Do we really want to make it easier to get stoned? Cut through the smoke and that's really what California voters will be deciding in November with Proposition 19, which would make this the only state to fully legalize marijuana -- a drug with proven negative health consequences. Forget what they say about pot smokers being mellow. As the chairman of DARE America, the nation's top drug abuse prevention/education program, I get strident e-mail from people who want the rest of us to bless their drug habits by making marijuana legal and easier to get. [continues 501 words]
A growing, troubling trend is sweeping through our historically law-abiding city. Over the last 10 years or so, a rash of marijuana-friendly stores have opened in Edmonton as well as typical "convenience stores," expanding their product lines to include a wide assortment of drug paraphernalia, thanks in large part to the tax-hungry extended hands of our city council and peripheral lawmakers. When I was growing up, it wasn't uncommon for my mother to send me to the store at five or six years old to get milk or bread. [continues 228 words]
This "new era" of acceptance of marijuana is really crazy. I am amazed that this very bad loophole of allowing marijuana for medical use is being allowed. How do we explain to our children that drugs are bad when they can get access to medical marijuana? Perhaps one day, buying marijuana will be as easy as buying a loaf of bread in a store around the corner. Someone needs to address the matter before we have drug depots on every block selling openly to kids as they walk to school. This movement must be stopped before it is too late. Louis Perry Los Angeles [end]
The biggest impediment to full acceptance of the need for vigorous traffic policing is the perception that a government department is using the motoring public as a cash cow. The accumulated effect of all those minor infractions reaps millions each year. If the revenue were tagged to go back into making roads safer - either through improved design or to pay for more patrols - instead of being sucked into the consolidated fund, then the virtue of issuing speeding tickets would not be so regularly held up to question as a cynical and punctilious form of tax-gathering. And that is despite the fact that it is all having a telling effect on the road toll and that there is still plenty of scope to bring it down much further. [continues 269 words]
A marijuana eradication attempt Wednesday was a real barnburner for members of the Cleburne County Sheriff's Department, Van Buren County Sheriff's Department, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and Greers Ferry Police Department. After several hours of searching, officers found several marijuana plants in a barn and the home at 4110 Libby Road (Hwy 337). A helicopter search crew of two officers located the plants in the open barn during a flyover of the property. The crew landed the chopper next to the barn in an attempt to find a resident of the home. During the attempted contact of a resident, someone lit the barn on fire, burning most everything inside. The chopper, a $100,000 machine, was sitting next to the barn and was nearly burned before the pilot could retreat. [continues 290 words]
State police are investigating threats against the lives of two 16th Judicial Drug Task Force officers, and a circuit judge may have been targeted as well, the Sun-Times has learned. "Approximately two months ago, various law enforcement representatives, both state and local, working in the Fulton County area, began receiving information concerning the threats being made against DTF Officers Scott Russell and Brian Sanderson," said Lieutenant Bill Beach with the Arkansas State Police. "The threats were in retaliation for several methamphetamine related arrests." [continues 322 words]
Owner Finds Pot Plants By Accident In Kentucky, marijuana turns up in the darnedest places. A few years ago, Kentucky State Police harvested 200 plants from a cornfield at Lane's End, the grassy Woodford County horse spread owned by Will Farish, the current ambassador to Great Britain and longtime buddy of the elder George Bush. Then cannabis sprouted from the planters in front of the Fayette County courthouse. And yesterday, Bill and Pat Kimbrell found four potted pot plants in the middle of their wildflower garden behind their home of 31 years in the Lansdowne neighborhood. [continues 267 words]
Air fresheners that retail for as little as $1.50 have emerged as the deadly drug of choice for many children and teenagers in Australia and New Zealand. Dubbed "huffing", the trend of inhaling cheap air fresheners has caused three teenage deaths in one month in New Zealand. Experts in Australia believe the practice is increasingly popular as a rite of passage for children as young as 12. A 1999 survey of 25,480 schoolchildren by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre found 26 per cent of children aged 12-17 had used inhalants. [continues 352 words]
Soho House, the celebrity private members' club in London, has agreed to remove flat surfaces from its toilets and operate a "one in, one out" cubicle policy as part of a new anti-drugs code. The measures were drawn up by Westminster City Council and the police after the young daughter of the actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost swallowed an ecstasy tablet at the club. The incident, which occurred during a children's party, led to an investigation. All members will be sent an annual letter spelling out a zero-tolerance policy and staff will be trained on drug abuse issues. The club - which is owned by Nicky Jones, the husband of Kirsty Young, the Channel 5 news reader - will have to abide by 11 conditions, including checking its lavatories every 15 minutes for evidence of drug-taking. [continues 134 words]
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the legalization of marijuana. It is very surprising how our government wants to jump into the drug dealing business. Where have all the morals gone? First, marijuana homegrowers get nailed by the police for trying to run a profitable illegal business, now the government decides to look at making it legal and now wants a piece of the action, too. Surely government revenue is part of the picture. Just look at the government tax situation with alcohol. We called the LCBO hotline to examine the breakdown of tax revenue. Following is an example from LCBO's 1-800-668-5226 hotline on a 750 millilitre bottle of Canadian Club whisky, which should knock your socks off. The cost of distilling was $7.39. LCBO mark up of 135 per cent adds $10.20, raising the price to $17.59. Bottle levy is 29 cents/litre multiplied by 0.782, giving you approximately 23 cents to add. We are now up to $17.82. But there is more. We must add the rounded revenue to the nearest nickel, being $17.85 in this case. And don't forget your provincial sales tax at 12 per cent ($2.14), bringing it up to $19.99 and then the GST at seven per cent ($1.25), hitting the mark of $21.24. The total government revenue here is 2.87 times (287 per cent) the total cost to manufacture, market, sell and profit from this product. [continues 94 words]
