Testing It Up

A Colorado court ruled on April 25 that employers can still terminate workers who test positive for marijuana use, even though the state has medical and recreational marijuana laws.

In its 2-1 conclusion involving the case of a medical marijuana patient, the Colorado Court of Appeals found  there is no employment protection for people who use medical marijuana in the state as the drug remains illegal under federal laws.

Brandon Coats, a telephone operator for the Colorado-based Dish Network LLC, was paralyzed in a car crash as a teenager. He has been using medical marijuana since 2009 to deal with debilitating muscle spasms. In 2011, he was fired after failing a drug test, though his employer didn’t claim he was ever impaired on the job.

“I’m not going to get better anytime soon,” Coats told the Associated Press. “I need the marijuana, and I don’t want to go the rest of my life without holding a job.”

According to the court, an activity is deemed legal in Colorado if it is “permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law.”

Dish Network did not issue any comment on the ruling, but Coats’ lawyer, Michael Evans, said in a statement that it “has wide implications for Colorado marijuana laws.”

“This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law,” said Evans, who plans to  ask Colorado’s Supreme Court to review the case.

Meanwhile, the Marijuana Policy Project, has been disappointed with the outcome of Coats’ case.

Morgan Fox, spokesman for MPP in Washington, called the ruling a setback, saying it appears to be limited to state law and did not consider the provisions under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Every person is different and, therefore, every person’s addiction is different and needs to be treated in a unique way. It’s this philosophy that guides Cali Estes when she helps recovering addicts as The Addictions Coach.

The Addictions Coach company combines yoga, nutrition and fitness, along with traditional talk therapy, all done at a location of their clients’ choosing. Cali has accompanied clients to high risk situations like weddings, worked ‘on set’ of movies and film productions, worked directly with pro athletes, sat in on business meetings, been ‘on tour’ with musicians and has worked directly in the home of clients for a more intensive ‘rehab’ setting.

Unlike traditional rehabilitation centers that convince the addict that they have a disease that is incurable and they must attend meetings, recite prayers and follow steps, Cali tailors her program to fit each client and says every addict needs not just therapy sessions but also a coach.

“People in addiction need to be held accountable for their actions. That is why you will see clients relapse after treatment settings and rehab stays,” Cali says. “They do not have anyone to answer to anymore and go back to their own ways. Rehabs allow people to be ‘in the bubble of safety’ and then dump the client right back in the same environment with minimal therapy. Imagine having a coach to call, text and be present as you go through life. I offer intensive 24/7 services, daily, hourly and then also hourly with unlimited text and email. I instill in the client a sense of being accountable and having help immediately available.”

To read the full text of the interview, visit Interview With Cali Estes on Addiction.

Just how far would a drug addict go to feed an addiction?

For a New York woman, it’s as far as telling everyone she has bone and brain cancer so she could solicit thousands of dollars for her heroin addiction.

Brittany Ozarowski, from Long Island, is now in bigger trouble after she was charged in Suffolk County with 24 counts including grand larceny in the third degree.

According to the prosecutors, Ozarowski fabricated her inoperable cancer illness so she could seek donations from people at Nassau and Suffolk counties. Fox News reports that Ozarowski also scammed her father, as well as her grandmother who ended up selling her house to give the 21-year-old more than $100,000.

“This defendant perpetrated a despicable scam. … There was no cancer, no chemotherapy or radiation. All there was was heroin and more heroin,” said District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Spota added that small business owners also donated over $600 in gift certificates. Ozarowski even created a website with a banner pleading “Help Save My Life,” and set up a Paypal account where donations could be made.

Spota said Ozarowski was eventually caught when one of the people she asked money for became suspicious after asking the woman for her physician’s name, which she couldn’t provide.

Ozarowski’s lawyer refused to issue further comment, saying he has yet to review the charges.

Maryland is on its way to legalizing medical marijuana after the Senate approved on April 8 a bill that will allow medical cannabis programs at participating research centers. It is now up to Gov. Martin O’Malley to sign the legislation, which would be a relief to patients with debilitating conditions.

Garnering a vote of 42-4, the bill seeks to create a state commission that will oversee the medical marijuana programs at participating academic research centers. A medical center that chooses to take part in the program is mandated to indicate the medical conditions it would treat and the criteria by which patients are allowed to participate. In addition, a medical center would need to provide the state health department data on patients and caregivers on a daily basis, according to the USA Today report.

Maryland’s medical cannabis bill is currently awaiting Gov. O’Malley’s signature, but he said he is likely to approve the measure after going over the provisions.

