LAYTONVILLE, Mendocino County - In the mountains of Mendocino County, a middleaged couple stroll into the cool morning air to plant the year's crop. Andrew grabs a shovel and begins to dig up rich black garden beds while Anna waters the seedlings, beginning a hallowed annual ritual here in marijuana's Emerald Triangle. In the past, planting day was a time of great expectations, maybe for a vacation in Hawaii or Mexico during the rainy months or a new motor home to make deliveries around the country. [continues 1336 words]
Big-Time Operators Cratering Prices Old Outdoor Growers Feel Loss of Community LAYTONVILLE, Mendocino County - In the mountains of Mendocino County, a middleaged couple stroll into the cool morning air to plant the year's crop. Andrew grabs a shovel and begins to dig up rich black garden beds while Anna waters the seedlings, beginning a hallowed annual ritual here in marijuana's Emerald Triangle. In the past, planting day was a time of great expectations, maybe for a vacation in Hawaii or Mexico during the rainy months or a new motor home to make deliveries around the country. [continues 1097 words]
The attorney for Christopher Williams filed a motion Friday seeking an acquittal or at least a new trial for his client, saying U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen erred when giving the jury instructions in the only medical marijuana case in Montana to go to trial. The 12-member jury convicted Williams in Helena on Sept. 27 on eight counts, including conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana; manufacture of marijuana; possession with intent to distribute marijuana; and four counts of possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense. Since the firearm offenses carry a mandatory minimum of five years to life imprisonment, plus mandatory minimums of 25 years for second and subsequent convictions, Williams could be facing a minimum of 80 years in prison. [continues 707 words]
The lawmaker has spent a decade trying to legalize pot. He says this initiative won't change that. Rep. Roger Goodman, currently running for re-election in Washington's 45th legislative district, has been ready to end marijuana prohibition for a decade. He arrived at the conclusion back in the '90s after witnessing the drug war's consequences firsthand as the executive director of the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission. "We were incarcerating people, particularly people of color, who were trying to cope with a difficult life with substances, for longer periods than people who've committed assault or molested children," he recalls. [continues 453 words]
Connecticut took the controversial, historic step as of Oct. 1 to become the 17th state to legalize marijuana for medicinal use. Now what? In what some in the government and the medical community described as a compassionate effort to make the drug available to cancer patients and others who may benefit from its effects, the state quickly put in place a mechanism for doctors to certify eligible patients and for patients to receive temporary medicinal marijuana ID cards. But detailed regulations governing how patients will receive the drug and who will grow and dispense it still are months away. [continues 1170 words]
"Where you been?" was all the text message said. But it meant much more. A dealer had a new stash. He was nearby and ready to deliver. "Had some bad Chinese food" is another text message that seemed innocuous to a parent. But to her teenage son it meant someone has a bad batch of heroin and should be avoided. On Facebook, the messages can be even more explicit, letting buyers know exactly what's available and where. "The beauty of the internet," sighed Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi. "At a push of a button, there could be distribution schemes that are occurring and people being able to get it." [continues 2095 words]
Patrick Desmond was running out of second chances. About a year after being arrested for cocaine possession, the garrulous ex-Marine was pulled over for drunken driving. Taking his military service into account, a Florida judge agreed to allow Desmond to enter a residential drug treatment program in lieu of jail. Enter Narconon of Georgia, where his parents say they paid $30,000 to get their son the round-the-clock supervision he needed and Florida's drug court required. Less than a year later, while in the Narconon program and living in a Sandy Springs apartment complex that housed fellow addicts, Desmond, 28, hopped into a car with two former Narconon clients in search of heroin. He ended up overdosing from a combination of alcohol and drugs. [continues 1269 words]
Experts, Politicians and Others Debate Measure 80, the Attempt to Legalize Cannabis in Oregon A measure before voters Nov. 6 would allow adults to buy marijuana legally from their neighborhood, state-run pot store. Supporters say Measure 80 would create a lucrative revenue stream for state coffers and reduce money spent on police, courts and jails to enforce existing marijuana laws. Opponents believe the act would increase abuse and illegal sales of the drug, especially out of state, and they criticize a provision that would require the state attorney general to not only "vigorously defend" the law but advocate for a federal act legalizing marijuana, as well. [continues 2020 words]
