UNDER THE INFLUENCE . . . of Marijuana and other psychotropic drugs

The excerpts listed below are a miniscule sampling of the violence and personal tragedy related to drug use.  Not only do those who use drugs commit crimes while under the influence, but the devastation to the rest of the family is well-documented.  Drug use escalates when the supply is readily available and the consequences are either weak or non-existent.   Any policy which reduces consequences for use, or makes drugs more readily available in any way, can only lead to more tragedy for society.

Sandra S. Bennett
Director
Northwest Center for Health & Safety

February 10, 1992, The Oregonian
Illinois grand jury indicts couple in ‘Home Alone’ case
“The 64 counts against David and Sharon School include neglect of children, endangering the life of a child, aggravated battery, abandonment, cruelty to children and unlawful possession of marijuana….The couple were arrested December 29 after returning from vacation in Acapulco, Mexico.  They allegedly had left their 4- and 9-year-old daughters home alone for nine days.

April 6, 1993, Associated Press
Rising tide of child abuse tied to hard times, drugs
“Often called ‘poor man’s cocaine,’ methamphetamine has been linked to several child-homicide cases here.  The Antelope Valley’s [California} most heinous cases, in fact, almost always are tied to methamphetamine abuse.”

December 8 1993, The Oregonian
Man faces 8 counts in Polly’s death
“Miller said his client repeated claims that he was high on marijuana and alcohol when he kidnapped Polly and that it has impaired his memory of events.”

February 1996, Associated Press, Honolulu
Mirande used “ice,” cocaine and marijuana before siege
“John Nahale Miranda used cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and marijuana before taking several people hostage at his former workplace Feb. 6, according to the medical examiner’s tests.”

March 17, 1996, The Oregonian
For girl on Thrill Hill, spring break begins and ends in a night
 “Police found a baggie of marijuana near the Volvo”

April 26, 1996, The Oregonian
Murders victim showed signs of marital stress
“Friends said his idea of a job was growing marijuana in their basement.”

July 2, 1996, Denver Post:
Drug use in fatal wreck probed
“Teen pot use before crash on Lookout Mtn. Probed …Teen says ‘everybody was smoking pot.’”

August 9, 1996, USA Today
Professionals succumb to drug’s allure
“[Robert] Strang [a former DEA agent…now runs a New York-based investigative firm hired by Wall Street companies to help get addicted executives clean….Strang tells of one case where he and his colleagues had to rescue a Wall Street executive with a heroin problem who had been kidnapped by his drug dealers…the firm picked up the tab for the dramatic rescue……In the past six weeks, Strang says two executives at Wall Street firms have died of heroin overdoses.  But not a word has leaked.”

February 23, 1997, The Oregonian
Friends, family mourn Adam Lachney
“…the 13-year-old’s body was found Tuesday in a Dumpster…. ‘Adam was not a druggie or a drinker.’ She said. ‘He was just a boy experimenting with pot and alcohol….but just lately he began handing around with the wrong kind of people.’”

September 11, 1996, The Oregonian
Couple charged with teen prostitution
“[Salem  Detective Craig Stoelk]… interviewed two girls, ages 15 and 17, who said the suspects, gave them alcohol,  marijuana and methamphetamines.  The couple and other adults then had sex with them….”

October 18, 1996, The Oregonian
Mom pleads guilty to prostituting three daughters to get cocaine
“Prosecutors allege that, during a two-year period, the Southeast Portland woman pushed her children, all younger than 16, into prostitution, forcing them to perform sex acts for her drug dealer that included oral sex, sexual penetration and fondling.”

January 28, 1997, The Oregonian
Gresham rape defendant released early
“His probation officer said he failed to attend sex offender treatment.  She also suspected him using drugs and alcohol.”

February 28, 1997, The Oregonian
Hood river teens get almost 6 years for beating
“He has criticized elected officials and contended that marijuana should be legalized.  Police said Paether was known to grow marijuana and give it to his friends – some of them underage.”

March 18, 1997, USA Today
Drug arrests up on campuses; thefts decline
(This speaks for itself)

March 13, 1997, St. Louis Post
Grandson on trial in slayings
“One of those friends, Rhonda James, testified Wednesday that David hade been drinking and smoking marijuana every day the week before the killings.”