There has been a lot of discussion happening recently over the legalization of marijuana. It is very surprising how our government wants to jump into the drug dealing business. First marijuana homegrowers get nailed by the police for trying to run a profitable illegal business, now the government all of a sudden decides to look at making it legal and now wants a piece of it too. Is there something wrong with this or what? We were both discussing the issue and surely thought that government revenue came into the picture. That's a no-brainer. Just look at the government tax situation with alcohol. So for the heck of it, we decided to call the LCBO hotline to examine the breakdown of tax revenue. [continues 274 words]
America's drug addictions and supply-side military approach to attacking the cocaine supply in its $1.2 billion "Plan Colombia" are destroying South America's fourth biggest country, a pair of speakers will tell an Anchorage audience Monday night in speeches at the Loussac Library. Speaking against the U.S. Plan Colombia will be Andrew Miller of Amnesty International and Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies. As many as 6,000 Colombians live in Anchorage, estimated Beatriz Romero, a Colombian who is an officer with the nonprofit Council of Latin American in Alaska for Special Services. Romero will introduce the speakers, though the council is not a sponsor of their visit. [continues 176 words]
Although I really did not need a reminder of why I find most lawyers so disgusting, the letter concerning the slain narcotics officer reinforced it. I hope that none of the family members of Officer Lyons-Williams read that letter. But if they did, I hope they will realize that for each person who would agree with that letter, there are many more who are truly sorry for their loss. LOUISE BEERS, Norcross [end]
Wollongong Lord Mayor George Harrison yesterday admitted the Illawarra's alarming rate of heroin abuse would require more than a quick-fix solution. Councillor Harrison, who has previously pressed for reforms to the Denison St Methadone Clinic, took a broader approach to illicit drugs after meeting with the NSW Government's chief drug-fighter. Rather than singling out methadone clinics, Cr Harrison said the region's drug problem needed a community focus which addressed social and economic disadvantage, as well as mental health and abuse issues. [continues 213 words]
Young people were being sent as far as Orange and Wagga for drug abuse treatment because of the lack of facilities in the Shoalhaven, Federal Member for Gilmore Joanna Gash said yesterday. She said the absence of services to help users overcome their dependencies had resulted in community lobbying to establish a drug detoxification and rehabilitation centre in the Shoalhaven. Mrs Gash, who is part of the campaign, said there was a high number of illicit drug users in the region who were missing out on help. [continues 320 words]
Alcohol abuse caused more widespread medical and social damage than illegal hard drugs such as heroin, Wollongong clinical psychiatrist Robert Kaplan said. Dr Kaplan, who will participate in Friday's Illawarra and Shoalhaven Drug and Alcohol Summit, said liquor and cannabis abuse were two of the region's worst problems but were often overlooked. The amount of illness and medical problems stemming from the abuse of heroin, cocaine and amphetamines, although serious, was "really minute" compared to the devastating effects of alcohol, he said. [continues 336 words]
Sports-mad Brian Brown can run his own race without crutches. He has never smoked tobacco, drank alcohol or touched drugs in his 38 years. He made a conscious effort to be healthy after growing up in Coomaditchie and seeing the lives of many of his people destroyed by drugs. Mr Brown witnessed how drug abuse led to the breakdown of family relationships and contributed to Aboriginal people's low self-esteem and diminished employment outcomes. He decided that keeping fit through soccer, touch football, and indoor soccer - the last of which he has played at national level - was a better option. [continues 214 words]
Peer group pressure was dynamite when it came to drugs and young people, a public forum heard yesterday. Trevor Crowe, clinical director of the Berkeley-based treatment centre Kedesh House, said even children and teenagers from supportive families were at risk of being led astray by peers. ``If you come from the most closely bonded, caring family with good crisis management skills and end up with an unhelpful or negative peer group you can still develop alcohol and drug problems,'' Mr Crowe said. [continues 176 words]
The turnout for a regional drug summit public forum yesterday was dismal, but the message was unified and strong. Participants called for increased government, corporate and community funding, combined with improved integration of existing drug and alcohol services. They spoke about practical solutions to drug problems, including family intervention for those at risk and the need for more rehabilitation and detoxification beds, rather than focusing on contentious topics such as shooting galleries and Naltrexone. Yesterday's public forum in Wollongong Town Hall was organised to gauge public opinion in the lead up to the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Drug and Alcohol Summit community parliament later this month. [continues 214 words]
Wollongong will project its own voice next month on how to control spiralling illicit drug and alcohol abuse. An Illawarra/Shoalhaven Drug and Alcohol Summit has been planned to canvass a broad range of community opinions on dealing with drug problems. The summit was organised by the Illawarra Area Health Service (IAHS) and non-government agencies, in the wake of the Sydney-based May Drug Summit. During an official launch yesterday, IAHS director of drug alcohol and HIV/AIDS services Brian O'Neill said the event would galvanise the community to find solutions to widespread substance abuse problems. [continues 240 words]
