I want to thank The Star and reporter Greg Reeves for "More serving time as taxpayers foot the bill" (1/9, A-1). It was both informative and timely, as we have a new governor and his new Department of Corrections director, Larry Crawford, a former state representative. I'm confident many Missourians would challenge them to work with the new Republican legislature to design a plan of alternative sentencing for the over half of the prison population who are nonviolent offenders -- people who need to be out working, earning and paying their back child support. How senseless to lock them up. [continues 103 words]
Kemba Smith played piano and danced ballet growing up as the only child in an upper-middle class suburban family. She made good grades in high school, then went off to prestigious Hampton University in Virginia. She made her parents proud. Then she made them cry. In 1994, Smith was sentenced to 24 years and eight months in federal prison for a drug conspiracy conviction. She said she wanted desperately to be accepted and fell in with the wrong crowd "Friends who are not on the same journey as you -- you need to let them go," Smith on Friday told an audience of Kansas City area high school students. [continues 355 words]
Instead of the Show Me State, a better nickname for Missouri might be the Slammer State. More people are behind bars in Missouri based on population than any state outside the South, according to new U.S. Department of Justice statistics analyzed by The Kansas City Star. Missouri now has the eighth-highest imprisonment rate in the nation. Take inmate Gary Miller. He didn't kill, assault, or rob anyone. He didn't steal anything. So why, you might wonder, is the 35-year-old plumber and roofer from House Springs, Mo., serving a four-year prison term at the Algoa Correctional Center? It's because he ignored court orders to pay $17,000 in child support for a son he had fathered nearly a decade ago. [continues 1324 words]
TOPEKA - You may soon have to sign a form and show identification when buying popular decongestants in Kansas as part of the state's efforts to fight methamphetamine. Lawmakers gathered Thursday to announce a plan to restrict the sale of over-the-counter tablets containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of methamphetamine, a highly addictive and dangerous illegal drug often called meth. Sudafed, Actifed, Nyquil and more than 300 other products contain pseudoephedrine. The rules would not apply to those products when sold in gel-tab or liquid formulas, which are not easily used in meth production. [continues 229 words]
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Now that Columbia has an ordinance allowing patients to smoke marijuana on doctors' orders, backers plan to push for the same medical relief for all Missourians. A survey by Southwest Missouri State University indicates there may be growing support for legalizing marijuana as a therapy option for residents undergoing chemotherapy or suffering from illnesses such as AIDS and glaucoma. A majority of Missouri residents support medical marijuana if it is prescribed to patients in extreme pain, according to the Springfield university's telephone survey. [continues 678 words]
Think it's hard to find a job? Try checking the "yes" box on an application that asks if you've ever been convicted of a felony. In candor, human resource officers will admit that such applications move quickly to the reject pile. Hiring is hard enough without messing with people who've messed up criminally. Job hunters with criminal records have a tough time returning to the work force after they've served time. It's hard, too, if they're on probation. Their records, which might show up in pre-employment background checks even if they don't admit it on applications, are likely to keep them from consideration. [continues 443 words]
Buzz kill The rush started in my legs, and they kind of started twitching, making me want to scream as loud as I could at all the right-wingers in the room, but I ignored my base instinct and ignored the adrenaline filling my veins. Hey, maybe it was only make-believe, but I take change seriously. I define change as altering the way things are. Earlier this month I was one of about 700 students from across Missouri taking part in the annual Youth in Government program sponsored by the YMCA. For three days, we were Missouri's government in the capital, Jefferson City: the governor and the General Assembly. [continues 844 words]
I've been reading about the case before the Supreme Court regarding medical marijuana and the federal government's zeal to make an example of the two plaintiffs. This is a classic example of the people being far ahead of the knuckleheads in power. I also believe that, to an extent, this is a case of the government by, of and for the corporations, attempting to protect the multi-billion dollar drug testing and pharmaceutical industries. Brian Carey [end]
