Here's a riddle: How many knowledgeable people does it take to suggest a policy change before society adopts their sage advice? Buried in all the recent news about ISIS, horrific weather lashing the United States, the violence of NFL players and the like, came a hardly noticed news item about the idea of legalizing drugs. Now, stay with me on this. It's important. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, an illustrious panel including former U.N. Secretary Gen. Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, former presidents and prime ministers of nearly a dozen countries and others issued a detailed study about why it's smart - for reasons both humanitarian and financial - to legalize marijuana and other drugs. Yes, all drugs. [continues 152 words]
Jeff Pickens Stillwater Oklahoman James T. (name changed) is an ex-Marine, family man, business owner, Mason and community volunteer. James was badly injured during military duty. Large doses of Oxycontin were prescribed. He found himself unable to function in his daily life. James discovered medical marijuana. Medical marijuana allowed him to lower the doses of Oxycontin and still experience sufficient pain relief. He was soon able to work again, provide for his family and enjoy his daily life. James began to grow his own medical marijuana. [continues 170 words]
Locally, illegal drug use and widespread alcohol consumption do not have a huge impact on taxpayers. Nationally, however, it costs every taxpayer big money. Karen Hendren, Stillwater Medical Center's chief financial officer, said SMC will write off about $160,000 for the months of January to November 2004. This is $160,000 in services that were not paid for by those who have been treated in the emergency room for drug overdoses or alcohol poisoning. SMC is a not-for-profit hospital, meaning all the money it makes goes directly back into the facility. [continues 759 words]
Drug Policy Forum of Stillwater is actively pursuing legislation to allow for the use of marijuana for debilitating illnesses such as chronic pain, muscle spasticity, nausea, wasting syndrome, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. In 11 states, doctors and patients decide if marijuana is the best medicine. Unfortunately in Oklahoma, citizens who need marijuana are treated like common criminals. They are locked up in our very overcrowded prisons and then we have to pay for their medical care. Our law provides no defense based on a medical necessity, even when a person cannot afford drug store medicines. [continues 111 words]
Officials with the Stillwater High School Parent Teacher Association hope to form a task force of parents, teachers and students to combat an OxyContin abuse problem at the school. PTA President Carol Lewis told an audience Tuesday at the Performing Arts Center it will take a combined effort to overcome the drug problem. "I hope you leave here encouraged," Lewis said. "It took us a while to get into this position and it will be a while before we get out of it. We want to have as many parents involved as we can to help solve this problem." [continues 624 words]
Drug testing is possible infringement on some people's rights, but we all must be responsible to see that police officers and others who serve the public are stable mentally as well as drug free. Our lives could depend on it. Some drugs can stay in the human body for days and weeks and my concern is the "use of illegal drugs." Illegal drugs impair judgment and affect mental health. As far as the mom who is on Prozac, Zoloft or prescription medication that is needed for a medical problem, good for her to realize she needs help, but she too must be responsible while using these medications. [continues 100 words]
The Constitution guarantees the right to privacy. Drug testing is a major infringement upon that right. What makes a person qualified for a job, beyond their ability to perform said job? Mental health evaluations? What constitutes mental health? What about all of the soccer moms who take Xanax, Prozac and Zoloft? Will those drugs be tested for as well? There is no good reason for testing someone who is not directly responsible for the lives of others. EMTs, police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, commercial pilots. Desk jobs should be drug-test free! Further, drug tests should be able to say if someone took drugs in the last 24 hours, not 30 days. [continues 70 words]
A report in the NewsPress said that Payne County government officials are considering a policy of drug testing for all county employees. Mental health evaluations also should be considered. Those who are hired for law enforcement jobs should have been tested and evaluated long ago if this has not been done in the past. Law enforcement is a high-stress job. Having employees tested for drugs would ensure no illegal drugs are being used and that employees are qualified to hold jobs they are hired to do. A drug testing policy should have been in place long ago. Why must it be a considered policy? Roberta E. Brown-Fanning Glencoe [end]
I am responding to Dale Higgins' vicious personal attack on Ron du Bois and family. Ron has been working for years trying to get treatment for all addicts instead of prison. We know that the wealthy can go to an expensive treatment center and then be forgiven for whatever addiction they have, witness Rush Limbaugh. The ordinary citizen is not so fortunate and can easily wind up in prison instead of treatment, thus costing the taxpayers three or four times as much money. [continues 124 words]
A man who was killed during a recent drug raid was shot because he pointed a gun at an officer. The officer responded as anyone would when their life is threatened. Protect life first then sort out the actions. Another concern caught my attention: a letter writer who thinks drugs should be legal. Let me tell you about having a drug house in a neighborhood. Cars, reckless driving, lights flashed at your home all hours of the night and day. Loud music, thumping rattling your bones. Parties where spaced-out people (drugs users and sex offenders) bring out firebombs and guns, throwing, shooting at anything that looks like a fun target. Strange smells that burn your lungs and eyes, taking your breath away or making you sick. [continues 71 words]
