Latest News

Los Angeles Times, 07 Apr 2014 - Three men are in custody on suspicion of attempting to smuggle drugs into the country after authorities found their panga-style boat washed ashore Monday in Malibu and loaded with as much as a ton of marijuana, authorities said. The men, whose identities haven't been released, could make their first court appearances Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley wrote in an email Monday.

Cumberland Times-News, 07 Apr 2014 - [Cumberland] EDITOR'S NOTE - The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman underscored a troubling development: Heroin, long a scourge of the back alleys of American life, has spread across the country. Last of a three-part series. AURORA, Ill. - Just out of Cook County Jail after being arrested with 15 bags of heroin, Cody Lewis had all of $11 in his pocket. But not for long.

San Angelo Standard-Times, 07 Apr 2014 - State House Panel Seeks To Curb The Trend AUSTIN, Texas - Beyond the always illegal drugs that come through back alley deals on street corners, Texas has another drug problem: illicitly used prescription medication.

Bristol Press, 07 Apr 2014 - BRISTOL - Brightly colored packages with names like "Bizarro," "Platinum" and "Juicy Herbs Marshmallow Root" are filled with material labeled incense, but police call it synthetic marijuana. "Just looking at the package and names of these things, it almost looks like candy," said Police Chief Thomas Grimaldi. "It says on it 'Not For Human Consumption.' For the marketers, and I use that word loosely, that's their way around it."

Norwalk Reflector, 07 Apr 2014 - Defendant Had Seven Positive Drug Screens Since Being Put On Probation In Late September 2011. An Erie County man convicted of selling marijuana was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for violating his probation.

Business Courier, 07 Apr 2014 - HAMILTON -A deadly combination of heroin and a potent analgesic is becoming more evident in the region as fatal overdoses rise. Investigators say that some heroin sold on the streets is laced with the narcotic fentanyl to make a dangerous cocktail known in other parts of the nation as "killer heroin."

Daily Reporter, 07 Apr 2014 - COLUMBUS, Ohio - Twenty-two grants totaling $1.5 million will help strengthen school-based alcohol and drug prevention programs in Ohio. The governor's office said Monday that the Building Youth Resiliency grants will help at-risk kids in 19 counties. The program - part of Ohio's new youth drug prevention initiative called Start Talking! - targets students in 5th through 9th grades.

The Vindicator, 07 Apr 2014 - Rights Group, Hagan at Odds Over Approach YOUNGSTOWN - The Ohio Rights Group has collected about 15 percent of the 385,000 signatures it needs by July 2 to put the Ohio Cannabis Rights Amendment to the Ohio Constitution on the November ballot.

Cumberland Times-News, 06 Apr 2014 - In Many Cases, Insurance Won't Cover Rehab Costs [Cumberland] EDITOR'S NOTE - The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman underscored a troubling development: Heroin, long a scourge of the back alleys of American life, has spread across the country. Second of a three-part series.

The Rocky Mountain Goat News, 06 Apr 2014 - A federal court injunction granted last week may give medical marijuana patients a reprieve, but it is a little close to the wire. Some locals are still considering which side of the "health-or-freedom" line they will be on if the new regulations hold up. The new federal regulations for marijuana for medical purposes (MMPR) came into effect last year, but were running concurrently with the old Medical Marihuana Access Regulations (MMAR), set to expire March 31st, 2014. The old program allowed patients to grow their own marijuana or have someone grow it for them, but these grow ops were not regulated, and the government and Health Canada claim the system was open to serious abuse.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 06 Apr 2014 - Lobbying Has Grown to Grant Sufferers Legal Access to Pot WASHINGTON - After flying helicopters in Vietnam for 30 months, Perry Parks couldn't stop the panicked dreams. "I was flying through wires all the time, and I never hit the wire," said Parks, 71, a retired military commander from Rockingham, N.C. "I'm a helicopter pilot, so wires scare the hell out of you."

Buffalo News, 06 Apr 2014 - LOS ANGELES - California voters strongly favor legalizing marijuana. The state Democratic Party adopted a platform last month urging California to follow Colorado and Washington in ending marijuana prohibition. The state's lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, has called for legalizing the drug. But not Gov. Jerry Brown. "I think we ought to kind of watch and see how things go in Colorado," Brown, a Democrat, said curtly when asked the question as he was presenting his state budget this year. At a time of rapidly evolving attitudes toward marijuana legalization a slight majority of Americans now support legalizing the drug Democratic governors across the country, Brown among them, find themselves uncomfortably at odds with their own base.

