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"Change ahead for
drug cases" (Rachel Graves, The Houston
Chronicle, June 27, 2003) -- Thousands
of low-level drug offenders in Texas will now go to
treatment programs instead of state jails, a fundamental
change in prosecution that was sparked by inequities in
sentencing in Harris County. The Houston Chronicle
reported in December that local prosecutors sent 35,000
small-time drug offenders to state jails or prisons in
the past five years, a wildly disproportionate number
for the county's population. During hearings in Austin
this spring, state lawmakers grilled a Harris County
prosecutor over the imbalance.— ID# 6973
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"Arundel just says
no to anti-drug program" (Julie Bykowicz,
The Chicago Tribune,
June 30, 2003) -- So
ended Anne Arundel County's DARE anti-drug program, the
largest in the state, which is being eliminated as of
tomorrow. It reached more than 24,000 children this
school year -- triple the number of any other Maryland
county -- but fell victim to budget cutbacks and a
nationwide reassessment of DARE's effectiveness. In the
fall in the Baltimore-Washington area, only Baltimore
County, Washington and small portions of Carroll and
Harford counties will teach DARE, short for Drug Abuse
Resistance Education. Howard, Montgomery and Prince
George's counties cut the program recently, and
Baltimore City hasn't used it for years.— ID# 6954
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"Oceanside may pass
head shop ordinance" (Dana Littlefield,
The San Diego Union Tribune,
June 28, 2003) -- OCEANSIDE
– It may soon be illegal for anyone younger than 18 to
enter businesses here that sell or display tobacco along
with drug paraphernalia. The City Council is expected to
vote Wednesday on an ordinance intended to protect youth
from exposure to items like pipes and bongs – which
can be used for legal and illegal drugs – by keeping
them out of so-called head shops. There are at least
three such businesses in Oceanside, the city staff said.
The council voted unanimously to adopt the proposed
ordinance on its first reading June 18, but it has to go
through a second reading to become law. Wednesday's
meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 300 N.
Coast Highway.— ID# 6945
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"Health secretary Illegal drug consumption down
in Mexico" (The Associated Press, The
San Diego Union Tribune,
June 26, 2003) -- MEXICO
CITY – The consumption of illegal drugs in Mexico has
decreased in the past four years, although the number of
women who have tried drugs has gone up, Mexican
Secretary of Health Julio Frenk said Thursday. "In
1993, the percentage of people between the ages of 12
and 65 that consumed illegal drugs at some point in
their lives was 3.9 percent," Frenk said, citing
the results of the 2002 National Addictions Survey.
"Five years later, in 1998, this percentage had
increased to 5.3 percent. ... In 2002 the level fell
back to 5 percent.".— ID# 6944
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"School drug
penalties may change" (Brian Whitson,
The Daily Press,
June 28, 2003) -- JAMES
CITY -- Williamsburg-James City County school officials
are considering a softer approach to drug possession and
will vote Tuesday night on whether to ease the penalties
for students caught possessing drugs and alcohol on
school property. Under the proposed policy, first-time
offenders would be suspended for 11 days as opposed to
the current policy that calls for automatic expulsion. A
second offense of possession would result in expulsion.
The proposal also would require first-time offenders -
and their parents - to participate in a substance abuse
intervention program and exclude them from
extracurricular activities, not including graduation,
for 45 days. Failure to comply would result in a 45-day
suspension.— ID# 6947
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"Board slashes drug
treatment funding" (Wyatt Haupt,
The North County Times,
June 26, 2003) -- RIVERSIDE
---- In a move prompted by a cash shortage, the
Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday
approved cutting more than 50 percent of the money doled
out to drug treatment centers in the region for
operating a voter-approved rehabilitation program. The
23 treatment centers in the county that help administer
the programs spawned by Proposition 36 will receive $2
million for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which begins July
1. Last year, the county doled out about $4.4 million to
operate the programs. "The most direct impact we
will see are waiting lists for court-ordered
treatment," said John Ryan, county director of
mental health, who oversees the rehabilitation program.— ID#
6930
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"White House moves
to influence urban drug policies" (Todd
Zwillich, Reuters Health,
June 26, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
(Reuters Health) - The White House will soon begin
working directly with drug officials in large U.S.
