The biggest single risk in legalizing marijuana in 2012 - with no other issue even close - was the effect it might have on adolescents. Would usage skyrocket among this group? Teens who use drugs are more likely than adults to end up dependent on them and to suffer other long-term consequences, such as academic failure. If it can be shown for sure that legalization pushes more kids into pot use, most arguments on behalf of legal pot would be overwhelmed. That's why the recent data from the state's Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which shows marijuana use among high school students has not increased and is roughly the same as the national average, is so heartening. Even the most ardent opponents of legalization ought to pleased, since the prospect of repealing Amendment 64 in the near future is approximately zero. We're going to be living with the consequences of legalization for the time being, both good and bad. [continues 329 words]
Recently, New Approach Idaho withdrew the medical marijuana initiative due to erroneously listing the American Academy of Pediatrics as supporting medical marijuana. While AAP did acknowledge the potential value of CBD, for severe seizures - and called for rescheduling to allow for research and called for decriminalization for use by minors and young adults - they do not support medical marijuana generally. Sadly Elisha Figueroa, Idaho's "drug czar," used this unfortunate error to criticize decent and dedicated Idaho citizen activists saying they "misled, manipulate, and outright lie." She went on to play the "kid card" so common with prohibitionists who have nothing else, saying in part "... so today is a great day for the health and safety of Idaho's children." This, after she testified against the CBD oil bill that would have allowed use only for children with intractable seizures. [continues 64 words]
Payette County Sheriff Chad Huff doesn't want to see his 72-bed jail filled with cannabis smokers. Before July 1's legalization of recreational marijuana across the Snake River in Oregon, Huff spoke with his deputies. He encouraged them to cite and release violators of Idaho's marijuana possession law. Possession of up to 3 ounces of pot in Idaho is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. "I've basically asked that they not overload our jail with marijuana arrests," Huff said. "We're going to take more of a citation in the field (approach) vs. an actual physical arrest on marijuana charges." [continues 2253 words]
A recent news story detailed how police departments across the nation (including Boise's) are acquiring surplus military equipment to use as a resource in protecting citizens and officers. The story also raised the question: Are we are seeing the militarization of local police? I think the answer lies not in the symbolism of a free vehicle, but in the substance of a police department's actions every day. I have a great deal of respect for our nation's military, but our roles are clearly different: The military fights threats from outside of our country; police protect and serve citizens in our local communities. Our traditions, uniforms, and titles are superficially similar, and we both pledge our allegiance to our nation and take oaths to serve our citizens. [continues 467 words]
Fear of being labeled "soft on crime" has led state and federal politicians on a three-decade-long odyssey through a morass of laws that transformed the criminal courts into chambers of arbitrariness. Caught with 500 grams of cocaine? Or 100 marijuana plants? How about 28 grams of crack? You're going to a federal penitentiary for five years. No questions asked. Say you were arrested with 5 kilos of cocaine. Or 1,000 pot plants. Or 280 grams of crack? [continues 500 words]
Painkillers Have A Grip On Millions Who Were Told That The Chances Of Addiction Were Not Great. PORTSMOUTH, Ohio - The label on OxyContin, which was approved by the FDA, initially said the risks of addiction were "reported to be small." The New England Journal of Medicine, the nation's premier medical publication, informed readers that studies indicated that such painkillers posed "a minimal risk of addiction." Another important journal study, which the manufacturer of OxyContin reprinted 10,000 times, indicated that in a trial of arthritis patients, only a handful showed withdrawal symptoms. [continues 1262 words]
In an interview with Idaho Conservative Blogger, Gov. Butch Otter says he's consulted with governors in states permitting marijuana use, but doubts the Legislature will ever send him a bill. If they did, he hinted he would veto the measure, calling pot a "gateway drug." Among Otter's major initiatives have been the Idaho Meth Project, a favorite cause of his wife, Lori. As a young lawmaker in the 1970s, Otter supported decriminalization, but his views have shifted. Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, has pushed for years to legalize industrial hemp, but gotten no traction in the Legislature. [continues 307 words]
Idaho Moms for Marijuana hosts Hempathy for the Holidays, 2 to 5 p.m., Sunday on the corner of Front Street and 8th Street in Boise. The event is a donation drive for non-perishable food items; new, unwrapped toys; warm coat, hats, gloves, and clothes - all gently used, please. New books for Operation Wishbook will also be accepted. Donations will be distributed to The Idaho Food Bank and The Salvation Army. Idaho Moms for Marijuana is a local grassroots organization that works for the legalization of marijuana, including for medical use. [end]