The Jackson County Legislature has approved a $263.2 million budget for 2005 that will spend the county's entire $5.1 million anti-drug tax surplus fund. By spending the entire surplus, the county will be able to give $25 million next year to anti-drug programs.The county gave those programs more than $26 million in 2004. Most of the funding reduction is due to one-time expenses in 2004, including capital improvements at the jail and court computer upgrades. "We were . shorter (for 2005), but by working out the numbers, by moving some things back to the general fund, we were actually able to increase every line-item for anti-drug from the 2004 budget to the 2005 budget," said Legislator Dan Tarwater, chairman of the anti-drug committee. "That was not easy." But spending the surplus next year could mean less money for anti-drug programs in 2006. The surplus comes from agencies not spending all the money given to them from the anti-drug sales tax, and when the tax generates more money than expected. "We expect some amount in the surplus, but not another $5 million," county spokesman Ken Evans said. "There will be less to work with." During budget hearings this year, Tarwater said spending the surplus was in line with a 1995 county resolution to deplete the anti-drug surplus fund by 2001. Tarwater argued that the resolution reflected the intent of voters who renewed the anti-drug tax in 1995. Prosecutor Mike Sanders and County Executive Katheryn Shields debated during the hearings over how to spend anti-drug tax and other county money. The hearings culminated Thursday with an almost 7 1/2-hour session involving public testimony, a standing-room-only audience, last-minute negotiations and painstaking line-item transfers. County officials on all sides of the debate said they were pleased with the outcome. "This is my 11th budget," Shields said. "People expressed concerns that we wouldn't get a budget, but I assured everyone that we always get a budget. . Not everything I want, not everything the Legislature wants, but compromising between that, it's beneficial to the citizens of Jackson County." Legislature Chairman Scott Burnett said: "I feel good about it. . The county executive was exemplary in her work and her cooperation. . All of the department heads and the prosecutor all worked together and I think we came up with a good budget that covers all the important areas of the county." Overall, the county's 2005 budget is about $19.4 million less than this year. The decrease was caused in part by a drop in capital improvement projects. The 2004 budget included a $6.1 million renovation of the downtown courthouse that is nearing completion. However, the 2005 budget includes $1.5 million in capital projects, $5.6 million in road and bridge improvements and $900,000 for the county's general information mapping system. The sheriff also will receive an overtime increase for deputies to begin taking concealed-weapons license applications. Increases to Sanders' budget will pay for a new white-collar crimes unit support staff, additional prosecutors for domestic violence and a child-abuse prosecutor who previously was paid from a now-expired federal grant. The increase for the prosecutor will come from general fund dollars shifted from the corrections department, which Shields oversees. [continues 108 words]
TOPEKA - Law enforcement officials are considering asking for a restriction on the purchase of certain allergy medications in an effort to reduce the number of methamphetamine labs in the state. Since Oklahoma passed such a law, officials have noticed an increase in the number of customers from that state coming across the border to buy the medications in Kansas, which they then take back to Oklahoma to make meth, said Kyle Smith, a spokesman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "We're hearing stories about buses pulling up with people piling out to buy two and three packages at a time and heading home," Smith said. [continues 330 words]
The Jackson County Legislature will allow the auditor examining the county's anti-drug tax to be interviewed by county Prosecutor Mike Sanders. Auditor David Cochran of Cochran, Head and Co. said Sanders had asked to talk to him about allegations that records were destroyed. Cochran said he did not know what information Sanders was seeking. But he said he needed the Legislature, which hired him, to waive a confidentiality agreement with him before an interview with Sanders. "I have no problem speaking with the prosecutor, but I can't reveal my clients' information to anyone without their permission," Cochran said. [continues 299 words]
Trying to follow what's going on with Jackson County's anti-drug tax, but having trouble following all the twists and turns? What began with questions about how proceeds from the anti-drug tax had been spent has moved into other areas, including a wide-ranging federal grand jury investigation and a controversy over missing records. The maze of issues involves scores of county officials, auditors and anti-drug programs. Here is a primer to help sort it out: A. The Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax, known as COMBAT, is a quarter-cent sales tax that generates money for law enforcement, drug treatment and drug-use prevention programs. It is expected to raise about $19.5 million this year. Voters approved the tax in 1989, and it went into effect in April 1990. Voters renewed the tax in 1995 and in 2003. [continues 952 words]
