The Fort Wayne Allen County Board of Health took a closer look on Monday at national and local trends in the illegal use of opiates. Capt. Kevin Hunter of the Fort Wayne Police Department gave an overview of what is going on nationally and in the city. Since 2013, many prescription opiate abusers have turned to heroin as a cheaper, more readily available source to feed their addictions. According to Hunter, today's heroin, which comes from Mexico, is much stronger and more addictive than the drug of the 1960s and 1970s. Most users are injecting the drug, which is a public-health concern. Recently police have seen an uptick in the number of people using fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid used as a pain reliever and anesthetic. It is a schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Recently three people died from overdoses of the drug, which was sold to them as heroin. [continues 415 words]
Regarding Andrea Neal's June 14 column, the days when our federal government can get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. [continues 54 words]
"For first time, majority in U.S. supports public smoking ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws. "Majority now supports legalizing marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have legalized medical marijuana, decriminalized recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has flirted with the idea. [continues 536 words]
Re: Your Aug 1. editorial, "Change the law when the people are ready for it." The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. [continues 87 words]
In the Meantime, Though, Always Enforce the Laws We Have. Most of the people who appeared before Indiana's Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee last week spoke in favor of legalizing marijuana in the state, or at least greatly reducing the criminal penalties on the possession of small amounts. In support of that position, they said many things that are undoubtedly true, including: - -Marijuana prohibition in the United States has failed. - -Indiana's too-draconian laws governing possession have probably done more harm than good. Lives have been ruined over something that is safer than drinking. [continues 357 words]
Summer study committees of the Indiana General Assembly are tackling two important issues. They're even related, so perhaps suggestions will be merged later on and discussed by one group. The issues: ♦Prison sentencing reform. A bill calling for major reforms that would save millions and reduce prison crowding by making greater use of alternative sentencing was drafted based on some think-tank recommendations. The proposal crashed and burned last term, though, over objections by county prosecutors that it was soft on crime. [continues 388 words]
Once again, we have been duped by the dealers -- the dealers of drugs, that is. And of course in their wake will follow all the special interests, including the users who wish no interference in their quest to do whatever drugs they desire without the law breathing down their necks. There are the thinkers, who have never experienced personally the impact that drugs have on our young, yet try to make the status of drug usage of an intellectual exercise much in the same manner in which they debate the existence of God. [continues 680 words]
Bob Rinearson's rationalization ("War on drugs important to nation's future, and worth every dime spent," May 7) to continue cannabis (marijuana) prohibition is ignorant. Perhaps it's time for Rinearson to stop thinking of cannabis as a drug and start thinking of it as a plant. God created all seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on the first page of the Bible. A sane and moral argument to continue caging humans for using the plant cannabis doesn't exist. Caging humans for using cannabis can only be rationalized based upon personality traits associated with bigotry, racism or discrimination. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Columnist Bob Rinearson on May 7 made the common mistake of assuming that punitive drug laws actually reduce use. The drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that criminalizes citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many Americans. [continues 99 words]
"A lot of good has come from drugs. I think 'Penny Lane' is worth 10 dead kids. 'Dark Side of the Moon' is worth 100 dead kids. Because a lot of kids wouldn't even be born if it weren't for that album, so it evens out." - Bill Maher Jeffery Miron is a senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. It certainly seems lately that when someone associated with Harvard speaks we all should listen, since Harvard knows what's best for America. [continues 611 words]
This is the sixth and last in a weekly series of stories leading up to the presidential election examining the candidates' positions on various issues that affect northeast Indiana residents. Barack Obama used cocaine and marijuana as a teenager and says he could have ended up in prison if he didn't straighten out. John McCain's wife stole from her charity to feed her addiction to prescription painkillers, and he frequently sprinkles 12-Step philosophy language in his speeches and books. [continues 1055 words]
