Michael Wilcox Also Has Agreed To Have His Case Moved To Los Angeles. A former California Highway Patrol officer from Fresno whose cooperation helped crack a major Southern California drug case will plead guilty to charges that he attempted to hide money that authorities said he made as a result of drug deals. In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Fresno, Michael Wilcox, 40, agreed to plead guilty and have his money-laundering case transferred to Los Angeles. Wilcox, who also has been charged in the drug case, has been cooperating with authorities. [continues 277 words]
Can we finally put to rest Mitchell Beston's concept that two wrongs make a right (Letters, July 15). The serious health risks of tobacco and alcohol were not known to governments, the medical profession and taxation authorities until hundreds of years after they became socially acceptable and ingrained in our society. No matter how we flail against it, it is too late to ban those products. The lesson is to avoid making cannabis, heroin, cocaine and other drugs socially acceptable as a first step to legalisation, but we do not seem to have learnt it yet. Collis Parrett, Kingston, ACT [end]
OAKLAND, Calif. - As activists praise a federal judge's decision clearing the way for an Oakland club to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, Wayne Johnson hopes it will help him avoid the risk of buying it on the street. "I REALLY appreciate it," said Johnson, who suffers from chronic back pain. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Monday modified a 1998 order forbidding marijuana sales at the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, saying the government hasn't proven why seriously ill patients should be denied the drug. [continues 306 words]
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. - Mark Atchison was at a family party when he walked outside and saw two family members smoking marijuana. But the Illinois State Police master sergeant didn't arrest them. He didn't lecture them. He didn't even turn away. "For some stupid reason -- I don't know whether it was to relieve their tension or it was total stupidity on my part -- I actually took the joint and did a couple of hits," Atchison later told the State Police Merit Board. [continues 513 words]
Everybody knows drug and alcohol abuse are bad, but that hasn't stopped Colorado from being rated second-worst in the nation for alcohol problems and 14th worst for drug problems. So while it's hard to get excited about any expansion of government, Denver's addition of a drug coordinator is a step in the right direction. Adam Brickner, head of the successful Denver Drug Court for the past two years, now will try to curb substance abuse and improve treatment services in the city. [continues 241 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for an Oakland club to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the government hasn't proved why seriously ill patients should be denied the drug. The decision will allow the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to provide cannabis to members who face imminent harm from a serious medical condition and have found that legal alternatives to marijuana don't work or cause intolerable side effects. "We believe this is the tip of the iceberg," said John Entwhistle, a spokesman for Californians for Compassionate Use, the lobbying group that wrote the state's medical marijuana initiative, known as Proposition 215. "We think at least the feds are starting to recognize the strength and reality of the medical necessity of using marijuana as medicine, at least for certain conditions." [continues 196 words]
The Victorian government would look at a "drug hotel" in its campaign against heroin abuse, Premier Steve Bracks said today. VicHealth chief executive Rob Moodie, who recently led MPs on an inspection tour of drug facilities in the United States and Europe, said supervised injecting rooms should include accommodation, food, clothes, counselling and medical care for users. "We're open to any sensible suggestion which can reduce the death toll(from heroin), to get people onto rehabilitation, to get them off drugs," Mr Bracks told Radio 3AW. [continues 189 words]
Washington (CP) -- Illegal immigrants and drug smugglers are easily entering the United States from Canada because the border is so poorly monitored, a U.S. newspaper reported yesterday. USA Today cited a report by the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the U.S. Border Patrol "cannot accurately quantify how many illegal aliens and drug smugglers it fails to apprehend." "The number of Border Patrol agents available simply cannot patrol the entire length of the border," the report said. [continues 188 words]
MARIJUANA, hallucinogens, steroids, crack, tobacco, alcohol, depressants, and lots more drugs are a problem for teens in our community. Most who take these drugs are aware of the consequences to the body, behavior, and of getting caught. Marijuana fills your lungs with tar, slows and clogs brain cells, causes liver problems, and can block nutrients from getting through to brain cells. Steroids can make women's voices low and make them grow facial hair while in men they can trigger the development of breasts and alter the growth of facial hair. Alcohol affects reaction time, coordination, the brain, and balance. Hallucinogens cause bizarre mental reactions, faster heartbeats, memory problems, shaking, and brain damage. They make people confused, dizzy, aggressive and moody. [continues 129 words]
A federal judge cleared the way for the Oakland, Calif., Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes, saying the government has not proved that seriously ill patients should be denied the drug. Justice Department spokeswoman Gretchen Michael said officials were reviewing the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer. [end]
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY--The number of barangays affected by prohibited drugs under the areas of responsibility of the Philippine National Police Regional Office in Region 10 (PRO-10) has increased by two-thirds in the second quarter of this year. As if this wasn't enough, another 27 policemen have tested positive for prohibited drugs. Only 70 of 1,025 barangays were reported to be drug-affected for the first quarter of this year, but the figure has risen to 120 by the second quarter. [continues 115 words]
July 18, 2000 - Denver police will review ride-along policies after Colorado Rockies baseball player Mike Lansing accompanied SWAT officers during a fatal " no-knock" drug raid last September. "We're investigating that whole thing," said Deputy Police Chief Dave Abrams. "We want to make sure (the policy) doesn't need minor tuneups, and we want to make sure all of our command officers are aware of proper procedures and that they're adhered to." Lansing's ride-along came to light over the weekend - nearly a year after the fatal raid. [continues 511 words]
Mexican drug organizations now control nearly all illicit narcotics traffic in North Texas. Crack cocaine use in the region appears to be on the rise after years of decline. And drugs continue to fuel violent crimes, particularly those committed with guns. Those are a few of the conclusions of a new federal study that offers an unusually detailed, if unscientific, snapshot of which illegal drugs are on the rise or decline in North Texas, who controls the local drug markets and the region's role in national drug shipment networks. The 64-page study was conducted by the year-old North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force, a collaboration of 40 local, state and federal agencies set up to combat illegal drugs in 10 counties in North Texas and Smith County in East Texas. The study was intended as an initial "threat assessment" that officials would use as a strategy blueprint. Dave Israelson, director of the North Texas HIDTA, cautioned that the study was not a scientific analysis but rather a broad compilation of data from more than 100 area police departments, drug treatment programs and classified federal intelligence. [continues 472 words]
A West Vancouver man being held at a maximum-security prison in New York State on a 1971 LSD conviction is expected to find out tomorrow how long he must remain in prison, says his Vancouver lawyer, Michael Bolton. Allen Richardson, who fled to B.C. nearly 30 years ago from a New York prison work camp, was ordered back to jail June 28 by a Rochester judge to complete the three years and nine months left in the four-year prison sentence for selling $20 worth of LSD to a undercover police officer. Richardson, 50, could be eligible for parole in less than six months. He was as a research laboratory technician at the University of B.C.'s TRIUMF research lab when he was arrested in November 1998 by RCMP and Immigration Canada officers. [end]