Pot Advocate Can Only See His Daughter Once A Week Just weeks out of state prison, marijuana advocate Ed "njweedman'' Forchion was back on the public protest circuit yesterday. Forchion picketed the Burlington County courts complex in Mount Holly and the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton to draw attention to a judge's recent decision that restricts his visits with his 6-year-old daughter. Forchion, a Pemberton Township resident, is a follower of the Rastafari religion and maintains that marijuana is needed for its rituals. A Superior Court judge assigned to the family division in Mount Holly, however, has limited him to only one supervised visit with his daughter each week because Forchion openly calls for the legalization of marijuana. [continues 243 words]
THE coffee shops of Amsterdam, where cannabis and other soft drugs are sold openly, are under threat after the swing to the right in last Wednesday's general election. The Christian Democrats, likely to form a coalition with the radical anti-immigration Pim Fortuyn List, have vowed to close such cafes across the Netherlands, blaming them for the growing drug use among the young. The party leader, Jan Peter Balkenende, a devout Christian who is expected to be prime minister, promised to end tolerance of cannabis. [continues 580 words]
PITTBORO - Members of the Chatham County Board of Education are considering a policy that would strengthen anti-drug rules in the school system. At a recent board meeting, George Gregor-Holt, who heads up the district's anti-drug program, presented a revised policy that proposes stiffer penalties for students caught with alcohol or other drugs. During the 2001-02 school year through the beginning of May, there were 42 violations of the policy, he told school board members. The year before, there were fewer than 20 violations. Gregor-Holt speculated that the increase was caused not be more drug use, but by more vigilant enforcement of the policy and more awareness of new types of drugs being abused by students. School officials have seen an increase in students abusing pharmaceutical drugs, Gregor-Holt said. "Lots of times, they don't even know what it's going to do to them. They take it because of what they've been told it will do, and that's really dangerous," he said. The proposed policy would require parents to attend substance abuse sessions and would change the number of days a student would be suspended for a first and subsequent offenses. Most parents are willing to attend such session with their children, Gregor-Holt said. Gregor-Holt said that he would present a study to school board members outlining the success of the anti-drug programs by tracking the number of repeat offenders. Board member Susan Helmer said she was worried that tougher penalties could keep some students from reporting drug activity if they are worried about getting a friend in too much trouble. The board could vote on the proposed policy as soon as June. [end]
HANOI, Vietnam- A Taiwanese man and his Vietnamese associate were executed by a firing squad in southern Vietnam for producing illegal drugs, a court official said Wednesday. Chen Chi Tien, 48, and Tram Huy, a Vietnamese of Chinese origin, were executed in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper reported that Chen came to Vietnam in 1989 as a businessman. In 1994, he rented land to set up a farm on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, but used the facility to produce illegal drugs, the newspaper said. [continues 110 words]
Detroit's Youth Are Being Killed In A Year Of Shocking Violence. As Officials Look For Reasons And Solutions, A Saddened City Weeps. Alesia dreamed of becoming a pediatrician. Cherrel relished playing in her school's marching band. Destinee loved Mickey Mouse and eating Doritos. Though each child was unique in life, they shared the same horrible fate -- death by a bullet. Their slayings have combined with others to give Detroit an alarming distinction: a youth homicide rate that has put the city on a path to outpace the nation's biggest cities this year. [continues 1739 words]
The Skillman Foundation proves once again that it is a leader on children's issues in Southeast Michigan. Our hats are off to The Detroit News and WDIV/Local 4 for bringing the results of their public opinion polls to life in the recent Caring About Kids series (April 28-30). The poll results rank drug use as the top health risk for metro youth. Our schools, judicial system, workplaces, faith communities, law enforcement, youth and families see the results of drug use on a daily basis. Much of the end results show up in youth crime, violence, school drop outs, addiction, delinquency and teen pregnancies. It's time for all of us to heed this wake-up call. We encourage The News to diligently report on drug use and investigate sound solutions to preventing it. Susan L. Hiltz Executive Director Prevention Coalition of Southeast Michigan Southfield [end]
