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FORT WORTH, Texas - Seventeen Texas Christian University students, including four football players, were arrested Wednesday morning in a massive drug selling sting that has rattled the campus and the Big 12 conference.

The arrests were part of a six-month undercover operation by the Fort Worth police department and the TCU campus police.

The four athletes arrested are top linebacker Tanner Brock; defensive lineman D.J. Yendry; offensive tackle Tyler Horn; and cornerback Devin Johnson, according to Fort Worth police documents. 

"We have a responsibility to ensure that our campus environment is healthy and safe," said Chancellor Victor Boschini, Jr. "I want to make it loud and clear to everybody that if you want to do this kind of thing, you can't go to TCU."

All of the students are subject to immediate expulsion.

"There's no doubt all arrested today are drug dealers," said TCU Police Chief Steven McGee. "These students engaged in hand-to-hand delivery with undercover officers."

The students communicated via social media, McGee said.

The drugs involved included marijuana, cocaine, "molly" -- a powdered form of ecstacy, ecstacy pills, and prescription drugs like Xanax, Hydrocodone and Oxycontin, McGee said.

TCU just recently joined the Big 12 conference, a huge change for the nationally-recognized team. Four of the arrested students are football team members.

"This is a student issue, not a student athlete issue," Chancellor Boschini said.

Drugs are not new to the campus. According to a FAQ post also on the school's site, 71 students were disciplined in 2011 for drug law violations.

Parents and family members of TCU students can call 1-866-321-7428.

Statement from TCU Head Football Coach Gary Patterson

"There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days. As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad.

"Under my watch, drugs and drug use by TCU's student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff. Period. Our program is respected nationally for its strong ethics and for that reason the players arrested today were separated from TCU by the University. I believe strongly that young people's lives are more important than wins or losses.

"This situation isn't unique to TCU-it is a global issue that we all have to address. This isn't just about bad decisions made by a small percentage of my team. It is about a bigger issue across this country and world.

"As a coach, I do the best I can to educate members of my team. We have programs in place that teach student-athletes about what they should and shouldn't do and how to be successful in life. I talk to them about how to be students and upstanding men that uphold the TCU name and its traditions.

"At the end of the day, though, sometimes young people make poor choices. The Horned Frogs are bigger and stronger than those involved."

ATLANTA -- A Georgia middle school student claimed in a lawsuit Wednesday he was humiliated and traumatized when he was brought to a vice principal's office and forced to strip in front of classmates who said he had marijuana.

The student, then in the seventh-grade, said he still suffers from emotional distress because his classmates taunted him by calling him Superman, the underwear he was wearing when he was strip-searched. The student is suing the Clayton County school district for unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.

Clayton County school officials didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit, filed in federal court.

The student, identified in court documents as D.H., said officials at Eddie White Academy initially strip-searched three other students on Feb. 8, 2011, after suspecting they had marijuana. One of them accused D.H. of having drugs, and he was brought to then-vice principal Tyrus McDowell's office.

While the three classmates watched, D.H.'s pockets and book bag were searched but didn't find anything, the lawsuit said. One of the students told school officials he had lied about D.H. having drugs, but administrators continued the search as D.H. begged to be taken to the bathroom for more privacy, according to the lawsuit.

D.H. was ordered to strip and again, no drugs were found. The lawsuit didn't say whether drugs were found on the three students.

"The strip searches were done intentionally, willfully, wantonly, maliciously, recklessly, sadistically, deliberately, with callous indifference to their consequences," according to the lawsuit, which also names the county's sheriff's department and several former school officials as defendants.

The student's attorney, Gerry Weber, said a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found school officials can't perform even a partial strip search of a student, even if they have probable cause.

Weber also litigated a case nearly a decade ago in which the federal appeals court in Atlanta found that a mass strip search of Clayton County students was unconstitutional because it violated their Fourth Amendment rights, which protect against an unreasonable search and seizure.

"This is like deja vu," said Weber. "It is simply beyond belief that students are still being stripped naked in the Clayton County schools."

Redding, who is now running for county sheriff, was fired about a month after the search, the lawsuit said. McDowell was placed on administrative leave before subsequently resigning.

Redding declined to comment and McDowell could not immediately be reached.

The student's mother, Angela Dawson, said her son still hasn't recovered.

"This situation has broken the very foundation of my child's education because in order for him to learn, he has to believe that what schools are trying to teach him is right and now he questions them after they stripped him of his clothes and dignity," she said. "His trust is broken."

A medical marijuana grower who was caught with dozens of pounds of weed in Chicago was sentenced to six years in prison Friday.

Ryan Bailey, 29, was a mortgage broker in Chicago before he moved to Colorado to get into the medical marijuana business, CBS Chicago reports.