cities in an effort to influence their substance abuse
programs and lower drug addiction rates, President
Bush's drug czar announced Thursday. The move is
intended to expose local officials to the latest proven
methods of cutting illegal drug use and to increase the
efficiency with which they use federal anti-drug funds,
said John P. Walters, director of the White House Office
of National Drug Control Policy..— ID# 6931
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"Most Euros in Germany Carry Cocaine Traces" (Reuters,
June 24, 2003) - BERLIN
(Reuters) - Almost all euro banknotes circulating in
Germany contain traces of cocaine, scientists said on
Wednesday, as notes rolled up by users to snort the
illegal drug contaminate the cash system. "Nine out
of 10 banknotes show clearly measurable amounts of
cocaine," Fritz Soergel from the Institute for
Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in Nuremberg told
Reuters on Wednesday. Some 600 euro notes were examined
in the study. The study could not provide conclusive
evidence on levels of cocaine usage in Germany and the
euro zone but Soergel said there was a clear correlation
between the findings and levels of recorded cocaine
abuse in European countries.— ID# 6937— (go
to article)
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"Housing crime in
retreat" (Brian Hazle,
The San Diego Union Tribune,
June 26, 2003) -- EL
CAJON – The apartment complex at 311 Ballantyne St.
across from Cajon Middle School was a legendary crime
hub overrun with dope dealers and gangs that drained law
enforcement resources for years. Police always seemed to
be there for something. Assault, burglary, drug sales,
auto theft and gang fights topped the list of crimes
common at the complex, known as the Center City
Apartments. "It was a dump," Mayor Mark Lewis
said. "A crime-ridden, roach-infested dump. We
thought about renumbering it 911." Brazen thugs
regularly bombarded cops with bottles and rocks from a
second-story walkway overlooking a center courtyard and
a mold-filled swimming pool.— ID# 6917
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"Saliva Swab May
Determine If Drivers Are Drug Impaired" (Tasha
Williams,
The Salt Lake Tribune,
June 17, 2003) -- "Shy-bladder
syndrome" won't spare impaired motorists from
taking drug tests, if a Utah police sergeant has his
way. Sgt. Dennis Simonson of the Logan Police Department
requested a $5,800 grant from the Commission on Criminal
and Juvenile Justice to launch the first pilot study in
the country using roadside saliva detection devices. The
new tool, RapiScan, which is manufactured by Cozart,
detects drugs in a driver's system using a saliva swab.
Saliva is an immediate sample of what is circulating in
a person's bloodstream, said Michael Beaubien, Cozart
vice president for North American operations. — ID#
6913
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"County seeks rehab
center cuts" (The North County Times,
June 24, 2003) -- RIVERSIDE
(AP) ---- The county is moving to slash funding that
puts drug abusers in rehabilitation facilities instead
of jail. Treatment centers expanded to handle the flow
of drug offenders under Proposition 36 are now laying
off counselors, halting admissions and drawing up long
waiting lists. The Coalition of Substance Abuse
Providers, a nine-member association of treatment
centers in Riverside County, said county officials have
blindsided it with funding cuts that could deny people
the help the law requires.— ID# 6909
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"Task force warns
of dangers of club drugs" (Shanna McCord,
The San Diego Union Tribune,
June 25, 2003) -- DEL
MAR – They have cute names like "Hug Drug,"
"Love Drug," and "Disco Biscuits."
But the synthetic drugs, taken by a growing number of
young people, can leave ugly consequences that last a
lifetime, members of the San Diego County Club Drug Task
Force said at a news conference yesterday morning at the
county fair. The event kicked off the task force's new
anti-drug campaign. "We know if kids are given the
right information about what the drugs can do to their
bodies, they will make the right decision," said
Liz Lebron, a member of the task force and a director
with the San Diego County Office of Education.
