Free Republic

August 16, 2006 -- A potent, noxious gas odor - first noticed in the waters off Bayonne, N.J. - wafted to the shores of Staten Island and Queens yesterday, sickening at least 21 people and prompting hundreds more to frantically call 911... But Bayonne fire officials said they checked ... and said... "It wasn't us".

The use of injected drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine and steroids is at an all-time high for high school seniors statewide, according to a survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. The number of students injecting drugs has increased from 1.8 percent in 2001 to 2.2 percent in 2006. Statistics for the northeast part of Indiana, which includes Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties, mirrored the statewide average. “I was surprised by the injected drug use that was elevated by 12th-graders,” said Ruth Gassman, executive director of the center. Rich Beck, chief of...

A Nashville judge is calling the state's tax on illegal drugs "unconstitutional". The levy took effect in 2005 and applies to substances like cocaine, crack, methamphetamine and marijuana. Chancellor Richard Dinkins says the tax violates the defendants' right against self incrimination and to due process and is levied long before the accused stands trial. The ruling stopped the state from collecting more than one million dollars from Jeremy Robbins, who is one of at least eight people accused of moving two tons of marijuana from Arizona to East Tennessee. The ruling applies only to the Robbins case; legal experts say...

Fentanyl-laced heroin found in Ohio Mansfield, Columbus labs identify fatal combo Friday, June 16, 2006 Margaret Harding THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH MANSFIELD, Ohio — The deadly mix of drugs that has killed addicts in Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia has reached Ohio. Mansfield police have identified the powerful prescription painkiller fentanyl in six of the last 10 batches of heroin confiscated by police. Mansfield police laboratory director Anthony Tambasco said he decided to start looking for fentanyl after hearing about the deaths in Detroit just before Memorial Day. Authorities there have confirmed 100 fentanyl/heroin deaths. Another 60 were confirmed in the Chicago...

If there is a list of words to exclude from a politician's official campaign biography, it's a fair bet that “heroin” is on it. And yet, there it is, bearing its baggage of addiction, shame and despair, in the first sentence of Clifford W. Thornton Jr.'s description of who he is and why he believes he should be governor. Thornton is the Green Party's candidate for governor, and, as he tells it, the only one of the four seeking the job who will try to tackle the single most important issue facing Connecticut's cities and the state at large: “No...

A new La Crosse County ordinance would send criminal charges up in smoke for low-risk offenders busted with under 25 grams — a little less than an ounce — of marijuana. At a Thursday meeting, the county board voted 15-12 to pass the ordinance, which would send first-time offenders away with a citation and fine instead of a misdemeanor charge. The vote followed nearly two hours of debate that included testimony from the district attorney, a judge and the county sheriff — and a few moments of levity that would please Cheech and Chong. District Attorney Scott Horne argued against...

Switzerland's policy of offering heroin addicts substitution treatment with methadone or buprenorphine has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich, according to a paper published in this week's issue of The Lancet. Switzerland has implemented various policies to try and reduce harm to dependent heroin users, including needle-exchange services, low-threshold methadone programmes, and heroin-assisted treatments. However, critics say that these policies may lead to a growing number of new drug users and lengthen the period of heroin addiction. To investigate, Carlos Nordt and Rudolf Stohler from the Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland analysed data...

Hydro, more potent and more expensive than regular grass, is sold mostly to the affluent, but police fear rise in violence, crime if youth start using Israel Police have waged a war on the distribution of Hydro, a more potent and more expensive type of marijuana that is sweeping the local drug market. Dubbed by police as “death grass,” Hydro goes for about NIS 500 (USD 110) per 10 grams (0.35 ounces), compared with regular marijuana which is sold for NIS 600 (USD 133) per kilo. The high price of Hydro is mainly due to the high cost of growing...

Prague- Several thousands of people attended the annual gathering in support of marijuana legalisation at Prague's Letna plain, which was preceded by their march through Prague streets. The march and the gathering, where music and dance prevailed, was part of the international Marijuana March event. The police estimated the number of the participants at 2,000. For the first time this year, the Prague meeting included not only a concert but a march through Prague. Its participants want marijuana to be approached in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, and that its medical use be allowed. The marching advocates of...

SCOTTISH police officers have sparked anger after calling for the legalisation of all drugs - including heroin and cocaine. The Strathclyde Police Federation has called for a dramatic change of direction in the battle on drugs crime, and the issue will be debated later this month. The body, which represents 7000 officers, is set to argue that all drugs should be licensed in the same way as cigarettes and alcohol. Officers claim this would cut drug deaths and divert police resources to other crime-fighting priorities. It is the first time that an organisation representing officers has made such a demand....

