Los Angeles Times, 05 Sep 2012 – A Former Addict Makes Reparations to Grieving Mexican Mothers. The redhaired man who stepped onto the Olvera Street bandstand looked vaguely familiar, but it was his words that got my attention. John Whitaker, a 52year-old Santa Clarita resident, was addressing a rally to raise awareness of cartel violence in Mexico, and he started off by apologizing to the Mexican mothers he’d just heard speak about losing children in the drug wars.

Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug 2012 – Armed With Tales of Grief Caused by Deaths and Incarceration, Activists Hope to Reform Policy on Both Sides of the Border SAN DIEGO – If there is a more profound and costly failure than the war on drugs, it hasn’t come to my attention.

Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct 2010 – Does Pot Impair Drivers More Than Booze. Columnist Puts It to a Test. The man on the other end of the phone wanted me to go to a dispensary and buy three-sixteenths of an ounce of high-grade dope and another three-sixteenths of an ounce of medium-grade.