The district says the searches at its four high schools are meant to be a deterrent to students using drugs. Drug-sniffing dogs will be unleashed in Osseo schools' parking lots this fall. Initially, the dogs and their police handlers will do random searches at the district's four high schools. Depending on the results, the searches could expand to include high school and junior high school buildings, said assistant superintendent Kate Maguire. The searches are part of the district's plan to make schools safer, and not in response to any particular incidents, Magurie said. The school district is coordinating the searches with police departments in Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center and Maple Grove. [continues 200 words]
Though America has made strides against discrimination, troubling pockets of race-based bias persist. Case in point: Two recent national reports documented drug enforcement practices that unfairly arrest and imprison African-Americans at much higher rates than whites. Reports by the Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch use federal data to document effects of the nation's 30-year war on drugs. Both conclude that the policies have had a devastating impact on lower-income, inner-city blacks. While the number of drug arrests rose 1,100 percent since 1980, disproportionate numbers of blacks were arrested and jailed for possession -- even though both races use illegal drugs at the same rates. [continues 354 words]
I've been heartened to follow the progress of the medical marijuana bill in the Legislature but also disappointed to hear that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has threatened to veto it. Medical marijuana could make an enormous difference to seriously ill patients in Minnesota -- patients like me. Since 1989, I've been fighting a rare disorder called neurosarcoidosis, which causes my body to produce antibodies to my own tissues, including my spinal cord and brain. My symptoms are severe and have included sporadic paralysis in my legs and left arm; nausea and vomiting; extreme pain in my extremities, and muscle spasms, some of which cause me to freeze in bizarre positions because opposing muscles contract simultaneously. [continues 528 words]
Bill Would Make Minnesota the 13th State to Allow Medical Uses Within Strict Limits. If marijuana were a new discovery, without cultural and political baggage, "it would be hailed as a wonder drug," wrote Dr. Lester Grinspoon last year. The Harvard psychiatrist has advocated for medical marijuana for decades. Yet a gap has persisted between what many believe about medical marijuana's potential and what scientists could prove. Now recent research has applied the same rigor that would be used on any new pill to testing marijuana. [continues 750 words]
In States With Medical-Use Laws, Kids Are More Likely to Smoke Marijuana. I strongly disagree with your April 17 editorial on medical marijuana. As a career law enforcement officer, I well know and have had the firsthand opportunity to observe the downside of backing away from a vigorous war on illegal drug use and abuse. The results of drug abuse are devastating. As you should know but apparently choose to ignore, marijuana is a well-known gateway drug that, all too often, leads to continuing drug experimentation and abuse of other illegal drugs. Use and abuse of marijuana and other drugs leads to increased incidences of violent crime, child abuse and neglect and ruined lives. [continues 388 words]
At a time when researchers are plunging into the rainforest in search of new medicines, there's growing consensus that a humble herb easily cultivated here may help patients struggling with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other painful, difficult-to-manage conditions. The herb, whose slim, multi-pronged leaf makes it instantly recognizable, is marijuana. The Minnesota Senate has already approved a measure that would make Minnesota the 13th state to legalize its medical use. The House will likely vote this spring. Lawmakers, as well as the governor, should give the bill careful yet open-minded consideration and make it a reality. [continues 362 words]
The Bill Would Not Legalize the Drug, but Would Allow Certain Patients to Possess It. A bill that would allow some patients in Minnesota to use medical marijuana was resurrected on Wednesday. The bill, which passed the House Ways and Means Committee easily, would not legalize marijuana. But it would allow patients who qualify to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and to receive similar amounts on a regular basis from groups set up to dispense the drug. The measure passed the Minnesota Senate last year but did not receive a House vote. [continues 250 words]
Look at the numbers for teenage cigarette smoking. Now look at the numbers for teenage marijuana use. Folks, there's a lesson here. Last week, President Bush touted new survey results showing a modest drop in teen use of marijuana and other drugs, but he failed to mention the drug for which prevention efforts have had the most spectacular success -- tobacco. If he had, he might have had to make some troubling comparisons. Bush noted that drug use has declined from its recent peak in 1996, but sidestepped the longer-term picture that doesn't look nearly so rosy. [continues 586 words]