Albeit limited in nature, the bill is seen as a good opportunity for medical research centers to investigate the therapeutic effects of marijuana. Sinai Hospital in Baltimore has already expressed interest in writing while Johns Hopkins Hospital has indicated it would review the possibility of participating.

“They needed to wait to see what the road map looked like, and now that they have I think you’re going to see much quicker movement than people may have anticipated,” said State Delegate Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and emergency room physician.

A Medical Examiner’s report has linked bath salts to the death of a 17-year-old boy, who was found unconscious in an Orange County home in February.

Orange-Osceola Chief Medical Examiner Jan Garavaglia  told WOGX-FOX 51 that she found traces of a hallucinogenic drug, which can be classified as a bath salt, on the $10 bill that Krystopher Sansone used for snorting drugs before passing out.

Sansone and four other teens were reportedly found unconscious in a home on Vista Del Lago Boulevard on Feb. 10. All of the teens were brought to a nearby hospital for treatment but Sansone was later pronounced dead, while three of the young adults were eventually released.

Garavaglia said the synthetic drug that the group had ingested “can cause psychosis, seizures and clearly death.” She also noted that several other people have died from bath salts in Orange County, and most of them are teenagers.

A spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said no one will be charged with Sansone’s death, but the agency is continuing its investigation on the incident.

Sansone’s mother earlier issued a statement, telling kids to stay away from synthetic drugs. “This was a good kid, from a good family, who made a bad choice that night,” Lucy Sansone said.

Like synthetic marijuana, bath salts are often sold in convenience stores and gasoline stations. The drug contains one or more synthetic chemicals related to cathinone that are known to produce a wide range of side effects, including euphoria, paranoia, agitation, increased sociability, and violent behavior. They are sometimes marketed as “plant food,” “jewelry cleaner,” or “phone screen cleaner” in a variety of names, such as “Bloom,” “Cloud Nine,” “Lunar Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” “White Lightning,” and “Scarface.”

The clamor for marijuana legalization is getting louder and the results of the latest Pew Research Center poll prove just that.

Of the 1,501 American adults surveyed last month, 52 percent are in favor of legalizing marijuana, an 11 percent increase since 2010. Young people, aged 18-32, are found to be the most supportive of any measure that calls for decriminalizing marijuana sale and possession.

Boomers are also more accepting of marijuana legalization now compared to the previous years. In 1978, 47 percent of Boomers wanted to legalize pot, but support declined during the 1980s, reaching a low of 17 percent in 1990. In 1994, Boomers who support marijuana had increased to 24 percent climbing to 50 percent in the latest survey.

As expected, there is far less support for legalization among those 65 and older; still, there has been an 11-point rise in support among older Americans since 2010.

In general though, men are somewhat more likely than women to support marijuana legalization.

Meanwhile, as support for the legalization of pot grows fewer Americans are viewing marijuana as a  ”gateway drug.” Currently, just 38 percent agree that “for most people the use of marijuana leads to the use of hard drugs,” compared to 60 percent in 1977.

The March 13-17 survey results also showed a significant change in attitudes on whether it is immoral to smoke marijuana. Currently, 50 percent of the surveyed Americans say smoking marijuana is not a moral issue, compared to 35 percent in 2006.

State prosecutors have decided not to file charges against the couple who was found growing medical marijuana at their home.

Robert and Cathy Jordan got the shock of their lives when Manatee County sheriff’s officers arrived in their Parish, Florida home last month and seized the marijuana plants growing in their back yard. The plants are meant to ease Cathy Jordan’s suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Robert, 64, was listed in the case for potential cultivation charges. But after weeks of reviewing the case, prosecutors agreed not to press charges or arrest the  couple, saying the Jordans could successfully mount a medical necessity defense, The Daily Chronic reports.

According to the investigation, it was confirmed that Robert was only growing the cannabis for his wife’s use. “He didn’t have pounds of marijuana,” said Brian Iten, the assistant state attorney who reviewed Jordan’s case. “He certainly didn’t reach the criteria for trafficking.”

Iten explained in a memo to the Sheriff’s Office that the couple kept meticulous records regarding Cathy’s medical marijuana treatment, demonstrating that she had no alternative treatment available and that not treating her illness would be worse than breaking the law in her case.

On March 5, Senator Jeff Clemens introduced the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act (SB 1250) which seeks to authorize qualifying patients to possess and use medical marijuana if prescribed by their physicians. The bill is already assigned to the Health Policy Committee, but until now no hearing has been scheduled even though a recent poll showed more than 70 percent of Floridians are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana.