Yesterday's event included speakers and the unveiling of
posters and research done as part of a class project by
marketing students at San Diego State University. — ID#
6907
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"UN Sees Rapid Rise
in Amphetamine Use Worldwide" (Reuters,
The New York Times,
June 20, 2003) -- BANGKOK
(Reuters) - Around 1,000 drug barons, mostly in
Southeast Asia, are flooding global markets with
synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and speed as they switch
from heroin and cocaine production, a top United Nations
anti-drugs official said. Sandro Calvani, head of the
U.N. anti-drug office for Asia and the Pacific, told
Reuters the world's primary source of amphetamine-type
stimulants -- known by enforcers as ATS -- was Southeast
Asia. He said Myanmar was the biggest producer of speed,
which was smuggled mainly to China, Thailand, Australia,
Japan and Korea. Indonesia was a haven for ecstasy
makers, although not as big a producer as the
Netherlands.— ID# 6883
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"Drug law reform
falters" (Elizabeth Benjamin,
The Albany Times Union,
June 20, 2003) -- Albany
--A Rockefeller Drug Law reform agreement appeared
remote Thursday night, much to the dismay of hip-hop
mogul Russell Simmons and others who thought they had
reached a deal with the governor and state legislative
leaders in a seven-hour negotiating session the night
before. Republican Gov. George Pataki, Senate Majority
Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said they had made progress
during the marathon meeting with Simmons that began
Wednesday evening and dragged on past 1 a.m. Thursday.— ID#
6884
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"No skirting of
Prop. 36 language, court rules" (The San Diego Union
Tribune,
June 20, 2003) -- SAN
FRANCISCO – California judges can't override the
language of Proposition 36 by granting treatment to
low-level drug offenders who have recent criminal
histories, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The
justices, in their first ruling on the 2000
voter-approved initiative, said the electorate's will
must be followed. That means drug offenders who have
committed felonies and were in prison within five years
of a narcotics arrest aren't qualified for leniency
under the measure, the justices said. "We believe
our holding best accords with the ballot summary,
argument and analysis of Proposition 36 distributed to
voters," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the
unanimous court.— ID# 6873
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"Court Rejects
Challenge to Loitering Law" (Charles
Lane,The Washington Post,
June 16, 2003) -- The
Supreme Court upheld a controversial anti-crime policy
in Richmond's public housing projects today, ruling
unanimously that putting the streets and sidewalks of
the complexes off-limits to nonresidents does not
violate the constitutional right to free speech.
Richmond's authorities, supported in the case by public
housing officials elsewhere who are also looking for new
ways to contain drug-related crime, said their policy
was a creative means to stop violence in low-income
housing -- most of which, they said, was caused by
outsiders.— ID# 6863
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"Police to offer
drug test kits to parents" (Kara Richardson, The
Lansing State Journal,
June 11, 2003) -- Lansing
police will provide mid-Michigan parents with drug tests
they can give to their children. Sgt. Linda
Doherty-Wright will provide the kits through a statewide
early intervention program called Law Enforcement
Against Drugs. "Nobody wants to think that their
kid is using (drugs) but there's so much more peer
pressure out there and drugs are more readily accessible
nowadays," Doherty-Wright said. "Kids just
make some bad choices sometimes." The urine tests
can screen for drugs including cocaine, marijuana,
Ecstasy, methamphetamine, morphine and PCP. There is a
separate test for alcohol.— ID# 6852
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"State announces
driver safety program for farm workers" (Erin Walsh, The
Sacramento Bee,
June 13, 2003) -- FRESNO,
Calif. (AP) - A new state program announced Thursday
aims to educate farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley
about the dangers of driving without seatbelts or under
the influence of alcohol and drugs. The state Office of
Traffic Safety is funding the bilingual "Farm
Workers Transportation Safety Program" through a $1
million federal grant to the California Department of
Transportation. The program will target an estimated
400,000 growers, labor contractors and farm workers in
Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties.— ID# 6819
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"Study shows
anti-drug ads targeting teens make an impact" (The
Sacramento Bee,
June 13, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
(AP) - If kids watch them often enough, ads warning
about the dangers of smoking pot or taking Ecstacy can
persuade them to stay away from drugs, according to a
study released by an advocacy group Thursday. A survey
of teens conducted for the Partnership for a Drug Free
America found kids who see or hear anti-drug ads at
least once a day are less likely to do drugs than
youngsters who don't see or hear ads frequently. Teens
who got a daily dose of the anti-drug message were
nearly 40 percent less likely to try methamphetamine and
about 30 percent less likely to use Ecstacy, the study
found.— ID# 6820
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"U.S. Border Towns
Eye Canadian Pot Plan" (The
New York Times,