May 1, 1997, The Associated Press
Man suspected of killing Ennis Cosby said to have been high on drugs at the time
“Two friends of Mikail Markhaseve say he shot Ennis Cosby when they were high on drugs…”

June 5, 1997, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Man gets 30 years in slaying
“The same night, Cotton helped divide the victim’s personal possessions and used her money to buy marijuana and beer…”

August 20, 1997, The Oregonian
Study finds alcohol, drug users threaten others
“People who do not use illegal drugs but live in households where such drugs are used are 11 times as likely to be killed as those living in drug-free homes, according to a study reported in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.  Killings were also 70 percent more likely among non-drinkers in households where alcoholism exists, according to the study….”

November 25, 1997, The Oregonian
Ex-prosecutor pleads guilty to drug count
“A Multnomah County deputy district attorney who resigned after police found cocaine and marijuana in his house pleaded guilty Monday to a violation, the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket.”

November 28, 1997, The Columbian
Police say drugs were sold at day-care center
“A day-care center [in Columbus, Wisconsin] doubled as a place to buy illegal drugs, police said after arresting a married couple, their son and another man for allegedly selling marijuana out of the couple’s home, which they also used to operate the center…Nine children were there at the time.”

December 14, 1997, Associated Press
Sobs bring help to bleeding girl in N.Y. squalor
“The apartment had no heat, electricity or hot water.  Investigators said the girl was covered with dirt and oozing sores.  It’s also possible that she was sexually abused, police said….Neighbors say the building where the child was found is a haven for drug addicts.

February 2, 1998, The Columbian
Woodland bomb could have blown up a car
“Police said they found the explosives plus several revolvers, a semiautomatic handgun and several rifles and shotguns.  Police allege there was a good supply of ammunition.  Police said they found methamphetamine in both suspects’ possession and marijuana in Ells’ possession.

February 13, 1998, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Lawyer admits sex with client before sentencing
“A lawyer who admitted having sex with her client during his trial in 1988 for a grisly double murder….[the murderer was under the influence of alcohol and PCP at the time of the crime] is now a child-care worker for a private agency in St. Louis County.  She said she does some minor legal work.  The Missouri Bar Assn says she is in good standing.”

February 6, 1998, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri’s oldest female convict is up for parole today
“Poliice say Ocelia Blackmon, 84, was a major PCP dealer in St. Louis…..It’s [PCP] the harshest, nastiest drug out there, and she was selling it….She had been convicted twice before.  In 1989 she got one year’s probation after pleading guilty of PCP possession.  In 1992, Blackmon was convicted on two counts of drug trafficking.”

November 5, 1998, The Dominion,  NEW ZEALAND:
Father tells of son's cannabis nightmare
"The Christchurch man told Parliament's health select committee how his son began smoking cannabis at about the age of 10….The previously well-behaved boy, from "a normal middle-class family," who had represented his province in junior rugby league, started stealing, missing school, fighting, and lying, his father said. His son assaulted a fellow student, breaking his cheekbone and jaw, and was expelled from a series of schools, before quitting school at 14. Soon after he was thrown out of home, but returned to his family to get money to buy cannabis. He also stole his parents' chequebooks and credit cards. The family installed a burglar alarm to keep him out, his father said. His son owed money for cannabis to a gang, who came to his parents' house demanding that they pay up — so they did. Shots had been fired at their house, the man said. He showed the committee a thick pile of charge sheets which his son had amassed through drug-related offending. He said his son moved on from cannabis to also take heroin, cocaine, LSD and amphetamines."

May 14, 1999 Associated Press
Bus driver had history of pot use
"NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The driver of charter bus that crashed on Mother's Day,  killing 22 people, had been fired twice in the last decade for marijuana  use and tested positive for the drug shortly after the deadly wreck,  federal investigators said. Custom Bus Charters driver Frank Bedell, 46,  lost bus driving jobs in 1989 and 1996 after tests showed he had used  marijuana, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

July 1, 1998, The Columbian
Grandparents get prisons time in drug case
“Prosecutors said the [couple] hid millions of dollars of [their] son’s [James R. Monaco who is serving a 55-year prison sentence for drug trafficking] drug profits and directed how the money should be spent, including the purchases of two waterfront homes, a warehouse in Florida and several cars….the elder Monaco was convicted in February of conspiracy and 66 counts of money laundering, while his wife was convicted of conspiracy and four counts of money laundering.

August 18, 1998, The Columbian
MBA-toting cocaine dealer sentenced to 16 months
“Michael F. Hipps’ clientele included ‘Portland’s upper crust,’….Hipps, 48 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver and possess significant quantities of cocaine…. ‘I was caught up in the drug culture and developed an addiction to cocaine’…. A black book found in Hipps’ home last June contained names in the medical profession and people who worked out at the private Multnomah Athletic Club, police said..”