Kudos to U.S. Senior District Judge John L. Kane for the courage of his convictions in his article, "America in a Fix" (April 27). He was informative and insightful and has seen the terrible effect this outdated policy has had on American society. His connection of drug dealers and law enforcement as equal beneficiaries of this insidious quest is profound. Taking this a step further, the only thing keeping both in business is the legal system itself. Other countries have seen the benefit of education and decriminalization of drugs. What is the cost versus benefit of continuing this losing battle? [continues 168 words]
Our present War on Drugs began in 1972 when pot-smoking demonstrators against the Vietnam War mocked all authority, ridiculed President Nixon and challenged the very assumption of his authority. His response has resulted in a society subjected to draconian remedies. The War on Drugs - through stringent, puritanical measures - attempts to set the public right. Not only is justice not done, it is threatened and derided. Our national drug policy, hasn't changed significantly with changes in administration. It emphasizes interdiction, police action and imprisonment with a pious and pseudo-reverential nod to treatment and education. The policy persists in spite of all evidence, even the government's own, demonstrating that it is foolish and unworkable. And despite the billions of dollars spent each year in drug enforcement programs, less that $1 out of every $100 is spent on research and evaluation to find out why it isn't working. As recently as March 29 of last year the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering advised that the nation's ability to evaluate whether the drug policies even work is no better now than it was twenty 20 years ago when the War on Drugs was escalated from bravado to guns and blood. [continues 1272 words]
District attorneys understand the old Kenny Rogers song: You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. On a drab April morning, in the shadow of the Swisher County Courthouse, Terry McEachern glanced mournfully at his cards and decided to fold. Until recently, every hand in the Tulia poker game had boiled down to a swearing match between Coleman and the accused. Sheriff Larry Stewart bolstered Coleman's reputation by labeling him "a man of integrity and professionalism." Governor George W. Bush enhanced the impression by naming the undercover man "Texas Lawman of the Year." Thus, the first two cards in District Attorney McEachern's hand were the king and the ace of spades. [continues 1788 words]
Thanks to the wonders of the human memory -- and computerized banking -- Tonya White is a free woman. One of 46 defendants charged in the infamous Tulia drug bust, White had faced a five-to-99-year prison sentence on felony drug charges until April 12, when the state moved to dismiss the case after bank records proved her innocence. "It's just a relief," she said. "Thank God for my lawyers, who trusted me and believed in me." White's accuser, drug agent Tom Coleman (who is white), had claimed that on Oct. 9, 1998, she had sold him cocaine within 1,000 feet of a Tulia playground. At the time of the alleged transaction, however, White was living in Oklahoma City, as her bank records confirmed in court. Last winter, she had discussed the documents with her attorney, Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo civil rights lawyer who founded the Tulia Legal Defense Project to represent defendants standing trial. But nothing noteworthy about the records came up until an early April phone conversation between White's mother and Blackburn's legal assistant. Mattie White suggested that her daughter could have received a worker's compensation check in October 1998, and had probably deposited it around the ninth. After four years, Tonya couldn't remember where her old bank was located, so Blackburn immediately dispatched an investigator to Oklahoma City to canvass the city's banks. "The fourth was the charm," he said. [continues 562 words]
Ever heard of Tulia? It's a little town in Texas that was the scene of one of the most shameful miscarriages of justice in modern American history--a highly questionable undercover drug sting that in the summer of 1999 led to the arrest of one in six of the town's African American population. And now the dismissal of charges last week against Tonya White, one of the final two of the original 43 Tulia defendants, has kicked wide open the door on the dubious nature of the entire Tulia operation while exposing one of the many shadowy corners of the drug war: the power and abuses of drug task forces. [continues 547 words]