'The House I Live In,' Directed by Eugene Jarecki A call to national conscience, the activist documentary "The House I Live In" is persuasively urgent. Directed with heart by Eugene Jarecki, the movie is an insistently personal and political look at the war on drugs and its thousands of casualties, including those serving hard time for minor offenses. It is, Mr. Jarecki asserts - as he sifts through the data, weighs the evidence and checks in with those on both sides of the law - a war that has led to mass incarcerations characterized by profound racial disparities and that has created another front in the civil rights movement. [continues 827 words]
The campaign to legalize recreational marijuana has received two boosts: another $1 million in donations, and a vote of approval from King County Sheriff Steve Strachan. The biggest donation to Initiative 502 came from Progressive Insurance founder and marijuana-legalization advocate Peter Lewis. His $670,000 donation last week brings his total contribution to $1.55 million, more than a third of I-502's total donations of nearly $4 million. Those contributions allowed I-502 to buy about $700,000 in TV airtime the last week before the election, said campaign manager Alison Holcomb. Those ads will differ from I-502's first round of TV ads, which featured a middle-aged woman who declared she "didn't really like" marijuana, but that it was time for "a conversation" about legalizing it. [continues 270 words]
Scott Turner, Bruce Brown disagree over issues in candidate forum EAGLE, Colorado - The two district attorney candidates hammered each other in a candidate forum, disagreeing about almost everything in a spirited exchange. Democrat Bruce Brown and Republican Scott Turner squared off Monday night, sponsored by the Eagle County Republican Women. Turner stressed his experience as a prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office, while Brown said it's time for a change and that he's the candidate for that change. [continues 1227 words]
Pioneering Marijuana Cultivators in the Emerald Triangle Are Being Pushed to the Margins by the Legalization They Long Espoused LAYTONVILLE, Calif. - In the mountains of Mendocino County, a middle-aged couple stroll into the cool morning air to plant the year's crop. Andrew grabs a shovel and begins to dig up rich black garden beds while Anna waters the seedlings, beginning a hallowed annual ritual here in marijuana's Emerald Triangle. In the past, planting day was a time of great expectations, maybe for a vacation in Hawaii or Mexico during the rainy months or a new motor home to make deliveries around the country. [continues 1587 words]
Chris Williams, who wanted to challenge the federal government over its handling of medical marijuana prosecutions in Montana, was led to jail in handcuffs Thursday after 12 jurors convicted him of eight drug- and firearms-related charges. Williams sat quietly and unemotionally, with his hands folded on the table in front of him, as the three men and nine women, their voices shaking at times, told the court that their verdict was unanimous. His attorney, Michael Donahoe, requested that Williams not be detained until sentencing, noting that he's already working on an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. [continues 1322 words]
HELENA - A jury on Thursday convicted a medical marijuana provider of drug trafficking and firearms charges, upholding the U.S. government's raids of state-regulated pot dispensaries in its first test at trial. The provider, Chris Williams, was barred by the trial judge from making the case that he and Montana Cannabis followed the state medical marijuana law that voters approved in 2004. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled state laws were irrelevant in the case involving alleged violations of the federal Controlled Substances Act. [continues 712 words]
Commissioners Share Their Views on County Expenses, Open Space, Marijuana AGLE, Colorado - The five brave souls running for Eagle County's two open county commissioner seats squared off in their first candidate forum Monday. They faced a series of questions, four prepared beforehand and others from the public. Jeff Layman, Republican, and Jill Ryan, Democrat, are squared off for the District 1 seat. Dale Nelson, Independent, Jon Stavney, Democrat, and Courtney Holm, Republican, are running for the District 2 seat. In the face of another 20 percent drop in Eagle County property values, what expense areas would you reduce? Jill Ryan: Since 2010, the county's budget has declined by 30 percent, Ryan said. The county is running pretty lean, and county employees are doing more with less. [continues 1894 words]
Measure Would Allow 3 Dispensaries in Commercial or Industrial Areas Palo Alto may soon be leafy in a whole new way. Voters in the upscale town will get a chance Nov. 6 to allow three medical marijuana dispensaries. If approved, they would be the only pot retail shops on the Peninsula. Measure C would allow three retail marijuana stores in any commercial or industrial area, including the chic shopping districts around Stanford University. "This measure will strengthen (Palo Alto's) character by providing medicine to our terminally ill neighbors," according to the measure's chief proponents, Cassandra Moore and her husband, Thomas Moore, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. [continues 392 words]
CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - Teresa Carmona stood in front of cameras and microphones, facing reporters in the heart of downtown outside City Hall, sharing her story of heartache, and she was not alone. Like many others Ms. Carmona was there to give a face to tens of thousands of victims of violence resulting from the "war on drugs," particularly in the U.S. and Mexico. Nearly 100 people, mostly from Mexico, boarded buses in August in Tijuana and 30 days later landed in Washington, D.C., stopping in nearly two dozen U.S. cities along the way for peaceful marches, gatherings and vigils in Black and Latino communities. [continues 1324 words]
Retired Logan Corrections Officer Pushing to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession. INDIANAPOLIS - Chad Padgett is a retired juvenile corrections officer from Logansport who found himself in an unexpected place last summer: Testifying in front of the legislature's sentencing policy study committee holding a hearing on the merits of relaxing the state's marijuana laws. Padgett, representing a national organization of former and current law enforcement officers, said locking people up for possessing pot was a waste of public resources that could be better spent targeting what he called a "true threat to society." [continues 705 words]
CADILLAC - Three individuals have been charged as codefendants in 84th District Court in Wexford County in connection with the operation of the now-closed Twinn Bridges Compassion Club. Christopher Frank Gee, 35, of Tustin, Kreig William Woodbury, 44, of Evart, and Bradly Kreikaard each have been charged as codefendants in connection with the operation of the business, which opened in November 2010. The club has since closed voluntarily. Gee told the Cadillac News prior to the arrests that the storefront offered medical marijuana, grown by himself, in a variety of forms. [continues 196 words]
Members of the Santa Ynez Valley Youth Coalition are celebrating the award of two federal grants, totaling $825,000 over five years, to continue their fight against substance abuse by young people. Formerly known as the Santa Ynez Valley Coalition to Promote Drug Free Youth, the local group is one of 57 recipients nationwide - and one of just five in California - of a grant from the Drug Free Communities program, coalition coordinator Mary Conway announced. Funding under the new grant will be $125,000 a year for the next five years, a total of $625,000, which is an overall increase of $125,000 from the group's previous five-year, $500,000 grant that expired in September. [continues 523 words]
A Crackdown on Pot Dispensaries Threatens to Derail a Man's Quest to Control His Son's Seizures Topamax. Depakote. Phenobarbital. The list goes on. Before Jayden David turned 5, he had tried a dozen powerful medications to tame a rare form of epilepsy. The side effects were devastating. There were grand mal seizures that lasted more than an hour. Hundreds of times a day, muscle twitches contorted his impish face. "If he wasn't sleeping, he was seizing," said Jayden's father, Jason David. [continues 1604 words]
WASHINGTON - The Caravan for Peace arrived in Washington, the last stop on its tour of the United States, during which families of the victims of violence on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border have marked "an end and a beginning" with their condemnation of the war on drugs. After traveling more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) and stopping in 26 cities, the 110 participants in the caravan led by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia arrived in the United States capital. [continues 434 words]
Alarmed by a surge in heroin deaths, Delaware County officials joined together for the first time Friday to attack a problem they see devastating families and communities. There were 33 heroin-related deaths in the county in the first six months of the year. In 2011, there were 62 deaths, and in 2010 there were 50, said Frederic Hellman, the county's medical examiner and a member of a task force newly appointed to address the issue. In contrast, there has been one heroin death in Chester County. In 2011, that county saw 13 deaths where heroin was involved, and four in 2010. [continues 436 words]
The state's first medical marijuana dispensary is scheduled to open in Montclair this month, but some physicians registered with the program aren't participating or won't accept new patients. Statewide, 165 doctors have registered and 134 patients have signed up or are in the process of becoming eligible for prescriptions to ease the pain associated with cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious or terminal illnesses, state health officials said. The Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair will open as soon as it receives final approvals from local authorities and the state, which it expects within two weeks, said Joseph Stevens, the center's president and chief executive officer. The dispensary will open on Bloomfield Avenue, a bustling hub of restaurants, a concert venue and women's health center. [continues 938 words]
One hundred and ninety six people were murdered in Baltimore last year. Recent figures show our violent crime rate is more than two and a half times the national average. Many of these crimes spawned from the illegal nature of the drug trade, and the vast majority of them will go unsolved because so much police time is spent arresting drug users and low-level dealers. But this weekend, a cross-country caravan of victims of the drug war brings a message of change to Baltimore. Dozens of Mexican and U.S.-based drug war survivors, law enforcement officers and others with firsthand experience with failed drug laws have been traveling for weeks now, educating people about the destruction our policies have wrought and the futility of continuing them. [continues 649 words]
