I have noticed a very interesting anti-drug campaign running in the newspapers and on television: Buying drugs supports terrorism! I by no means support the use of drugs and understand that large amounts of money leave this country every year due to drug trafficking. Yes, it is true that some of the money finds its way into the hands of terrorists, but honestly, how much? I see the value in using the terrorist events to influence young people but I don't see this unrealistic connection. What's clearer is that we all finance terrorism when we fill our gas tanks. Nicholas Bahl Denver [end]
LONDON (AP) -- Model Naomi Campbell, who's suing a tabloid newspaper that printed a picture of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, admitted in court Monday that she had illegally used drugs. Campbell says the Mirror newspaper invaded her privacy and breached her confidence when it published the photo last year alongside an article describing how she had sought counseling for a drug problem. The London-born supermodel said in court that she'd used illegal drugs, and had sought treatment. [continues 161 words]
Federal agents raided a medical marijuana club, arrested the director and three others Tuesday amid an ongoing tug-of-war between local and federal officials over the sale of pot for medicinal purposes. Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized more than 600 pot plants from the Harm Reduction Center and arrested the group's executive director, Richard Watts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Kenneth Hayes of Petaluma was arrested in Canada and Edward Rosenthal of Oakland was also arrested. They face charges of cultivating more than 100 pot plants and maintaining a place to grow them, according to federal documents. Each faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. Hayes also operates the club, and Rosenthal supplies him with marijuana, the documents said. [continues 698 words]
Noelle Bush, who was accused of prescription drug fraud last month, has been admitted to a drug treatment program, her lawyer said. Bush, the 24-year-old daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush and niece of President George W. Bush, will spend whatever time is needed in the treatment program before returning to Tallahassee to face the charge, attorney Peter Antonacci said Friday. He would not disclose the location of the treatment center, except to say that it is in Florida. Bush was arrested at a pharmacy drive-through window Jan. 29 on charges of trying to buy Xanax with a fraudulent prescription. Authorities said she posed as a doctor and called in the phony prescription after suffering a panic attack. [continues 202 words]
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Morales said Monday opponent Tony Sanchez should have known about drug money laundering at his Laredo savings and loan in the 1980s. "Let me be clear: I do not allege that Mr. Sanchez knew that Mexican drug money was being laundered through his business. But I absolutely do believe that he should have known," Morales said. Morales, who has pledged he won't run a negative primary campaign, said Sanchez's business background should be scrutinized, including his management of the failed Tesoro Savings and Loan. [continues 812 words]
State Lacks Rules For Cleanup, Notice Thousands of homes in metro Denver bristle with poisonous chemicals, slowly sickening the unsuspecting occupants who don't know they're living in a former methamphetamine lab. Colorado has no standards for long-term exposure to the chemicals and little power to force landlords to clean up the volatile sites. Last year, Colorado drug task forces broke up more than 500 meth labs, seizing the cold capsules, camping fuel, phosphorous, glassware burning on kitchen stoves and basement hot plates. [continues 1054 words]
A judge has ordered the key confidential informant in the fake drug cases handled by the Dallas Police Department held on charges of lying about being a U.S. citizen. Enrique Martinez Alonso, 44, appeared in federal court in Dallas after being indicted on two felony counts of misrepresenting himself as a U.S. citizen while applying for a Social Security card. Alonso was a paid police informant in a series of major drug seizures in which, lab tests later showed, the evidence contained finely ground gypsum, flour or only trace amounts of illicit substances. [continues 409 words]
Florida first lady Columba Bush said Tuesday the arrest of her daughter on charges she tried to fraudulently obtain prescription drugs has caused her to focus on her long-standing anti-drug efforts. "I want to tell whoever wants to hear me, that this is a very serious issue and we should be more aware of the horrifying things that can be," Bush said in a brief question and answer session after touring a National Guard academy for at-risk youths at Camp Blending [continues 309 words]
One of the informants involved in the fake drug cases handled by the Dallas Police Department said he performed honest work for police. The 44-year-old told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW he was tired of being treated like a bad guy and is ready to talk to the FBI. The FBI is investigating dozens of questionable narcotics purchases initiated by paid confidential informants. The informant, who was not identified by the station, said he wanted to take a polygraph test to prove he didn't set up any innocent people in drug cases and did not steal any money from drug dealers or police. [continues 292 words]
The tough-on-crime laws of the past two decades are getting another look as crime rates have slowed, with many states easing mandatory sentences and turning to drug treatment options, two new reports have found. The reports released Thursday, both by advocates for sentencing alternatives, suggest that policy-makers are beginning to revisit long sentences and that the recession may spur more action. Two Washington-based groups, The Sentencing Project and the Justice Policy Institute, did the separate studies. They looked at legislative and administrative changes around the country. [continues 561 words]