The anti-methamphetamine program championed by Idaho First Lady Lori Otter is expected to receive another $1 million, thanks Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. Simpson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, secured the money as part of a final year-end bill funding several federal departments and agencies. The Idaho Meth Project is known for graphic anti-meth advertising. Simpson also announced another $1.75 million in federal funds for Interstate 84, the Idaho State Police, the Idaho Department of Corrections and children's health services. [continues 371 words]
The court ruled that just because the couple's daughter was on probation, they were not subject to drug testing. The Idaho Court of Appeals says a northern Idaho couple had their constitutional protection from unlawful searches violated when a magistrate ordered them to submit to drug tests as part of their daughter's probation. The parents were not named in the ruling to protect the identity of their juvenile daughter. In the unanimous ruling handed down Thursday, the appellate court found that 1st District Magistrate Robert Burton's ruling served a laudable purpose in requiring the parents to be tested for marijuana. But the appeals court said it was still a violation of the parents' right against unlawful searches. [continues 292 words]
The school district has had random testing in the past, but the new system includes all varsity and junior varsity football players. The Homedale School District will drug test all of its varsity and junior varsity football players this fall after the district's board of trustees approved a request from coach Rob Kassebaum. The district has had a random testing policy in place for students participating in extracurricular activities since 1999, but last week's decision expands the testing program to all football players. [continues 320 words]
Keeping Kids Off Meth Starts With Adults, Milton Creagh Says Nicole Gibbs, an elementary school counselor in the Middleton School District, has a third-grade student who doesn't yet know how to read but can describe the steps to make methamphetamine. Gibbs said she believes drug problems, which are typically associated with inner cities, are steadily spreading to rural areas like Middleton that lack resources for enforcement and treatment. "People who say, `It's not in my community' have got their eyes closed," Gibbs said. [continues 359 words]
The Afghan government just announced a new crackdown on opium production. That country now produces 90 percent of the world's output. Opium reportedly is the largest single component of Afghanistan's GDP. Though the crackdown is laudable, history and economic theory tell us it will have only limited success. The problem with trying to limit the growing of such crops is that any success in restricting output pushes up the price of what is produced. This increases profitability for the remaining producers. The greater the effort put into eradicating production, the greater the incentive for producers to somehow keep producing. [continues 402 words]
Gov. Jim Risch appointed former Boise police officer and City Councilman Jim Tibbs as Idaho's new drug czar, prompting optimism from local detox center advocates and increasing speculation among Democrats about Tibbs challenging Mayor Dave Bieter in 2007. As drug czar, Tibbs will be in charge of coordinating efforts among state agencies to fight drug abuse across the state. He reports directly to the governor and serves as long as the governor wants him. Tibbs' first order of business in his new job will be to compile a complete list of the state's resources for fighting drugs and how they are being used, he said. [continues 679 words]
Idaho drug czar and Boise City Councilman Jim Tibbs, while serving as interim police chief, drove a patrol car to the scene of a police shooting after drinking alcohol, a violation of city policy he knew about before breaking it. Community ombudsman Pierce Murphy's 59-page report into the Dec. 18, 2004, shooting noted that an officer, identified in the report only as Officer No. 6, had admitted drinking one glass of wine before he was notified of the shooting of teenager Matthew Jones outside his North Boise home. [continues 467 words]
Alcohol, Tobacco Would Prohibit Scholarships The Idaho House passed a bill that would offer state scholarships to high schoolers who stayed drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free. The measure would offer some money for one semester for each year the student tested negative for the substances. But time is running out on the bill because there's likely just one week left in the session and the Senate Education Committee is still wrangling with sweeping charter school legislation. The point, the bill's sponsor Sharon Block said, is to have Idaho teenagers saying, "Sorry, I cannot do drugs with you. I cannot do alcohol with you. I cannot smoke with you." [continues 542 words]
Boise writer Everardo Torrez celebrates the publication of his first novel, "Narco," (Arte Publico Press) on Tuesday. A graduate of the Boise State writing program and a winner of several writing honors, Torrez will discuss his book on campus as part of Latino Heritage Month. The atmosphere of "Narco," by Torrez's own admission, is "gritty." It's the story of Nando Flores, a smuggler of cargo both animate and inanimate across the Mexican border. Flores' arrangement to help a woman named Xiomara (pronounced "See-oh-mara") get to the border city of Juarez puts him in the company of sinister characters. [continues 1643 words]