Tom Daubert, who led the push for the voter-approved law legalizing medical marijuana in Montana, was sentenced Thursday to five years' probation in a federal drug case. "I'm feeling relieved and grateful for the judge's mercy and leniency," Daubert said. " ... I'm very glad he recognized the uniqueness of my particular case." Daubert was among several people charged after federal agents raided medical marijuana businesses, including the Helena-based Montana Cannabis, around the state last year. Daubert had ended his interest in Montana Cannabis before the raids, something U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen noted in imposing probation. [continues 556 words]
3 Former Owners Facing Federal Prison Just three weeks ago, Seattle's booming industry of medical-marijuana dispensaries celebrated at Hempfest by offering free joints to new customers and advertising heavily in four marijuana-industry publications. For a moment, Seattle's dispensaries - about 145, according to city data - outnumbered its 139 Starbucks locations. More sought to open each month, especially in pot-friendly Seattle. Now, the gilt is suddenly off medical marijuana's "green rush." Dispensaries have closed without notice. Three former dispensary operators appear headed to federal prison. And others are leaving once-promising, if legally questionable, businesses altogether. [continues 842 words]
Mexican 'Citizen-Diplomats' WHO Lost Loved Ones to Drug Violence Heading to City Their task is titanic, but so is their determination to end the war on drugs. The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity, a group originally composed of 110 Mexican fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters - 49 of whom lost loved ones to the violence of the drug war - arrives in our city tomorrow. One of those mothers is Margarita Lopez, whose daughter, Yahaira Guadalupe Baena Lopez, 19, was taken from her home in Oaxaca by an armed group on April 13, 2011. She joined the caravan at its inception. [continues 556 words]
LITTLE ROCK-A coalition seeking to have a medical marijuana proposal struck from Arkansas' November ballot told the state Supreme Court on Friday that backers didn't do enough to make sure voters know medical marijuana users could still face prosecution under federal law if the measure passes. The Coalition to Preserve Arkansas Values, which is made up of several conservative groups, asked justices to either remove the measure from the ballot or order the state to not count any votes cast for it. Election officials last week approved the ballot proposal after verifying that supporters had turned in enough signatures from registered voters. [continues 381 words]
As Fatal Overdoses Surge, Those Left Behind Try to Make a Difference Gathered beneath a pale moon at Roosevelt University's Schaumburg campus, the parents, siblings and friends of those who died of heroin overdoses created a scene of almost unbearable sadness. They bore photos of the dead, startlingly young men and women frozen in moments of happiness. They lit candles in remembrance. And they swore that somehow, in the face of a crisis that seems to be getting worse, they would find a way to turn the tide. [continues 925 words]
Javier Sicilia's words still ring of poetry, though he says he's stopped writing it. A renowned novelist, essayist, and poet - winner of Mexico's top poetry prize three years ago - Sicilia told mourners gathered at his son's funeral in May 2011 when he read his final poem: "No puedo escribir mas poesia ... la poesia ya no existe en mi." It's no longer in me. The murder of his son Juan Francisco last year, an innocent 24-year-old university student found along with six of his friends bound and shot by drug traffickers in Cuernavaca, shook Sicilia's world. With deep anguish also came conviction. With the rallying cry "!Hasta la madre!" Sicilia became the unlikely front man to a people's movement across Mexico, leading peace marches throughout last year to publicly denounce the violence, the cartels, and the government corruption that's allowed the problem to fester. [continues 1201 words]
HELENA - Richard Flor, a former Miles City medical marijuana caregiver sentenced in April to five years in federal prison on charges that he illegally maintained drug-related premises, died in federal custody Wednesday. Flor, along with his wife, Sherry, and their son, Justin, ran a medical marijuana caregiver business out of their home and from a Billings dispensary. Richard Flor was also a co-owner of Montana Cannabis, one of the state's largest medical marijuana operations and a target in the March 2011 raids by federal agents on marijuana providers across Montana. [continues 109 words]
Editor's note: Quotes from Javier Sicilia and Maria Guadalupe Aguilar Jauregui were translated from Spanish by a translator at the rally. Hundreds of members of the Austin community gathered at City Hall Saturday to call for an end to drug violence in the U.S. and south of the border. Saturday marked the Austin stop on a two-month, cross-country tour by the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity, a grassroots initiative started by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia after his son and six of his friends were killed in 2011 in drug-related violence. According to an article on Sicilia in Time magazine, the drug war in Mexico has been responsible for at least 10,000 disappearances and 60,000 deaths since 2006. [continues 403 words]