Bailey was allegedly holding a package of marijuana on March 9, 2010, when Chicago police raided a Northwest Side home. The drugs had been shipped to the city, but he was only charged with possession. About a year later, he was busted again -- this time in Colorado.

Though medical marijuana is legal in Colorado and his wife operates a medical marijuana dispensary, he allegedly was caught growing more than 600 plants. Colorado's medical marijuana law states that a patient can grow six plants a month for personal use, and "caregivers" can grow more -- but not that much more, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Before he was sentenced by Cook County Judge Lawrence Flood, prosecutors called Bailey the ringleader of a drug operation that shipped 42 pounds of marijuana to a Chicago home, CBS reports. Judge Flood then handed down the six-year sentence. He is still awaiting trial on felony charges in Colorado.

“Some people in the industry have gotten lucky,” Bailey told the Sun-Times. “Other guys like me have gotten caught in the system.”

An 18-year-old teenager, Ramarley Graham, was killed in his home in the Bronx last week by plainclothes cops. A member of the narcotics unit shot the unarmed teenager in his bathroom. 

While details of the tragedy are still unfolding, it appears that the teen had a small amount of marijuana on him, so walked home to get away from the cops because he didn't want to be arrested. The cops followed him, broke into his home and killed him in his bathroom while he was trying to flush a small amount of marijuana down the toilet. The police officer who shot Graham said he believed the young man had a gun. He did not -- no weapons were found.

The bottom line is that an 18-year-old is dead because of the insane marijuana arrest crusade by the NYPD.

Graham's family and the community are righteously demanding justice. There was a passionate gathering of hundreds of people outside the 47th Precinct station in the Bronx last night, where they condemned police violence and the almost-routine killings of unarmed men like Mr. Graham. Graham's sister is quoted in the New York Times, saying, "This is not just about Ramarley. This is about all young black men."

Incidentally, just the day before the tragic killing, the New York City media was buzzing about the 2011 marijuana arrest numbers. There were more than 50,000 marijuana arrests in 2011, the second-most in NYC history and the most in more than a decade. The NYPD bust more people for small amounts of marijuana than any other crime in the city. And these 50,000 arrests are overwhelmingly young black and Latino men -- even though, according to the government's own data, they are no more likely to use or sell marijuana than young whites.

The amazing thing is that 7/8 of an ounce of marijuana is decriminalized -- if police find marijuana in your belongings, they're supposed to just give you a ticket, instead of arresting you, unless the marijuana is being smoked or in "public view." So if under an ounce is supposed to not lead to arrest, why are 50,000 arrests happening a year? Because the NYPD stops and frisks more than 600,000 people -- mostly young black and brown men -- and then tricks them into emptying their pockets. And when marijuana is then pulled out, the police arrest them for marijuana in "public view." 

There has been a big campaign by the Drug Policy Alliance, Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives (IJJRA), and VOCAL-NY slamming the NYPD for these illegal arrests. In September it seemed like the campaign had reached a breakthrough when Police Commissioner Kelly ordered his police to stop making improper marijuana arrests. Last week's news about the 2011 statistics, however, shows that the commissioner's order has not stopped these arrests -- and New York City remains the marijuana arrest capital of the world.

Getting arrested for marijuana is no small matter -- not least because it creates a permanent criminal record that can easily be found on the Internet by employers, landlords, schools, credit agencies, licensing boards and banks. 

And if these 50,000 arrests a year are not destructive enough, we have an 18-year-old teenager who is dead, killed by the NYPD looking to make another small bust for marijuana. No one has ever died from smoking marijuana. But the war on marijuana has taken way too many lives.

A Greenville man who authorities said was driving a taxi on State 8 in Pickens County has been arrested on charges he had 13 bags of marijuana.

Cedric Terrell Young, 30, is charged in a warrant with a first offense of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Part of what arose deputies’ interest was that a taxi was involved, said Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan. While some travelers might call taxis for a ride to the airport, the county of rural country side and small towns isn’t “overrun” with them, he said.

Deputy Dean Jones wrote in an incident report that he was on patrol on State 8 when he saw a vehicle cross the center line. Jones wrote that he ran the tag and found that it wasn’t on file.

After pulling over the vehicle, Jones asked the driver if he could search the car, and the driver said, “sure, there is nothing in it,” Jones wrote.

Another deputy, Brandon Faris, wrote that he arrived and began the search when he smelled marijuana coming from a laptop bag in the front passenger seat.

Faris wrote that he found in a search a plastic baggie with large amount of what appeared to be marijuana individually packaged for sale. The incident began at 7:18 p.m. Saturday, deputies said.

