September is "National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month," an opportunity to make people aware that quality substance-abuse treatment provided at the right time saves lives, lowers our taxes and creates a safer and healthier community. Research conclusively shows that substance abuse and mental illness are medical disorders. Our medical community works hard to identity and treat conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma. Shouldn't we do the same for mental illness or addiction disorders? It has been documented that more than 72 medical conditions have risk factors that can be attributed to substance abuse. An Institute of Medicine study documents that it costs society $43,200 per year for each person who remains untreated for addiction. [continues 379 words]
443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron lived up to their motto "Our Sting is Death" as they supported the RCMP in seizing tens of thousands of marijuana plants in August. Three Sea King helicopters joined a team of law enforcement officers from the RCMP, and Saanich and Victoria police departments who were working to locate and destroy marijuana plantations on Vancouver Island. The Canadian Forces participation in the annual RCMP marijuana-eradication program - called Operation SABOT within the military - involves the provision of CF helicopters as observation platforms and transportation for RCMP teams hunting for grow sites. [continues 342 words]
According to the federal government, 53-year-old Deborah Palmer (not her real name) doesn't exist. A grandmother and former California corrections officer, Ms. Palmer suffers from chronic spinal pain (the result of a pair of botched back surgeries) and fibromyalgia. Because her body is allergic to opioid medications, she recently began using medical marijuana to obtain relief from her daily suffering. That is until federal and state law enforcement officials raided the California dispensary that provided her medicine. "What am I going to do?" she lamented in one of our recent conversations. "If I have to live in this amount of pain 365 days a year without access to my medicine, then I'm not going to stay on this Earth very long." [continues 1019 words]
Each morning, nearly 300 people file into a nondescript building on East Washington Avenue to receive their daily dose of methadone, a synthetic form of heroin used since the late 1950s to treat opiate addiction. For them, this daily trip helps arrest the indignities that come with being a drug addict. "I've tried going off it several times, but I always go back to heroin," says Roman, a recovering addict who asked that his last name be withheld. "I can get a year or two clean, but something goes wrong in my life, and I go back. I relapse here and there, but my life goes pretty good on methadone." [continues 1107 words]
At the center of the labyrinth of issues around medical marijuana is a snarled garden of Catch-22. Certified patients in New Mexico can use it - but they have no way to legally get it. If they have a supply but end up in the hospital, nurses can't administer the drug because it's against the law. Earlier this year, the Legislature told the Department of Health to find a way to produce and distribute medical marijuana - but to do so would subject its employees to federal prosecution. [continues 688 words]
BOURNE - On Dec. 13, 1982, Gary Hapenny was convicted of one count of possession of marijuana. It was a misdemeanor with a $62 fine, but 25 years later he's still paying for it. Hapenny, now 46, has been banned for life from coaching youth sports after selectmen implemented a new policy in July, mandating all youth sports volunteers go through a Criminal Offense Record Investigation (CORI) check. Under the policy, anyone convicted of any narcotics charges automatically earns a lifetime ban. [continues 1054 words]
While it may be true that law enforcement seized a record number of pot plants growing in North County ("Marijuana busts pass 2006," Aug. 31), does anyone really believe that the net outcome of these operations will be a tangible reduction in the demand or availability of marijuana in the local area? It's time for a reality check. State and federal law enforcement personnel arrest about 800,000 Americans annually and spend about $10 billion per year enforcing marijuana prohibition. [continues 150 words]
I feel like the woman in this story (days where I just can't live like this anymore). Doctors blow me off even though I was diagnosed by a rheumatologist more than 20 years ago. In fact my last appointment I was blown off when I told them I sometimes feel like committing suicide because there are days I can no longer take the pain. Most of the drugs that do come out, I can't take because of other medications I am on. Meanwhile, the doctors shiver in fear of giving their patients pain relief because of close scrutiny of the FDA. [continues 65 words]