Hennepin County narcotics officers are busting more home-grown marijuana operations -- sometimes in upscale suburbs. One reason for increased home production is the decreased flow of high-grade pot from Canada since border controls tightened up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, said Sheriff Rich Stanek. Another factor is more indoor cultivation of higher-grade marijuana that's is up to six times more potent than that sold years ago, he said. Higher potency raises dealer profits and also may increase addictiveness, a drug expert said. [continues 470 words]
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by two North Dakota farmers seeking to end the federal government's ban on commercial hemp farming, saying that the issue needs to be addressed by Congress. The ruling came down Wednesday in a 22-page decision from Judge Daniel Hovland, who sits on the U.S. District Court in Bismarck, N.D. In 1999, North Dakota became the first state to endorse industrial hemp farming. In June, farmers David Monson and Wayne Hauge sued to force the Drug Enforcement Administration to issue permits to grow hemp; the farmers had applied for permits in February, [continues 269 words]
Eighty million Americans have smoked marijuana, including me. I tried it five or six times, only because I am a slow learner. I am allergic to weeds. Nothing kills an illicit high faster than a sneezing fit. But there are worse things than being allergic to marijuana. You could be allergic to common sense. This country gets the hives when it thinks about changing direction in the war on drugs, which is being lost, with a large toll in ruined lives. Not just the lives ruined by hard drugs, but the lives ruined by the hard lines of politicians who know that the laws against marijuana possession are worse than the drug itself. [continues 624 words]
Uncle Sam's Unwillingness to Provide Drug Addicts With Sterile Syringes Has Spread Disease and Cost Plenty. Being a journalist, I'm no expert on making money. But you don't have to be Warren Buffett to recognize one way to get rich: Find someone who will give you $600,000 if you give them 25 cents. A few swaps like that, and you're a permanent resident of Easy Street. You might assume that no such deal exists, and that if it did, no one would pass it up. You would be wrong. This advantageous exchange is available anytime our leaders in Washington want to take it. But so far, they've refused. [continues 650 words]
Collaboration Was Key in Curbing St. Paul Drug Dealing. Chalk up one for the good guys. Thanks to a recent police sweep against drug dealers, downtown St. Paul will be a more civil, pleasant place. After a three-month investigation called Operation Shamrock, officers fanned out last week to arrest 100 people charged with drug dealing. More than 30 were picked up right away, and arrest warrants were issued for the others. Law enforcers responded to an increase of open-air drug sales, fighting, mugging and intimidation that occurred near bus stops. Bus riders and others complained of behavior that made them afraid to wait at certain bus shelters. [continues 356 words]
In An Effort To Deter Students From Bringing Illegal Drugs To School, Several West-Metro High Schools Have Been Working With A Company That Provides Drug-Sniffing Dogs Whether it is Charlie sniffing his way past rows of hallway lockers, Andie checking out cars on the street or Tosca canvassing the parking lots, the dogs of Metro Canine Detection Services all work in the spirit of drug prevention. John Roux's Eagan-based company provides dog searches aimed at detecting and deterring illegal narcotics at businesses, private homes and schools. He currently conducts searches at 15 metro-area schools, including St. Louis Park, Benilde-St. Margaret's and Mound-Westonka high schools. [continues 451 words]
A 10-day suspension from high school has created strange bedfellows before the U.S. Supreme Court. Every group in power has its fervent rationale for believing that it has a right, even a duty, to suppress speech it doesn't like. That's why America has a Supreme Court -- to slap some sense into the censorious. Monday, lawyers argued a case that should have been settled years ago. It began in January 2002. As an Alaska high school released students so that they could attend a "Winter Olympics Torch Relay," then-18-year-old senior Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," from a Juneau sidewalk. Frederick thought the nonsensical message would get him on TV. [continues 574 words]
As a family practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, I have treated numerous patients who have told me that marijuana was effective in combating their symptoms. This has been particularly true of patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy, an excruciatingly painful condition for which there is currently no FDA-approved treatment. Now a top-notch study, published in last month's issue of the peer-reviewed journal Neurology, has come to the exact same conclusion that my patients have been telling me for years: Medical marijuana is an effective treatment for this kind of pain. [continues 108 words]
The Controversy Surrounding a Bill to Allow the Use of Medical Marijuana Hits Home for a Junior-High Student in Brooklyn Park. Shannon Pakonen told a House committee Thursday that his 15-year-old son, Sam, was interrogated this week by a teacher at Brooklyn Junior High School in Brooklyn Park about his father's use of marijuana for medical purposes. The incident, Pakonen said, demonstrates the need for legislation to authorize medical use of the drug. Lisa Hunter Jensen, the Osseo School District's director of school/community relations, said the district had only sketchy information about the incident from the school's principal but said the district is investigating the matter further. [continues 641 words]