April 3, 1999, The Oregonian
Doctor charged with illegal drug sales
A Florida doctor [Dr. Barbara Mazzella ] “…was charged with illegally distributing prescription drugs [pain killers] that were used in the overdose deaths of as many as 20 people.…investigators said three of Mazzela’s patients have been arrested for selling prescribed drugs on the black market.  One reseller was prescribed 5,422 doses of painkillers….”

April 11, 1999, Associated Press
Principal charged in cocaine ring
“The janitor, Steven Donawa, 42, was arrested after he stopped by Ms. [Delores] Hill’s apartment and left carrying 51 bags of cocaine, prosecutors said.  School nurse Patricia Kersey, 41 was charged with participating in two drug sales, Laverne Prescod, 42, a school counsel, was charged in one drug sale.”

October 11, 1999, Forbes Magazine
Can’t buy me love
“Billionaire Kit Goldsbury appears to have everything a man could want: good looks, money, loyal friends.  But something ain’t quite right……Goldsbury lost his only son to a drug overdose in 1997.”

October 22, 1999, The Columbian
Principal charged in heroin ring
“[Boston school Principal Margaret Loder-Healy]…was leading what authorities say was a double life, making early morning trips to a methadone clinic, shoplifting and getting busted in connection with a heroin ring.”

October 22, 1999, The Columbian
District judge arraigned on drug charges
[Pittsburgh District Judge Gigi Sullivan] was “arraigned on charges of drug use, including shooting heroin in her chambers and protecting her dealer in exchange for drugs.”

November 14, 1999, The Columbian
10,700 cigarette cartons seized
“The cigarettes seized carry an estimated tax value of $83,902…Transporting more than $60,000 worth of untaxed cigarettes is a class C felony that can result in jail timed and other penalties…Paul Tomma [one of those charged] was also charged for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana), and possession of drug paraphernalia.”

December 3-5, 1999, USA Weekend.
One day at a time
[Regarding actress Mackenzie Phillips] …it took her the next decade and seven stints in rehab to kick her drug and alcohol habits….Her struggle with substance abuse coincided with the growth in treatment programs in the United States, from just 2,400 in 1977 to 9,000 by the ‘90s.”

January 8, 2000, The Columbian
Killer finds God, bares soul online before dying
The Columbian    "I'm writing to you from death row, where I am awaiting execution," he [David Ray Duren, 37] wrote…it is my hope that through sharing these things…that I may help you, or those you know, avoid making the same poor choices I made. [1983 robbery and shooting death of Kathleen Bedsole, 16]….Duren wrote about dabbling in drugs, saying he once had to be revived by cardiopulmonary resuscitation after mixing heroin, methamphetamines and alcohol, and he was discharged from the Army for smoking marijuana."

January 8, 2000, The Columbian
Killers of teen drug informant sentenced to life in prison
Three people convicted of murdering a teen-age drug informant and attempting to kill his girlfriend were sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday. "I see no remorse," Judge Dewey Falcone told the defendants, who chatted and smiled during the hearing. "I see smiling and smirking."

January 19, 2000, The Columbian
4 arrested in bombing threat to obtain drug
"Four people have been arrested on charges of threatening to firebomb an animal clinic if they were not given a cat anesthetic [ketamine] sometimes used as a party drug…..Ketamine, known as "Vitamin k" or "special K." is popular because it can give a euphoric high.  It also causes hallucinations, slows the heart rate and suppresses respiratory function. [Primarily used at alcohol-free parties known as RAVES]

January 29, 2000, The Columbian
And then there were none
All five of woman's children die tragic deaths
"Three boys [ages 6, 4 and 2] died after a fire on Jan. 16, in the same blue house where their [twin infant] sisters died four years ago…The boys had been removed from [their mother's] custody, and were not even supposed to be at the home the night of the fire.  They were shuttled from relative to relative as their parents, who are not married, for years battled drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence….. Allen [their father], never got to hold his daughters before they died.  He was in jail because he had assaulted his pregnant wife during an argument, kicking and punching her in the face and stomach…. [Allen] said the tragedies have prompted him to seek treatment for his drug and alcohol problems.  'We've been through a lot.  Our life's got to get right,' Allen said…But the loses haven't made him reluctant to have more kids in the future….'We're young,' he said."