WASHINGTON -- Looking for a way to improve the responsibility-taking among black fathers? Or to improve the economic standing and stability of black families overall? Or for confronting these statistics: One of every three black kids is being raised by a never-married mother; one of 20 white children is being raised by a never-married mom. One step to addressing this complicated problem is to rewrite a law that forces federal judges to send people to jail for mere possession of one type of drug, a substance more commonly used in the black community than by whites. Crack cocaine is created by adding powder cocaine to baking soda and water and then baking the mixture. The result is broken into "rocks" and can be sold in very small quantities. In the mid-1980s crack became a significant problem in cities. [continues 976 words]
Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Souder recently took to the airwaves to defend one of the Bush administration's sacred cows: the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. If you've had access to a television or a newspaper over the past few years, you're familiar with the federal ad campaign. It's the one that's spent over $2 billion since 1998 to produce public-service announcements implying that smoking pot supports al-Qaida and may make you pregnant, among other dubious anti-drug messages. So dubious, in fact, that the campaign has flopped miserably among its target audience. Of course, this fact matters not to the White House, which recently demanded $130 million to run the ads through 2008 -- a 31 percent increase over current funding levels. [continues 545 words]
Medical marijuana has had a lot of successes. Eleven states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis for people whose doctors think they can benefit from it. The Supreme Court has upheld the right of physicians to recommend pot to their patients. A 1999 report by the federal government's Institute of Medicine concluded, "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." But elsewhere, medical marijuana has stalled. Most states still don't allow it, and even in those that do, federal laws still ban the possession of cannabis. That means sick people who need marijuana for symptoms that don't respond to approved drugs must either do without or risk going to jail. Despite the IOM's call for more research, studies have been few and far between. As a result, the therapeutic value of cannabis remains largely unknown and untapped. [continues 290 words]
When I read letters from smokers whining about not being allowed to suck on cigarettes in public, it makes me wonder if all their synapses are clicking. Here are these poor addicts crying about not being allowed to destroy their health and the health of those near them, wringing their hands and ranting about future government interference, never realizing how absurd they sound. My mom used to tell me not to stare at such people. It was hard then, and it still is. [continues 601 words]
Number Of Cases In 06 Could Hit 700, Nearly Double Last Year's INDIANAPOLIS -- Authorities say heroin has become increasingly easier to find in Indianapolis and other parts of the state. The Indiana State Police estimate they will investigate nearly 700 heroin cases this year -- twice as many as last year and triple the number of cases in 2004. "I'm seeing a lot, lot more heroin," said Jamie Guilfoy, with the Indianapolis Police Department. Guilfoy and other IPD narcotics investigators have confiscated more than 2 pounds of heroin this year, more than 10 times what they seized in 2005. [continues 212 words]
Young people pledge to remain drug-free in honor of Enrique Camarena, a fallen DEA agent. This week marks the 21st annual Red Ribbon Week for schools in Allen County and across the United States. Local schools are participating in all types of fun activities designed to promote saying "no" to drugs. The events range from basketball free-throw shooting contests and a special appearance by Ronald McDonald to a drug-free pledge that will be recited over intercoms after the Pledge of Allegiance. [continues 868 words]
When North Side High School teacher Nita Auer began volunteering in the D.A.R.E. program 16 years ago, she never imagined it would need reviving. Despite the program's struggles, the 55-year-old Fort Wayne native has been honored as the 2006 D.A.R.E. America Educator of the Year. Seven years ago, former Fort Wayne Community Schools Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn discontinued D.A.R.E. in the district, citing a lack of funding. "The D.A.R.E. program is effective in educating young people about the harm done with tobacco, alcohol and violence," said Michael Ward, executive director of D.A.R.E. Indiana, which reaches 500 schools and 62,000 students across the state. "It puts police officers in a classroom with a positive environment." [continues 363 words]
But State Survey Shows Smokeless Tobacco Use Up INDIANAPOLIS -- Fewer middle and high school students are drinking alcohol or using marijuana and other drugs, but more in grades 9-12 are trying smokeless and pipe tobacco, an annual survey shows. Surveys completed this spring by 131,017 public and private school students in grades 6-12 show students at all levels generally were using alcohol and marijuana less than in previous years, and students in grades 6-8 used tobacco products less, according to the survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University in Bloomington. [continues 363 words]
HAGERSTOWN, Ind. - Students who participate in extracurricular activities will be subject to random drug testing beginning next year under a new policy approved by the Nettle Creek School Board. Students at Hagerstown Junior-Senior High School will be assigned numbers, and the testing company, ASL Testing in Elkhart, will select numbers at random when administrators request a screening. Students whose numbers match those chosen by the testing firm must submit to oral tests, which school officials say are less invasive than a urine test. [continues 201 words]