June 13, 2003) --
SWANTON, Vt. (AP) -- Some
of Nicole Cook's classmates in this town less than 10
miles from the Canadian border already head north on
weekends because it's legal for 18-year-olds to drink in
Quebec. And as the Canadian government debates whether
to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana, Cook worries such a move would encourage more
teens to head north. ``I think it's a massive danger
because I've heard of so many people and I know of so
many people that have gone to Canada and done that and
come back and gotten in car accidents and stuff,'' said
Cook, 17, a student at Missisquoi Valley Union High
School.— ID# 6821
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"Miami targets
eateries selling drugs, women" (Carolyn
Salazar, The Miami Herald,
June 13, 2003) -- ''These
are not your regular lounges,'' said Mario Garcia, a
police major in Miami's South District. ``These are
cafeterias that are operating as nightclubs, bars or,
excuse my language, bordellos because there is lots of
prostitution going on.'' On Thursday, Miami city
commissioners voted unanimously to crack down on these
so-called cafeterias by tightening the city's liquor
laws and closing loopholes. No one spoke in opposition.
The ordinance restricts the sale of alcohol in
cafeterias and coffee shops from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on
weekdays and Saturday, and from noon to 10 p.m. on
Sundays.— ID# 6825
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"Supreme Court
Rejects Drug-Free Neighborhood Law" (Yahoo
News,
June 9, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web
sites) let stand on Monday a ruling that struck down
a Cincinnati law that sought to create a
"drug-exclusion zone" by banning anyone
arrested or convicted of certain drug offenses from a
high-crime neighborhood. Without comment, the high court
rejected an appeal by the city defending the 1996
ordinance. The justices declined to review a U.S.
appeals court ruling that the law violated the
constitutional right to freedom of association and
movement. The ordinance targeted the "Over the
Rhine" neighborhood near Cincinnati's central
business district. Anyone arrested for certain drug
crimes could be banned from the streets, sidewalks or
other public areas for 90 days while those convicted
could be barred for one year.— ID# 6782
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"Lawmakers
rebuff White House in drug control bill" ( Reuters
Health,
June 6, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
(Reuters Health) - Lawmakers approved national drug
control legislation Thursday after stripping out
provisions allowing the White House to use federal
dollars to campaign in the media against efforts to
legalize marijuana for medicinal use. The House
Committee on Government Reform voted to approve the
strategy by a near-unanimous vote, a week after a
disagreement over how to use the national $1 billion in
anti-drug media campaign funds delayed its
consideration. The bill originally contained language
allowing the director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to buy anti-medical
marijuana advertisements with money from the national
youth anti-drug media campaign.— ID# 6768
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"House
panel opposes federal ads against municipal marijuana
efforts" (Larry
Margasak,
The Sacramento Bee
June 5, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
(AP) - Republicans and Democrats agreed Thursday that
the Bush administration shouldn't buy advertising to
oppose state and local campaigns aimed at easing
marijuana penalties. The agreement became part of
legislation that would keep the White House anti-drug
office in business for another five years. The House
Government Reform Committee approved the bill by a voice
vote. The committee also dropped a Republican proposal
that would move some drug enforcement money from state
and local police agencies and give it to federal
departments in states that legalized marijuana for
medical use.— ID# 6771
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"Movement Seen for Change on Rockefeller Drug
Laws" (Al Baker, The New
York Times, June 4, 2003) -- ALBANY,
June 3 — An effort to revise the Rockefeller-era drug
laws picked up momentum today as New York's governor and
two top legislative leaders sought to find middle ground
on the issue, which has only led to quarrels in the
past. Russell Simmons, the hip-hop businessman who has
emerged as a leading advocate for changing the mandatory
penalties for drug crimes, which many view as too
strict, traveled to the capital today to meet with
legislative leaders to press for changes. On Wednesday
in New York City, a rally is planned in City Hall Park
by other members of the coalition seeking changes in the
laws, including Andrew M. Cuomo, who ran unsuccessfully
for governor last year. Mr. Cuomo said it would feature
speeches by 35 elected officials, grass-roots advocates
and entertainers, including Carly Simon and the hip-hop
artist 50 Cent.Mr. Cuomo said the broad coalition, known
as "Countdown to Fairness," had created more
awareness and political pressure about the issue than
ever before.— ID# 6764
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"A sensible
approach to sentences for drugs" (Bud
Kennedy, The Star Telegram, June 3, 2003) -- The
Texas Legislature may have done something right after
all. In a last-minute flurry of frenzied lawmaking, the
Legislature passed bills that would, among other things,
outlaw smuggling a cactus and toughen the punishment for
attacking a sports referee or athlete. Does this mean no
more folding-chair sneak attacks in wrestling?