WASHINGTON - Many teen drivers think it is less dangerous to drive after smoking marijuana than after drinking alcohol, a perception the government wants to change. "Driving sober means no alcohol, no marijuana, no drugs," John Walters, the Bush administration's drug policy director, said Thursday as he showed a TV ad aimed at stopping teens from driving after smoking pot. Walters' office is spending $10 million on efforts to teach teens about the dangers of drugged driving. Brochures are also being distributed. in schools and motor vehicle offices. Marijuana can affect concentration, perception and reaction time up to 24 hours after it is smoked, Walters said. Yet teens have gotten the incorrect message that it is a benign drug. [continues 59 words]
WASHINGTON - Prices for cocaine and heroin have reached 20-year lows, according to a report released Tuesday. The Washington Office on Latin America, which usually is critical of U.S. policies in Latin America, said the low prices called into question the effectiveness of the two-decade U.S. war on drugs. A White House official said the numbers were old and didn't reflect recent efforts in Colombia to curb drug cultivation. The Washington Office on Latin America, citing the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the street price of 2 grams of cocaine averaged $106 in the first half of 2003, down 14 percent from the previous year's average and the lowest price in 20 years. [continues 216 words]
Jackson County officials confirmed Tuesday that at least five employees had been subpoenaed in an investigation into allegations that records were improperly destroyed. The officials said they had heard as many as nine subpoenas had been issued seeking documents and testimony for a Jackson County grand jury hearing scheduled for Friday. However, county spokesman Ken Evans on Tuesday had copies only of subpoenas served on five staff members. Those receiving subpoenas included finance director Gloria Fisher, records director Robert Kelly and budget administrator Jeremy Willmoth. Kelly and Fisher declined to comment, referring calls to Evans. Willmoth could not be reached. [continues 508 words]
BOSTON - A federal appeals court has ruled that Boston's mass-transit agency violated free-speech rights by refusing to display advertisements from a group that wants to legalize marijuana. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rejected three ads submitted by the group Change the Climate in 2000, claiming they encouraged children to smoke pot. The transit authority argued that it has the right to protect riders from offensive or illegal messages. But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Monday that the MBTA, a quasi-government agency, does not have the right to turn down ads based on its viewpoint. Doing so violates the First Amendment, the court ruled. [continues 224 words]
Justices Examine the Legal Foundations of State Laws, but the Myriad Issues Behind Those Laws Won't Go Away "I THINK REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE SUPREME COURT DOES OR DOESN'T DO, MARIJUANA WILL ALWAYS BE USED FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES. SOCIETY WILL JUST HAVE TO COME TO TERMS WITH THAT," DAVID SAPP, A RETIRED COLUMBIA LAWYER WHO HAS HAD MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FOR 20 YEARS WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday debated whether allowing medical marijuana is a necessary kindness in a compassionate society or a dangerous move that undermines the fight against narcotics. [continues 708 words]
Jackson County Legislator Bob Spence urged colleagues on Monday to continue the anti-drug-tax surplus fund. He said most agencies fail to spend money allocated to them from annual anti-drug tax revenues and did not need additional dollars from the surplus. Spence said that for the past eight years only the county jail and the Kansas City Police Department spent all the money they received, and they did so for only two years. Other legislators favored giving most of the surplus to the agencies. [continues 86 words]
CARTAGENA, Colombia -- President Bush traveled to the heart of the international cocaine trade Monday to pledge America's help in the fight against narco-terrorism. Stopping in Colombia on his way back from a 21-nation Pacific Rim summit in Chile, Bush said drug trafficking threatened the stability of the entire Western Hemisphere. He promised more U.S. aid to help Colombia fight an alliance of drug traffickers and guerrillas. "The drug traffickers who practice violence and intimidation in this country send their addictive and deadly products to the United States. Defeating them is vital to the safety of our peoples and to the stability of this hemisphere," Bush said during a joint appearance with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. [continues 596 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - When President Bush visits Colombia today for a brief stay, there are few bigger trophies he could carry back home than the extradition order for Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela. Once the leader of the mighty Cali Cartel that controlled up to 80 percent of the world's cocaine market, Rodriguez Orejuela, 65, and brother Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, 62, are awaiting extradition to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. The extraditions would be considered a huge victory for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. After being peppered with allegations of connections to traffickers during his presidential campaign, Uribe has made his mark with the Bush administration by cracking down on them. [continues 322 words]