Morning Sun, 06 Apr 2014 - (AP) - Some states, including Michigan, are reporting a rise in heroin use as many addicts shift from more costly and harder-toget prescription opiates to this cheaper alternative. A look at what's happening in Michigan: The problem

News & Observer, 06 Apr 2014 - DURHAM - Heroin may be a new drug for some who are switching from prescription painkillers. It is not new to April Elizabeth. Elizabeth, 32, is a heroin addict. She grew up in East Durham in a family ravaged by drugs a father she described as a raging alcoholic, a mother hooked on prescription pills and an older brother whose addiction to crack keeps him in and out of prison. At her request, The News & Observer agreed not to use her full name.

Telluride Daily Planet, 06 Apr 2014 - Marijuana Has Been A Tricky Issue At Airports Across The State The Telluride Regional Airport Authority has decided to handle the issue of marijuana at the airport with an advisement to passengers.

Missourian, 06 Apr 2014 - State Rep. Paul Curtman's attempt to get an additional $7 million added to the state's drug court program was unsuccessful in the Missouri House, but he plans to keep up the effort. The Missouri House passed its version of the budget without the additional funding that Curtman proposed.

Bismarck Tribune, 06 Apr 2014 - BISMARCK, N.D. - Once thought by North Dakotans to be only a big city drug, heroin sales and use are increasing in the state, authorities say. U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon called the spike in heroin use in North Dakota "new and disturbing." He said it's the result of the abuse of prescription painkillers, a growing population and drug trafficking operations that are primarily targeting the state's rich oil patch region. "When you have an increased population with a lot of money, it's a more desirable market for drug dealers to move into," Purdon said. "They follow the money."

The Claremore Daily Progress, 06 Apr 2014 - Report Shows Wide Gap Between Number Of Youth With Substance Abuse Problems And Those Receiving Treatment CLAREMORE - When Daniel Morris saw a picture of a local drug bust in the news recently, something heartbreaking stood out to him about the people in the image: they looked so young.

A Red Cedar, Wisconsin, was shot and killed by police during a February drug raid. Although we didn't catch the story at the time, Dennis Grohn, 32, becomes the 13th person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

[image:1 align:left][Editor's Note: We only saw this story when a new story about Grohn's autopsy results came out. We strive to catch every drug war-related death in the US, but we're only as good as our Google news searches, so we once again implore readers to send us any news of drug war deaths they come across. We may have seen them already, but we may not have, either, and we appreciate your input in our bid to be as comprehensive as possible.]

According to The St. Paul Pioneer Press, citing police sources, members of the Dunn County sheriff's office, the West Central Drug Task Force and Eau Claire County Regional Tactical Team hit Grohn's home with a "no knock" search warrant at 2:00am on February 12.

The details of what happened next are sketchy, but Grohn ended up shot and fatally wounded shortly thereafter. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room of the Mayo Health Clinic.

There is no mention in either the initial accounts of the raid or in the autopsy story of Grohn having or brandishing a weapon. But according to the search warrant, police were looking for weapons, as well as methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and other indicia of drug sales at his home.

But Dunn County District Attorney James Peterson determined last month that the use of deadly force by the Eau Claire County Regional SWAT team was justified and offered up the following detail:

"According to an investigation done by the State Department of Criminal Investigation, a member of the SWAT team entered Grohn's garage and saw him sitting in a chair. The deputy says Grohn growled and charged him. The men collided, and the deputy shot Grohn once. The two then fell to the floor in a struggle. Another officer told investigators he saw Grohn's hand on the deputy's rifle and that he feared for his own, and the deputy's, life. He then fired one shot at Grohn, killing him. Prior to entering the home the swat team had been advised that this was considered a high risk entry. Grohn had a history of violence toward police officers, weighed 280 pounds, was suspected of having a shotgun and was likely under the influence of meth. Peterson says Grohn was also likely aware he was facing a lengthy prison sentence if he was caught selling meth." 

The autopsy report on Grohn came out this week, and the Dunn County Medical Examiner's Office said he was "heavily under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of his death," and that the amount of meth in his blood was "near a toxic range." But it wasn't meth that killed Grohn, it was a policeman's gun shot.

Cumberland Times-News, 05 Apr 2014 - CUMBERLAND - Media reports of drug arrests involving the possession and distribution of heroin seem to be increasingly common throughout the tri-state region, a fact indicative of a growing nationwide problem. Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate committee Thursday the heroin epidemic is an "urgent and growing public health crisis," according to The Associated Press.