When the sheriffs and district attorneys team up in Baton Rouge, they are pretty much guaranteed to have their way. So Louisiana remains out of step, spending millions putting harmless potheads in prison long after the rest of the South has recognized that marijuana possession poses no serious threat to civic order, and made it a relatively minor offense. A Senate committee shot down the latest attempt Tuesday to inject some humanity and common sense into our laws. That we need to do so is apparent from the case of Bernard Noble, as the Lens recently reported. Noble was sentenced a couple of years ago to five years after police found he was carrying enough dope for a couple of joints. That sentence would surely be savage enough for most tastes, but Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is a tough hombre. Cannizzaro pushed for more time on grounds that Noble is a multiple offender. Indeed, he is, but all but one of his busts have been for simple possession, and the 13 years that Noble is serving cannot square with any decent concept of justice. [continues 501 words]
Regarding your recent story, "Strange bedfellows push incarceration limits": So state Sen. Bob Kostelka, R-Monroe, is "not concerned by Louisiana's high incarceration rate." He remains dead set against House Bill 14, which would reduce sentences for second and third convictions of marijuana possession, which even "hard on crime" Gov. Bobby Jindal supports and would save the state about $4 million a year. He says, "If you do the crime, you do the time," and "We're not putting innocent people in jail. We're not incarcerating people unless they've been convicted and are guilty." [continues 269 words]
The recent article citing the coroner's information on the heroin epidemic is alarming, and certainly in keeping with what I am seeing in the patients I treat. I am an addictionologist and provide detoxification services for two programs in the area. The surge in heroin use has continued over the past year. Many of my patients "graduated" to heroin because the price of pain pills, such as Roxicodon (roxies) has increased to $25 to $30 each. Suboxone costs $20 per tab, or strip, on the street. If you are using 6 "roxies" a day, that's close to $60,000 a year. My patients tell me heroin is cheaper and easily acquired if you are in the drug culture. I want to emphasize Louisiana is not the only place with a heroin problem. I also treat patients from out of state and their stories are the same. My younger opioid addicted patients, who are in their 20s (and younger), frequently report using heroin. [continues 335 words]
The Greater New Orleans Drug Demand Reduction Coalition was formed in 2011 to develop and implement a comprehensive strategic plan using prevention, treatment and law enforcement to reduce the negative consequences of the use of illicit drugs and other drugs of abuse and the abuse of alcohol in the Greater New Orleans area, with a primary focus on youth and the prevention of youth substance abuse. In response to the Sept. 6 front-page article, "Majority favor legalizing marijuana," the GNODDRC would like to call your attention to the following: [continues 257 words]
A state legislator told the Jindal administration that he is not ready to go the way of Washington state and Colorado by asking voters to legalize and tax marijuana. Instead, state Sen. Dan Claitor said, he thinks the Jindal administration is missing the opportunity to generate revenue through a decades-old law that attempts to collect taxes from the drug trade through a different angle. A law on Louisiana's books since the 1990s requires marijuana dealers to pay taxes on their product by buying stamps from the state revenue department or face seizure of their valuables if they are arrested. [continues 607 words]
School Board Says It Has New Policy A teachers' lawsuit over drug and alcohol tests should be considered moot because of changes to testing policy, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board said in a court filing. But the document, filed Friday, does not specify what changes have been made to a policy that members of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers say is unconstitutional. The federation opposes mandatory tests for injured educators who are not suspected of abusing drugs or alcohol. [continues 379 words]
Federation of Teachers Calls Drug, Alcohol Tests Abuse of Power The largest teacher union in East Baton Rouge Parish sued the parish School Board on Tuesday in an effort to outlaw policies that require teachers injured on the job to undergo drug and alcohol testing. The East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers, which claims approximately 1,600 members, filed its lawsuit in Baton Rouge federal court because the automatic test policy does not require probable cause. "The longer this goes on, the more our teachers are wronged," said Carnell Washington, president of the federation. "If there is suspicion, we have no problem (with drug-and-alcohol testing). What we're practicing in Baton Rouge is against the law." [continues 426 words]
Americans have forgotten about the other war that this country is fighting. It is not the war in Afghanistan. It is the "War on Drugs." An estimated $19 BILLION is budgeted for this fiscal year, while it is estimated that drugs have tied up our legal system and law enforcement agencies to the tune of $50 BILLION. More than 1 million people are currently incarcerated in connection with nonviolent drug offenses. That is around 60 percent of the prison population. When President Nixon started this unwinnable battle in 1972, there were 285,750 drug offenders in prison. The estimated cost of housing a prisoner for a year stands around $30,000. There are currently more illegal substances in the United States than ever, and there is no end in sight. [continues 226 words]
ZACHARY - The Zachary Community School Board revised its drug-testing policy for high school student-athletes Thursday and said it will begin random testing immediately. Board member Hubie Owen said the board has had a drug testing policy since the district's inception, "but we just haven't been enforcing it." The policy change names Lane Regional Medical Center as the initial testing agency. Lane officials will use a computer to select the seven athletes to be tested by urinalysis each month. [continues 326 words]
ST. MARTINVILLE -- Country music legend Willie Nelson and his tour manager were ordered to pay $1,024 each and were sentenced to six months of probation after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana here Tuesday. Nelson, tour manager David Anderson, Nelson's sister and two of the singer's tour bus drivers were cited on misdemeanor drug charges in September while traveling on Interstate 10 through St. Martin Parish. State Police investigators said they found 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and a small amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms in a search prompted by a "strong odor of marijuana" during a routine motor coach inspection stop of his tour bus. [continues 583 words]
Section one of the April 3 edition of The Advocate was dominated by stories about the terrible epidemic of murder and other criminal activity causing great distress in New Orleans. All these problems could be eliminated with one stroke of the government's pen. Decriminalize the use and sale of drugs. Because these drugs are illegal, their price is very, very high. Nevertheless, many people are willing to risk long jail sentences, murder people, or be killed themselves trying to get the drugs for their own use or to sell at huge profits. [continues 214 words]
LAFAYETTE -- Country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson was cited on drug counts in St. Martin Parish after a traffic stop of his tour bus Monday allegedly yielded more than a pound of marijuana and a bag of psychedelic mushrooms. Nelson, 73, and four others traveling with him face misdemeanor charges of possession of Schedule I drugs, State Police spokesman Trooper Willie Williams said. Williams said officers found 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and two-tenths of a pound of hallucinogenic mushrooms on the tour bus during a traffic stop for a commercial vehicle inspection on Interstate 10 westbound near Breaux Bridge. [continues 333 words]
HAMMOND -- Tangipahoa Parish deputies will soon begin random, weekly narcotics sweeps of public junior and senior high schools, officials said Monday. About three schools will be checked each week with drug-sniffing dogs. The searches are expected to begin in about two weeks and also will look for weapons and alcohol. Deputies will be checking backpacks, lockers, classrooms and restrooms. The searches, which will involve students and teachers, are being conducted in cooperation with school system officials. Last school year, about six people were arrested on school grounds in drug-related incidents involving marijuana and pills, the Sheriff's Office said. [continues 73 words]
LIVINGSTON -- An eighth-grade Doyle High School student expelled in October was allowed to take the LEAP test Friday after attorneys for the Livingston Parish School Board reached an agreement with the child's parents Thursday, the attorneys said. The agreement came out of a show cause hearing before Judge Brenda Bedsole Ricks of the 21st Judicial District Court on Thursday, the attorneys said Friday. The parents of the student sued the School Board on Wednesday to allow their child to take the test and have a chance to advance to ninth grade, court records show. [continues 331 words]