Grand jury indicts 17 from Idaho, eastern Oregon Seventeen owners and employees of "head shops" in Idaho and Eastern Oregon were arrested Monday as part of Operation Pipe Dream, a nationwide crackdown on the trafficking of illegal drug paraphernalia sold in traditional stores and on the Internet. The arrests netted the operators of stores such as the Red Eye Hut, which has locations in Boise, Nampa and Ontario, Ore. In all, 55 people were arrested and charged in at least 10 states by federal, state and local authorities for alleged involvement in the sale of products intended for the use of illegal drugs, including bongs, marijuana pipes, miniature spoons and scales. [continues 484 words]
The tragic death of the Jerome County man in a botched drug raid is not an isolated incident. Throughout the nation, similar no-knock search warrants have led to the deaths of Americans wrongly suspected of drug possession. In 2000, 11-year old Alberto Sepulveda was shot in the back in Modesto, Calif., during a raid. No drugs were found. Ismael Mena, a father of nine, was killed in Denver, Colo., in 1999 when police raided the wrong house. Also in 1999, Compton, Calif. grandfather Mario Paz was killed in front of his family during a botched no-knock raid. Again, no drugs were found. Would the possession of illicit drugs have justified the deaths? We don't shoot alcoholics or Prozac users in this country. Yet drug warriors would have the public believe that possession of a relatively harmless drug like marijuana, which has never been shown to cause an overdose death, somehow justifies the use of deadly force. How many more citizens will be sacrificed at the altar of the failed drug war? The hypocritical drug war is causing tremendous societal harm at great expense to the taxpayer, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. Robert Sharpe, program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C. [end]
TWIN FALLS - Administrators in the Twin Falls School District have agreed to random drug testing. At the district's first meeting of the school year Wednesday, the principals themselves initiated the concept, Superintendent Terrell Donicht said. The move comes in the wake of the arrest and resignation of Mary Lee Roberts, former principal of Bickel Elementary School, who pleaded guilty this past week to a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Roberts was suspected of mailing herself a pound of marijuana from a Texas post office. [continues 129 words]
The Jerome County Sheriff's Office has been sued by the family of a man who was killed in a drug raid shootout. Tim Williams shot and killed two sheriff's deputies - James Moulson and Phillip Anderson - before he was killed by police. The civil suit, filed in federal court by Williams' family members, accuses Sheriff Jim Weaver, Undersheriff Jocelyn Roberts, and Jerome County of negligence, excessive force, and recklessness. The family says Weaver used an unreliable informant to get the information that led to the drug raid and that the camouflage worn by deputies during the raid didn't identify them as members of law enforcement. The family also alleges that after Williams was already on the ground, Roberts approached him and fired another shot at point-blank range. [end]
There has been much hand-wringing in our nation's capitol lately over the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Fueled by the ongoing backlash to the court's decision against the Pledge of Allegiance, and the overwhelming reversal rate of 9th Circuit cases by the U.S. Supreme Court, some in Congress are arguing that the appeals court is too unwieldy and should be split up. The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit is the country's largest court of appeals, serving approximately 54 million people in nine Western states and two territories (equaling more than 1.3 million square miles, or nearly 40 percent of the United States). [continues 369 words]
Many people think their families are too loving, religious, conservative and educated to have members with drug problems, only to learn otherwise. Many think jail rehabilitates drug users, but learn otherwise. "Zero tolerance" sounds great until justice is untempered by mercy, and we learn otherwise. From The Statesman's article on Aug. 8, it seems there's some progressive thought in Canyon County. Maybe the judges and administrators in Ada County are more interested in perpetuating the status quo than in fixing what simply does not work. [continues 125 words]
Creating a book as a guideline for parents on how to keep our kids safe is a great idea to keep the president busy. The majority of parents and grandparents already do this, as the Runnion family and countless other families have done. The problem lies within the court system - for example, allowing someone like Mr. Workman to actually have 70 charges in his criminal history without any real hard time served. We cannot protect our children with a book when the person abducting our child outweighs them by 100 pounds. The court system has got to start implementing stronger sentencing on drug and alcohol charges and all sex charges without the appeals process. The guideline book is worthwhile but not good enough. We need the courts to get tougher. Judy Herrick, McCall [end]
In your "Our View" you state "As of June, 1, 741 of Idaho's 5,802 inmates were behind bars on drug-or alcohol-related charges." Yet you fail to mention how many of those charges were from a DUI or from a possession charge. I can agree you should give someone who is operating a motor vehicle under the influence of any drug - whether it be legal or not - a harsher sentence. However, if the individual is simply in jail for a possession charge and was not driving or under the influence, that should warrant a purge of a non-violent offenders from prison. [continues 78 words]
