In the 2004 movie "Alien vs. Predator," teens (mostly) witnessed these film-favorite monsters in mortal combat, only to be stymied by a young (female, in this case) human scientist's raw determination and instinctual savvy. While preparing for this column, in a bit of a mind-wandering fantasy, I somehow imagined that the part of the Alien could be played, metaphorically speaking, by the drug cocaine (it comes mostly from outside the United States), while the part of the Predator could go to methamphetamine (made by local drug pushers). Our hero is UCLA neuroscientist and addiction researcher Thomas F. Newton, with a strong supporting, albeit all-male, cast research team. [continues 585 words]
Program Hopes To Catch Issues Early In Growth ONTARIO - No one disputes that drugs and alcohol in a pregnant mother's system can wreak havoc on the baby-to-be. What hasn't been determined is who should be responsible to treat the developmental needs of the child that baby will become. Right now, it falls under the county, and eventually the educational system, to help the more than 4,000 drug-exposed babies born each year in San Bernardino County. [continues 549 words]
Medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County could face regulations for the first time under a proposal submitted by Supervisor Don Knabe. The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on creating zoning regulations on marijuana dispensaries to ensure they do not have negative impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, Knabe said in a statement. "It is imperative that these facilities not be located near homes or schools and that neighbors be notified of the intent to open such facilities," he said. [continues 65 words]
Monday, April 25, 2005 - Two bills now working their way through the state Senate offer competing visions on drug policy in California. One would continue to move California in the right direction, while the other would force the state into a dramatically wrong turn. At issue is the future of Proposition 36, the initiative passed into law five years ago by an overwhelming majority of voters. The measure allows nonviolent drug offenders to enter drug treatment rather than prison. In its first few years, the initiative has removed more than 7,000 people from California prisons and saved the state hundreds of millions of dollars in incarceration costs. [continues 497 words]
Law Enforcement Emphasizes Connection Still Unproven San Bernardino - A case set to go to trial the next several months that targeted importers of of pseudoephedrine and large methamphetamine labs in San Bernardino and Riverside may also net a few people involved in funneling money to possible terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It is not known for certain whether these Middle East organizations are linked to terrorist activities, authorities said. While the link has yet to be proven, a supervisor with a Riverside-based drug task force said intelligence information his officers have gathered indicates there may be a terrorist connection. [continues 597 words]
Small-Time Cooks Like the Price; Endanger Themselves and Others Andy Duran was working as a narcotics agent in 1992 when his team burst through the front door of a $39-a-night motel room in Escondido. Duran, now a supervisor for the San Bernardino County West End Narcotics Enforcement Team in Chino, said the suspect had only been in the room a half day when agents were tipped off. It was enough time for the suspect to begin a batch of methamphetamine, but not enough to finish. [continues 1378 words]
Investigation in Rancho Cucamonga and El Monte Results in Five Arrests, Seizure of $1 Million and Drugs. RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Officers conducting a search found a methamphetamine lab in a house just 30 feet from an elementary school Wednesday morning. In a simultaneous search at a home in El Monte, officers found 10 pounds of finished methamphetamine and $1 million in cash, Baldwin Park Police Lt. Michael Davis said. The cash came from narcotics sales, police said. Investigators believe the drugs found at the El Monte address were manufactured at a house on the 7400 block of Ivy Lane in Rancho Cucamonga, which is near Dona Merced Elementary School. [continues 232 words]
The state has awarded a $173,000 grant to help take care of children whose parents are arrested for manufacturing drugs, said sheriff's narcotics Detective James Beebee. The grant, awarded this year, funds the Drug Endangered Children Program, which enables a team of medical professionals to respond to labs where children also live, Beebee said. "Before the program a lot of kids fell through the cracks because law enforcement would go to the labs and just take care of the labs," Beebee said. "Kids now are getting medical treatment for 18 months and are better taken care of." [continues 743 words]
First, let me state that I think Proposition 36 is a step in the right direction. I can identify with the frustration of Judge Morris and the others who are burdened with responsibility to find treatment for this terminal disease. Being a former "maggot" myself, having spent 13 months in the "cocoon" of a residential treatment program, I feel an urgency, not to mention an obligation, to share the burden of the task at hand. However, during my transformation I fell a few credits short of earning my "wings." Although willing and able, my lack of credentials has hindered my migration into the field. The program I graduated from has an 86 percent success rate of sobriety being maintained for six years past graduation. Yes, I am in the 86 percentile. [continues 286 words]
Proposition 36, passed by the voters a little more than a year ago, changed the focus of anti-drug efforts in the state. A change that major often comes with teething troubles, which illustrate the dangers of legislating by ballot measure and the need for San Bernardino County to do a better job of putting it into practice. The idea behind the measure - instead of repeatedly jailing drug users, treat them and thus eliminate the problem - makes good sense as social policy. Throwing addicts into jail only takes them off the streets, it doesn't change the basic behavior of addiction. It's an inefficient way to fight a war on drugs. Giving drug users treatment and rehabilitation can return them to society as useful citizens and cut down the demand for illegal drugs. [continues 420 words]