Seriously, though, this much-doubted Legislature has
decided that -- if the governor agrees -- first-time
drug offenders will no longer go to state prison.
They'll go see a doctor.— ID#
6754
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"Dutch marijuana
joints take a hit from smoking ban" (Andrew
Conaway, Reuters Health,
May 29, 2003) -- AMSTERDAM
(Reuters Health) - Dutch "coffee shops" famous
for selling marijuana could see business go up in smoke,
as it seems the drug will be included in an upcoming ban
on workplace smoking. The 2002 Tobacco Law
requires all employers in the Netherlands next year to
provide a smoke-free work environment for their staff.
Due to get government approval soon, the law aims to
protect employees of all companies from second-hand
smoke. Although cannabis is formally illegal in the
Netherlands, its use and sale are tolerated under strict
government conditions. Coffee shops, where customers can
buy a small amount of cannabis without fear of arrest,
are a major tourist draw. — ID# 6736
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"Do student drug
tests work?" (The Chicago Tribune,
May 29, 2003) -- Adults
have tried a lot of different methods to discourage
teenagers from using drugs. One of the more popular
ideas of recent years is random drug testing of public
school students involved in sports or extracurricular
activities. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a
constitutional challenge of such testing, with the
majority of the justices calling it "a reasonably
effective means of addressing the school district's
legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and
detecting drug use."But is it? Intuition suggests
that if students fear being caught using illicit drugs,
testing would be a deterrent.— ID# 6738
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"Canada may bag tough marijuana penalties" (Tim
Jones, The Chicago Union Tribune, May 28, 2003) --
OTTAWA -- The Canadian
government said Tuesday that it proposes to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana,
a tacit admission that Canada's inconsistent criminal
prosecution of marijuana users has failed. The
legislation, which would relax penalties to the status
of a traffic fine, threatens to further damage strained
diplomatic relations with the White House. U.S.
officials express concern that the proposed law would
increase the flow of marijuana crossing the largely
unprotected 5,500-mile border that separates the two
countries.— ID# 6720
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"Amphetamine use rises in workplace" (Del
Jones, USA Today, May 27, 2003) --
While overall drug use in
the workplace is trending down, use of amphetamines —
including the highly addictive methamphetamine — is
rising, according to drug tests on employees and job
applicants. Cocaine remains the white-collar stimulant
of choice, but its use is slowing in an apparent switch
to a newer, potent and highly addictive generation of
amphetamines. Millions of drug tests show amphetamine
use jumped 17% in 2002 and is up 70% in the past five
years. The rise is documented in the annual index out
today from Quest Diagnostics, which performed 5.7
million workplace drug tests in 2002 in addition to 1.2
million mandatory tests on truck drivers, airline pilots
and other safety-sensitive workers. — ID#
6713
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"Residents monitoring needle exchange" (Jeff
McDonald, The San Diego Union Tribune, May 25, 2003) --
The heroin addicts might
not know it, but when they show up in North Park to
trade dirty needles for clean ones, some of their
better-heeled neighbors are staked out across the
street, watching closely and sometimes tracking them on
videotape. As health care workers park their aging
camper and wait for customers, the persistent group of
residents gathers to monitor the weekly exchange that
has driven a sharp wedge into the community. It has
become an unwelcome standoff playing out from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. on Fridays counselors meeting hard-core drug
users in a vacant, uneven parking lot while, on the
sidewalk a stone's toss away, worried homeowners
document every encounter.— ID# 6704
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"Drug testing in schools Can it cause harm?" (Howard
Taras, The San Diego Union Tribune, May 22, 2003) --
Many schools and districts
are performing drug tests or are considering drug
screens for students entering competitive sports, other
physical extracurricular activities such as school band
and cheerleading, and non-active, extracurricular
activities such as chess club or the debate team. A
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling permits this to occur.
