I'm writing about Thomas Hanes' thoughtful letter: "Drug offenders are filling up regional jails," April 22. I'd like to add that 80 years ago, liquor dealers settled their disputes with each other the same way drug dealers do today - with violence. Many prison wardens have said that 70 to 80 percent of all violent crime and property crime is drug-related. Ninety years ago, when all types of recreational drugs were legally sold in local pharmacies for pennies per dose, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Neither did drug lords, drug cartels or drug dealers as we know them today. [continues 108 words]
THE Hong Kong court's approval of the extradition of suspected big-time drug lord Calvin de Jesus Tan, a native of Cabanatuan City, is a major breakthrough in the war against illegal drugs, according to Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco. "This is a big precedent in the government efforts to prosecute and jail suspected drug lords. The message is clear ' these merchants of death can never hide and get away with the cases filed against them in our courts," said Cuenco, vice chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs. [continues 229 words]
AUTHORITIES seized an estimated P1.1 billion worth of illegal drugs, chemicals and laboratory equipment in separate operations across the country from January to March this year, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chairman Anselmo S. Avenido Jr. said yesterday. Avenido said that the PDEA and other law enforcement agencies under its supervision conducted a total of 5,342 anti-narcotics operations during the period and arrested 6,518 drug suspects. The arrests resulted in the filing of 4,100 cases of violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs of 2002 against the suspects, he added. Of the 4,100 suspects arrested, 3,058 were users; 132 drug possessors; 2,960 pushers; seven marijuana cultivators; and one a drug financier. [continues 172 words]
Drug Rehabilitation Program Helps Turn Lives Around For Connie Smau, "hanging" with the wrong crowd may have gotten her into some serious trouble, but in the end, getting caught has helped her change her life for the better. Unable to fight off peer pressure like many teens who experiment with drugs, Smau said she regrettably got too involved with a group of not-so-good friends and fell into some bad habits that led her straight to drugs. "I was partying and hanging out with people I didn't even go to school with, I barely even knew them, but I did what they were doing anyway," she said. [continues 619 words]
A LEADING researcher into drug misuse has been invited to Washington by George W Bush's drugs czar to discuss the health dangers of cannabis. Professor Neil McKeganey, director of the centre for drugs misuse research at Glasgow University, will meet a team of mental health experts, scientists and high-ranking US government officials to discuss an emerging body of research that identifies links between cannabis use and mental-health disorders among teenagers. Mr McKeganey points to a "clear distance" between the US government's approach to cannabis misuse and those of Westminster and the Scottish Executive, and warns that the possible dangers of the drug, including depression and schizophrenia, could be overlooked in Britain should research and policy continue to focus on the "more dramatic impacts" of heroin and cocaine use. [continues 472 words]
As school officials searched her mother's car, passing students yelled "Ashley got busted" and "Put her in cuffs." For Ashley Toro, a senior at St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, it was humiliating and infuriating. The only drug the Hoffman Estates girl uses is the albuterol in her inhaler, which was prescribed eight months ago when she was diagnosed with asthma. School officials already knew about the inhaler from a letter her mother wrote when she started carrying it. [continues 1060 words]
The Editor, Sir: I was pleased to read David Murray, the paid U.S. government subsidised prohibition propagandist (US Again Dismisses Lax Ganja Talks, April 27, 2005) get His 'statements rebuffed'. Since Murray is part of the 'Christian White House', it is also important to know where the Bible stands on the cannabis issue, because of the brainwashing effects of discredited governments saying cannabis is evil. It is biblically correct to re-legalize cannabis (known as kaneh bosm, before the King James Version). [continues 136 words]
Did anyone notice that Kentucky's growth rate among Ohio Valley states clearly beats all the surrounding seven states in at least one area: growth in prison population? In the number of prisoners in state and federal corrections, Kentucky's rate of growth, compared with the average of the seven surrounding states, is not twice, not three times, but almost four times the average rate of all seven surrounding states, up 8.5 percent from 2003 to 2004. Our prison population has increased four times as fast as that of the surrounding seven states. Is this because we have that many more criminals in Kentucky? Or possibly because our sentencing policies are now the harshest in the region? [continues 160 words]
To the editor: Re: "The drug war is working fine" (April 24), by Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Will R. Glaspy. This is the response from an agent trying to keep his job, instead of doing his job by telling the truth. The drug war will never be won, because drug enforcement has not worked for the past 35 years or so. What's the answer? Let's try education, prevention, treatment and fighting corruption within U. S. federal agencies. We have tried the John Wayne approach, and it just doesn't work. We have spent trillions of dollars in drug enforcement in source countries like Colombia and Peru, and we have not made a dent. [continues 175 words]
Police departments, health-care professionals and substance abuse counsellors are quick to agree that use of crystal methamphetamine in Greater Victoria is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions. But there's no quick fix when it comes treating the growing number of people - especially youth - addicted to the drug. Chris Goble, detox co-ordinator with the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society, said the five detox beds for teenage addicts that his organization operates are the only ones on Vancouver Island. "We're it for the Island. We're the only withdrawal program for kids," Goble said. [continues 604 words]
Marijuana is illegal, some say, because it is a sinister drug. It serves as a "stepping stone" to more insidious drug use, preying on the young and immature. To others, marijuana is simply an indulgence, similar to alcohol, that is dangerous only when used to an extreme. Both sides cite scientific evidence to support their claims. Marijuana use has been traced back to 8,000 BC, and yet the debate continues: should marijuana be legal? Dr. Gene Tinelli, 61, is a psychiatrist specializing in addiction and trauma. He has been an advocate for the legalization of marijuana for more than 20 years. [continues 998 words]