Increasing public safety is another excellent reason to legalize marijuana. During my 18 years as a police officer I was dispatched to zero calls generated by the use of marijuana. My profession could arrest a lot more deadly DUIs and child predators, if we stopped chasing soccer moms and others smoking pot. Howard Wooldridge [end]
Is Pot The New Pilates? A new wave of reefer madness is sweeping suburbia — but it's not just teenagers who are lighting up. Middle-aged, middle-class soccer moms are smoking pot ... a lot. These women aren't stoners: they're teachers, lawyers, and, perhaps, even your neighbor who prefers puffing a joint to sipping chardonnay. "Marijuana is the magic in my life that helps me unwind, stay sane, and have more energy," says Sonia, a 24-year-old mother from Los Angeles. Working full-time as a restaurant manager leaves Sonia feeling stressed out and drained at the end of the day. She smokes once or twice daily to relax. "I have a stressful job, it's something that helps me wind down so I don't take out my frustration on my husband or my child." [continues 705 words]
VALDOSTA Debbie Dowdell believes that if she can change the direction of one person's life then she has succeeded. Dowdell's life is one marked with obstacles barriers that despite the odds she has overcome and still managed to keep a smile on her face. This year Valdosta Technical College selected her to be the 2009 EAGLE Representative at the EAGLE Leadership Institute in February. EAGLE stands for Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education. Dowdell said she was nominated by her VTC Adult Education teacher Betty Howell. [continues 526 words]
This week saw two very different First Amendment cases, one which received national coverage and the other with a tremendous regional impact. The first case in the national news this week concerned a high school student in Alaska who held up a sign at a televised school event saying, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The school deemed it as promoting drug use and suspended him, with his case making it all the way to the Supreme Court before a judge finally ruled that, yes, schools have the right to uphold disciplinary rules regarding limits on free speech. Had the court ruled otherwise, any drug-related or offensive or obscene material on T-shirts, posters, etc., would have been fair game for students. [continues 373 words]
The loss of Smith Hospital's long-term care facility for patients with substance abuse problems is truly unfortunate for our community. The residential facility is housed in the old hospital building in Hahira, which won't pass building codes without a minimum $250,000 investment. It's jointly operated by Smith Northview Hospital and Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia. After Dec. 23, those who have been treated for detoxification from addictions will have no place to go but home after being released from Smith Northview's main hospital. The Hahira facility had allowed up to 29 patients to remain in supervised conditions for up to 100 days. It has remained full since opening in July 2002. [continues 163 words]
HAHIRA -- On Dec. 23, when the Smith Hospital residential treatment facility closes, people seeking help for substance abuse problems will have to leave the area to find long-term care. The 29-bed Smith facility, housed in the former Smith Hospital on Hahira's Main Street, opened in July 2002 when the hospital moved to its new home on North Valdosta Road and became Smith Northview. It was operated under a joint agreement between Smith Northview and Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia, and patients could stay up to 100 days for extensive counseling and treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. [continues 698 words]
VALDOSTA -- A drug agent with the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office has been dismissed following a routine drug test of the Narcotics Division. Daryl Tarver, 36, a 12-year member of the unit, was dismissed Wednesday after he tested positive for cocaine, Sheriff Ashley Paulk said. Paulk said the drug test is done randomly throughout county offices, but all members of the Narcotics Unit are tested in order to ensure the credibility of group. "It is county policy to do random drug testing," Paulk said. "We periodically test all of the members of the narcotics unit at the same time because of the nature of their work. We do this to uphold our credibility in the community." [continues 65 words]
Imagine a city behind bars. By 2008, stricter sentencing laws will have created a prison population in Georgia of 56,000 to 58,000 -- about the size of Marietta, the city near Atlanta. Georgia taxpayers are already paying nearly $1 billion a year to house prisoners. Georgia has the sixth-highest incarceration rate in the United States and ranks first among states in the percentage of people in prison, probation or on parole. Many of these prisoners are behind bars because of mandatory prison sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes and property crimes. In some cases, Georgia's judges are forced to give a first-time offender prison time even though his or her circumstances might warrant a more lenient penalty. [continues 150 words]
VALDOSTA - Unitarian Universalist Church, 1951 E. Park Ave., hosts a speaker, 1 p.m. Sunday, on the church's drug policy. Last June the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, held in Quebec City, Canada, adopted a statement of conscience supporting drug-policy reform and alternatives to "The War on Drugs," according to the church. In recognition of this assembly's efforts, the local Unitarian congregation hosts Nora Callahan, national speaker with Journey for Justice. Callahan advocates change in current drug policy This weekend, she will give a presentation and offer discussion on alternatives. [continues 291 words]
VALDOSTA -- Every day the men and women fighting the "war on drugs" go to work not knowing when or even if they will come home. One such individual, Federal Agent Enrique Camarena, did not come home. The death of Enrique in 1985 brought Americans together and spurred a weeklong anti-drug campaign known as the Red Ribbon Campaign. Thursday, area children and residents took part in a Community Day held in the Wal-Mart parking lot on St. Augustine Road. The event brought people from all walks of life together to celebrate a "drug free life." [continues 362 words]
VALDOSTA -- Friday's Widespread Panic concert at Valdosta State University was sold out long before the actual performance -- 4,200 tickets -- and local law enforcement agencies knew they would have their work cut out for them. They just didn't realize how out-of-hand it would get, according to Capt. J. D. Yeager, Lowndes County Sheriff's Office Narcotics Unit. Deputies, serving in a plain-clothes capacity, assisted Valdosta State University and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College police officers at the concert. The total number of officers, from all three agencies, was 40, Yeager said. The crowd was estimated at about 4,700. [continues 493 words]
VALDOSTA -- They speak of the smile that played across his lips when something fun happened. They remember his sense of humor, his good looks, his youth. "He made every situation a little more fun, a little more enjoyable," David Monk says, thinking of his friend, Will Franklin. Monk is joined on the stage by two other friends of Franklin's. More of Franklin's friends sit in the audience. They sit among an estimated 700 young people attending a Valdosta State University program called "Choices," which was held last week on campus. [continues 1789 words]
