After a unanimous vote of support by the Sarasota City Commission, medical marijuana dispensaries will now be operational in the city and those with prescriptions will be able to utilize them immediately. State legislation had preempted the city's ability to regulate the dispensaries, which led to commissioners placing a temporary ban on them until a solution could be found. That solution happened last month when commissioners approved a plan to change zoning codes, paving the way for those prescribed the drug for various medical ailments to obtain it locally. [continues 342 words]
The sheen emanating from Donnie Clark's emerald vegetable garden is blinding. There are hulking heads of lettuce, spinach and broccoli -- plants that will not land him in federal prison this time around. Myakka City's most famous folk hero now spends his days puttering around in his backyard plot, sun on his cheeks, dirt under his nails, the weight of the past no longer square on his shoulders. His life has been one of wild adventure, unrelenting mischief, lengthy confinement and abnormal forgiveness, and if he had not been born the son of a Manatee County commissioner 70 years ago then surely an imaginative screenwriter would have invented him. [continues 1751 words]
Maryland prison and health officials say a looming hepatitis C epidemic will be a bigger and potentially more expensive health crisis than HIV/AIDS, but they still do not have a comprehensive policy in place to address it. Officials do not have an accurate account of the number of inmates infected with hepatitis C, but its close association with HIV and the experiences of states with similar prison populations lead them to believe the disease could be more expensive than HIV. [continues 226 words]
Support for drug-detecting dogs in Boulder Valley high schools continues to grow. A Monarch High School parent said she collected 150 signatures in support of the idea during Saturday night's boys' varsity home basketball game -- the first night of the drive. Leslie Halladay also said a Broomfield parent picked up a copy of the petition and plans to circulate it around her city's high school. Parents from Boulder also said they were interested in supporting the movement, Halladay said. [continues 298 words]
LOUISVILLE - Police Chief Bruce Goodman said Thursday that he is unsure whether he will support Monarch High School parents who want to use drug-sniffing dogs to search school lockers. Goodman said his support depends on what types of searches the parents are pushing for, and that there are some situations in which a dog can be used as a "good tool," and there are other times when the use of a dog is "wholly inappropriate." He said in most cases he would require his officers to first have a "reasonable suspicion" before conducting a search, a standard lower than "probable cause." [continues 383 words]
A small group of Monarch High School parents plans to petition the Boulder Valley School Board to allow drug-sniffing dogs to search lockers in school hallways. The idea was spawned at a meeting between parents and Louisville police Wednesday night that was meant to discuss drug problems in the wake of the death of a 16-year-old girl after she took ecstasy. A dozen parents attended the meeting. Louisville police officers Jane Patten, a school resource officer, and Detective Brad Dore expressed to the parents their frustration that dogs could not be used in Boulder Valley Schools. [continues 496 words]
In the news lately, we have seen a great deal of outrage over the destruction caused by driving while impaired by alcohol. We have also seen a billion-dollar judgment against the tobacco industry for the damage smoking has caused. Is marijuana more or less harmful than alcohol or tobacco? It is certainly a fact that alcohol has caused much tragedy due to its causing mental and physical impairment to the body. Tobacco has certainly caused a great deal of death due to the carcinogenic effects caused by smoking it. Marijuana, however, does both. It alters and impairs the mind and body while, at the same time, it is ingested by smoking and contains more known carcinogens than tobacco. Not only that, but unlike cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana is smoked for one reason only: to intentionally become high from it, not for its taste as a casual drinker will do. So should we then legalize marijuana just because these other two destructive substances are legal? Only if three wrongs make a right. Chris Anderson Big Lake [end]
Concepts of 'jury nullification,' invasion of privacy assessed in appeals court A former Gilpin County juror, who caused a mistrial in a 1996 drug case and later was charged with contempt of court, won a round this week in the Colorado Court of Appeals. The court ruled Thursday that Gilpin County Judge Henry Nieto wrongly considered jury-room transcripts in finding Laura Kriho guilty of the contempt charge in 1997. The decision, however, does allow for Kriho to be prosecuted again without the transcript evidence. [continues 443 words]
In a case that could set Colorado legal precedent, an attorney for a former Nederland resident argued before the Court of Appeals on Monday that his client's conviction for contempt of court was unjust. Laura Kriho, who served as a Gilpin County juror in a 1996 drug case, was convicted in 1997 of purposely withholding information during jury selection so she could get onto the jury and influence other jury members to prevent a guilty verdict against the defendant. Taking her case before the Court of Appeals on Monday, lawyers arguments centered on jury nullification, the power of jurors to vote their consciences instead of following the letter of the law. [continues 499 words]
