccinate." Hepatitis is caused by a virus that attacks the liver. About 1.4 million Americans have chronic hepatitis B conditions and between 125,000 to 200,000 people yearly are infected with hepatitis A. [continues 215 words]
Just Say No? Re: "Why 'Just Say No' just doesn't work," Journal, Jan. 21. I would like to say "no" to Marsha Rosenbaum's opinions on drug education. I speak as a mother whose 16-year-old son died because of the drug "alcohol." Our children need to hear that they can say no and they need to learn how and why to say no. Peer pressure, stress and self-esteem are incredible burdens for our children. We need to teach our children how to overcome their problems in life without the use of drugs. [continues 216 words]
Vancouver Police Department Insp. Bob Rich calls it the "Seinfeld approach" to policing. "It's about doing nothing but it works." In November, the VPD began deploying a minimum of two officers to the corner of Main and Hastings, near the Carnegie community centre--24 hours a day, seven days a week--to deter the open use and trafficking of crack and heroin at the city's most notorious open drug markets. In the past, more traditional methods such as beat patrols and undercover operations have had only short-term success in breaking up the open drug scene at Main and Hastings. So far, the 24/7 police presence has worked. Today, the 100 or so regulars that used to loiter around the corner have decamped, making the Carnegie centre once again accessible to the community. [continues 447 words]
The number of adult Americans caught up in the criminal justice system is an astonishing 6.6 million people, either imprisoned, on parole or on probation. Equally astonishing is the fact that one-fourth of the prison population is incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses -- a response that has failed to stem the drug problem and often increases the likelihood that a person will return to drug abuse and be rearrested. Adding to the prison population is a sizable number of mentally ill inmates. They comprise 16 percent of inmate populations but only 5 percent of the general society. Prison stays for them tend to be longer, and, once released, they are more likely to return to prison. [continues 526 words]
ALBUQUERQUE-Children from Laguna Pueblo are center stage in a national anti-drug advertising campaign the nation's drug czar hopes will steer American Indian youth away from substance abuse. "This campaign grew out of the recognition that we were not reaching communities that, and I don't have to tell you, have been enormously hit by substance abuse," National Drug Control Policy Director John P. Walters said Thursday at the Albuquerque Indian Center. Walters visited New Mexico to spotlight the advertising campaign launched by his office to promote drug prevention in Indian country. [continues 226 words]
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Taking aim at hippie stereotypes, backers of a local ballot issue that would soften penalties in marijuana cases are crafting campaign arguments that cross and blur demographic lines. They believe the approach -- simultaneous appeals to the seriously ill, senior citizens, college students and baby boomers who sneak joints on weekends -- will propel Proposition 1 into this university town's law books on April 8. "This isn't just about potheads," says University of Missouri law student Anthony Lee Johnson, the proposal's author. "We think this is a winning coalition." [continues 554 words]
U.S. Border Patrol agents in the McAllen sector seized 5,227 pounds of marijuana and 69 pounds of cocaine in 26 seizures this week, including 15 seizures at the Falfurrias and Kingsville stations. The seizures totaled $6.3 million in value, the agency reported. The largest cocaine seizure was made at the Falfurrias checkpoint Thursday when agents seized nearly 55 pounds. On Tuesday, area agents made five seizures and confiscated 1,778 pounds of marijuana. Since the beginning of the year, area agents have seized 104,002 pounds of marijuana and 2,549 pounds of cocaine valued at $164,786,912.00. [end]
Of all the fuzzy-headed proposals to come from our state legislators -- and there have been plenty -- none is fuzzier than Senate President Robert Bunda's proposal to start drug-testing Hawai'i's students. While adolescent drug use is to be discouraged by all reasonable means, random drug testing is not one of them. Random drug testing does not discourage use, and may encourage use of more dangerous drugs that cannot be readily detected by drug tests, e.g. alcohol. [continues 134 words]
A joint state House and Senate panel yesterday got some grim news on Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine or "ice" epidemic from agencies and nonprofit organizations that deal with addicts. At times, the scope of the problem seemed overwhelming: * Hawai'i leads the nation in the percentage of arrested men who test positive for ice. * According to a recent Department of Health survey, Hawai'i has the nation's highest rate of adults who have tried ice. * Ice has replaced alcohol as the primary substance used by Hawai'i adults served by community-based treatment programs. [continues 587 words]
RE: "METH lab apartment declared unfit," Jan. 15. This is total garbage. In choosing to omit the fact that the problems associated with home-based drug labs would disappear overnight if our government legalized drugs, you have shown that, along with 99.99% of your media colleagues, you support drug prohibition - the state's brutal crusade to amuse and entertain the majority by ruining the lives of an innocent minority. Abraham Lincoln was wrong. You don't have to fool all the people all the time in order to oppress the people. All that is required is for the majority to be fooled all the time, and sadly, that task is child's play once you have the media behind you. Alan Randell, (You obviously think there's a madness to the "meth-od.") [end]
It is a shame that the judge decided to cave in to the idiots over at the ACLU and let all of the drug-taking freaks that attended the rave last fall to get off scott-free. Each and every one of the people at that rave knew there were drugs there, drugs have been found at every rave that police have raided. Racine does not want drugged-up losers in our city thrashing around and being amazed by glow sticks and sucking on pacifiers. [continues 201 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - The federal judge presiding over the marijuana cultivation trial of Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," declined Thursday to impose a gag order. Federal prosecutors had sought to keep the defendant and his attorneys from speaking to the media amid fears that the bombardment of publicity the case has generated could taint the jury. "I think there has been a concerted, organized effort to influence the jury," prosecutor George Bevan told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. [continues 154 words]