MARIJUANA STILL DRUG OF CHOICE

DELPHOS - Throughout the counter-culture era, "Cheech and Chong" had
"ganga" burning "up in smoke" as a war-weary nation laughed on.

No longer solely associated with sandals and tie-dyed T-shirts, marijuana
has transcended all social demographics. Adults and teens alike smoke it
in "bongs" and fire up "blunts." Local police say the country's most
popular narcotic is abused by those of various income brackets and social
status.

"Marijuana is fairly widespread in Delphos. I've always called it the
'universal solvent' because certain drugs seem to stay with certain
demographics but marijuana transcends age, gender, race, profession,
cultural background and so on," Delphos Police Sgt. Kyle Fittro said.

Having also served with the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force, Fittro has
seen the drug locally trafficked.

"We worked trafficking cases on about 20 or 22 different individuals in
Delphos and about half of them were trafficking marijuana. Most of the
others were trafficking crack," he said. "The largest marijuana seizure
I've seen in Delphos was last summer when I stopped a vehicle containing 5
1/2 pounds of it. The chief is now driving it - that big purple thing with
chrome rims."

Fittro expects to see an increase in local marijuana-related arrests
because the department has a new K-9 officer. He says police plan to use
"Egus" aggressively to sniff out "weed." The 2-year-old's snout is heavily
relied on at both local high schools.

"The school searches are very effective because kids have no idea when
we're coming. We started doing this in 2002 and kids thought they were
getting away with it. I think the amount we found was insignificant but we
got their attention and the schools are taking a very tough stand. They
don't want drugs on their campuses," said an area undercover agent.

Jefferson High School Principal John Edinger knows there are some
"potheads" in the student body but reports marijuana is not smoked in his
boys room.

"We have never found anything inside our building. The dogs have hit on
cars for residue but police admit the dogs do mess up just to get their
treats. There have been three times in my five years that the dogs found
paraphernalia and we have had kids come to school smelling like it,
especially on Mondays, and I send them home. Once, I had a kid admit
smoking it before he entered the building; that was one of just five times
I've had to discipline a student for it," he said.

Edinger stresses the district has a zero-tolerance policy regarding all
illegal substances, as does St. John's Schools.

High School Principal Don Huysman says police dogs have not found anything
other than stale food in the parking lot. He performs locker checks any
time he gets suspicious.

"You have to be very careful in this day and age. It's very difficult; you
can't go just on rumor but I do locker checks periodically throughout the
year to see if I smell anything. I don't go looking for it but I will look
if I have suspicions," he said.

Police often find items such as rolling papers and "roach" clips in users'
possession. According to the Ohio Revised Code, having paraphernalia is an
arrestable offense. If a possessed amount of marijuana is less than 100
grams, the amount is not arrestable, but if it's a 'doobie', the rolling
paper will cause an arrest because it's paraphernalia. This leaves many
scratching their heads.

Van Wert County Assistant Prosecutor Martin Burchfield says small amounts
of the drug itself carried heavier penalties until the statute changed.
The penalty for paraphernalia remains unchanged, thus the discrepancy.

Task Force Investigator Dan Howard says laws are designed to target
traffickers and dealers. Therefore, $5 and $10 quantities do not land
users in the "clink" for the amount itself.

"All trafficking is a felony regardless of quantity. Possession is where
we often have problems because they have to have at least half a pound to
be charged with a felony and most of the people we deal with are buying
'nickel' bags and 'dime' bags, which is misdemeanor weight," he said.

The area's marijuana originates in Mexico and is unpleasantly packed for
cross-continental highway trafficking, according to Delphos Police Chief
Dave Wagner.

"Marijuana from Mexico gets mixed with cow dung to get it in to those
tight square blocks. Users have no idea what is actually in that
marijuana," he said.

Wagner also indicates various pesticides may be used in the growing
process. He also says the potency has changed due to increased THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol), the drug's key chemical.

"The THC content of marijuana has increased so incredibly compared to what
it was in the 60s and 70s. Any of today's parents who grew up getting high
need to understand that marijuana is not the same as it was back then," he
said.

Many nationwide groups advocate legalization, pointing to legalized
"medical marijuana" in California. One lawmaker doesn't expect similar
passage in Ohio.

"I think legalization is pretty unlikely. There are any number of things
that are illegal but aren't as bad as other things that are illegal. The
farther down the line you go, the more likely you are to develop the
social ills we have now such as alcoholism, health problems with tobacco
use, gambling addiction and these sorts of things, which taxpayers end up
paying for. My view is that if we legalize marijuana, it will cost us a
lot more money to rehabilitate people and deal with all of the problems it
will cause," said Ohio Fourth District Representative Matt Huffman
(R-Lima).

Though he admits there would be benefits with regulation, such as the
absence of fecal matter, Huffman believes legalizing the narcotic would
take the country in the wrong direction.

"If you legalize prostitution, there would be some health benefits for
people who pay for those services; there are all those kinds of arguments
but the problem is the cost it would add for taking care of the extra
problems," he said.

Despite the sometimes-passionate arguments surrounding the issue, Fittro
says it is complicated and progress seems lacking.

"The modern war on drugs has been waged for a long time now and I've come
to the conclusion that what we're doing is not working. I liken it to
garbage collection. People put out their trash and it gets picked up every
week but there's always more. The same is true with drugs; we're not
getting rid of the 'trash.' We're just keeping it from piling up, so we're
more of a suppressive agent than anything else," he said. "I don't know
what the answer is. People talk about treatment options and legalization;
they talk about radically increasing the penalties to where they're just
outrageous but nobody really seems to have the answer.

"I just know that what we're doing isn't fixing the problem and I don't
know if it even can be fixed because as long as there is money to be made
from it, it will continue. Greed is the motivating factor."