The Rally Will Promote Medical Marijuana and Protest Dispensary Prices, but to City Officials It's Another Day in the Park. PORTLAND - Visitors to Deering Oaks on Saturday may take in a little more than fresh air. The park will be the venue for a free medical marijuana rally and festival featuring speakers, music and vendors selling indoor growing equipment. The Atlantic CannaFEST will run from 1 to 5 p.m. and is expected to draw 200 to 300 people. It will promote medical marijuana and include a high-profile giveaway of pot to low-income patients, to protest the prices at state-sanctioned dispensaries. [continues 1085 words]
Festival Will Run From 1 to 5 P.M. Saturday and Is Expected to Draw 200 to 300 People, but Pot Smoking Will Not Be Allowed PORTLAND -- Visitors to Deering Oaks on Saturday may take in a little more than fresh air. The park will be the venue for a free medical marijuana rally and festival featuring speakers, music and vendors selling indoor growing equipment. The Atlantic CannaFEST will run from 1 to 5 p.m. and is expected to draw 200 to 300 people. It will promote medical marijuana and include a high-profile giveaway of pot to low-income patients, to protest the prices at state-sanctioned dispensaries. [continues 1082 words]
The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity, lead by Mexican poet and writer Javier Sicilia, made a stop in El Paso Aug. 20 to bring awareness to the brutality of the ongoing drug war in Mexico and to push U.S. local, state and national authorities to include this topic in their political agendas. The caravan was welcomed by dozens of El Paso activists and supporters in search of a solution to the drug war. "We can't separate ourselves from Mexico," said Josiah Heyman, chair and professor of anthropology. "There's no question that there's a whole bunch of things that Mexico needs to do that are Mexico's responsibility in terms of their criminal justice system, their legal system, their political system, but there's a bunch of things the United States needs to do." [continues 538 words]
LAS CRUCES - Mexican poet Javier Sicilia called for a moment of silence for the victims of his homeland's drug violence, a potent reminder of the anguish that spawned a cross-country Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity that made a stop here Friday. Since the murder last year of his son, Juan Francisco, a seemingly random victim of bloody fighting between warring drug cartels, Sicilia has emerged as a powerful critic of the war on drugs, corruption in Mexico and that nation's law enforcement approach to drug consumption. [continues 460 words]
Family leaves State, Warrant issued Billie Jo Hogan, 36, scheduled to be a on a reduced misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana, failed to appear in court Monday. She and her family have fled the State. A bench warrant was issued for her arrest, Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis said Tuesday, adding that the new bond on the bench warrant is $7,500/10%. Both she and husband Donald were arrested in June. Together the couple owned the Mid Michigan Care Givers Club in Harrison. They were both arrested June 14 on felony charges of illegal sales of Marijuana. [continues 212 words]
She wants to clarify law, but sentencing reform, protecting vulnerable people are important, too Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum says her position on medical marijuana, which became a hot-button issue in the May primary, has been mischaracterized and blown out of proportion. "It wasn't my issue, I hope you know that," Rosenblum said in an interview Monday with the Mail Tribune. She noted it came up during an early debate at the Eugene City Club between her and her opponent, fellow Democrat Dwight Holton, when the question was asked about medical marijuana. [continues 729 words]
Gov. Deval Patrick signed a prescription drug regulation bill Monday that includes a ban on a narcotic-like substance nicknamed bath salts. The bath salt ban was authored by state Rep. George Ross, R-Attleboro, who took up the cause after hearing about the damage smoking bath salts was having on addicted constituents. "The bill is done and it becomes law now," Ross said. "I'm really happy because it is a tool for law enforcement." Ross said he believes the ban will save lives and families. [continues 158 words]
PALM COAST -- Palm Coast officials are working on an ordinance to ban the sale of "herbal incense" by targeting its effect rather than the ever-changing chemical brew chemists cook up to stay ahead of the law when producing synthetic marijuana. The draft ordinance would ban products that mimic the effects of a controlled substance that could be easily placed into pipes, cigarette papers and other paraphernalia for smoking or inhaling. The makers of synthetic marijuana have been able to continue selling it as herbal incense because state laws target chemical compounds. Chemists spray chemicals similar to the THC in marijuana onto blends of leaves and roots, which are then sold as herbal incense. Chemists merely alter the compounds enough to escape the law. [continues 866 words]
