Pima County Interfaith
  • Home
  • About
    • Affiliates
    • Members
    • Partners
    • History
  • Agenda
  • Actions
    • Wins
    • Process
  • Support
    • Join
  • Calendar
  • Contact

Tucson in a cat-and-mouse fight against nasty synthetic drug

5/21/2017

 
Picture
By Monsignor Raúl Trevizo and Christina Crawford

SPECIAL TO THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR
5/21/2017 - Page A07

In August 2016, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church started a Give them Food campaign to combat Spice, a synthetic marijuana with terrible side effects. Congregation members had noticed that users, who often panhandled around the church, were also having seizures, walking into traffic, and collapsing on the school and church grounds. The leaders of St. John's, Southern Arizona Interfaith (SAI), the Tucson Police Department (TPD), and the Pima County Health Department began to work together to educate the community about the drug and prevent its sale.

We held a community meeting on Spice at St John's; over 250 neighborhood members attended. After the police and St. John leaders described the drug and the current situation, we held small group meetings to answer questions and share stories. Christina told us that she was 'a mother of a Spice victim and a resident of the Amphi Neighborhood. I am a lifelong resident of the area and my two sons and I all attended Amphi High School. A year ago my son became addicted to this poison. His body goes through seizures like spasms where he can't control his muscles. He is literally doubled over, clenched up, drooling and unable to speak. For awhile, I had to go to his house daily to make sure that he was still alive. No parent should have to go through this.

'I heard about the Spice meeting because I work in the St. John area. Many neighborhoods around Tucson are suffering the consequences of this horrible substance. It was and is being sold in neighborhood stores and smoke shops, because it is often legal. Wherever it is sold, loitering, vagrancy, theft a nd panhandling increases.'

Regulating Spice is difficult. Those that make it, usually in foreign countries, are constantly changing the chemical composition so that it's just outside the current laws. They import it as bath salts, room deodorants, potpourri, etc., but it is sold as a cheap street drug. It's like consuming a psychedelic version of moonshine: it can make you high or go into convulsions. Its main targets are young men who want a cheap high and who can't afford designer drugs or even a 12-pack of beer. Like most drugs, it's a symptom of bigger problems, but it can and does contaminate entire communities.

Last fall, SAI and Pima County Interfaith hosted an accountability session with more than 500 community members and Arizona legislative candidates at Amphitheater High School. One of the issues we focused on was Spice. The candidates p romised to help introduce a bill to make Spice ingredients illegal and to help law enforcement agents to press charges against the Spice dealers. This February Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, one of the representatives who attended the accountability session, negotiated the inclusion of Spice ingredients in a bill on controlled substances (HB 2033) sponsored by Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek. Gov. Doug Ducey signed it into lawin March!

The fight is not over, however. Drugmakers keep tweaking the recipe with different chemicals to avoid the laws. Police and local officials told us the law needs to be updated regularly to make it effective. Ward 5 Councilman Richard Fimbres and Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik (both up for re-election this fall) have championed a Tucson Spice ordinance. Without it, we'll have to wait until the 2018 legislative session to update the law.

The Tucson City Council will be voting on the Spice ordinance on Tuesday, May 23, at 5 p.m. Please join Pima County Interfaith, SAI, and other members of the community to show support for this ordinance.
____

Monsignor Raúl Trevizo is the pastor at St. John the Evangelist and a founder of both Southern Arizona and Pima County Interfaith. Christina Crawford is a mother of two and resident of the Amphi Neighborhood.

First Visit to Legislature 2016

1/21/2016

 
Picture
​Yesterday six PCICEO leaders joined a dozen from Valley Interfaith Project at the legislature.  We met as a group with House Minority Leader Eric Meyer (D-Paradise Valley), and then on our own with House Assistant Minority Leader Bruce Wheeler (D-D10), Senate Assistant Minority Leader Steve Farley (D-D9), Rep. Chris Ackerley (R-D2), Rep. Stephanie Mach (D-D10) and Sen. Dave Bradley (D-D10).  The day concluded with a session with Richard Stavneak of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC)

Issues discussed were: Governor Ducey’s proposed budget (which doesn’t jive with the JLBC figures), Proposition 123, Health Care and SCHIP (a slim possibility), Flex Loans (a behind the scenes effort to reintroduce payday lending bills), and gun bills (HB2072 & HB2338) that would allow guns on campuses.  There are a projected 1,600 bills that will be introduced this session and many are still being written and rewritten.