ONTARIO -- They called it Operation Sleigh Ride, but the people visiting houses early Friday weren't carrying bags of toys or wearing Santa suits. Parole officers, agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Ontario police, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the FBI worked in teams to check the homes of parolees in Ontario and Fontana. Thirty-three people were arrested on suspicion of violating parole and various drug and stolen property charges during the 4 1/2-hour sweep, police said. [continues 512 words]
On Sept. 11, Secretary of State Colin Powell canceled conferences with Colombian President Pastrana in regard to our $1.3 billion funding plan. The biggest concern was over the Switzerland-size demilitarized zone that Pastrana ceded to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) three years ago to encourage peace talks. This zone has served as a training ground for FARC's 30,000 troops, a place for growing coca plants, a prison for kidnap victims and a bomb college. Kidnapped with 10 other people by FARC, the body of former Culture Minister Consuelo Arajjo has now been found. She was the wife of Edgardo Maya, Columbia's inspector-general in charge of investigating government officials. [continues 85 words]
The message to resist drugs and alcohol came from police cars, hovering helicopters and even garbage trucks. As part of Red Ribbon Week, observed nationwide to educate students about the dangers of substance abuse, many schools held assemblies and other activities to warn students of the consequences of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. ''I want to go far," said Katie Bailey, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Hawthorne School in Ontario. ''I want to be a veterinarian -- Drugs are toxic to the body and will hold you back." [continues 371 words]
RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A Superior Court judge Tuesday denied medicinal marijuana supporter David Fawcett's request to reclaim 40 seized marijuana plants from the Drug Enforcement Agency, ruling that as a state judge, he had no jurisdiction over the federal agency. "The federal government has your property, sir," Dennis G. Cole said, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling in U.S. vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Collective. "The federal government has determined that possession of marijuana is still a crime." Fawcett's complaint was dismissed. The Ontario resident is expected to appeal Cole's ruling. [continues 354 words]
The alcohol industry has been very successful in lobbying to restrict America's anti-drug efforts to include only illegal drugs, even though alcohol is illegal for everyone under 21. Half of the eighth-graders and 80 percent of the 12th-graders are breaking this law. More than 90 percent of them start drinking alcohol before going to marijuana. About 25 percent of eighth-graders and 62 percent of the 12th-graders admitted being drunk. Drinking is incompatible with the obligations of work and marriage. Half of the marriages fail. One of three American babies are born to single women. [continues 221 words]
CHINO -- The number of inmates at the California Institution for Women is expected to drop significantly from the effects of Proposition 36, the voter-passed initiative that sends drug offenders to treatment programs instead of prison. The legislation takes effect today and could have a big impact on the prison, where more than 80 percent of the inmate population is serving time for drug-related crimes, according to prison officials. However, prison officials say that despite the projected drop in prison population, it's premature to talk about job layoffs or facility closures. [continues 716 words]
Permit Required For More Than 200 All-night parties in the desert are not welcome. That is the message county officials delivered this week with the passage of an amendment requiring promoters to have a permit for gatherings with 200 or more people. It used to be that events on public land with less than 500 people didn't need a temporary special event permit, but the San Bernardino County Supervisors voted Tuesday to lower the threshold. "Once more than 200 people show up, law enforcement can go in there and shut it down if the party does not have a permit," said Robert Smith, field representative for county 1st District Supervisor Bill Postmus, who spearheaded the amendment. [continues 320 words]
Less than a week before Proposition 36 becomes law, drug treatment providers and law enforcement officials gathered Tuesday to review San Bernardino County's plan to enforce the controversial legislation that champions treatment over incarceration. Hundreds of people who will handle the cases, including judges, prosecutors, police and probation officers and drug counselors, attended a day-long seminar at the county's Behavioral Resources Center in Rialto. They discussed drug treatment, drug testing, evaluating addicts and relapse prevention, and reviewed new paperwork designed to help probation officers and treatment counselors monitor the progress of those enrolled in treatment. [continues 378 words]
When San Bernardino County approved plans to put Proposition 36 into action recently, an important question went almost ignored: Why isn't the county building on what it knows already works? Proposition 36, passed by the voters last year, mandates a program designed to treat drug offenders rather than tossing them into jail repeatedly. The underlying premise is sound enough - curing an addiction makes far more sense than recurring jail sentences for the stark fact of drug addiction. Treat the addiction and you've solved a crime problem; put the addict in jail and you're merely taking the problem off the streets for a while. [continues 429 words]
In five weeks, San Bernardino County officials will begin a $12.7 million plan to treat drug offenders in ways no one is sure will work. It's unknown if there will be enough money to do what voters wanted when they passed Proposition 36 or if addicts will receive the supervision needed to make treatment, rather than incarceration, work. And no one knows how much county money will be needed to supplement state funding or how it will be spent. [continues 855 words]