Jackson County Drug-tax Dispute Looms A possible investigation into records-tampering allegations surrounding Jackson County's anti-drug tax could delay auditors from issuing a report. However the county Legislature on Monday approved a $30,000 increase in its contract with the auditing firm Cochran, Head & Co. Auditor David Cochran said that although his firm had completed its audit, he was reluctant to issue findings until the records-tampering allegations investigation was complete. He said the probe could unearth additional records or information that could alter his findings. [continues 282 words]
2005 Plan Wouldn't Include Surplus From Anti-Drug Tax In the continuing controversy surrounding Jackson County's anti-drug tax, County Executive Katheryn Shields said she will not recommend spending money next year from the estimated $5.1 million surplus fund. On Monday, she blamed a lack of direction from the county Legislature for her decision as she proposed her administration's $255.5 million 2005 county budget. The anti-drug tax surplus fund has been a constant source of controversy this year, sparking an ongoing audit of the Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax, known as COMBAT. [continues 262 words]
SELLS, Ariz. - Racing across the desert at 90 mph in darkness cut only by his pickup's headlights, Curtis Heim spots a wisp of dust settling on the blacktop. "Did you see that?" he says. "Something was just through here." Heim, 31, slows, ready to track his prey - drug runners smuggling marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico. Heim is a Shadow Wolf, one of 18 members of an elite unit of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Shadow Wolves are American Indians who use their tracking skills to intercept large amounts of drugs - 145,000 pounds of marijuana this year - before they can reach U.S. streets. [continues 1591 words]
The credibility of Jackson County's audit of its anti-drug tax could be tainted unless officials resolve questions over the destruction of records and auditors' access to documents. Auditor David Cochran of Cochran, Head & Co. told county legislators Monday that if the issues were not cleared up, at best he would issue an audit covering 1999 through 2003 with a disclaimer that some records were not available for review. "There's a cloud hanging over the records, and we need to get that resolved," Cochran said. [continues 427 words]
The investigation of Jackson County's anti-drug tax hit an embarrassing roadblock this week. County Executive Katheryn Shields locked some tax records behind jail bars in the courthouse, emphasizing yet again the controversy that surrounds this issue. The county executive, Prosecutor Michael Sanders and county legislators have been trading barbs for months about possible inappropriate spending of the Community Backed Anti-Drug Tax. To resolve these disputes, the county Legislature hired an independent audit firm to determine whether the COMBAT funds were spent properly. [continues 112 words]
WASHINGTON - The number of women in state and federal prisons is at an all-time high and growing fast, the government reported Sunday. There were 101,179 women in prisons last year, 3.6 percent more than in 2002, the Justice Department said. That marks the first time the women's prison population has topped 100,000, and continues a trend of rapid growth. Overall, men are still far more likely than women to be in jail or prison, and black men are more likely than any other group to be locked up. [continues 296 words]
Two men were sanctioned in federal court Thursday after using - well - an "artificial device" to deliver clean urine for unrelated drug tests. Pressed for a wholesome description, a federal official in the Kansas City court described the device as "an artificial device with a bladder used to circumvent a urine test." According to a Web site selling the device, it's "designed to be comfortably worn as an undergarment for extended periods of time!" Methamphetamine conspirator David L. Quigg of Belton missed a chance for a lesser sentence after U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith learned that Quigg had used the device for a urine test. Smith sentenced Quigg, 35, to seven years and nine months in federal prison. [continues 69 words]
KEY WEST, Fla. - More than 37 tons of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $2.3 billion, were confiscated during five seizures at sea this fall, the Coast Guard said. The cocaine, seized between Aug. 21 and Sept. 26, was being hauled off a Navy frigate Friday. The largest cocaine discovery in the history of Coast Guard's East Coast operations was made Sept. 17, when a detachment from the frigate the USS Curts found 15 tons of the drug on a fishing vessel about 300 miles west of the Galapagos Islands. [continues 76 words]
