AP asshat

Actor Charlie Sheen Arrested in Colorado
....Sheen is the son of actor Martin Sheen. His screen credits include ''Platoon,'' ''Wall Street'' and the ''Hot Shots!'' movies. He nearly died of a drug overdose in 1998 but received court-ordered rehabilitation.
4You mean AND received court-ordered rehabilitation, asshat.

Merry jew-on-xmas!

The real thing at the ONDCP?

Addiction on 2 Fronts: Work and Home
By Sarah Kershaw
WASHINGTON — His son had been dead from an overdose only three months when A. Thomas McLellan, among the nation’s leading researchers on addiction, got a call from the office of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Would he accept the nomination to be the government’s No. 2 drug-control official?
Dr. McLellan, 61, makes no secret of his cynicism about government — “I hate Washington,” as he put it in an interview — and he had no intention of leaving his job as a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and scientific director of the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia. ....


Drug Dependence, a Chronic Medical Illness Implications for Treatment, Insurance, and Outcomes Evaluation
A. Thomas Mclellan, David C. Lewis, Charles P. O’Brien, Herbert D. Kleber
JAMA, October 4, 2000—Vol 284, No. 13
The effects of drug dependence on social systems has helped shape the generally held view that drug dependence is primarily a social problem, not a health problem. In turn, medical approaches to prevention and treatment are lacking. We examined evidence that drug (including alcohol) dependence is a chronic medical illness. A literature review compared the diagnoses, heritability, etiology (genetic and environmental factors), pathophysiology, and response to treatments (adherence and relapse) of drug dependence vs type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and asthma. Genetic heritability, personal choice, and environmental factors are comparably involved in the etiology and course of all of these disorders. Drug dependence produces significant and lasting changes in brain chemistry and function. Effective medications are available for treating nicotine, alcohol, and opiate dependence but not stimulant or marijuana dependence. Medication adherence and relapse rates are similar across these illnesses. Drug dependence generally has been treated as if it were an acute illness. Review results suggest that long-term care strategies of medication management and continued monitoring produce lasting benefits. Drug dependence should be insured, treated, and evaluated like other chronic illnesses.
JAMA

Sentiment I could have never predicted experiencing:

I almost wish Ralph Nader was running.
guns AND prisons? please.
Gun opponents up in arms as Jerry Brown aids NRA
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
It may come as a surprise to many of his Democratic supporters, but Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown has gone to bat for the National Rifle Association.
The NRA's cause: urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee the ability of gun owners across the land to keep and bear arms.
Last year, the high court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to individuals who keep a gun at home for self-defense. But the court made it clear the ruling applied only to the District of Columbia, a federal enclave.
Now, gun advocates are challenging Chicago's handgun ban, asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Second Amendment equally applies to the states. And there was no shortage of states - 34 in all - jumping on the bandwagon in support of the court hearing the case.
In July, before the court agreed to take the case, Brown went so far as to file his own friend-of-the-court brief asking that Chicago's gun ban be overturned - arguing that if the court doesn't act, "California citizens could be deprived of the constitutional right to possess handguns in their homes." ....

I enjoyed this too much not to share.