We were well received by all of these leaders who we know from past years.  Rep. Ackerley is opposing the Governor’s plans for JTED (career and technical education), Rep. Wheeler is strongly in favor of Prop. 123, Rep. Mach is willing to mentor young folks interested in politics, and Sen. Farley says that the Governor’s budget is all “smoke and mirrors.”  We also watched newly appointed Rep. Matt Kopec (D-D9) in his first day on the job after being appointed yesterday to fill our Rep. Victoria Steele’s term.  He is also and aide to Tucson City Rep. Karen Uhlich and has worked with us in the past. Steele has resigned to run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Martha McSally.

We’ll be going again on Tuesday, Feb. 2nd, and will be meeting with Supt. of Public Instruction Diane Douglas among others while we’re in Phoenix. 

    ACTIONS

    Activities, Campaigns, 
    Milestones.
    Picture
    Follow us on Facebook.

    Archives

    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    Affordable Care Act
    Ally Miller
    Amphitheater School District
    Ana Henderson
    Ann Kirkpatrick
    Anthony Sizer
    Applied Economics Study
    Arizona Corporation Comission
    Arizona Public Media
    AZ Budget
    AZ Daily Star
    AZ Legislature
    Barbara LaWall
    Bishop Gerald Kicanas
    Bruce Dusenberry
    Candidate Accountability Session
    Catholic Community Services
    Central Ward Of Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints
    CEO Young Leaders
    Chancellor Lee Lambert
    Chris Ackerley
    Chris Nanos
    Chuck Huckleberry
    City Of Tucson
    City Prop 407
    Clergy Caucuses
    Community Food Bank Of Southern Arizona
    Congregation Or Chadash
    County Prop 463
    DACA
    Daniel Hernandez
    Dark Money
    Diane Douglas
    Domingo DeGrazia
    Education
    Family Seperation
    Flex Loans
    Good Shepherd UCC
    Gov. Doug Ducey
    Governor Ducey
    Green Issues
    Gun Violence
    Health Care
    Immigrant Welcoming County Resolution
    Immigration
    Immigration Reform
    Institutional Organizing
    #investined
    Invest In Education Act
    JobPath
    Jonathan Rothschild
    JTED
    Karen Uhlich
    Kirsten Engel
    KOLD News 13
    Kyrsten Simena
    Lisa Lovallo
    Literacy Connects
    Los Changuitos Feos
    Martha McSally
    Mayor Rothschild
    Medicaid Expansion
    Msgr. Raul Trevizo
    National Voter Registration Day
    NW Community Church
    Paul Cunningham
    Pima Community College
    Pima County Board Of Supervisors
    Pima County Bond
    Pima County Neighborhood Reinvestment
    Pima County Sheriff Dept.
    Poverty
    Prop 123
    Ravenscroft Award
    Regina Romero
    Relational Power
    Richard Elias
    Richard Fimbres
    Roman Catholic Diocese Of Tucson
    Rosanna Gabaldon
    Sacred Heart Catholic
    Scholarships AZ
    Shirley Scott
    Southern Arizona Interfaith
    Southern Arizona Leadership Council
    SPICE
    SPICE Drug
    St. Cyril Of Alexandria
    Steve Kozachik
    St John The Evangelist Parish
    St. Mark's Presbyterian
    St. Mark's UMC
    St Phillip's In The Hills Episcopal
    Synthetic Marijuana
    Todd Clodfelter
    Trinity Missionary Baptist
    Tucson City Council
    Tucson Parks & Rec
    Tucson Police Dept.
    Tucson Ward 3
    Tucson Weekly
    TUSD
    Underwater Mortgages
    U.S. Dept Of Justice
    #VOTEforED
    Voter Turnout
    Voting Is Power!
    YES On Pima County Bonds
    YWCA

    RSS Feed

Pima County Interfaith consists of two entities:
​Pima County Interfaith Civic Education Organization (PCICEO), launched in 2015, is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit.
Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), founded in 1990, is a registered 501(c)4 organization.
​PCICEO works in collaboration with  PCIC, assisting in community education, issues research, and public skills development.

PCICEO is a registered non-profit 501(c)3 organization. 
​​Donations are tax-deductible.

​For a full directory of Arizona's social services, see 2-1-1 Arizona
Picture
Picture

Download Brochure HERE.


HOME  | ABOUT | AGENDA | ACTIONS | SUPPORT | CALENDAR |  CONTACT | MEMBER LOG-IN

Pima County Interfaith • 3200 N. Los Altos • Tucson, AZ 85705 •  Phone: (520)903-2333 
© 2019 Pima County Interfaith | All rights reserved.