First we have the immigration law that may well make it illegal for a church pastor to minister to an illegal immigrant, but allows people who can afford maids and yard hands to skip asking about their employees' immigration status.

Now, Alabama Republicans in the Legislature are considering a law that will require people who apply for welfare to take drug tests. Of course, this law is not the brainchild of any Alabama lawmaker. Our lawmakers must not have enough good ideas of their own, so they steal bad law from other states. This one comes to us via Florida.

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Ron Crumpton, executive director of Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition (AMMJC), says he has used marijuana since 2005 to treat his spinal stenosis, a condition caused by abnormal narrowing of the spinal column.

Crumpton's group believes marijuana should be used in Alabama as treatment for ailments that cause severe pain and discomfort. He hopes to convince others to support the use of medical marijuana at a public picnic tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 13) at Blue Springs State Park in west Barbour County.

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ST. LOUIS =AD Police and sheriff's departments in states that produce much of the nation's methamphetamine have made a sudden retreat in the war on meth, at times virtually abandoning pursuit of the drug because they can no longer afford to clean up the toxic waste generated by labs.

Despite abundant evidence that the meth trade is flourishing, many law enforcement agencies have called off tactics that have been used for years to confront drug makers.

The steep cutbacks began after the federal government in February canceled a program that provided millions of dollars to help local agencies dispose of seized labs. Since then, an Associated Press analysis shows, the number of labs seized has plummeted by a third in some key meth-producing states and two-thirds in at least one, Alabama.

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Crystal methamphetamine, not marijuana, not crack, is Alabama's No. 1 drug of choice. It's a drug that messes up your mind, a drug from which experts say takes years of intensive rehab to recover.

Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of solutions to the problem -- other than the obvious: Do not indulge.

Lawmakers could unite next session and make products that contain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and pheylpropanolamine -- drugs used to produce meth -- by prescription, rather than over the counter. But legislators will have to get that bill past special-interest groups, particularly drug-manufacturing trade organizations.

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Re "Drug task force to begin operations in Clay County" (News article, June 30):

I read this article with dismay. Will law enforcement and the public never learn that our approach to drug use has failed and will continue to fail so long as we insist on treating drug use as a criminal act instead of a health issue?

The "drug war" started more than 40 years ago under Richard Nixon, and in that 40 years more than $1 trillion has been wasted. And for what? Has drug use dropped or ceased altogether? No. Has arresting and incarcerating adults for minor drug offenses stopped others from using drugs? No. Has the drug war made acquiring drugs difficult? No. Has the drug war stopped drugs from coming into or being produced in this country? No. Has the drug war increased the price or decreased the purity of drugs available? No. Has it kept drugs out of the hands of children? Certainly not.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. - When a police officer knocked on the door of Dr. Kevin Denny's home around 9 one morning in 2009, Denny opened it barefoot and bleary eyed, wearing a terry cloth robe. Cars were being broken into in his Pinellas County beach neighborhood, said the officer. Could Denny come out and check his?

Within seconds, a dozen federal and local cops swarmed around the doctor who had once treated the powerful and prominent, guns aimed.

He was under arrest, they told him, for illegally prescribing pain pills.

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CULLMAN - Area law enforcement agents got the attention of Cullman County's drug culture when they rounded up 96 people on charges ranging from manufacturing to possession last week.

Will the sweeping arrests bring illegal drug activity to a close in Cullman County? No. But perhaps this is the beginning of a tireless effort to do something about a problem that destroys the lives of far too many people in our area.

Cullman County Sheriff Mike Rainey and Cullman Narcotics Enforcement Team director Joey Cone led a press conference after the arrests were announced and discussed the planning that was required to make such a large impact on the drug trade. A lot of people are grateful to see the arrests, and plenty of support exists in the community for law enforcement agencies to continue this cooperative effort in attacking the drug dealers across the county.

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HB386, The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, would protect physicians who recommend and patients who use marijuana as medicine from arrest and prosecution under state law. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have already passed similar laws. It's time Alabama joined them.

In 1979 the Alabama Legislature passed the Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act and established rules for medical marijuana. The law states that medical marijuana can be used in the treatment of cancer and glaucoma. Sadly, due to drug war politics, that law was never implemented.

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Regarding Loretta Nall's thoughtful Sunday guest column ("Drug war politics hurt medical marijuana in state," Viewpoints), while there have been studies showing marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug.

If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, and it helps him feel better, it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors.

Drug warriors waging war on noncorporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests drug warriors should not be dictating health care decisions.

It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick patients should not be jailed for daring to seek relief from marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.



[end]

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, introduced in the Alabama House late last month, will protect from arrest and prosecution physicians who recommend marijuana and patients who use marijuana as medicine. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have already passed similar laws. It's time Alabama joined them.

While some Alabama legislators consider this a controversial bill, it is important to point out that the bill passed the House Judiciary Committee last session, although too late to progress any further, and Alabama already has a medical marijuana law on the books.

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On March 31, the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act was introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives.

This bill -- HB 386 -- would protect physicians who recommend, and patients who use, marijuana as medicine from arrest and prosecution under state law.