Latest Dispute Involves Padlocked Records Two county legislators stopped just short Wednesday of accusing County Executive Katheryn Shields of interfering with an audit of the county's anti-drug tax. "It's time for this to stop," Ron Finley, chairman of the Jackson County Legislature's Finance and Audit Committee, said at a news conference. "We just don't need this continued, what appears to be, cover-up or a stonewalling of trying to get this (audit) done." Legislator Henry Rizzo, a committee member, joined Finley in his criticism and said, "I think there's been a real breach of the whole system." This most recent dispute was touched off when auditors arrived at the courthouse Wednesday and found that records they wanted to review had been padlocked by a firm Shields said she hired to protect the documents. Finley and Rizzo voiced their concerns at a news conference in which they verbally sparred with Shields, who denied their allegations. The legislators said auditors from Cochran, Head & Co., a firm hired by the legislature, had been denied access to anti-drug-tax financial records. The documents had been locked away by another financial firm hired by Shields this week. Shields said she hired the second firm - Prestia, Vick & Associates LLC - to secure and inventory the documents after an anonymous allegation late Monday that some papers recently were destroyed. She said Cochran, Head auditors still would have access to the records. [continues 381 words]
Three Shawnee Mission Northwest student groups are trying to convince their classmates that it's possible to have fun without alcohol and drugs. This week, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Students Taking a New Direction (STAND) and Seeing Consequences and Reality Education (SCARE) are hosting Red Ribbon Week, a national event that encourages sobriety. Northwest has hosted Red Ribbon Week in the past, but this year's event is as much about having fun as it is about spreading an important message. The organizations are hosting pep rallies featuring the Shawnee Mission Northwest Marching Cougar Pride band and the Spirit Club. A disc jockey plays music during lunch periods. And students who commit to being drug free receive candy, red ribbons and opportunities to compete in games. To signify their status, seniors will receive bracelets instead of red ribbons. [continues 477 words]
An audit of Jackson County's anti-drug tax spending will cost more and take longer than expected but review fewer years of the tax. Jackson County Legislator Ronald Finley introduced an ordinance Monday to spend $27,500 more with auditors Cochran, Head & Co. of Kansas City. However, under the proposal the firm wouldn't be required to audit the anti-drug tax back to 1990, the first year the tax was collected. Instead, the audit - which originally was expected to cost $90,000 - would cover only 1996 through 2003. [continues 164 words]
WASHINGTON - A new coalition of black professional organizations called Wednesday for drug policies that focus on prevention and treatment instead of imprisonment. The National African-American Drug Policy Coalition is dissatisfied with drug policies that keep a large number of black men in the prison system. The group is promoting what it calls therapeutic sentencing, in which judges require those convicted of some drug crimes to undergo treatment instead of being given jail time. The coalition will encourage tough sentencing of those who deal drugs, but will attempt to turn the focus and funding of drug policy toward public health, said the coalition's executive director, Arthur L. Burnett Sr., a retired senior judge. [end]
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Bush administration's war on drugs stretches deep into Asia and Latin America, yet one of its most crucial campaigns - in the eyes of drug czar John Walters - is being waged this fall among voters in Oregon, Alaska and Montana. In each state, activists seeking to ease drug laws have placed a marijuana-related proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot as part of a long-running quest for alternatives to federal drug policies they consider harsh and ineffective. [continues 854 words]
A former Kansas City police sergeant admitted in federal court Thursday that he scammed almost $30,000 from the federal government by overbilling for security services. Robert Maize, 45, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to a single count of felony wire fraud. According to an estimate in his plea agreement, Maize faces up to six months in prison. A police spokesman said that immediately before pleading guilty, Maize resigned from the department, from which he had been suspended since 2002. [continues 213 words]
CHICAGO - Mayor Richard Daley, a former prosecutor, runs the nation's third-largest city with a pragmatic, law-and-order style. So when he starts complaining about the waste of time and money involved in prosecuting small-time marijuana cases, people take notice. "This is absolutely a big deal," said Andy Ko, director of the Drug Policy Reform Project for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state. "You've got a mayor in a major American city.coming out in favor of a smart and fair and just drug policy." [continues 193 words]