Support is growing at the Capitol for a measure to allow its use in seriously ill patients. A proposal that once inspired fears and jokes about drug abuse -- legalizing the use of marijuana for medical reasons -- stands a good chance of passage in the Minnesota Legislature this year. Political support for that controversial step is coming from unlikely places. Advocates for a bill to allow seriously ill patients to use marijuana with their doctors' recommendation say that as many as half of the 49 Republicans in the House would support the measure in a floor vote. [continues 1032 words]
The Accusations Involve The Sale And Possession Of Marijuana At Chaska Middle School East. In an unusual case, drug charges were filed Friday against six seventh- and eighth-graders, accused of selling and possessing marijuana at Chaska Middle School East. Two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old were charged with fourth-degree marijuana sale, a felony. Police said they had been able to document four sales ranging between $3 and $10 that occurred in the school. The case stands out to officials who work in Twin Cities area schools or with juvenile crime because of the allegation of students selling marijuana in a middle school. [continues 443 words]
The Minnesota Department of Health issued an alert Tuesday that heroin possibly mixed with a drug used to treat horses may have reached Minnesota. Local health experts suspect a man treated Sunday at a Twin Cities hospital used heroin cut with clenbuterol, a veterinary drug used to treat respiratory problems in horses. The drug causes long-lasting heart palpitations in humans. The incident in Minnesota echoes other such incidents reported across the country. The man admitted to snorting heroin and then experiencing a "rapid, pounding heart beat" that wouldn't subside, said Dr. David Roberts, medical director of the Hennepin Regional Poison Center. [continues 535 words]
N.D. Farmer Says He Is Only Looking for a New Cash Crop. OSNABROCK, N.D. -- David Monson arrived at church the picture of rural conservative respectability, dressed in a suit and accompanied by his 79-year-old mother. Tall, neatly trimmed, attentive to neighbors as he escorted his mother to a pew, he is all you might expect and more: farmer, rural school superintendent, president of his Lutheran congregation, member of the Eagles, assistant Republican leader in the state House of Representatives. [continues 937 words]
As Baby Boomers Get Older, More of Them Are Seeking Help For Addiction to Illegal Drugs. It's the generation that came of age in the permissive 1960s and '70s, part of the counterculture revolution that embraced the mantra "turn on, tune in, drop out." Now they are graying -- but some are still having a hard time breaking away from or resisting marijuana, cocaine and other illegal drugs. A national drug survey by the federal government, for example, has found that between 2002 and 2005, use of illegal drugs fell 15 percent among teenagers, but increased 63 percent among people in their 50s. [continues 954 words]
In 1971, when Richard Nixon declared his "War on Drugs," calling for harsher penalties and stricter enforcement of drug laws, the renowned Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman had a John Lennon moment. He suggested we give peace a chance. To Friedman, who died earlier this month at 94, drug prohibition was unsound public policy, economic insanity and inherently immoral. It wasn't the drug user who was immoral, as the political world asserted with so much vim and vinegar, the immorality stemmed from making users into criminals. [continues 696 words]
The Economist Who Died This Month Understood Decades Ago That Drug Prohibition Was Bad For Public Policy, The Economy And Society In 1971, when Richard Nixon declared his "War on Drugs," calling for harsher penalties and stricter enforcement of drug laws, the renowned Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman had a John Lennon moment. He suggested we give peace a chance. To Friedman, who died earlier this month at 94, drug prohibition was unsound public policy, economic insanity and inherently immoral. It wasn't the drug user who was immoral, as the political world asserted with so much vim and vinegar, the immorality stemmed from making users into criminals. [continues 697 words]
Drug makers have reformulated some brands to comply with meth laws, but critics say the new mixes are worthless. WASHINGTON - Nose stuffed up? Grabbing a decongestant from the drugstore or supermarket shelf may not provide the relief it did just weeks ago. Makers of dozens of nonprescription oral nasal decongestants sold under familiar brand names such as Dimetapp, Sudafed, Tylenol, Vicks, Benadryl and Triaminic recently changed an active ingredient in some of their products to avoid a new federal mandate that the meds be sold behind the counter. [continues 496 words]
