Wood County Prevention Coalition
Uniting For A Drug-Free Community Since 2004
Trump Weighs 95 Percent Cut to Office of Drug Control Policy
May 7, 2017, 4:49 PM EDT
The Trump administration is weighing a cut of almost 95 percent of the budget for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy at a time the president has pledged to aggressively combat opioid addiction, according to an internal memo.
The office, which coordinates much of U.S. strategy on illegal drugs including responses to trafficking, could see several grant programs for drug prevention discontinued under the proposal, which was decried by prevention advocates and members of Congress from both parties when it was reported on Friday.
“These drastic proposed cuts are frankly heartbreaking and, if carried out, would cause us to lose many good people who contribute greatly to ONDCP’s mission and core activities,’’ Richard Baum, acting director, wrote Friday in a staff memo that was provided to news outlets.
President Donald Trump pledged to take on the opioid epidemic during his presidential campaign as he traveled to many communities ravaged by heroin use and overdose deaths.
White House spokesman Sarah Sanders on Friday had dismissed reports about the proposed budget cuts, which were first reported by Politico, saying the president was committed to addressing the opioid crisis.
“We haven’t had a final document and I think it would be ridiculous to comment on a draft version of something at this point,’’ she said.
‘Absolute Priority’
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Sunday said fighting the opioid crisis is “an absolute priority,” for the Trump administration, including through $485 million provided in grants to states.
“I’m moving around the country this coming week to go to states where we want to make certain that they are allowed and have the resources to be able to address this opioid crisis,” Price said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “This is an absolute scourge in our country; 33,000 deaths last year due to opioid overdose. We cannot tolerate that.”
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus described the budget proposal as “a leaked document” and said nothing’s been finalized.
“I would always tell people, judge President Trump by his actions, not leaked documents and hypotheticals,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.” “And the actual actions of this president is a total commitment to this epidemic across this country.”
Priebus said there are “duplicative services” on drug policy “all over the place,” mentioning the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice for starters.
Heroin Epidemic Fueled by Legal Drugs
A spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget provided a list of federal drug prevention programs in several agencies, indicating that changes to the drug policy office may be part of a broader restructuring.
Colorado's black market thrives under a legal marijuana canopy, law enforcement tries to keep up
The Gazette Kaitlin Durbin
May 2, 2017No one was attempting to hide the plywood greenhouse in rural Yoder where Cuban nationals were growing 7-foot marijuana plants under the name of a man who died five months prior to a doctor extending his 99-plant grow permit.
Considering the pot operation was a 40-minute drive from Colorado Springs — out where the term “close neighbor” doesn’t apply on a county road you’d need GPS to find — hiding didn’t seem necessary.
But those involved in the illegal grow didn’t need the remote location to cloak their activity — they already felt secure under Colorado’s legal marijuana laws, according to law enforcement officers.
As constituted, those laws allow criminals to hide in plain sight, masquerading as medical marijuana patients or recreational co-ops to grow large quantities of pot they sell illegally out of state, a problem Colorado officials have acknowledged.
The makeshift grow busted on Fossinger Road in April was the perfect example, El Paso County sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Schulz said.
Drug enforcement officers had to walk away from the same grow last year because residents had legal paperwork. This year, the discovery of the fictitious licenses, which authorized well below the 475 plants found, allowed officers to search further, uncovering 22 half-pound bags of buds in vacuum-sealed packages commonly associated with drug trafficking.
“Distribution,” Schulz said, matter-of-factly.
Although about $500,000 worth of processed marijuana won’t reach its suspected illegal destination, officers hardly considered the bust a big win. The grow houses built without permit and with sketchy electric service remain intact. The four men living on the property haven’t been arrested, and even if they were, growers are always replaced, law enforcement says.
In their view, Colorado’s headlong pursuit of legal recreational and medical marijuana has created a colossal weed conundrum.
The state’s Amendment 20 allowed for extended plant counts, and Amendment 64 gave residents the right to grow it at home. If growers possess the necessary paperwork, law enforcement is forced to ignore potential criminal activity, creating an ambiguous corner of pot commerce known as “the gray market.”
In the end, law enforcement insists, it all finds its way to the black, illegal market.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re in compliance (with paperwork) or not. It’s still a scam,” Schulz said, boiling the Fossinger Road bust down to simple math. “They’re paying $1,500 in rent just for that single-wide trailer. Their January electric bill was $7,000. Then you gotta think about food, gas, cars, all that other stuff, and none of them have jobs.
“It doesn’t add up.”
Drugs, alcohol are a major factor in school truancy
Regarding April 24 Herald article, “Chronic truancy raises alarm,” as a chemical dependency counselor, I had to respond due to one issue not taken into consideration.
That is the use of alcohol and drugs by both students and their parents. I used to work as an intervention/prevention specialist at Glacier Peak and Snohomish High schools (2006-09 school years), Sultan High School (2006-08 school years) , Lynnwood High School (2010-12 school years) and Granite Falls and Crossroads High Schools) (2013-15 school years). The common denominator I found in each school related to absenteeism was alcohol and drug use by students.
When I started working at Snohomish High School and the Freshman Campus (later Glacier Peak High School) I had four weekly groups in the two schools and met with students individually. I started with 10 to 15 students who met with me over the year. By the time I left in 2009, I was working with 254 students; some started with me in ninth grade and continued with me to until their junior year. I left the next year because funding was cut.
At that time, opiates use was escalating. I found this to be similar in all the schools I worked in over the years. As they got to know me, they were willing to talk with me about personal issues; not necessarily alcohol and drug related. I noticed that a majority of these students would fall in the truancy category listed in the article. Some of the things I heard from all was that school was boring, they felt out of place, they were recovering from being up late at night or out all night partying. As they got to know me over the year, they started coming to school to attend my groups or meet with me. Then they started attending classes more often. In each of these situations funding was cut for the intervention and prevention positions.
Another issue I found in common at all the schools was suspensions and expulsions for alcohol and drugs. Students were given 30- to 45-day suspension; reduced to five to 10 days if they got an alcohol and drug assessment and followed recommendations. Students got behind in classes and eventually gave up when they realized they were not going to graduate.
I believe a possible solution to this issue is to fund intervention and prevention specialist in the schools. It gives the students someone to talk with about issues related to their lives. I know there are school counselors; however, what I found was that these counselors were so overworked with scheduling and school issues. They rarely had time to meet with students who were failing and get to know them or work on the student’s issues.
I would like to have the newspaper investigate how substance abuse affects truancy and how to help these students. One area you can look to for information is the state Department of Health’s Healthy Youth Survey.
YEP'S JOBAPALOOZA FLYER FOR SATURDAY MAY 13TH
RSVP to the next WCPC Community Meeting!
Wood County Prevention Coalition Meeting
Friday, Sep 29, 2017, 08:30 AM
Wood County Educational Service Center, 1867 N Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
About Us
Our Vision: Helping youth be drug-free, productive and responsible citizens.
Our Mission: We are a coalition of compassionate community members working together to coordinate high quality programs for the prevention of youth substance abuse in Wood County.
Email: mkarna@wcesc.org
Website: wcprevention.org
Location: 1867 Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: (419)-354-9010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPCoalition
Twitter: @woodpccoalition