Since January this year, the Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace Division has conducted 40 random drug tests among government personnel, of which two were found positive for illegal drug use. ADFW coordinator Frances T. Salas said that corrective actions have already been taken on the two employees found positive for drug use. Salas declined to specify these actions but the ADFW policy manual provides that anyone found positive for drug use would be subjected to a graduated series of disciplinary actions, depending on the circumstances. [continues 335 words]
Police Commissioner Edward Camacho disclosed Friday that the Department of Public Safety has joined hands with the United States Coast Guard and the CNMI Division of Customs to prevent the entry of illegal drugs into the Northern Marianas. Specifically, the DPS is in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Customs Division to intercept the entry of controlled substance into the islands via large shipments that are coming in through ocean-base commerce. Camacho explained that the tie-up is in line with the police department's beefed up efforts against controlled substance, adding that it is also an offshoot to the DPS' string of raids on marijuana plantations. This effort was initiated in mid-2000. [continues 388 words]
Forty-one-year-old Amir Hossain has been operating a taxicab unit on Saipan for about 14 years. For over a decade, he has witnessed changes in the taxi industry, including the increase in the number of operators island-wide. Hossain, who is from Bangladesh, said he has heard about some taxi drivers being involved in the illegal drug trade. "But we cannot pinpoint who's doing that. That's difficult," he added. When he began operating his own taxi unit in 1989, he recalled that there were only about 20 to 30 operators on the island. Thus, he said operators knew each other, even citing a name of a former comrade in the industry, who authorities pinned down for involvement in the illegal drug trade. [continues 410 words]
The Department of Public Safety is serving more search warrants to individuals reportedly involved in marijuana operations on Saipan, in efforts to rid the community of illegal substance. DPS spokesperson PO2 Jason Tarkong said police are digging deeper into reports of more pot plantations on the island that are maintained by unscrupulous individuals. Tarkong said the Criminal Investigation Bureau-Special Investigation Service would be serving more warrants to suspected individuals and properties reportedly growing marijuana plants. This, after operatives raided three more plantations in As Lito, Gualo Rai, and E'Denni last week were authorities confiscated 50 marijuana plants and seedlings with an estimated street value of $500 to $700. [continues 161 words]
Authorities stormed three different marijuana plantations on Saipan Thursday, resulting in the confiscation of 50 marijuana plants that reportedly have a street value of $700, police said yesterday. Department of Public Safety spokesperson PO2 Jason Tarkong said teams from the DPS-Criminal Investigation Bureau-Special Investigation Section raided locations in As Lito, Gualo Rai, and E' Denni where 50 marijuana plants were uprooted. The confiscated marijuana plants were 3 feet to 11 feet tall, with a street value between $500 and $700, Tarkong said in a media briefing Friday afternoon. [continues 174 words]
Our relationship with the plant world is something we don't think about much. But plant life has played a key role in our evolutionary development. The relationship is one that emphasizes unity and how we all connected: we're not separate from the environment, it is our "extended body." Plants set the stage for our entrance, and continue to support us--although we don't always seem to consciously want to return the favor. Of our fossil fuel--oil, natural gas, and coal are formed from plants. Energy stored millions of years ago, that we use today. Plants also produce oxygen from carbon dioxide. [continues 983 words]