Minnesota's Rural Expanse and Abundance of Small Companies Make It A Prime Candidate for Meth in the Workplace. Another casualty of the chaos was the couple's marriage. They divorced in 2001. Early the next year, a suicidal Hauge-Johnson was admitted as an inpatient to the Dellwood Recovery Center, an Allina facility in nearby Cambridge. Johnson visited her there, and in April, while still at Swede-O, he went into a 90-day outpatient program. "I've known Fred for about 22 years," said Wilcox, who still is his supervisor. "I always thought he was a nice guy, but I have seen him go through this struggle -- come out the other side a whole lot better and happier person." [continues 835 words]
Dabbing his eyes with facial tissues, former St. Paul Police Sgt. Clemmie Tucker pleaded guilty today in a halting voice to possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of a mixture containing methamphetamine, which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, noting that Tucker appeared "somewhat emotional," questioned him extensively to make sure that he still wanted to plead guilty, but Tucker said he did. After the hearing at the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis, Tucker, 55, walked a few feet from the defense table, sat down in another chair, his eyes still wet from tears, and put his head in his hands. [continues 337 words]
Regarding Mayor R.T. Rybak's Opinion Exchange piece on July 23: Every time I read something about how marijuana causes crime ("Boycott murderers"), I nearly shout out loud (and sometimes I do), "Take the crime out of marijuana!" That is, legalize it. This would solve the problem of suburbanites giving money to north Minneapolis gangs. Or do you think that allowing adults to purchase cannabis legally in a controlled environment (same as alcohol) is worse than what we have in north Minneapolis? [continues 76 words]
Fisherman's Wharf will be the first popular site to have a medical marijuana dispensary, and some are fighting to keep it out. SAN FRANCISCO - The newest attraction planned for Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco's most popular tourist destination, has no sign, no advertisements and not even a scrap of sourdough. Yet everyone seems to think the new business, the Green Cross, will be a hit, drawing customers from all over the region to sample its pungent wares. For some, that is exactly the problem. [continues 402 words]
It's Not As If the Bush Administration Doesn't Know How to Look the Other Way When Laws Are Being Broken. If ever a piece of legislation should pass readily through the U.S. House of Representatives, it is a measure sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., that would prevent the Justice Department from using tax dollars to prosecute medical-marijuana patients in states that have legalized its use. Because it is a good bill, expect it to fail. [continues 583 words]
From Insults To Assaults, Visitors Carried Out Almost 500 Acts Of Aggression On Forest Service Workers Last Year, Records Show WASHINGTON - For the nation's forest rangers, the serenity of the woods increasingly is giving way to confrontations with unruly visitors. Attacks, threats and lesser altercations involving Forest Service workers reached an all-time high last year, according to government documents obtained by a public employees advocacy group. Incidents ranged from gunshots to stalking to verbal abuse. The agency tally shows 477 such reports in 2005, compared with 88 a year earlier. The total in 2003 was 104; in 1995, it was 34. [continues 252 words]
Minneapolis police Sgt. Jeff Jindra of the Metro Gang Strike Force has one of the toughest jobs in the city. I don't mean dealing with dangerous criminals. Today, one of the roughest parts of Jindra's job is talking to neighborhood groups that are at their wits' end over rising crime. "We had 27 gunshot wounds and 48 aggravated robberies in the Fourth Precinct [north Minneapolis] in April and May alone," says Jindra. "People give me an earful; they want answers. I do my best, but I have little in the way of good news for them." [continues 502 words]
A mixture that includes the drug fentanyl has killed more than 100 people and sickened many others. CHICAGO - Police and health authorities are struggling to track down the source of a doctored, intensely powerful heroin that has killed at least 130 people in and around Chicago and Detroit and sent hundreds more to hospitals in cities from St. Louis to Philadelphia. In the labyrinthine and often paranoid world of illicit drugs, tales of killer heroin have come and gone before. But this time is different, law enforcement and health officials say. [continues 276 words]
A Hazelden drug trend report found a 78 percent drop in meth lab busts after the new law took effect. But it noted that meth produced out of state is still easy to find here. Methamphetamine labs are disappearing quickly in Minnesota, but that doesn't mean there are fewer abusers or there's less of the dangerous stimulant on the street, officials say. A Hazelden drug trend report released Thursday reported a 78 percent drop in the number of meth labs busted and a 75 percent drop in people arrested for making meth in the third quarter of 2005 compared to that period in 2004. The drop came after a state law went into effect July 1 restricting the sale of decongestants -- which contain a key meth ingredient -- at drugstores. [continues 510 words]
The Former St. Paul Officer Turned Himself In After Minneapolis Police Seized About 22 Pounds Of Cocaine And 8 Pounds Of Methamphetamine Retired St. Paul police officer Clemmie H. Tucker turned himself in to Minneapolis police Wednesday afternoon in a drug case involving $4 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine. "There's nothing to compare it to," Capt. Rich Stanek said about the size of the seizure. "This is one of the largest, if not the largest," narcotics seizure for Minneapolis police. [continues 570 words]