Cory Monteith, a.k.a Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee, has checked into an undisclosed rehab facility to seek treatment for his substance abuse problem.

Monteith’s rep told People that the 30-year-old actor “has voluntarily admitted himself to a treatment facility for substance addiction. He graciously asks for your respect and privacy as he takes the necessary steps towards recovery.”

In a 2011 interview with Parade magazine, the Canadian-born actor revealed his troubled teenage life in which he skipped school, got drunk, and started smoking pot. His marijuana use has escalated to experimenting with other drugs, and at 19 he found himself in rehab. He completed the treatment program, but eventually had a relapse.

“I don’t want kids to think it’s okay to drop out of school and get high, and they’ll be famous actors, too,” he told Parade. “But for those people who might give up: Get real about what you want and go after it.”

Lea Michele, Monteith’s girlfriend, exclusively tells People that she will “love and support Cory and will stand by him through this.”

“I am grateful and proud he made this decision,” Michele added.

Border Patrol drug busts often paint a picture of Mexicans smuggling banned substances into the United States. But according to a report released on March 26 by the Center for Investigative Reporting, the border agency actually catches more Americans transporting drugs into the country.

An analysis of records showed that four out of five people, or 80 percent, found with drugs by Border Patrol agents are U.S. citizens, even though 38 percent of the border agency’s press releases mentioned a Mexican drug-trafficking suspect.

Law enforcement officials and Americans who have been nabbed for drug possession said U.S. citizens are often recruited because traffickers believe they will arouse less suspicion from police.

One case involved a U.S. Naval Academy grad who already made five smuggling runs before he was caught at a checkpoint about 80 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in December 2010.

Another case involved an unemployed mechanical engineer who had already made seventeen smuggling runs before a drug-sniffing dog found more than 80 pounds of marijuana stashed in his car in 2011.

The report also revealed that the number of Americans arrested with drugs by the Border Patrol in 2011 is three times more than in 2005.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman William Brooks said that while there were U.S. citizens involved in drug smuggling, many are still Mexicans. But the Border Patrol’s own records showed U.S. citizens are involved in drug trafficking of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine 60 percent more than any other nationality. For marijuana arrests of 1,000 pounds or more, the percentage climbs to more than two-thirds.

As the Border Patrol stepped up security by increasing agents and drug-detecting dogs at checkpoints to catch more smugglers, the traffickers also have changed tactics.

“They know the language. They know the culture. They know the routes,” said Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rusty Fleming. “And the traffickers have learned the art of breaking down the risk.”

Former NBA star Chris Herren once enjoyed a life of fame, basking in the adoration of cheering fans every time he scored points on the court. He traveled to Italy, China, Poland, Turkey, and Iran to participate in major leagues. But such a prestigious basketball career was not spared from getting tarnished by his drug addiction.

These days, Herren is still a well-recognized figure — only this time, in the field of motivational speaking.

On March 3, the 37-year-old former member of the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics shared his story to about 200 University of West Florida students and community members who gathered at UWF Field House. He talked about the first time he was introduced to cocaine, his addiction to painkillers, his life and death struggle with heroin, and the realization that he needed rehab to get his life back on track.

“I had never seen cocaine,” PNJ.com quoted Herren as saying. “I said to myself, ‘I am going to do this one time, and I am never going to do it again.’ I promised myself at 18-years-old that it would be a one-time thing. I never knew that it would be a 14-year nightmare.”

During his Boston College days, Herren was featured in several magazines including Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated. But before playing, he failed a drug test for marijuana and cocaine use. Within three months following an injury he received in November of 1994, he again failed two drug tests for the same substances.

When Herren made it to the NBA, he brought with him his love for drugs. “I couldn’t play unless I was under the influence,”” he said. “Oxycontin, opiates and heroin took over my world. Without it, there was no possibility of functioning. It obviously deteriorated my body, physically, but emotionally and mentally my mind was always elsewhere.”

In 2008, Herren entered rehab with the help of a fellow NBA player who offered to pay for a six-month rehabilitation program. He has been alcohol and drug-free since Aug. 2008.

Herren still travels a lot but mostly within the country to provide talks to students and athletic groups about his addiction experience. He established The Herren Project in 2011 to provide assistance in taking the first steps toward recovery and a life of sobriety. Recently, Herren launched the Purple Project to break the stigma of addiction, bring awareness to the dangers of substance abuse and shed light on effective treatment practices.