Local school districts need not adopt this practice,
however, and states are still permitted to disallow this
practice to protect individual rights within the state's
constitution. Where student drug testing is currently
practiced, students testing positive are typically
excluded from their desired extracurricular activity
until they are cleared with another screen.— ID#
6701
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"Maryland governor signs medical marijuana bill
into law" (Angela Potter, The San Diego Union Tribune, May 22, 2003) --
BALTIMORE – Refusing to
bend to pressure from the Bush administration,
Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed a bill Thursday
that reduces criminal penalties for seriously ill people
who smoke marijuana. Ehrlich is the first GOP governor
to sign a bill protecting medical marijuana patients
from jail, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.
The Bush administration had pressed him to veto the
measure. Ehrlich had indicated his support for the bill
early on as a way to help people with chronic illnesses
ease their pain. — ID# 6700
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"GOP Wants to Redistribute Anti-Drug Money" (Larry
Margasak, Yahoo News, May 22, 2003) -- WASHINGTON
- House Republicans want to move drug enforcement money
from state and local police officers to federal agents
in states that have legalized marijuana for medical use.
The GOP-sponsored legislation would also allow the Bush
administration's drug policy office to launch an
advertising campaign to deliver the message that
marijuana should not be legalized. Both provisions were
initiated by Congress, but they clearly reflect the Bush
administration's desire to strictly enforce marijuana
laws. Federal law does not permit legalization for
medical use, although eight states allow it. The overall
legislation would keep the Office of National Drug
Control Policy in business another five years.— ID#
6694
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"Authorities Hopeful Of New Drug Enforcement Bill" (Yahoo
News, May 20, 2003) --
Honolulu police said Monday
that they have a powerful new tool to combat the crystal
methamphetamine, or ice, epidemic in Hawaii. The
governor signed the so-called "ice-buster
bill" into law Monday. So far this year, police on
Oahu said they have executed 143 search warrants for
drugs offenses at residential homes. Lawmakers said
Honolulu has the highest per capita use of ice in the
nation. Police and lawmakers assembled at the Honolulu
Police Department's main station to herald the law.
— ID# 6671
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"Canada Parts With U.S. on Drugs Policies" (Clifford
Krauss, The New York Times, May 17, 2003) --
In the heart of the
Downtown Eastside, where the back alleys are shooting
galleries for heroin junkies using dirty needles, a
long-abandoned storefront recently reopened with a
handmade sign out front showing a clenched fist
clutching a syringe and the words "Safer Injection
Site." In the last three weeks, up to 25 drug users
have come here every night to shoot heroin and cocaine
into their veins. They are supervised by a registered
nurse, who dispenses fresh needles, swabs, sterile water
to cook the drugs and advice on how to maintain veins.
The operation is technically illegal but is condoned by
the new mayor, Larry W. Campbell. He was elected in
November by a landslide on a platform of more treatment
for addicts, more thorough law enforcement and regulated
injection sites.— ID# 6660
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"Study Finds No Sign That Testing Deters Students'
Drug Use" (Greg Winter, The New York Times, May
17, 2003) --
Drug testing in schools
does not deter student drug use any more than doing no
screening at all, the first large-scale national study
on the subject has found. The United States Supreme
Court has twice empowered schools to test for drugs —
first among student athletes in 1995, then for those in
other extracurricular activities last year. Both times,
it cited the role that screening plays in combating
substance abuse as a rationale for impinging on whatever
privacy rights students might have. But the new
federally financed study of 76,000 students nationwide,
by far the largest to date, found that drug use is just
as common in schools with testing as in those without
it.— ID# 6661
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"Officials reject needle exchange program again" (Rob
O'Dell, The North County
Times, May 13, 2003) -- A fourth try at
creating a needle exchange program for intravenous drug
users was narrowly defeated by the county Board of
Supervisors on Tuesday. By the same 3-2 vote, the board
also voted to oppose a state bill that would allow
needles to be sold at pharmacies without a prescription.
