NEWS
By Devon Hutchins | June 4, 2009
The week before the legislative session ended, Maryland's General Assembly hosted Michael Phelps to recognize his achievements at the Beijing Olympics. Just two months after critics claimed his career and reputation would never recover from the infamous photo of him apparently smoking marijuana that circulated the Internet, state senators and delegates honored him with a standing ovation. The incident underscores what some recognize as a shift away from the disproportionately "tough on crime" attitude for which Maryland legislators have been known.
NEWS
December 8, 2008
Costly drug war only fuels crime Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market for drugs ("Legalizing drugs: The money argument," Dec. 2). Illegal drug dealers don't ID young drug purchasers for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences into the drug trade. Throwing more money into the war on drugs is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking.
NEWS
By Dan Connolly | February 7, 2008
Roger Clemens is expected to meet one-on-one with Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, today at 10:30 a.m. to discuss performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens apparently contacted some members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and offered to meet with them privately, a spokeswoman for Cummings said. Cummings, who is co-founder and chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy, accepted the offer. He hopes to speak to Clemens about the effect performance-enhancing-drug use in baseball has on youth and to discuss the Maryland-based, anti-steroid initiative "Powered By ME!"
NEWS
By TAYLOR W. BULEY | June 28, 2006
Two years ago, my 23-year-old brother became addicted to painkillers after breaking his leg and undergoing several operations to repair it. Last year, while he was checking into rehab for abusing OxyContin, I was drafting a chapter in my new book calling for drug legalization. It was a difficult moment to believe in individual liberty: I felt firsthand the effects of what it's like when people make bad decisions. I saw how hard my brother struggled to get clean, first moving forward and then backsliding again into substance abuse.
NEWS
By BILL ORDINE | June 28, 2006
NFL players will face random testing and stiffer penalties for amphetamine use as the result of a change in league policy that now places the drug in the category of performance-enhancers, such as steroids. Previously, the NFL categorized amphetamines as a "substance-abuse drug." Drugs in that group pose personal medical concerns, a league spokesman said, but are usually not considered substances that can give a player an edge on the field. Use of drugs on the performance-enhancer list is scrutinized more closely with league-wide random testing and punishment is swifter.
NEWS
By David Nitkin | September 6, 2005
WITH LABOR DAY over, a crop of political hopefuls is ready to plunge into the race for U.S. Senate in Maryland. Kevin B. Zeese, a political activist from Montgomery County, is seeking the nominations of three minor parties in Maryland. By unifying supporters of the Green, Populist and Libertarian parties, he hopes to provide an alternative to whomever emerges as Democratic and Republican nominees. "The two major parties are bought by corporate interests," said Zeese, 49, who was press secretary to Ralph Nader during the 2004 presidential election.
NEWS
By Andrew A. Green | August 18, 2005
When Kelly Lynn Cruz gave birth in January, doctors found cocaine in her system and in the blood of her baby boy. Seven months later she is in prison, serving 2 1/2 years for reckless endangerment of her child because of the drugs she took before he was born. Social workers routinely get involved when babies are born with drugs in their systems, but Cruz had her baby in Talbot County. Legal observers say that appears to be the only place in Maryland - and one of just a few nationwide - where police and prosecutors send the mothers to prison.
NEWS
By Baltimoresun.com Staff | August 1, 2005
Thank you very much for joining me on this call today. I am saddened that we are here to address this issue, but because of the importance of it, I feel the need to make a brief statement and address your questions. At the outset, let me say that under the rules of the basic agreement and the order of the independent arbitrator, there is an order of confidentiality governing the specifics of this case. I will attempt to state as much as I can and be as forthright as possible, but there will be issues I can't address based on orders imposed on me by the basic agreement and the arbitration process.
NEWS
By Kelly Brewington | April 24, 2005
WASHINGTON - Amid the policy-makers and legal professionals who devise the tactics of the nation's "war on drugs," Tara Andrews thinks one voice hasn't been heard. African-Americans as a group have been silent for too long, said Andrews, director of the Maryland Justice Coalition, a Baltimore organization pushing the state to give nonviolent drug offenders treatment instead of jail time. Yesterday, representatives of 15 black professional organizations that formed the National African American Drug Policy Coalition in the fall met to devise a strategy for changing drug laws they say unfairly punish African-Americans.
NEWS
By Steve Chapman | April 20, 2005
CHICAGO - For some time, critics have been saying that the war hasn't been going well, has forced us to overextend ourselves and is gobbling up far too many tax dollars. But many of them were skeptical about this effort from the start. The surprise is that President Bush now seems to be moving their way on the war. Not the war in Iraq - the war on drugs. Early on, the Bush administration took a consistently hard line against recreational substances and those who use them - vigorously opposing state medical marijuana initiatives, objecting when Canada considered decriminalizing marijuana and accusing potheads of subsidizing terrorism.