In Defense of New York
By Charles M. Blow
Representative John Shadegg of Arizona really knows how to put on a show.
Earlier this month, he used a live baby as part of a quasi-ventriloquist act on the House floor. Creepy? Yes. Still, we let it slide.
But he doesn’t get two passes in a row. Monday, he took a swipe at Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City for saying that the city could handle the security for the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Shadegg sniped, “I saw the mayor of New York today said ‘We’re tough. We can do it.’ Well mayor, how are you going to feel when it’s your daughter that’s kidnapped, at school, by a terrorist?”
Say what you will about New Yorkers, but question our toughness, you will not.
Whether a civil or military trial would provide the best chances of securing a conviction while simultaneously signaling to the world a righting of America’s moral compass is a fair debate. But questioning whether New York City can handle the trial is an insult.
(By the way, what’s with this business of the mayor’s daughter being kidnapped? It sounds like the plot of a Jackie Chan movie.)
We New Yorkers live with the threat of terrorism every day — on our trains, in our high-rises, in our plazas. But we’ve learned to cope. Not by being afraid, but by being vigilant. Bringing Mohammed to Manhattan isn’t going to move the needle much.
A police spokesman told Reuters that “eight terrorism plots against the city have been scuttled since 2001, including plots to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and the retaining wall at ground zero.”
Yet the city didn’t blink. Schools still opened, trains still ran and the Naked Cowboy still serenaded gaggles of grown women who giggled like schoolgirls.
So Mr. Congressman, how many terror plots have been squashed in your district? Take your time. I’ll wait.
We love this city, and nothing and no one will make us afraid to be in it. We refuse to be cowed by cowards — not by those hiding in the Hindu Kush or by those hyperventilating in the halls of Congress.
And what galls us most is having watched for years as politicians like Shadegg used fear-mongering about 9/11 and the threat of attacks as a political tool.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani used it to sidestep the extreme racial divisiveness he fostered in the city. Former President George W. Bush used it as a Trojan horse to ravage our civil liberties. Dick Cheney is still using it to shield his transgressions.
Let us be clear: The fear tactics that work in the hinterlands don’t work here.
We rose from the ashes of the Twin Towers. We don’t need a puppeteering politician from Phoenix lecturing us about being tough in the face of terror.

whiskey and the narc!

proud of this guy. really.

Chicago Club Accused Of Racism Over Dress Code
by David Schaper
Six college students from St. Louis accuse a popular Chicago nightclub of using a dress code banning baggy pants to racially profile them, denying them entrance to the club on a recent Saturday night. ....
Murayi says he tried pleading with the bouncer and a manager. Another student suggested that they all go back to their hotel and change, but Murayi says the manager told them they still wouldn't be allowed in.
"Alarm bells went off in my mind automatically," said Murayi, a double major in math and economics from Aberdeen, Md. He says he has been targeted by such dress codes before.
"A lot of times, baggy-jeans policies are used, in my opinion, to reject a certain demographic, mostly black men, from being allowed entry into certain places," Murayi said.
Murayi and other Washington University students say white members of the class who wore pants that were just as baggy were allowed into Mother's. In an experiment of sorts, he exchanged jeans with white student Jordan Roberts to see if Roberts could get in.
"Jordan's about 3 inches shorter than me and about 40 pounds lighter than me," Murayi said. "He said he felt like a clown; his pants were ridiculous, but he just walked up and was allowed in." ....

let me get this straight....

police officers deserve forgiveness, but drug runners without two quarters to rub together have to rot in prison? where did we find this guy?

New S.F. chief seeks amnesty for officers
Heather Knight,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Discipline cases against dozens of San Francisco police officers would be dismissed under an amnesty program proposed by Chief George Gascón.
The new police chief told The Chronicle on Wednesday that he wants to see "the great majority" of roughly 75 discipline cases pending before the civilian Police Commission end with little or no punishment for officers accused of minor misconduct.
Those cases, he said, include charges such as use of inappropriate language, being discourteous, failing to properly fill out a police report or a first-time misdemeanor drunken-driving arrest. They would also most likely involve first-time offenders rather than officers with a long history of complaints against them.
"We don't get anything out of taking a pound of flesh," Gascón said. ....


Sep 2, 2009 7:44 pm US/Pacific
New SFPD Chief To Make Tenderloin A Priority
There is an air of desperation in San Francisco's Tenderloin as the needy line up for soup kitchens, and those suffering from mental illness or drugs make the streets their home. But San Francisco's new police chief is planning on making the cleanup of the Tenderloin a priority of his administration. ....

worth repeating

even though you know Dan Choi's story, his interview on out in the bay is well worth your time.
Lieutenant Dan Choi: He chose to come out on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC in March and one month later he was discharged from the U.S. Army — even though he is an Arabic translator, a West Point graduate, and has served in Iraq. Meet Lt. Dan Choi, a Christian, a first generation Korean-American, and a brave and unapologetic leader of the push to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Choi talks with host Marilyn PIttman about his ordeal, his ideals, and his new role as a gay leader.
download it here

monty mommy

more snuggeting

sunday is heroin day in the nytimes

apparently Russia has not been paying attention.