"In the period October 1980-May 1981, 5 young men, all active homosexuals, were treated for biopsy-confirmed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia at 3 different hospitals in Los Angeles, California. Two of the patients died." - -- Centers for Disease Control, June 5, 1981 WASHINGTON -- Those words 25 years ago announced the arrival of something most Americans thought anachronistic -- an infectious disease epidemic. At first it was called GRID -- gay-related immune deficiency. In September 1982, CDC renamed it acquired immune deficiency syndrome -- AIDS. [continues 715 words]
Many states and nations have decriminalized marijuana and -- guess what? -- the sky didn't fall. Recently, Mexican President Vicente Fox vetoed a bill passed by the Mexican Congress that would have removed criminal penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana or other drugs. This came after the Bush administration vigorously complained, predicting it would encourage Americans to pour southward as "drug tourists." But that option is now off the table for the moment. So Americans who want to get high without fear of going to jail will have to go some other place where cannabis can be consumed with impunity. Like Nebraska. [continues 661 words]
ATLANTA -- Prosecutors and police zeroed in on convenience stores owned by South Asians while ignoring white-owned stores during a sweeping crackdown on methamphetamine production, the American Civil Liberties Union contends. The motion, filed Wednesday, says that authorities selectively targeted South Asians during an 18-month investigation that aimed to curb the sale of household products used to manufacture meth. "They're targeting people who don't make meth, they don't use meth and they don't sell meth," said Christina Alvarez, an ACLU attorney handling the case. "People should be concerned that the government is continuing to blatantly scapegoat certain segments of society." Prosecutors deny the allegations. The ACLU hopes the filing will prompt a judge to toss out the case against dozens of South Asian merchants indicted last year in Operation Meth Merchant, a sting designed to send a message to retailers knowingly selling meth-related products to drug makers. Beginning in early 2004, 15 undercover agents were sent to small grocery stores, tobacco shops and delis in six remote northwest Georgia counties. Once there, prosecutors said the informants were sold products ranging from antifreeze to pseudoephedrine even after the informants told the clerks -- sometimes using slang terms -- that they planned to make meth. The investigation raised eyebrows, though, when 44 of the 49 retail clerks and convenience store owners indicted were South Asian. All but one of the 24 implicated stores were owned by South Asians. In an area where roughly 20 percent of the 600 retailers are owned by South Asians, critics said authorities were "scapegoating" minorities. Prosecutors said federal law makes clear that it is illegal for merchants to sell products knowing -- or with reason to believe -- that they could be used to produce drugs. Although a few of the cases have been tossed out, several have yielded guilty pleas and others are headed to trial, said David Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgi! a. His o ffice would not disclose an exact number, however, because cases are still ongoing. In a statement, Nahmias denied claims that prosecutors intentionally targeted South Asian merchants and said attorneys were assessing each case on its own merits. [end]
Some may see a drug deal and think crime and punishment. The Minneapolis Fed is hoping that high school students will think cost-benefit ratio, black markets and marginal analysis. For its 18th annual essay contest, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is getting a little more provocative than such past topics as the floating exchange rate system and targeted incentives to businesses. Now it wants three pages from students residing in its district on the economics of illegal drugs. Its website bears a photo -- purchased from an image bank -- of a protypical drug exchange of goods for cash. [continues 264 words]
WASHINGTON - Just Say No is still the doctrine, but the FBI may decide it's OK that some applicants didn't heed Nancy Reagan's advice once or twice in college. Senior FBI managers have been deeply frustrated that they could not hire applicants who acknowledged occasional marijuana use in college, but in some cases already perform top-secret work at other government agencies. Some officials want to ease limits about how often - and how many years ago - applicants for jobs such as intelligence analysts, linguists, computer specialists, accountants and others had used illegal drugs. [continues 149 words]
Investigators cut down and destroyed 7,000 marijuana plants found Wednesday in a Steele County soybean field, denying dealers a potential $190,000 haul from the sale of the plants, authorities said. The discovery was one of the largest in recent years. "You could see them from the road, and eventually what happened was that there were people going out there and harvesting the plants, and that's how we got onto that they were there," said Sgt. Roger Schroeder of the Northfield Police Department and the unit commander of the South Central Drug Investigation Unit. [continues 60 words]