GRANVILLE -- Marijuana is about as harmless as a cup of coffee but far less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco, an advocate for changes in marijuana laws told a Denison University audience of about 200 Tuesday night. Allen F. St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, often used the alcohol analogy to make his points favoring general decriminalization of marijuana. St. Pierre, 40, drew a curious contrast between the friendly neighborhood bartender pouring a beer and "pushers" who sell marijuana. "There is no functional difference between a bartender and a drug dealer," he...

Cocaine, marijuana, heroin and LSD - all of these drugs are illegal to possess, produce or traffic in the United States of America. Yet, tobacco, alcohol and various other over the counter drugs are legal in the United States. Why, I ask? I do not understand why certain drugs are illegal in America, and why other drugs that are just as dangerous and addictive are legally and socially accepted. This country currently spends tens of billions of dollars each year trying to prevent drugs from entering the country. At the same time, billions of dollars are spent on advertisements promoting...

To Bruce Mirken, denying people in need of marijuana is absurd -if they need it for medical reasons, he believes they should have it. Mirken, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, may see this vision become a reality if the Illinois medical marijuana bill is passed through the General Assembly. The bill, which was passed by the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee by a 6-4 vote last week, would legalize the use of medical marijuana. "It's simply crazy that we threaten patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis or AIDS with arrest or jail for something that may...

Economist Milton Friedman predicted in Newsweek nearly 34 years ago that Richard Nixon's ambitious "global war against drugs" would be a failure. Much evidence today suggests that he was right. But the war rages on with little mainstream challenge of its basic weapon, prohibition. To be sure, Mr. Friedman wasn't the only critic. William Buckley's National Review declared a decade ago that the U.S. had "lost" the drug war, bolstering its case with testimony from the likes of Joseph D. McNamara, a former police chief in Kansas City, Mo., and San Jose, Calif. But today discussion of the war's depressing...

Police: Child Left In Car With Drugs Mother Faces ChargesPOSTED: 4:32 pm EST February 17, 2006 A mother is facing charges for leaving her 2-year-old daughter unattended in a car while she was inside a bar drinking, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. Officers responded to the Catalina Bar in Orion Township on Thursday evening and found a 2-year-old girl asleep in a car seat of a black 1999 Mercury Mountaineer. Next to the child was a plastic bag of marijuana, police said. Rhonda Louise Shepard, 32, of Troy, admitted to police that she left her child in the...

Spending billions in taxpayer dollars with no clear progress? Inserting government agents into Americans' private lives? Holding a million men and women in prison for what are mostly nonviolent crimes? Please, how does any of that promote the values that principled conservatives hold dear? None of it does, of course. But now, seemingly all of a sudden, people on the left aren't the only ones expressing doubts about America's war on (some) drugs. Some of America's most energized conservatives - activists and intellectuals on the right - are openly asking, "Isn't there a better way to deal with drug abuse...

Setting up a conflict with the Romney administration, lawmakers on Monday advanced a longstanding Beacon Hill proposal to decriminalize the possession of enough marijuana for teens to roll dozens of joints. Approved 6-1 by the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, the proposal would change the penalty for possessing marijuana to a $250 civil fine for anyone caught with less than an ounce of the drug, regardless of age. In addition, parents of those 18 years and younger would be notified of the infraction. Currently, someone convicted of such an offense can be sent to jail for up to six...

Conservatives never cease to fascinate me, given their professed devotion to “freedom, free enterprise, and limited government” and their ardent support of policies that violate that principle. One of the most prominent examples is the drug war. In fact, if you’re ever wondering whether a person is a conservative or a libertarian, a good litmus-test question is, How do you feel about the war on drugs? The conservative will respond, “Even though I believe in freedom, free enterprise, and limited government, we’ve got to continue waging the war on drugs.” The libertarian will respond, “End it. It is an immoral...

Marijuana Bill Fails in Legislature Alaska -- A House bill in the Alaska State Legislature aimed at curbing methamphetamine production was struck down by a 23-15 vote after merging with a marijuana bill in the Senate Feb. 1. House Bill 149 was a bipartisan attempt to address the growing problems of meth production through tougher penalties and regulation of the selling of pseudoephedrine, a major ingredient in meth that is found in many over-the-counter cold medications. Had the bill passed, it would have nullified a 1975 Raven decision, which made it legal for adults to possess marijuana in their homes...

Proponents of a petition legalizing small amounts of marijuana launched their campaign Tuesday, recruiting volunteers, serving snacks and urging Nevada voters to support a "tax-and-regulate" proposal on the November ballot. "Our marijuana laws don't work," said Neal Levine, executive director of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana. The group is largely funded by the Washington D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. This is the latest in a string of legalization efforts backed by the group. In 2002, Nevada voters overwhelmingly rejected a petition that would have legalized up to 3 ounces of marijuana. A similar petition failed to qualify for the...