The contentious needle-exchange issue, which was debated
several times over the last year, pitted the philosophy
of those in law enforcement against those in the
county's health agency. County health officials, led by
Director Gary Feldman, have persistently pushed the
program, contending that it is desperately needed to
stop the spread of hepatitis C and AIDS through the
sharing of needles.— ID# 6653
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"Board to revive needle debate" (Rob
O'Dell,
The North County
Times, May 13, 2003) -- The
county Board of Supervisors will today revive a
contentious debate over whether the county should begin
a needle-exchange program for intravenous drug users.
But the proposal by the county Department of
Environmental Health has received a chilly response from
several supervisors, and it is one of the only issues
that tends to split the generally unified board. The
board has considered the issue three times over the past
year, and each time the board decided to delay a
decision to get more information.— ID# 6645
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"Canada's plan to allow pot possession causes U.S.
rift" (Donna Leinwand,
USA Today, May 7, 2003) --
The Bush administration is
hinting that it could make it more difficult for
Canadian goods to get into this country if Canada's
Parliament moves ahead with a proposal to drop criminal
penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The proposal, part of an effort to overhaul Canada's
anti-drug policies, essentially would treat most
marijuana smokers there the same as people who get
misdemeanor traffic tickets. Violators would be ticketed
and would have to pay a small fine, but they no longer
would face jail time.— ID# 6626
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"For sensible marijuana policy, try heading north" (The
Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2003) --
Among American
officeholders, there are two points of view about the
drug war. Some are for it, while others are really,
really for it. In Canada, though, Prime Minister Jean
Chretien has said something no American politician would
ever say Marijuana users should no longer be treated
like criminals. Given Canada's opposition to American
policy on Iraq, you may wonder why those puzzling people
up north are so out of step on everything. Maybe there's
a reason they put the loon on their coins.— ID#
6619
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"Medical marijuana law a mistake" (Libba
Jackson D'Ambrosi, The San Diego Union Tribune, May
6, 2003) -- Your
article on the sentencing of Steve McWilliams
("Marijuana activist sentenced to prison,"
April 29) has some serious deficits that tend to paint
McWilliams as a victim of the feds. You fail to mention
that police confiscated 448 plants from McWilliams in
l999. That's not advocacy, that's possession, and that's
what got him in court. California and now San Diego law
on medical use of marijuana is unworkable. — ID#
6604
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"Harder times for meth makers" (Steve
Wiegand, The Sacramento Bee, May 4, 2003) --
A new law in Canada and
heightened anti-terrorism security may be putting the
squeeze on methamphetamine manufacturing in the Central
Valley, law enforcement officials say -- and squeezing
it into neighboring countries. Federal and state drug
agency sources also say there is increasing evidence of
links between meth trafficking in California and the
financing of Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. The
Canadian law, which went into effect in January after
more than a decade of discussion, requires licenses for
people who import, export, buy or sell pseudoephedrine.
The synthetic chemical compound is used mainly in cold
and allergy medicines and is a key ingredient in the
production of meth. Pseudoephedrine is heavily regulated
in the United States. Before January, however, and much
to the chagrin of American police, it was relatively
easy to obtain in Canada.— ID# 6588
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"Crackdown aimed at methamphetamine problem
clashes with retailers" (David A. Lieb, The
San Diego Union Tribune, Apr 18, 2003) --
Pharmacist Greg Mitchell is
used to people coming in to his pharmacy and asking for
boxes of Sudafed. They don't care about dosages or side
effects and they show no signs of a cold. Mitchell knows
they are either helping drug dealers or dealing drugs
themselves because the decongestant is a key ingredient
in making the highly addictive and illegal stimulant
methamphetamine. "They just want to buy the stuff
in quantities and go," says Mitchell, who now
refuses to sell more than one package at a time from his
pharmacy in Lexington, 35 miles east of Kansas City.— ID#
6510
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"Methadone-related
deaths increasing in county" (Jo Moreland, The
North County Times, Apr 14, 2003) -- Although
the number of methadone-related deaths doubled last year
in the county, officials said this week that it is too
soon to know if the increase is part of a national trend
that has caused concern among federal health officials.