Arrest of Twin Falls principal is isolated incident, boss says TWIN FALLS - Twin Falls School Superintendent Terrell Donicht is trying to head off demands for random drug testing of district employees following last week's arrest of an elementary principal on drug charges. Donicht called the actions of former Bickel Elementary School Principal Mary Lee Roberts an isolated incident. "We have a district full of very reasonable people," Donicht said. "There's no reason for us to panic just because one person made a stupid decision." [continues 248 words]
REXBURG - Marijuana seeds apparently flushed into the watery labyrinth of the municipal sewer system found a quiet, fertile spot to rest and grow - the city's sewage treatment ponds. During the weekend, a city employee discovered 10 marijuana plants, ranging from a few inches tall to 3 1/2 feet. Police have removed and destroyed them. "We feel what happened is that these plants have grown from marijuana or marijuana plants somebody's flushed down the tube," police Capt. Randy Lewis said. "They were pretty healthy plants, too." [continues 112 words]
Letter writer Sean Peterson was right on target in his letter, "Legalize marijuana" (Jan. 26). It probably won't happen for a long time. Not because marijuana is dangerous. It is not. In the history of marijuana use, there is yet to be a documented death from its use. Not because marijuana use leads to addiction to other drugs. It is the marijuana prohibition policy that causes the so-called "gateway effect." Not marijuana itself.Marijuana will probably remain a banned substance because of the people, industries and institutions with a vested financial interest in perpetuating the status quo. [continues 52 words]
The state budget is now $20 million more in the red. There is frightening talk about laying off teachers at the local and state level. The new construction on the Capitol appears to be coming to a halt. I have a great idea, which would save Idaho millions of dollars annually. Hold your breath Idaho conservatives -- legalize marijuana. Over 10 million Americans have been arrested for simple, non-violent marijuana possession since 1972. In fact, Ada County alone arrested 2,777 people between 1995-97. [continues 76 words]
Family Of Deputy Killed In Eden Seeks $5 Million JEROME -- The family of a Jerome County sheriff's deputy killed during a January shootout in Eden is seeking $5 million in damages from the county, claiming that the sheriff's department and Sheriff Jim Weaver acted recklessly and dangerously in serving a search warrant for illegal drugs. The tort claim, filed on June 29 by Boise attorney Newal Squyres on behalf of the family of Cpl. Phillip Anderson, is the third multimillion-dollar claim against Jerome County in the wake of the shooting. [continues 369 words]
Boise Mayor Brent Coles and a committee made up mostly of law enforcement officials challenged Idaho city leaders Wednesday to work to stop efforts to legalize marijuana before they become legislative or election issues. The committee, which Coles said has no official name, has been preparing to launch the "Don't Sign On" anti-marijuana law reform for about 18 months, Coles said. Coles and law enforcement officials made their pitch at a seminar during the annual Association of Idaho Cities conference now under way at the Nampa Civic Center. [continues 336 words]
Coles says he honored to have been considered President Bush has ended months of speculation that Boise Mayor Brent Coles might be tapped as the nation's new drug czar. On Thursday the president appointed John P. Walters to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy. A presidential adviser called Coles with the news Monday. The call lasted only a few minutes, the mayor said. Coles said he is delighted to have been asked by the Bush administration to interview for the post, which he did not seek out. [continues 446 words]
President Bush, if the reports are to be believed, has settled on John P. Walters to replace Gen. Barry McCaffrey as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. At one level, the nomination would be no surprise. It fits the pattern that has the president turning to retreads from his father's administration to fill key positions. Walters was deputy to drug "czar" William Bennett under the previous Bush administration. Walters, almost alone among those who've spent serious professional time and attention on drug abuse in America, harbors not the slightest misgiving over the fact that we've been crowding our prisons almost to the bursting point with non-violent drug offenders. [continues 659 words]
Regarding the Idaho House Judiciary and Rules Committee's endorsement of a bill that would extend drug courts to all judicial districts: Drug courts are definitely a step in the right direction, but they fail to acknowledge the manner in which law enforcement discourages voluntary treatment. In order for treatment to be truly effective, and not necessarily preceded by an arrest, policymakers are going to have to tone down the tough-on-drugs rhetoric. Driving illicit drug addiction underground only compounds the problem. Would alcoholics seek treatment if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Numerous studies have found treatment far more cost-effective than incarceration, yet voluntary drug treatment continues to be under-funded and confounded by the prevailing zero tolerance approach to illicit drugs. It's time to declare peace in the failed drug war and start treating all substance abuse, legal or otherwise, as the public health problem it is. Robert Sharpe, M.P.A., program officer, The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, Washington, D.C. [end]