Copies of the police report on Noelle Bush's arrest on a felony prescription drug fraud charge were sent Wednesday to her defense attorney, the state attorney's office said. "Basically they're asking for copies of all our police reports," assistant state attorney Owen McCaul said. "It's very standard." Bush, the daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and niece of President Bush, could get up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted, although as a first-time offender she would likely get much less. [continues 193 words]
Legislators Hear Tales Of Methamphetamine Made With Ingredients From Discount Stores A $50 investment at the local drug store is all that's needed to produce an ounce of methamphetamine, lawmakers trying to stop Colorado's explosion of the illegal labs were told Wednesday. A bill making it a felony to possess certain cold medicine and other products with the intent to brew methamphetamine had strong backing from police chiefs, sheriffs and the district attorneys' association. "It's unusual for me to carry a bill that creates more prison beds," said Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, the bill's sponsor. "But this is one of the highest priorities of law enforcement in the state right now. [continues 325 words]
A Treasury Department list of businesses with alleged links to drug traffickers includes a company owned by the family of the tourism secretary for the Mexican state of Baja California. Tourism Secretary Alejandro Moreno denied Friday that his family's parking garage business has been used to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel and said he would open the company's records to U.S. authorities to prove the allegations are untrue. "I'm confident that the family name will be completely cleared when the facts of this situation come to light," Moreno said in a statement released through a San Diego public relations firm. [continues 173 words]
While opponents of a Tulia drug bust still maintain it was discriminatory, the undercover agent involved in the sting says he is proud of what he accomplished and expects to be proven right in the end. The 1999 Panhandle bust prompted an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. The bust in which 46 people _ 40 of whom were black _ were arrested brought national attention and questions about the way the state's drug task forces conduct investigations. Some, however, say the investigation and arrests were racially motivated. [continues 296 words]
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is raising a red flag over a provision added to the medicinal marijuana bill making its way through the Legislature. Assistant Attorney General Michael Cox warned in an analysis of the bill that a change designed to make the measure comply with federal law might actually make it unconstitutional. The Senate Public Affairs Committee revamped the measure, Senate Bill 8, to allow the state to cultivate and distribute marijuana to patients suffering from specific debilitating illnesses. [continues 354 words]
Police officers who request identification from passengers in a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation cannot seek information on the passenger without reasonable suspicion that a crime occurred, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday. The ruling came in a case from Adams County in which Derek Lavan Jackson was a passenger in a vehicle stopped in October 1999 because its headlights were not on. When Officer Brant Harrold ran a check on Jackson, he discovered three pending traffic warrants and brought him to jail. As Jackson was being booked, officers found about one-tenth of a gram of crack cocaine in his jacket, and he was later convicted of possession of a controlled substance. [continues 191 words]
Drugs And Alcohol Can Set A Tough Course If Wayne Wirkkala could talk to Prince Harry, he would tell the young British aristocrat to be careful, that the pot and the booze he was caught using are like the bullets in Russian roulette. It's a game, Wirkkala would say, that the teen does not want to lose. Wirkkala knows. The Englewood resident's first drinking binge, at age 11, led him down a dark, troubled road, from beer to pot to heroin to an adult life of alcoholism. Today, the 50-year-old continues his fight for sobriety in a treatment program. [continues 1131 words]
Anti-Drug Crusader Says She Won't Stop Efforts Five days after Wynne Dimock canvassed her neighborhood with anti-drug leaflets, she found a bloody pig's head next to her porch. "It was very intimidating. I am taking it personally," said Dimock, who lives on the 900 block of South Utica Street. Still, she said Monday she won't stop trying to make her neighborhood safer from drug dealers. Last month, police raided a suspected methamphetamine operation across the street from her house that they said was grossing $2 million to $5 million a month. [continues 323 words]
Before the News and many of its readers bestow sainthood on Tattered Cover owner Joyce Meskis, I would like to ask two questions. Why does Tattered Cover have books for sale on how to produce illegal drugs? Does Meskis accept any social responsibility for the harm that may be caused as a result of selling these kinds of books? Keep in mind that, other than kiddy porn, no government agency will tell Meskis what she can or cannot sell. Meskis alone is responsible for that. RUTH M. KLEIN Boulder [end]
A marijuana-like drug was less effective than standard treatment in helping cancer patients fight appetite loss and weight loss, researchers at the Mayo Clinic say. Their study disappointed scientists who had hoped to find a better way of treating a problem that plagues more than half of patients with advanced cancer. The researchers compared Marinol, a synthetic version of THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana, with a drug that's routinely used to curb appetite loss, megestrol acetate, in 469 people with advanced cancer. [continues 211 words]
