North Carolina

News

State Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, introduced a bill this week that would significantly increase the amount of marijuana a person could have in his or her possession for personal use before being charged with a misdemeanor or felony.

Her son was supposed to die 13 years ago. She'll never stop fighting for him. Doctors predicted Jackson Helms would die by the time he was 6.

President Barack Obama on Thursday commuted the 20-year prison sentenced imposed on Richard Ruiz Montes, convicted in 2008 for his role in the Modesto's pot-dealing California Healthcare Collective.

A Pew Research Center survey of nearly 8,000 police officers finds that more than two-thirds of them say that marijuana use should be legal for either personal or medical use.

Letters

Are you tired of hearing about the "opioid epidemic" ? Me too! As long as we have a "war on drugs" and draconian drug laws, we will continue to have drug epidemics. The answer is as simple as it is shocking to most people...legalize all drugs for all adults.

It's reported our teachers are underpaid and other state employees are having issues with pay and health insurance.

I agree with Jorge Castaneda's Nov. 12 column "Mexico's marijuana legalization could ease drug war." It is time to legalize marijuana and end the war on drugs not only in Mexico but here in the United States. This terrible war has caused thousands to be killed in Mexico, and Mexican society has been ripped apart.

The op/ed on mass incarceration (StarNews, Aug. 8) points out the fact that the United States jails people at a much higher rate than even China or Russia. It states that this is due to the war on drugs and "tough-on-crime" policies, and that black males are imprisoned at more than six times the rate of white males. All true, but what it fails to add is that mass incarceration has created a new class of millions of "untouchables" (prisoners and those who have served their time), who are denied basic rights and who can be legally discriminated against. Once you enter the system, you become part of a permanent underclass -- poor, powerless and mostly black and brown.

The marijuana plant possesses an extensive history of human use dating back thousands of years, thus providing society with ample empirical evidence as to its relative safety and efficacy ("Our View: Medical marijuana should be allowed in North Carolina," June 1). Moreover, cannabis and its compounds are among some of the most well-studied biologically active substances of modern times. A search on PubMed, the repository for all peer-reviewed scientific papers, using the term "marijuana," yields more than 20,000 scientific papers referencing the plant and/or its constituents, nearly half of which have been published just within the past decade.

I understand The N&O's desire to present all sides of an issue, but sometimes science and facts override "fairness." The June 9 letter "No medicinal purpose" regarding medical marijuana was so full of misinformation and factually incorrect statements that it bears a response.

Poor, miserable, depressed people take drugs. That's the way it always has been and that's the way it always will be. It's a fact of modern life. Our solution to this situation is a "war on drugs." The reality is that it's not a war on drugs, it's a war against people. There is no doubt that the government has the right and obligation to regulate the sales of addictive, destructive and deadly substances. However, it should not come as a surprise that people will possess these substances regardless of sales regulations. It should not be a crime. By eliminating "possession" laws, the biggest point of contention between citizens and the police would be effectively removed. It really is nobody's business what "substance" an otherwise law-abiding citizen may have in their possession, even to the police. The police should really have no business searching people's bodies and effects for these substances. It's ludicrous, it's ridiculous, and it is certainly unfair to the downtrodden in our society. ... Give the police a break. Let's stop tasking them with enforcing ridiculous laws and fighting our drug war. It's not fair to them or to the people.

Want better funding for education, healthcare, better help for the mentally ill and homeless? Stop the longest war the U.S. has ever fought. Getting out of Afghanistan would be great, but=C2=85I'm not referring to Afghanistan.

Opinions

Those who argue against the mass legalization of marijuana say it's dangerous and can lead to more addictive drugs. But that hasn't been the experience of all who casually smoked pot in their younger years and then let it go. And, some in the medical field believe marijuana can relieve side effects of chemotherapy, ease the pressure associated with glaucoma and help with minor maladies.

As our country mourns the deaths of eight police officers and a series of African-Americans killed during encounters with police, the question we all ask is, how can we stem this horror? One way would be to end the war against nonviolent drug users.

They studied the state's mental illness and drug abuse problems for 10 months and came up with 32 pages of recommendations.

Nashville - North Carolina's Nashville, 45 miles east of Raleigh - has a police chief who is changing the way law enforcement deals with drug addicts, who might ordinarily be arrested and put away.

Links

The goal of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients Network (NCCPN) is to educate the public at large to the safety, efficacy and need for patient protection and medical marijuana legislation in North Carolina.

Papers