Ever heard of Tulia? It's a little town in Texas that was the scene of one of the most shameful miscarriages of justice in modern American history - a highly questionable undercover drug sting that in the summer of 1999 led to the arrest of 15 percent of the town's black population. And now the dismissal of charges last week against Tonya White, one of the final two Tulia defendants, has finally kicked open the door on the dubious nature of the entire Tulia operation while casting a light on one of the many shadowy corners of the drug war: the power and abuses of drug task forces. [continues 576 words]
HOUSTON, April 11 - Critics of a drug sweep in the tiny West Texas town of Tulia won a victory this week when a felony cocaine charge against a woman was dropped after she proved she was in Oklahoma City on the day that an undercover police officer said he bought drugs from her. The dismissal of the charge against Tonya Michelle White, 33, is the latest development in a 1999 drug operation that is under investigation by the Justice Department and has drawn widespread criticism from civil rights groups. [continues 510 words]
Two Arrested In Connection With Linwood Home-Grow Operation About $761,000 worth of marijuana and $32,000 worth of growing equipment was seized when police raided a home-grow operation at 60 Adelaide St. in Linwood last week. Shortly after 2pm on April 4, the regional police drug unit, along with the RCMP, executed a search warrant at the residence. A total of 761 plants were found. This was the second such operation to be raided in Wellesley township, and virtually identical to the one found at 114 Lawrence St. on Mar. 22. [continues 504 words]
TULIA - One of the last defendants from the controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting was freed Tuesday on newly uncovered evidence that put her in Oklahoma City at the time she allegedly sold illegal drugs. Tonya Michelle White, 33, was expected to go on trial Tuesday for allegedly selling cocaine to an undercover agent Tom Coleman. That won't happen after an emergency grand jury took one hour to decide not to indict White. The hearing came after District Attorney Terry McEachern received new evidence that showed White made bank transactions and phone calls within hours of the alleged 10:15 a.m. Oct. 9, 1998, drug deal with Coleman. [continues 394 words]
TULIA - Drug charges against a black woman from Tulia were dismissed Tuesday after overwhelming evidence shot holes in criminal allegations brought against her by a police undercover agent. Jeff Blackburn, an attorney for Tonya White, said the evidence that proved her innocence also casts doubt on the trustworthiness of Tom Coleman, a white drug agent whose operations in 1998 and 1999 led to the arrests of 43 people, 37 of whom are black. Special FBI agent Tim Reid in Amarillo said Tuesday that he will add White's dismissal to his investigation of the Tulia arrests, which already has been sent to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., for review. [continues 579 words]
No matter how you slice the cake, the Charter of Rights has become so embedded in the Canadian psyche that it has been described as 'one of the defining elements' of the national identity. On its 20th birthday, KIRK MAKIN looks at whether Trudeau's 'people package' is cause for celebration OTTAWA -- Debate ebbed and flowed about former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's greatest legacy in the days after his death, but there was no mistaking the runaway winner: the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. [continues 2080 words]
I laughed out loud after I read Kirk Muse's insightful letter, "Have we learned any lessons about drugs"? and then looked at your headline once more. Apparently we haven't learned anything or the headline would have read, "Have we learned any lessons about prohibition"? Muse's argument that "drug-related" almost always means prohibition-related is not only sound, it's evidenced by the very headline you provided for his letter. Larry A. Stevens Springfield, Ill. [end]
A new lease on life is the purpose. Circuit Court Judge Keith Starrett's drug court is the tool. The program has existed a little over two years. And for those who have found freedom from years of drug abuse, the program is nothing short of a Godsend. Drug court does not coddle anyone. With Starrett, it's either his way or the highway to prison. Without any detours. Starrett said drug court is simply a more compassionate and cost-effective way of doing things. [continues 1553 words]
I remember when I learned that it is illegal for a person to commit suicide. To me this was as ridiculous as somebody saying that Disney's Tale Spin wasn't the coolest show on television. This was so shocking to hear for the first time because even my seven-year-old mind realized that suicide is essentially a victimless crime. Also, there is comfort in knowing that you have the freedom to end your life if it becomes too overwhelming, even when you have no actual desire to commit suicide. [continues 704 words]