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican whose state ranks No. 1 in busts of makeshift methamphetamine labs, calls peddlers of the highly addictive drug "domestic terrorists." Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa says voters in Midwestern presidential battlegrounds are more likely to encounter a meth maker than an operative for al-Qaida. But while the federal government spends millions to boost state and local law enforcement efforts against the made-from-scratch stimulant - - variously known as crank, meth or ice - methamphetamine has scarcely been mentioned by the presidential candidates. [continues 774 words]
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Drug dealers may have been behind an assassination attempt on the vice presidential running mate of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the government said Thursday. Wednesday's attack on Ahmed Zia Massood in Badakhshan province, a fertile poppy-growing region in the north, killed one person and injured five others, including the former provincial governor. It came just days before Saturday's landmark election, when Afghans will choose a president for the first time. Sardar Roshan, Karzai's campaign manager, suggested drug smugglers might be worried that the election could give the government a mandate to crack down on the burgeoning drug trade. [continues 545 words]
WASHINGTON - With thousands of prison sentences on the line, the Supreme Court will decide whether judges have too much power to tack on extra cell time in a case that one justice said could wreak havoc on courthouses nationwide. The high court stunned prosecutors, judges and public defenders when it ruled in June that judges had been given too much sway in determining the length of prison terms. In two follow-up appeals set for argument Monday, justices will decide if the federal sentencing system, and possibly practices in the states, must be scrapped. The summer ruling dealt only with sentencing in Washington state. [continues 490 words]
WASHINGTON - When the FBI shifted its focus to anti-terrorism efforts, investigations targeting illegal drugs, organized crime and white-collar crime took the biggest hit, according to a Justice Department report Monday. The report by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, provides the first detailed look at where the FBI moved resources following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Fine said the review, which drew no conclusions about the wisdom of the changes, did show that the FBI's changes "generally were in line with its post-Sept. 11 priorities." [continues 244 words]
"Unfortunately, this problem has an important dimension of denial. People don't want to see it. They want to believe it's bigger than it is. They also believe there's nothing they can do. That's wrong." John P. Walters The nation's drug czar is praising the Northland Coalition for its work to reduce illegal drug use and alcohol consumption among area youth. John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said it is because of work that groups such as the Northland Coalition, who have formed partnerships with schools and local law enforcement agencies, drug use among area teenagers have dropped. Walters was in Kansas City on Friday to present an award to the Northland Coalition for its work in reducing drug and alcohol use among teens. [continues 553 words]
High Schools Report Slight Increases "Most students are not using and that is what we need to remember." - - Millie Sampson, coordinating teacher for physical education and health Survey results indicate drug use among Blue Valley students remains down from previous years, although there were slight increases in the use of certain drugs among high school students. The overall numbers remain down from 1997 and 1998, which were peak years of substance abuse for the district. Millie Sampson, district coordinating teacher for physical education and health, attributed the decline to strong curriculum and programs encouraging parental involvement. [continues 857 words]
"Unfortunately, this problem has an important dimension of denial. People don't want to see it. They want to believe it's bigger than it is. They also believe there's nothing they can do. That's wrong." The nation's drug czar is praising the Northland Coalition for its work to reduce illegal drug use and alcohol consumption among area youth. John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said it is because of work that groups such as the Northland Coalition, who have formed partnerships with schools and local law enforcement agencies, drug use among area teenagers have dropped. Walters was in Kansas City on Friday to present an award to the Northland Coalition for its work in reducing drug and alcohol use among teens. [continues 553 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia - Insisting that the U.S.-backed campaign to wipe out Colombia's drug crops is producing results, the commander of Colombia's armed forces said Friday that cocaine-trafficking rebels are planning for the day when the drug crops are gone altogether. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, aim to sink their millions of dollars in drug profits into legitimate enterprises, in order to keep their money working for them once the cocaine heyday is over, Gen. Carlos Alberto Ospina said in an interview with The Associated Press. [continues 519 words]