LONDON - Supermodel Kate Moss acknowledged to the Hennes & Mauritz clothing chain that tabloid allegations she recently used cocaine are true, an H&M spokeswoman said. Moss, who is to model one of H&M's upcoming clothing lines, apologized for her drug use and promised in writing to abide by a company policy that models be "healthy, wholesome and sound," spokeswoman Liv Asarnoj said. H&M decided to keep Moss on, Asarnoj told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the company's headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. [continues 121 words]
Marijuana Is Now The Drug Of Choice For Dealers In Minneapolis In the past year, police said, they've begun finding startling amounts of cannabis on the streets, probably because of its profitability, lighter jail sentences for violations and its social acceptance. Police have no doubt the resurgence of marijuana is one of the reasons serious reported crime in the city has increased 7.5 percent compared with this time last year. Many gangs, some of whom don't hesitate to use guns to settle turf issues, have switched exclusively to selling the drug. [continues 1001 words]
A high-grade marijuana grown hydroponically indoors. It's named for its original cultivation in British Columbia, though seeds are now shipped and grown anywhere. With special fertilizers, steroids and plant hormones, B.C. bud can be grown year-round. While home-grown marijuana in the 1970s contained about 2 percent THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), B.C. bud can contain as much as 25 percent of the potent chemical. [end]
October 2001: About $150,000 in Canadian currency was seized from a Canadian citizen who illegally entered the United States by crossing Rainy Lake near International Falls, Minn. The seizure was believed to be drug related. October 2002: About 10 pounds of marijuana was seized at a North Dakota border crossing by U.S. and Canadian officials. November 2002: A U.S. citizen illegally entered Minnesota from Canada by raft via the Rainy River. Ontario provincial police recovered about $100,000 near where the subject departed Canada. [continues 93 words]
BIRCHDALE, MINN. -- The grandmother showed up in this tiny Koochiching County town a day after the "For Sale" sign went up on the old Bauman place, a remote log cabin overlooking Rainy River and the Canadian border. The cabin needed work. But Gail Darwin, 63, who had come from California, called it a perfect place to retire. She put down $150,000 cash on the $250,000 asking price. Darwin told locals she had recently inherited money and ran an alternative health practice called the Earth Healing Institute. [continues 1481 words]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Jill Johnson, 21, paid a $600 fine after she tried to sneak a pipe and marijuana into a concert last summer, but she says she only occasionally smokes the drug and should not be denied college financial aid for doing so. "I think that I deserve to have money and be able to go to school ... I go back home to Elk River, and everybody's doing meth and they're doing coke and all this stuff," she said. "I mean, I've never touched it. I look at them, and I think they have a drug problem." [continues 888 words]
Daniel Otto and his girlfriend, Sherry Thompson, smoked marijuana and drank wine coolers with friends at his Bloomington townhouse on a recent June night. She snorted one of his Prozac tablets in an attempt to get high, but it didn't work for the teenage girl, who had experimented with Ecstasy and crack cocaine. Thompson, 15, begged her 16-year-old boyfriend to break into a lock box where his mother kept large dosages of methadone. He resisted at first, later telling police he was aware that the drug was dangerous. After he relented, Otto watched Thompson drink down the drug, throw up and fall asleep in the basement. [continues 736 words]
Illegal drug use, unlike assault or robbery, its usually neither malicious nor predatory. Drug offenses are typically born of addiction -- an illness that treatment can bring under control. Shunning those who have struggled with addiction is cruel and counterproductive. The case seems so clear it's hard to imagine anyone would shrug it off. Unfortunately, Congress has: Since 2000, its Higher Education Act has barred students with drug convictions from access to federal financial aid. So far, more than 160,000 students seeking federal aid have been turned away because they had drug records. It's a foolish law: Ample evidence shows that the surest shield against addiction relapse is a goal-oriented life -- the kind college pretty much guarantees. That's why addiction experts nationwide favor the ban's repeal. [continues 150 words]
Rep. John Kline is wrong when he characterizes the law that strips financial aid from students with drug convictions as "an incentive for students to seek help" (Letters from readers, July 21). While it is true that the law does allow some students to get their aid back if they take a qualified drug treatment program, many students find that private counseling is sometimes more expensive than college tuition itself. Does Kline really think that all students caught with a marijuana cigarette should be kicked out of college until they undergo an expensive treatment regimen? [continues 124 words]