April 15, 2000, The Columbian
Boys who died in Spokane fire were medicated
Jamesetta Shealeay said she sometimes medicated her three boys to ‘quiet them down,’ according to a search warrant affidavit that was released Wednesday.

February 25, 2000, Washington Post
Adding to the pain
"After Georgetown University doctors tried to remove a tumor from her spine on Nov. 23, Carolyn Datlow awakened from her anesthetic fog in far worse pain than she had ever suffered in 10 previous cancer surgeries. "For six straight hours, I screamed bloody murder because I felt like I was being stabbed to death," …..This week Datlow learned why her pain may have been so much worse in November. She is one of nearly 300 former Georgetown University Medical Center patients being told that an X-ray technician at the hospital might have stolen their intravenous painkillers and replaced them with saline solution--and that he may have done so with contaminated needles. The technician, Jeffrey L. Royal, 40, of Kensington, was arrested Feb. 2 after he was found siphoning a patient's dose of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic painkiller that resembles morphine, hospital officials said."

March 7, 2000, Lincoln Journal Star
Woman now faces charges in fire death
"According to court records, Good 'was using drugs' at another location when the apartment at 831 G St. caught fire, killing 8-year-old Lara Stewart.

March 17, 2000, The Age, Melbourne, Australia
Syringe doctor moved
“A spokeswoman for the Frankston Hospital said the doctor [an unnamed anaesthetist] was ‘devastated’ when he learnt that re-using the plastic barrel and plungers of the anesthetic syringes was not common practices.”  [Considering all the publicity about needles, and the support of needle exchange programs in Australia for the specific purpose of stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS, it is impossible to believe that this anaesthetist was not under the influence of psychoactive drugs]

March 21, 2000, Morning News, Erie, PA
Six youths killed while on highway clean-up program
"They had no warning at all.  The van…just wiped them out," said Kirby Burgess, director of the Clark County (NV), Juvenile Services program….The driver, 20-year-strip-club dancer old Jessica Williams, said she had smoked marijuana two hours before the crash… Williams was treated for minor injuries and then jailed on drug charges and six counts of reckless driving and driving under the influence"
NOTE:  "Williams admitted to having smoked marijuana and taken Ecstasy hours before falling asleep at the wheel and crashing her van into the teens."  On March 30^th she was sentenced to 18 to 48 years.

March 30, 2000, The Associated Press
Wis. charges van crash company
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) - A company that employed seven young magazine sellers killed in a van accident has been charged with homicide, and its owner-manager is accused of supplying drugs to the victims….The seven were killed March 25, 1999, when a minivan carrying 14 people ages 15 to 22 crashed near Janesville. …The complaint says members of the sales crew used marijuana daily and were encouraged to bring back drugs at the end of a sales day, calling sales incentive programs ``points for joints'' and ``cash for hash

April 1, 2000, The Columbian
Board closes Bremerton pharmacy
“Swanson, who described himself as ‘an addict and a pharmacist that doses not use,’ …is accused of improperly handling urine samples, testing positive for opiates in October, failing to hire a pharmacy manager since August 30 and failing to have his supervising pharmacist properly oversee and report on his activities.

June 26, 2000, New York Post
Motorman used "coke"
"The motorman involved in the terrifying B-train derailment - which injured 95 people - tested positive for cocaine, the Transit Authority revealed yesterday.

September 2, 2000 , The Columbian
Gang members indicted on sex charges
"The men are accused of luring girls they knew and others they met on the street with sweet talk, plying them with alcohol and drugs and then inducing them to perform sexual acts as they videotaped the activity in motel rooms and cars, investigators said."

September 15, 2000, The Columbian
State ends plan before child dies
"…Aretha Sconiers, who is now charged with kicking the little girl to death May 27…The little girl tested positive for marijuana at birth….Sconiers was released in May 1998 but failed to meet many of the requirements for regaining custody, testing positive for marijuana and failing to hold a job or complete parenting classes.

February 28, 2001, The Columbian
Abducted girl, 11, forced into prostitution
"Policy say the girl was then dumped onto the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia, to sell herself and was loaded with acid, speed, caffeine and Ecstasy."

March 8, 2001, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
10-year-old had lived in foster home and with mother who reportedly used drugs
"He lived with his 35 year-old mother, Gladys Loman who, according to relatives and police, had a history of drug use, and who was a fugitive in St. Louis fleeing a weapons charge in Dunklin County….."