Colombia's attorney general arrived in Washington Tuesday in an effort to ease growing concerns in the Bush administration that the country is not doing enough to curtail human rights abuses, risking the loss of up to $65 million in military aid. The Bush administration has generally lauded Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's achievements in security and counternarcotics, citing a broad array of data, from declining kidnapping rates to a drop in coca plantations. Colombia dispatched its attorney general, Luis Camilo Osorio, to brief State Department officials Tuesday and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft today as top administration officials hardened their language on alleged human rights abuses in Colombia. [continues 273 words]
Property managers have a new ally in their efforts to provide safe, drug-free housing for their residents. "She's a redhead and her name is Roxy," said Greg McQuade, an officer with Metropolitan Patrol, a private security firm based in Claycomo. Roxy is McQuade's partner and she does most of the work when the assignment is to find illegal drugs. "When the leash comes out, she's ready to go," McQuade said. McQuade's partner is a 2-year-old, 56-pound golden retriever trained to find marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other illegal substances. [continues 557 words]
The Jackson County COMBAT Commission voted Thursday to request $42,000 in its 2005 budget to assess the county's drug treatment needs. More than a decade has passed since the county's last treatment assessment, COMBAT program director Jim Nunnelly said. COMBAT - the Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax - is a quarter-cent sales tax that raises money for law enforcement, drug treatment and drug prevention. Voters approved the tax in 1989 and renewed it in 1995 and in 2003. Commissioners shifted $32,000 for the assessment from proposed spending to hire an outside attorney for COMBAT next year. Acting County Counselor Jay Haden said, however, that money to hire separate counsel for COMBAT, if needed, would be in his office's 2005 budget request. [continues 92 words]
Afghanistan produces about 70 percent of the world's opium. Revenue from opium production helped finance both the Taliban government and the al-Qaida terrorist network. Narcotics have also provided huge windfalls to the leftist guerrillas in Colombia. The White House claims that many terrorist groups are funded by illicit drugs. In Afghanistan, poppy production is up from last year. It seems like the new Afghanistan administration, backed by President Bush, could have eliminated the growing of opium poppies by now. A crop of opium poppies doesn't hide out in the hills like al-Qaida. Now I'm wondering what is really going on there. Are we getting the whole story? Howard Flint [end]
WASHINGTON - The government is violating federal law by obstructing medical marijuana research, scientists contend in lawsuits seeking faster action on applications to grow the drug. In lawsuits to be filed Wednesday, researchers assert that Washington is refusing to act on legitimate research projects and delaying studies that could lead to marijuana's use as a prescription drug. "There is an urgent need for an alternative supply of marijuana for medical research," said Lyle Craker, director of the Medicinal Plant Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the main force behind the lawsuits. [continues 346 words]
After 22 years as a tough-on-crime legislator, a lock-'em-up prosecutor and a state auditor who redefined the job, Claire McCaskill finds herself campaigning for governor as an outsider. Her bid to knock off Gov. Bob Holden in the Aug. 3 primary has Democrats doing a lot of soul searching. They must choose between a steady but low-key governor who has fought for Democratic interests and a forceful, charismatic state official who said she offered the best chance to beat the Republicans in November. For McCaskill, the campaign is about avoiding the stalemate of the last two years, when name-calling became the principal form of negotiation between the governor and Republican legislative leaders. "One of the biggest problems we have in Jefferson City now is that everybody is more focused on winning than on getting the problems solved," McCaskill said. "The Republicans have been so focused on winning the governor's office that they have been irresponsible. "I think the governor has been so anxious at times to appear strong that he has wanted to use the Republican legislature as a foil in order to prop up his image as being strong and decisive. [continues 1452 words]
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma had 124 fewer methamphetamine labs during the first six months of the year, thanks to a new state law that restricts sales of common cold remedies that contain the illegal drug's key ingredient, officials said Monday. The dramatic drop in meth labs saved Oklahoma taxpayers $434,000 in cleanup costs for removing the hazardous materials used to produce the drug, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. It costs the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation an average of $3,500 to clean up a single meth lab, Woodward said. [continues 382 words]