Pinal County started its Adult Drug Court in Casa Grande three years ago. Based on its encouraging success rate, a decision was made to expand the program. A few weeks ago, Adult Drug Court expanded to include a court in Florence to service the Florence, Coolidge and San Tan Valley areas. "We knew the need was here for such a program," Brian Finucane, Adult Drug Court supervisor, said. "We decided that we could do another such program with existing resources. We didn't apply for a grant or any type of funding. We did it with what we already had. [continues 782 words]
Already shaken by a series of high-level defections, accounts of abuse among its staffers, and the high-profile breakup of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the Church of Scientology now faces scrutiny over its controversial drug treatment program, Narconon. Four deaths at Narconon's signature treatment facility in eastern Oklahoma have prompted local law enforcement and health officials to investigate the center and its program. The inquiry began after Stacy Dawn Murphy, 20, was found dead in her room on July 19 after returning to the facility from a one-day leave. The cause of death is under investigation. [continues 1153 words]
It was still light outside on a Thursday in July when officer Jacob Provencio left the downtown Redding police station to start patrol duties in the surrounding blocks. MarketFest, the popular music festival that concluded its season last week, was due to end in about an hour. The crowds already were dispersing, and Provencio deliberately scanned the streets for vehicles speeding by or rolling through stop signs. Provencio wasn't only on the lookout for drunken drivers. Driving-under-the-influence cases, in which the substance involved is drugs and not alcohol, are his specialty. And the prevalence has become more common in the north state. [continues 2359 words]
When the Heroin Awareness Committee looked around at what it could do to spare other parents and teens the pain of addiction and death, it would have been easy to get overwhelmed. "There were a lot of needs," Jennifer Weiss, one of the founders, said. Education was a glaring deficiency. Getting the state Legislature's attention was another. Weiss and the other parents forming the committee have children either lost to drug overdoses or who in recovery. Like the parents in Mothers Against Drunk Driving, they have political credibility. Politicians of both parties listen. [continues 469 words]
First in a four-part series This isn't Detroit. It isn't Compton, Calif. We don't have overcrowded and crumbling inner cities. But when the Centers for Disease Control last November announced that death rates for prescription drugs had reached epidemic proportions nationally, New Mexico was at the top of the list. Our death rate from prescription drug overdoses surpassed even our traditionally tops-in-the-nation death rate from heroin overdoses. "This is the time to bring a sense of urgency to parents, schools, coaches, physicians and pharmacists," U.S. Attorney Ken Gonzales said in an interview. [continues 1999 words]
The gentle tones of an electric piano provided a mournful backdrop for the sad silence filling the auditorium at the Passavant Hospital Foundation Conference Center in McCandless. As a spring night outside effortlessly embraced nature's renewal, those inside hoped for a similar transformation. All had suffered personal winters of despair, watching helplessly as a loved one fell victim to the allure of drugs. A baby cried. Adults cried, too, as more than 40 people walked in single file to the front. Each lit a candle while speaking of the suffering of sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, lovers and ex-spouses, relatives and friends -- some now clean, some still struggling, some departed. Handed white roses, they carried their candles back to their seats. [continues 1563 words]
LIHU'E - Leaders from the community gathered Thursday for the purpose of revising the county's five-year master drug plan during the 2012 Drug Summit at the Kaua'i Marriott Resort and Beach Club. "We have about 150 people here, including teams from the Department of Education, community organizations, the County of Kaua'i and the Judiciary to work on the plan," said Bridget Arume of the Department of Education. Gary Heu, representing Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Jr., who was out of town, said the theme of E Ho'omau ka 'Ike, or "Continue the Awareness, Learning, Vision," was most appropriate since the start of the program in 2003. [continues 597 words]
Public Housing Caught Between State, Fed Laws Thelma Brady of Sweet Home said it wasn't hard for anybody to realize that one of her rental houses had a marijuana grow. Depending on the day, a person walking down the street could get hit in the face with the plant's pungent odor. But Brady already knew about the grow, and essentially had approved it. The tenant who lives there has a medical marijuana card issued by the state of Oregon. [continues 710 words]
JONESBORO -- Each addict's turning point to recovery is unique but the goal remains the same -- to stay sober. Or they could fail and suffer the consequences. In Clayton County Adult Felony Drug Court, the consequences of failure are real and include donning an orange jumpsuit and all the glamour that goes along with being an inmate. Getting into the program is fairly simple, just commit the right kind of crime and you're in. Staying in and being successful, well, now that's harder. The challenge becomes swapping prison orange for the black cap and gown of a Drug Court graduate. [continues 1098 words]
Sentencing - United States - News