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. (AP) — When police knocked on Josh Brewer's door to check for marijuana, even one of the nation's most liberal medical marijuana laws was put to the test.

Officers were fine with the two pounds 10 ounces he and a cousin had grown, harvested, and processed. That was under the pound and a half each allowed by law. And they didn't care about the 12 plants — six each — growing in the backyard. Also legal.

But after they discovered the additional two pounds 11 ounces drying on coat hangers suspended from the ceiling in the living room, officers arrested Brewer, sparking a legal battle over what was enough — in the maximum sense — for medical use, and what crossed the line into the potential for illegal sales.

After all, even 1.5 pounds by one measure would equal 1,200 joints.

A motion to dismiss the case because the drying marijuana was not "usable" under Oregon law was turned down by a judge. Brewer served 60 days in jail and received three years of probation, putting him back on conventional pain pills for a wrist he said he injured in a construction accident.

But Brewer, 24, beat the rap and has already started a new pot garden after the state attorney general's office conceded last week that, based on a 2007 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling, the marijuana still drying on coat hangers did not qualify as ready for use.

"Without the hanging marijuana, there is no evidence that defendant possessed more than the lawful amount of 'useable marijuana,'" said the state brief on Brewer's appeal.

Oregon law defines usable marijuana as the dried leaves and flowers in form appropriate for medical use. The law does not define how dry that is, but it is generally understood to mean dry enough to smoke.

The case illustrates that 16 years after California became the first state in the nation to make medical marijuana legal, the legal questions over what is legal and who goes to jail and who doesn't are far from clear. The 15 states that allow marijuana use for medical reasons each have their own widely-varying approaches.

Southwestern Oregon lies at the northern tip of what is known as the Emerald Triangle, for its prime marijuana-growing climate. The region also has the highest per capita concentrations of medical marijuana growers in the state. With so much pot allowed under Oregon law, law enforcement says it's difficult to make sure that none is sold illegally.

"It's turned into a Cheech and Chong movie. 'Up In Smoke,' man," said Medford police Chief Tim George, whose officers arrested Brewer in 2009. "We are swimming in weed."

Oregon and Washington both allow users to possess 24 usable ounces, by far and away the most. California allows eight ounces, but unlike most states, only counts the buds, the most potent part of the plant. Most other states allow 2-3 ounces. Colorado allows 2 ounces, Maine 2.5 ounces, and Hawaii 3 ounces.

George said the way the law stands, medical marijuana growers can be growing — year-round indoors — disposing of, and replenishing their stock from their plants and a stockpile of drying branches.

"How dry is dry in order to make it count?" he said. "Right now you can have 1.5 pounds per day every day of the month. That is crazy."

Research done for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency found that marijuana plants can yield 1 to 5 pounds dry weight, with the prized buds making up 18 percent and leaves 16 percent. Using those figures, the six plants per patient allowed in Oregon could amount to 2-10 pounds of buds and leaves, far more than the 1.5 pounds allowed.

Marijuana clinic owner Paul Stanford said 1.5 pounds for the entire year would be enough for most people who smoke their medicine, but not for people who use it to bake cookies and the like.

Whatever the legal amount, vulnerability to arrest remains.

"As long as the police don't come into their homes, they don't have a problem," Stanford said. "If they have to interact with police for any reason, it can be a very big problem."

Brewer said he had a job building outdoor kitchens in 2006 when he cut a nerve in his wrist with a razor blade. He got a medical marijuana card for pain the next year, and started growing his own medicinal pot, using a popular handbook.

In 2009, he and a cousin rented a house in Medford so their marijuana was not around Brewer's wife and three young children. They built a 14-foot fence around the backyard and planted 12 plants — six each.

Brewer said he learned to cut off branches and hang them on coat hangers on hooks in the ceiling to dry in order to stay compliant with the law.

"Say you go out and cut all six plants down and bring them in to hang," he said. "When all that's dry you're going to be over your limit. It's setting you up for an opportunity to get busted.

"But if you go out and are taking a branch here, a branch there, you get little bits at a time 'til you have what you need. The excess medicine you've got you can donate to a clinic. You can burn it. There are multiple ways you can dispose of it."

Brewer said police from a regional drug task force knocked on the door one day and asked to look at his operation. He let them in, and they said he was within the law.

But two days later at 1:30 a.m. he heard his dogs barking and got out of bed to find Medford police at the door. They seized the processed and drying marijuana, leaving the plants in the yard.

With reversal of the conviction, Brewer said he plans to sue Medford police and the city for $15 million.

"I hope these cops realize after this they can come and try and get me as much as they want, but the more they come, the more I'm going to fight," he said.