Russia, Plagued by Heroin Use, to Press U.S. on Destroying Afghan Poppy Crops
By Ellen Barry
MOSCOW — During talks this week with his American counterpart, Russia’s top drug enforcement official, Viktor P. Ivanov, will press the United States to step up efforts to destroy Afghan poppy cultivation, which he said was feeding a devastating drug problem in Russia. ....
“I would call on the United States to use defoliation from the air,” Mr. Ivanov said. ....

The main source of heroin to Boston is Colombia, where we have spent billions on poppy and coca eradication. >>
Low Price, High Power Raise Heroin Deaths
BOSTON -- A lethal combination of rock bottom prices combined with a spike in the potency and availability of heroin on Massachusetts streets has led to an increase in the number of heroin-related deaths in recent years. ....
read the article here and look at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Death report here

Wales OD prevention program = headline tease

I responded to this headline with curiosity and enthusiasm. Upon reading the article, not so much. I was imagining texting codes that triggered situation-specific advice or the steps to follow for rescue breathing .... something of substance, anyway. Certainly not already ubiquitous, unproductive catch phrases:
Addicts get text overdose advice
Drug users in Swansea are being asked to sign up to be sent mobile texts on what to do if they overdose and how to reduce their addiction risks.
Messages such as "Overdose: Don't panic. Put them in the recovery position, dial 999" will be sent out.....

TEXT EXAMPLES
•OVERDOSE: Don't panic. Put them in the recovery position, dial 999, ask for an ambulance and stay with them until the ambulance arrives
•OVERDOSE:If someone is going to inject it is safer NOT to use on their own. Don't mix drugs
•DUMPING WORKS ( gizmos, spokes, spoons or fliters in public spaces is NOT OK. Keep everybody safe and dispose of them properly
•NEVER SHARE cookers, spikes, spoons or filters. Identify your own works to avoid any mix ups.

oh boy

Van Jones resignation

I thought I must be reading an Onion article; a community organizer from San Francisco signed a petition about the Iraq war and supports Mumia? uh, news at 11.

White House Official Resigns After G.O.P. Criticism
By John M. Broder
WASHINGTON — White House officials on Sunday tersely accepted the resignation of the administration’s special adviser for environmental jobs after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials.
The adviser, Van Jones, a controversial and charismatic community organizer and “green jobs” advocate from the San Francisco Bay Area, signed a petition in 2004 questioning whether the Bush administration had allowed the terrorist attacks of September 2001 to provide a pretext for war in the Middle East.
He also used a vulgarity to refer to Republicans just before being appointed to his White House post early this year, and he has publicly supported Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. ....

definitely do not tax oil revenues....

remember when California was forward thinking?
Billy DeFrank Center cutting all paid staff, suspending HIV testing
By Sandra Gonzales
Billy DeFrank Center announced Tuesday that it would cut all its paid staff and temporarily suspend HIV testing as it deals with the realities of a shrinking budget. ....
Since about 20% of people with HIV in the US do not know they are positive, this is really great news.... no, not so much.

and, as long as we are busy conflating health insurance with state mandated euthanasia, let's definitely conflate rapist-kidnappers with the thousands of people in prison for drug possession....
Schwarzenegger to take prison fight to U.S. Supreme Court

Ted Kennedy - what we really lost

okay, my love of the man who loves Splash is no secret. The HRC's list of Ted Kennedy's accomplishments brought me to tears.
You can view a list of the bills he sponsored during the last 20 years here.

we will be the last democracy on this train

Argentina rules on marijuana use
The supreme court in Argentina has ruled that it is unconstitutional to punish people for using marijuana for personal consumption.
The decision follows a case of five young men who were arrested with a few marijuana cigarettes in their pockets.
But the court said use must not harm others and made it clear it did not advocate a complete decriminalisation.
Correspondents say there is a growing momentum in Latin America towards decriminalising drugs for personal use.
The Argentine court ruled that: "Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state."
Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti said private behaviour was legal, "as long as it doesn't constitute clear danger".
"The state cannot establish morality," he said.
The initiative has been supported by the government - Congress is expected to introduce amendments to the current drug laws. ....

another op-ed I hope people are reading...