Mr. Du Bois: In my wildest imagination I cannot think of a reason to put even one of the following chemicals into my body let alone all mixed up; lye, acetone, battery acid, muriatic acid, white gas (Coleman fuel), red phosphorus, and crystal iodine. Please explain to this "uneducated" person why society should allow people to do this with or without controls and regulations. Richard Hawkins Stillwater [end]
Ron du Bois' letter published Nov. 26 establishes a new low for his disregard for facts. The gentleman in Logan County was not killed because he possessed marijuana, he was killed because he picked up a loaded rifle, pointed it at a police officer and disregarded commands to drop the weapon. I am curious if du Bois would show the same remorse about the loss of life if it had been a police officer killed. Du Bois wrote raids on meth labs are the "consequence of prohibition" and the end of "controls and regulation would greatly reduce the harm." Nothing could be further from the truth. The addictive effects of methamphetamine will remain the same whether it remains illegal. [continues 91 words]
David Grussing Stillwater Ron du Bois' letter published Nov. 26 establishes a new low for his disregard for facts. The gentleman in Logan County was not killed because he possessed marijuana, he was killed because he picked up a loaded rifle, pointed it at a police officer and disregarded commands to drop the weapon. I am curious if du Bois would show the same remorse about the loss of life if it had been a police officer killed. Du Bois wrote raids on meth labs are the "consequence of prohibition" and the end of "controls and regulation would greatly reduce the harm." Nothing could be further from the truth. The addictive effects of methamphetamine will remain the same whether it remains illegal. [continues 84 words]
Tara Roberson's article Nov. 23 about a Stillwater policeman who killed a Logan County man in the cause of marijuana prohibition is again sickening proof that the war on drugs is worse than use of any drug, legal or illegal. According to the article, the SWAT team left with one and one-half pounds of marijuana in exchange for one human life. We fail to see that these raids constitute an expensive, hypocritical enforcement of marijuana prohibition. They are paid for with taxes that could well be spent on something better. [continues 116 words]
Jack A. Cole, executive director Law Enforcement Against Prohibition The goal of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to mobilize communities, encourage an attitude of intolerance and eliminate the demand for drugs throughout America. The goal is to promote a drug-free lifestyle for all Americans. - Stillwater Red Ribbon Campaign flier The Red Ribbon Campaign is one of the most misguided projects to come along in the 33 years of the misguided war on drugs. At LEAP, we believe intolerance is the exact opposite of what America should stand for. [continues 134 words]
For the second year, the Drug Policy Forum of Oklahoma was at the Payne County Fair. We offered hemp goods and conducted a survey. 148 people answered: . Should we end criminal penalties for non-violent, adult drug users? Yes 66 percent; no 34 percent. . Do you think the "Drug War" has been effective in controlling drug use? Yes 14 percent. . Should a doctor be able to prescribe medical marijuana? Yes 90 percent. . Should farmers be able to grow industrial hemp? Yes 78 percent. [continues 125 words]
I hope Darlyn Shenold will revisit the "Hemp Tent" at the fair next year. We'd like another chance to talk with her. First, like herself, the Drug Policy Forum is vitally concerned about the children. Reform of drug laws, perhaps even legalization, is with the aim of shutting off the unregulated black market that now menaces our kids. Second, she seems to believe that only druggies could want less draconian drug laws. Our membership is partly people whose children have run afoul of drugs. [continues 127 words]
In response to the letters responding to the "Hemp Tent" letter, I'd like to say, Hey Tim, Nelda and Doug (all marijuana legalization advocates), let's not just legalize marijuana. No, that wouldn't be fair or make our jails emptier or our streets safer. Heck, let's legalize them all! Marijuana, crack, opium, heroin - and let's start handing out controlled narcotics, too! Oxycontin, Lortab, Duragesic patches. That way, we'll have all the stuff to contend with on our streets, in our schools, on the job and behind the wheel on our highways. Then we can use the money we're spending on our war on drugs to correct the problems that legalization will produce elsewhere. [continues 56 words]
I am writing in response to Darlyn Shenold's letter. Earlier this year, I was very skeptical as well. Just the sound of "legalize marijuana" made my stomach churn. How could any war that originated way back during the Vietnam War be wrong? I felt that way all the way up until I listened to a speaker from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. This person, a law enforcement officer and narcotics agent for years, delivered an excellently organized speech about how the drug war is a failure in countless ways. [continues 119 words]
There is nothing more full of stress and anxiety than being poor. Nothing contributes to fear of facing the world and coping with life more than abject poverty. Poverty creates "social addicts." Oklahoma is famous for the home manufacture of "bathtub meth " in which poisons are concocted into a deadly product for sale to the poor and depressed. Meth is the counterpart of the "bathtub gin" of the '20s and '30s . Both are products of the deadly combination of prohibition and poverty. But the poison works to release a shower of neurotransmitters in the brain causing transient euphoria followed by depression in a downward spiral to addiction and death. [continues 101 words]