The bill has been assigned to the Health Committee.

More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have already passed similar laws. It's time Alabama joined them.

While some Alabama legislators consider this a controversial bill, it is important to point out that 1) this bill passed the House Judiciary committee last session, although too late to progress any further; and 2) Alabama already has a medical marijuana law on the books.

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Did you know the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved pill form of marijuana (Marinol) only contains one of the compounds or cannabinoids that are found in the marijuana plant? That compound is tetrahyrdocannabinol or THC.

Recent research in marijuana has shown it has many therapeutic compounds or cannabinoids in it, such as CBD, a nonpsychoactive cannabinoid that has been clinically demonstrated to have analgesic, anti-spasmodic, anxiolytic, anti-psychotic, anti-nausea and anti-rheumatoid arthritic properties. Along with CBD, there are other naturally occurring terpenoids (oils) and flavonoids (phenols) that also have been clinically demonstrated to possess therapeutic utility.

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Policy Package Could Soften Stance on Non-Violent Criminals

Alabama lawmakers, grappling with a financial crisis and a beleaguered criminal justice system, are considering a judicial reform package designed to focus limited resources on violent criminals and alleviate the state's perpetually overcrowded prisons.

The legislation culminates a study by a special coalition of jurists, legislators and state officials who analyzed data for nearly a year. This group, the Alabama Public Safety and Sentencing Coalition, concluded this month that the state cannot afford to build additional prisons and must soften its stance on low-level drug and property crimes to stem the imprisonment of non-violent criminals.

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It often seems that when law enforcement gains ground on one front in the war on drugs, it's forced to divert its attention to a different battle.

Local officials are reporting progress in controlling methamphetamine, although the problem hasn't been erased.

The amount of meth coming into Etowah County has been reduced in recent years, driving the price as high as $2,400 an ounce. Those who are hooked on meth have turned almost exclusively to one-pot or "shake and bake" labs to make the drug. Ninety-nine percent of the 500-plus meth labs that were seized in 2010 by the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit fit that description. So there's still much on the DEU's plate, as evidenced by other numbers from last year.

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Law enforcement in Tallapoosa County saw an increase in the amount seized of two popular drugs in 2010.

According to numbers released by Sheriff Jimmy Abbett, the amount of marijuana seized by narcotics agents in 2010 increased to 10,631 grams compared with only 2,058 grams seized in 2009.

The amount of methamphetamine seized also increased from 32 grams in 2009 to 597 grams in 2010, according to the report.

Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force Coordinator Sgt. Jay Turner said the production of methamphetamine in the county has "exploded" due to a simplification of the process by which the drug is created.

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Anyone who has ever read my column knows that I am an avid supporter of medical marijuana. Recently, I sent letters to several of our elected officials concerning Alabama Compassionate Care and the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, which would make marijuana legal in Alabama for medicinal purposes. Thus far, Senator Jeff Sessions was the only one to reply.

"While I understand the arguments that you and others have made in support of legalizing marijuana, I am still concerned that the legalization of the drug, or decriminalizing its use, would encourage today's youth to turn to more deadly substances such as heroin and cocaine," Senator Sessions said in his reply. "At a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, we listened to four teenagers, each of whom is recovering from heroin addiction. I was struck by the fact that the first drug each had used was marijuana. I believe our policies should deter people from using these substances, not encourage or endorse them."

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I express my deepest thanks to The Anniston Star for its in-depth coverage of the Michael Lapihuska case. The Star printed a feature story about Michael's situation. The Star also published many letters from readers across Alabama and the nation who felt strongly that Lapihuska should not be prosecuted because he was a legal medical marijuana patient in another state and because most decent human beings think it is wrong to arrest and prosecute sick people for trying to feel better.

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Two events Friday in Mexico should make Americans start 2011 determined to strangle the flow of illegal drug money that finances violence south of the border.

In a positive development, federal police announced in Mexico City that the once-fearsome La Familia drug cartel has been "completely dismembered."

The organization has been thrown into disarray by the recent arrests and deaths of its top members. Click here to find out more!

However, Mexico needs our help to continue such progress.

The easiest way to destroy the cartels is to cut their source of money by reducing sales of illegal drugs in the United States. Otherwise, cartels will have the resources to entice new members and rearm.

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Re "Medical marijuana user free after plea deal" (News article, Dec. 14):

Michael Lapihuska is correct, the cannabis (marijuana) prohibition law is so wrong.

Lapihuska may be mistaken, however, to believe if he had gotten in front of a jury he could have convinced people that the law is unjust. Most state governments do not allow the accused to even mention medical cannabis or marijuana unless it is already legal for sick citizens to use the God-given plant.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Re "Medical marijuana user free after plea deal" (News article, Dec. 14):

It seems to me that the right to self-medicate should be a fundamental right. Adult citizens of a so-called free country should not have to seek permission from their government to use a natural herb that hasn't killed anyone in the 5,000-year history of its use.

For those who oppose the use of marijuana, medical or otherwise, I have some simple advice: Don't buy it, don't grow it and don't use it. Period.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

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