"We keep track of all of these trends and try to
respond to them as needed," said Bill Crane,
prevention services coordinator for the Alcohol and Drug
Services section of the county's Department of Health
and Human Services. "Because the (methadone) blip
is real small, there's no specific effort that we're
doing other than watching the data."— ID# 6477
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"To Fight Meth
Labs, Missouri Targets Cold Pills" (Stephanie
Simon, The Los Angeles Times, , Apr
14, 2003) -- Desperate
to halt a soaring drug problem in rural Missouri, state
lawmakers are weighing severe restrictions on sales of
common over-the-counter cold medications, such as
Sudafed, that can be used to make methamphetamine. The
House last week passed the toughest legislation in the
nation regulating pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient
in most nasal decongestants. The bill, now under
consideration by the Senate, would limit customers to
two boxes of medication per transaction. More
controversial still, the bill would require stores to
keep nasal decongestants behind the counter or within 6
feet of the cash register, or to tag each box with an
anti-theft device.— ID# 6470
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"The problem with
NIMBY" (Kelly Davis, The San
Diego City Beat, Mar 26, 2003) -- A study
released earlier this month by the Little Hoover
Commission, an independent state advisory committee
charged with examining California's public health and
welfare systems points a finger at San Diego County in a
brief, yet eyegrabbing sidebar embedded within the
80page report. The study, which examines the efficacy of
the state's substance abuse treatment programs, targets
San Diego County for making it tough to provide
muchneeded services to the area's share of the 2.3
million Californians addicted to drugs or alcohol.— ID#
6451
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"Meth still a problem locally" (John
Hall, The North County Times, Apr
6, 2003) -- Even as inroads are being
made in the local war on methamphetamine, recently
released statistics reveal that "speed" is
still a problem in Riverside and San Bernardino
counties. Within the law-enforcement community, the
Inland Empire is commonly called the "source
country" for meth because such a large percentage
of the illicit drug is manufactured and used here. Since
1999, nearly one of every 10 meth labs seized across
America was in the Riverside and San Bernardino area,
officials say.— ID# 6444
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"Baja drug trends shift" (Anna
Cearley, The San Diego Union Tribune, Apr
7, 2003) -- Thick black smoke curled
into the sky as chunks of marijuana collapsed into ash
in a bonfire at a Mexican military base in Baja
California. The state's top-ranking federal prosecutor,
Arturo Guevara Valenzuela, watched solemnly from a
tented table with federal agents at his side. Soldiers
poked the fire and passed around sandwiches and cookies.
In cities throughout Baja California, federal
authorities routinely burn confiscated drugs at events
such as this one last month. The burnings are intended
to show the public that the drugs are being destroyed,
but they also provide a rare glimpse into the results of
Mexico's drug-fighting effort.— ID# 6443
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"Swift justice" (Anna
Cearley, The San Diego Union Tribune, Apr
2, 2003) -- From a cramped office near
the international border, Municipal Judge Minerva
Berttolini Lizarraga doled out justice in 5-minute
increments. One by one, the alleged troublemakers were
delivered to her by the police. Many of them were
plucked from the popular tourist area around Avenida
Revolucion, a favorite drinking spot not just for young
Americans but also for some Mexicans. The suspects were
accused of smoking dope, harassing people or jaywalking,
common violations that police expect will increase as
U.S. college students make their spring break
pilgrimages to Mexico.— ID# 6442
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"Oceanside should draw the line" (John
Byrom, The North County Times, Apr
1, 2003) -- When a head shop ---- a business
specializing in drug paraphernalia ---- opened across
the street from a public high school, Los Angeles City
Councilman Jack Weiss was appalled. "I was shocked
when I learned someone would have the audacity to open a
head shop across the street from a school, and then I
was doubly shocked when I learned that this was
legal," Weiss told the Los Angeles Times. The Los
Angeles City Council passed an ordinance in August 2002
that prevents any new business that sells or displays
drug paraphernalia from opening within 500 feet of a
school, religious institution, public library or public
park. And it prohibits minors from entering any business
that sells or displays drug paraphernalia.— ID# 6433
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