Treatment, not incarceration, should be the first option for veterans who commit nonviolent drug-related offenses, a group advocating alternatives to the nation's "war on drugs" said Wednesday in a new report. The Drug Policy Alliance report also called on government agencies to adopt overdose prevention programs and policies for vets who misuse substances or take prescription medicines, and urged "significantly expanded" access to medication-assisted therapies, such as methadone and buprenorphine, for the treatment of dependence on opioid drugs used to treat pain and mood disorders. [continues 566 words]
A Colorado judge ruled Wednesday that police should return dozens of marijuana plants to a former Marine and 1991 Persian Gulf War veteran who is a licensed medical marijuana user. "It's great -- I need my stuff back," said Kevin Dickes, 39, a Denver-area construction worker who left the Marine Corps as a lance corporal in 1993. Aurora, Colo., police raided Dickes' home in April and seized plants growing in his basement. He was handcuffed, arrested and charged with a felony count of cultivating marijuana, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. [continues 306 words]
The Defense Department's personnel chief says that a "significant fraction" of members of Congress have probably smoked marijuana and, if they were somehow age-eligible, would need a waiver to join the U.S. military today. David S.C. Chu made the observation in describing the process by which so-called "personal conduct waivers" are granted to potential recruits who admit marijuana use. One of the questions recruiters ask, he told defense reporters during a Pentagon briefing on armed forces recruiting, is whether a recruit has ever used marijuana. He said that in the Marine Corps, admission of one use requires a waiver. [continues 296 words]
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Federal agents expect more arrests of local, state and federal government employees in connection with yesterday's guilty pleas by 16 people, including several current and former soldiers, involved in cocaine smuggling. The Department of Justice said the 16 helped move more than 1,200 pounds of cocaine through Arizona and took more than $200,000 in bribes. Federal authorities said the 16 worked for the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Arizona Army National Guard, Arizona Department of Corrections, the Army, U.S. Bureau of Prisons and Nogales Police Department. They are accused of escorting 1,232 pounds of cocaine from Nogales and Tucson through law enforcement checkpoints and on to Phoenix and Las Vegas over the past 3 1/2 years. [continues 476 words]
The government made them do it. That will be the legal defense for 10 soldiers from Fort Huachuca, Ariz., charged in a $3 million drug plot. According to federal court records, the soldiers transported more than 100 kilos of cocaine and 1,000 kilos of marijuana through Fort Huachuca and a border checkpoint to the adjacent city of Sierra Vista and farther-away Tucson - mostly in Army-owned vans with U. S. government license plates. The whole time, they wore their BDUs or Class A uniforms to allay suspicions on post and at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, the records say. Fort Huachuca is headquarters of the Army Intelligence Center, which every year schools several thousand soldiers in military intelligence. [continues 1041 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - The United States is planning to go beyond helping Colombia battle drugs by providing counterterrorist aid as part of the new global war on terrorism, Ambassador Anne Patterson said Friday. Washington plans to train and equip elite anti-kidnapping and bomb squads, assist civilian and military counter-terror investigators and help Colombia guard its oil pipelines from rebel bomb attacks, Patterson said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Certainly, Sept. 11 has enabled us to do more of these kinds of things," the American ambassador said of the broadened assistance. [continues 405 words]
Media commentary on Colombia has grown, even as the Army's 7th Special Forces Group trains a Colombian Army brigade for counterdrug missions. But that commentary is generally so inaccurate on the basic patterns and conduct of that country's conflict, I fear our special forces trainers may be teaching the Colombians the wrong lessons. The main insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, is committed to seizing political power and instituting a Marxist-Leninist state. It dominates the southern drug production areas where the American-trained counterdrug brigade will operate. [continues 660 words]
Five-Month Term Not The Only Possible Punishment Col. James Hiett came out a winner with a paltry five-month prison sentence in connection with his wife's drug dealing activities, a leading criminal justice expert contends. But Hiett ultimately may end up a big loser: *The Army is still investigating, meaning he eventually could be court-martialed. *By law, soldiers like Hiett who are sent to prison can lose all pay and retirement benefits. *Another law allows the Army to demote Hiett to the last rank in which he served honorably, thereby reducing his retirement pay. [continues 977 words]
