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Today's Poll!Town hall meeting brings heroin abuse into the light
Jefferson City Police Officer Collier Nichols describes the various forms and ingestion methods of heroin to a gathered crowd during a heroin awareness community town hall meeting at First Assembly of God Church on Thursday night. Photo by Kris Wilson.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Since the beginning of the year, heroin has appeared in the news with increasing frequency — reports of overdoses, arrests linked to robberies and assaults with ties to the Capital City’s newest and fastest growing drug problem.
Kathleen Mims, of the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, speaks during a heroin awareness community town hall meeting.
The Jefferson City community held its first town hall meeting on how to combat the drug on Thursday, two days after the HOPE (Heroin Overdose Prevention and Education) program officially kicked off with the launch of its www.jeffcityhope.com website.
More than 170 people gathered at First Assembly of God Church for presentations by ....
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Comments
mia 1 year, 3 months ago
I think these meetings are so great. But only if the public becomes proactive in their community to snuff this stuff out. We have seen it where we live. We even have found old wrappers from bath salts (K2?) in our yard. We are so tired of it. Kids tripping out while running around at night with glow sticks. And this is nothing compared to the heroin problem. I feel so sorry for these people that have lost their children. And good for you for speaking to the public about it.
billbrasky 1 year, 3 months ago
First Assembly of God?
I trust there wasn't any arm waving or speaking in tounges...
JCLifer 1 year, 3 months ago
Wish we had a nice COMMUNITY CENTER where these types of civic meetings could be easily held....
JMO 1 year, 3 months ago
Didn't a read a while back that they've put a community center on Atchison? Has anyone ever used it?
w w w.newstribune.com/news/2012/feb/03/abandoned-building-reopens-community-center/
JCLifer 1 year, 3 months ago
Not quite what I was thinking about. My vision includes enough space to have indoor car shows, concerts, community meetings, plays, etc. Go see what Lebanon has-- for a podunk little town, they have a lot of really nice community amenities that Jefferson City doesn't even dream of having.
lebanonmissouri.org/index.aspx?NID=272
JMO 1 year, 3 months ago
Well see, that's what I am thinking of when I hear "convention center"...only a bit bigger than that. But something like that, even if it were smaller, would be nice too.
JCLifer 1 year, 3 months ago
Don't say "smaller". This town thinks too small when they are considering GOOD ideas. Look at Miller Performing Arts Center-- it is great, but they spent around $12 million dollars to renovate a small older auditorium. What if they would have used that money to build a new BIGGER facility that would have been big enough to get bigger shows and bigger entertainers here?
If we want to grow, we do need to think bigger at times. However, we need to think bigger on the right things that benefit local residents and taxpayers.
tonto_goldberg 1 year, 3 months ago
That building is for sale because the church needs a bigger facility. Think about it. They are good people and they can wave and speak any way they want to.
JCLifer 1 year, 3 months ago
Are any of them church people also "good ol boys"???
tonto_goldberg 1 year, 3 months ago
Not according to the normal meaning of that phrase.
asb 1 year, 3 months ago
Better impact to have ER nurses and doctors explain the deal to these folks than a cop. Expertise is a better teacher than a uniform.
Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago
No kidding. I just found this little nugget tucked away in the HOPE website FAQ section:
"And if you've heard that marijuana is not addictive, think again. Research shows that each year more teens enter treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined."
Whaa? I thought this was about heroin??
Kids can see right through this. They don't buy scare tactics about marijuana. They know, or they soon will learn, that pot does not belong in the same legal classification as heroin.
The problem is that cops discredit themselves with stuff like this. It makes it look like everything they say is just drug war propaganda. How are kids supposed to know when cops are telling them the truth about drugs? Health professionals telling kids the truth about drugs will keep them safer than fake-scary reefer madness.
Sigh. I knew this is how things would play out. Way to waste your breath, cops. I'm sure you got a nice federal grant for "awareness programs."
Daddy 1 year, 3 months ago
Just because you open your mouth doesn't make you sound smart lol. If you knew anything about this program you would know it does include counselors and doctors.
asb 1 year, 3 months ago
Hey daddy, I type with my mouth closed. I'll say it more slowly, they aren't going to get anywhere with cops as part of the picture. Addiction is a social and medical problem, cops should only be involved when somebody commits a crime. Cops don't belong in the above situation. That officer should be patrolling the streets of Jefferson City.
Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago
If that's true, those counselors and doctors better get on the ball. Looks like the cops are running the show, or at least writing the script.
billbrasky 1 year, 3 months ago
Feel like the root of the problem is all the wasted tax dollars spent on the criminal war on drugs vs. medical problems with addiction and awareness.
Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago
what part of the quote do you have a problem with?
cmnsense 1 year, 3 months ago
I agree, just look at that young girl's expression.
"So, like, is he serious? WhatEVER..."
Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago
"That's right, kids. One puff on a joint and you'll die of heroin addiction."
kentheco 1 year, 3 months ago
I once set through a law enforcement presentation on how marijuana usage automatically led to use of harder drugs. The presentation went so far as to say that simply buying any product made of hemp will lead to drug usage. With that statement, I realized that it was a “scare tactic” type of presentation based on little fact, but lots of conjecture. The variety of hemp used in the production of oil and fabric is different from the typed smoked and if the statement about Hemp was correct, how is it that the farmers that grew hemp during World War II didn’t become hooked on harder drugs (opium, cocaine, amphetamines that had been around longer)? Some history follows, though as I grew up, these problems were blamed on the “Hippies and Long-Hairs”, when in fact, drug problems were around long before the term “Hippies” was coined. In 1840, New Englanders brought 24,000 pounds of opium into the United States that resulted in the U.S. Customs putting a duty “tax” on it. In 1890, the U.S. Congress, in its earliest law-enforcement on narcotics, imposed a tax on both opium and morphine. It was also at this time that the scare tactics began when William Randolph Hearst published stories of how white women were being seduced by Chinese men and their opium to invoke fear of the “Yellow Peril” disguised as an “anti-drug” campaign. In 1895, the Bayer Company, began producing a diluted form of morphine and coins the name Heroin. As far as the current “Meth” problems, after the first synthesis of amphetamine in 1887, methamphetamine “Meth” was first synthesized from ephedrine in Japan in 1893. In 1919, crystallized methamphetamine “Crystal Meth” was synthesized via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus and iodine. One of the earliest government uses of methamphetamine occurred during World War II, when it was used by both Axis and Allied forces. One of its “street’ names was "Pilot's chocolate" or "Pilot's salt". It was also widely distributed across rank and division, from elite forces, tank crews and aircraft personnel, with many millions of tablets being distributed throughout the war, and we wonder why we have this problem today. Drugs have been around for longer than most people realize and I feel that simply scaring people is not going to solve the problem. As much as some people would disagree, not only has marijuana been found to not automatically lead to the use of “harder” drugs, there have been 37 controlled studies involving 2,563 subjects assessing the safety of marijuana. One of these studies conducted by the University of California, San Diego, which utilized the so-called ‘gold standard' FDA clinical trial design, concluded that marijuana ought to be a "first line treatment" for patients with neuropathy (pain and numbness in the hands and feet) and other serious illnesses.
kentheco 1 year, 3 months ago
P.S. I do not use illegal drugs and have been subjected to random drug screening beginning in 1974 in the military, till my retirement from state employment in 2011.
Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago
I remain convinced this is a constitutional violation.
Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago
The critical comments about the program, presenters, and the website seem pointless.
lovemykids 1 year, 3 months ago
Let me see if I can clarify. The cops told me in my DARE and STAR programs that "weed is the gateway drug. If you smoke it then you will end up a junkie." Now MILLIONS of us kids have gotten big enough to give some of it a try. You know what I found. The cops LIED to me! They have propogated that lie to the point of creating a rift between the kids who were in those programs and the police and the government. I don't trust them anymore BECAUSE they tried to brainwash me and I don't feel like THAT is what freedom is about.
Gabrielle 1 year, 3 months ago
You can blame the police for that if you would like. They are not the only ones that believe this lie. It is endemic in our society. For whatever reason, marijuana has this bad image. Many people perptuate the lie - not limited to politicians, teachers, law enforcement, radio personalities. Even doctors are reluctant to prescribe the synthetic THC for patients that would benefit. Because they believe the same thing or because of fear of some sort of backlash, I wouldn't presume to know. There is promise, though. Medical marijuana laws are making headway and someplaces now consider possession of small quanities a misdimeanor. As I see it, what is best is for you and others to tell the truth about marijuana. Continue - participate in the discussion. That is freedom!
JCLifer 1 year, 3 months ago
Marijuana will cause your babies to be born naked.
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