If Bill Passes, It Would Be Up To Local Judges To Implement It A program designed to help people get off drugs is one step closer to being spread throughout the state. The House Judiciary and Rules Committee endorsed a bill that would extend "drug courts" to all judicial districts willing to take on the extra work. The move would cost the state almost $1.56 million, but lawmakers and the judges who support the drug courts say it will save the state money in the long run. [continues 271 words]
Boise Mayor's Name Given To Bush Team If he's asked to become George W. Bush's drug czar, Brent Coles will have a difficult time saying no. The Boise mayor says he hasn't applied or interviewed for the job and doesn't know whether he wants it. But listening to him Wednesday, rattling off a number of drug-fighting approaches and then laying out how a drug czar could coordinate those approaches and deliver federal help, could lead one to believe Coles is thinking seriously about a move to Washington, D.C. [continues 774 words]
Boise Mayor Brent Coles may be getting more of a taste of the divergent views about drug abuse in America now that he's under consideration to be the next drug czar. Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of a leading drug-reform organization, has heard of Coles. Nadelmann, of the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, said a recent commentary by Coles in the Washington Post, while containing some good information, was "kind of an old mind-set piece that says we should use the criminal justice system to make society drug-free." [continues 250 words]
Meeting Focuses On Alternatives To More Prisons LINCOLN, Neb. -- Calling methamphetamine a cheap poison that is destroying lives and communities across the country, Govs. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho and Mike Johanns of Nebraska said Thursday that the fight needs to focus on abuse prevention, not punishment. About 70 people, including judges, police officers and substance-abuse counselors from Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico and American Samoa met in Lincoln to discuss ways to reduce demand for illegal drugs. Kempthorne opened the two-day conference by calling drug abuse one of the most difficult and pervasive problems facing the country today. [continues 238 words]
Opponents worry that legalization would lead people to harder drugs Marijuana and hemp should be legalized to clear the nation's prisons of many nonviolent inmates convicted of drug law violations and provide an alternative crop for making construction materials and paper, said supporters at a Statehouse gathering of more than 500. Speakers at the Saturday citizens rally said the American prison and jail population passed the 2 million mark in February. More than half of those imprisoned are nonviolent, and the largest category of inmates are drug law violators. [continues 350 words]
April is Mental Health Month, a perfect time to discuss legal medications creating victims out of clients and illegal medications creating a police state. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has focused on children. A couple of months ago we had thefts of Ritalin from Boise schools. At one time we had nearly 10 percent of our children on Ritalin. Are we drugging our children to replace our attention and discipline? It's called Attention Deficit Disorder. I would suggest it's the adults' deficit of attention toward the children. [continues 488 words]
Since following the parking lot search story in Canyon County and watching the newest "Enough is Enough" commercial on KTVB, I am both concerned and insulted. I am not overly concerned for the rights of illegal drug users, but I am concerned with my liberty and the liberty of my neighbors and honest members of our community. We must be very careful about exchanging liberties for security. Random government searches, such as those being performed on the property of the residents of Canyon County by their government, were not acceptable to Americans in the late 1700s, and they ought not to be acceptable to Americans in the late 1900s. Illegal drug use is a serious issue in this country, but we will not solve it by indulging tyranny. Perhaps the residents of Canyon County need some remedial history lessons. J. Craig Hardesty, Boise - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady [end]
HEADLINE: Our children's futures make war against drugs worth fighting Is anything worth fighting for? Few issues surface in our daily lives for which we would risk our lives. We may feel passionate about key social issues. We may even write our congressman over economic concerns. Marches on the Capitolsteps may allow us public displays of our particular brand of social solidarity.However, to lay down your life for people affected by an issue is often viewed as a thing of either romance novels or seriously misled cults. Or so we are ledto believe. [continues 631 words]
Only four Meridian School District students have been expelled for drug offenses this year. But the scuttlebutt from students and police is that drug use is increasing. The school district needs to find out just how bad the problem really is. An efficient and effective way to find some answers is to use drugsniffing dogs. Canyon County has used dogs for a couple of years. They work. Drug dogs are both an effective way to find drugs which can be easily concealed and a deterrent. The dogs, as pointed out by Canyon County Sheriff George Nourse, don't miss many drugs. [continues 174 words]
