Two Whitefish, Montana residents found ink in their local paper explaining why they disagree with student drug testing in response to a public meeting about the subject. Meanwhile a Florida school district discusses plans to double the number of students tested even though a recent survey reported a decline in drug use.
]]>You know the saying, "I would give my eye tooth to ..." ? Some California female inmates are actually making that choice to get transferred to minimum-security prisons! Unfortunately dental bills are not the only health costs involved in the incarceration system as revealed in an LA Times editorial.
Closing this section is a fantastic OPED LEAP founder, Peter Christ.
]]>Record numbers turned out around the world to peacefully celebrate 4/20. As usual, very few problems were caused by these large gatherings, in sharp contrast to, for example, a drunken riot that broke out in Montreal two days later following a hockey game.
A bill that would decriminalize possession of a quarter ounce or less of cannabis passed in the New Hampshire House, but it may be vetoed by the governor if it is not killed by a seemingly hostile Senate.
A Canadian couple are challenging the authority and science behind a community bylaw that allows police officers to enter homes without a warrant on the heels of fire and electrical inspectors.
]]>The New Zealand government, with the best of intentions, banned the "part y pill" BZP. As a result of the BZP prohibition, manufactures and users closed the gap by switching to a variety of other, less well-known pills that are not banned. "Many are sold without age restrictions and carry limited information about ingredients." Some "users are suffering significant side effects, including vomiting" from the legal pills.
In Afghanistan, western troops aren't doing enough to support Afghan opium eradication, says Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid in the Canadian Glob e and Mail newspaper last week. So far, 13 police were killed in poppy eradication operations this month, asserted Asadullah. NATO forces aren't helping, said Asadullah, and even "appear to be blocking the effort," he claimed.
And in Canada, the Mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, says he isn't asking the Conservative Harper government to give a green light to a proposed legal-drug-substitution program, simply in order to then nix the Insite supervised injection center. "I'm focused on keeping this one [injection center]... I know it's not the answer, but it is an important part of getting to the answer."
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