The sign at the top of the map reads: "Will you stand by and watch your community die from drugs and alcohol? Mark the drug dealers you know next door." Below, 25 pins are stuck into a map of Nak'azdli. They show where passersby think drug dealers are working on the reserve. The large map was one of many displays at a health fair in Kwah Hall on May 10, but it drew more than its share of attention. Three red pins show the crystal meth dealers. Twelve white pins mark the crack/cocaine suppliers. Seven green pins single out marijuana dealers. People who supply alcohol are marked by three yellow pins. The suspected dealers are scattered across Nak'azdli and several locations have multiple pins stuck into them, showing they offer several types of drugs. [continues 257 words]
We recently had a young teenager pass away from the overdose of a drug called ecstasy. The young female was a mere 13 years of age when her life ended tragically from an overdose from the party drug. With her were two other people. One was a friend and the other, labelled a 'pusher' or 'drug dealer.' Dealing drugs is wrong and should not be accepted in a society, no question about it. But is labeling the young teen that sold the drugs to the teenagers as a drug dealer appropriate? [continues 213 words]
Teachers Hold Out Hope For Unruly Albany Teens In Alternative Program ALBANY -- There are no happy endings, yet, for the Albany High School students studying at an alternative program at the University at Albany. But they also know well that many outsiders have already concluded they're failures. That they're tagged as "unruly students." And that Assemblyman Peter Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, wrote a letter to the editor of this paper to decry UAlbany's effort as offering little more than "false promises." That note is hanging in their makeshift classroom, a space in the basement of UAlbany's science library tucked next to the stacks, cordoned off with filing cabinets and easels. [continues 717 words]
A Winnipeg mother whose teenager died addicted to crystal meth pleaded with provincial politicians yesterday to swiftly pass a bill which could save other parents from burying their children. Carole Johnson spoke before a legislature committee last night reviewing the Youth Drug Stabilization Act, which will let parents force their drug-addicted kids into detox for seven days, hoping it will give them time to sober up and choose to get help for their addiction. "We desperately need this bill," Johnson said. [continues 281 words]
A group of seven people qualified for medicinal marijuana are suing Butte County officials after a sheriff's deputy ordered the destruction of nearly all their plants. The Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access is filing a lawsuit in Butte County Superior Court on behalf of David Williams and six other plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges Butte County officials violated the law by refusing to recognize their established collective. Joe Elford, the group's chief counsel, said Butte County's policies conflict with state law for cooperative and collective pot production. He said it's a manifestation of local governments' hostility toward the medical marijuana laws. [continues 590 words]
On Sept. 4, 2001, a West Michigan family's life was shattered by events that for some called into question the role of government in people's daily lives. Only days before attention was turned to the 9-11 terrorist attacks, a police standoff that ended in the deaths of Grover Tom Crosslin, 46, and his partner, Rollie Rohm, 28, drew national scrutiny. Five years later, a wrongful death trial and an upcoming book are once again bringing attention to Rainbow Farm in Vandalia. [continues 877 words]
I find it disgusting that the judge would free that young man with two years probation after what happened to Stevie. He deliberately gave her the drugs without a word of what might happen and she ended up deceased shortly after. There is no possible way that his sentence can be deemed "justice well served". And regarding what the Rigaud resident said about how Mount Pleasant shouldn't honor Stevie for who she was, well I implore that she meet with Stevie's mother, father and brother and tell that to their faces. If she can think up the nerve to say that behind their backs, then she should be able to find it somewhere inside her to confront the family. I agree whole-heartedly with the mother's statement that "Even Donald Duck could have come up with a better sentencing." Yan Chenier [end]
What should Abbotsford be doing for its homeless? Are some of the city's bridge houses, which are supposed to be helping drug addicts kick their habit, instead being left to deteriorate into crack houses? These are tough issues that have come out in the open recently, and soon the city should have some answers, or at least options. City Hall's new Social Sustainability Advisory Committee will be looking into them. It has long been a tired cliche in politics, that when a problem arises, the answer is to "strike a committee." But it can often be the best way to get effective administration done. True, some committees operate on a superficial level, accomplishing little more than the pursuit of grant money, and doing nothing to gain credibility with the public or decision makers. [continues 249 words]
In 2004, when the Legislature and the governor reached agreement on incremental reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the associations representing police chiefs, sheriffs, district attorneys and police and correction unions were adamantly opposed. Any change in the penal consequences of nonviolent drug offenses would put New York right up there with Sodom and Gomorrah. Almost simultaneously, the voters of Albany County, faced with a clear choice of candidates for district attorney who represented polar opposites on drug policy, rejected the champion of the status quo and elected David Soares -- the advocate for rationalization of the drug laws. [continues 156 words]
Albany County District Attorney David Soares ventured north to Canada last week to deliver a blistering attack on U.S. drug laws - saying they exist only because they provide cops and prosecutors with "a wonderful living." He has since recanted - sort of. Soares won his job in the 2004 primary, upsetting incumbent DA Paul Clyne with the backing of the far-left Working Families Party - which was itself bankrolled by the even-farther-left hedge-fund gazillionaire George Soros and his Drug Policy Alliance Network. [continues 300 words]