Op-Ed Columnist
Priority Test: Health Care or Prisons?
By Nicolas D. Kristof
At a time when we Americans may abandon health care reform because it supposedly is “too expensive,” how is it that we can afford to imprison people like Curtis Wilkerson?
Mr. Wilkerson is serving a life sentence in California — for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks. As The Economist noted recently, he already had two offenses on his record (both for abetting robbery at age 19), and so the “three strikes” law resulted in a life sentence.
This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it’s also an extraordinary waste of money.
Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. ....

heroin treatment study in NEJM!

Diacetylmorphine versus Methadone for the Treatment of Opioid Addiction
New England Journal of Medicine
Volume 361 — August 20, 2009 — Number 8
Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, Suzanne Brissette, David C. Marsh, Pierre Lauzon, Daphne Guh, Aslam Anis, and Martin T. Schechter
Background
Studies in Europe have suggested that injectable diacetylmorphine, the active ingredient in heroin, can be an effective adjunctive treatment for chronic, relapsing opioid dependence.
Methods
In an open-label, phase 3, randomized, controlled trial in Canada, we compared injectable diacetylmorphine with oral methadone maintenance therapy in patients with opioid dependence that was refractory to treatment. Long-term users of inject-able heroin who had not benefited from at least two previous attempts at treatment for addiction (including at least one methadone treatment) were randomly assigned to receive methadone (111 patients) or diacetylmorphine (115 patients). The primary outcomes, assessed at 12 months, were retention in addiction treatment or drug-free status and a reduction in illicit-drug use or other illegal activity according to the European Addiction Severity Index.
Results
The primary outcomes were determined in 95.2% of the participants. On the basis of an intention-to-treat analysis, the rate of retention in addiction treatment in the diacetylmorphine group was 87.8%, as compared with 54.1% in the methadone group (rate ratio for retention, 1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.35 to 1.95; P<0.001). The reduction in rates of illicit-drug use or other illegal activity was 67.0% in the diacetylmorphine group and 47.7% in the methadone group (rate ratio, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.77; P = 0.004). The most common serious adverse events associated with diacetylmorphine injections were overdoses (in 10 patients) and seizures (in 6 patients).
Conclusions
Injectable diacetylmorphine was more effective than oral methadone. Because of a risk of overdoses and seizures, diacetylmorphine maintenance therapy should be delivered in settings where prompt medical intervention is available. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00175357.)

New York Times article here

action alert: Needle ban fight moves to Senate

click here to take action
•We are too close to lifting the federal syringe exchange funding ban to allow it to fail. Attempts to put it back in after it was removed in House committee were defeated, but by a very close margin. What did stick, unfortunately, was an amendment to deny federal funds to any SEP within 1000 feet of a school, rec center, daycare center, playground, video arcade, or anywhere groups of children may go on even an occasional basis. For almost every existing syringe exchange project, and in most cities overall, this would present a cruel barrier.
So, we have 2 important tasks - to get the overall ban removed & to get that amendment removed. The decision will most likely be made in a closed conference between Senate and House Appropriators in early September, and we need those legislators to walk in there knowing what they have to do. If your program would be ineligible to receive federal funds if this 1000 foot buffer zone is enacted, or if you care about the issue at all, this is a KEY TIME for you to act.
Send a letter directly to your Senator from our Online Action Center and ask that they resist any restrictive amendments from both the Financial Services and Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bills, and to leave the decision of how and where to offer services to the local public health and public safety communities. Feel free to use the pre-written one provided or write your own.•

I love Barney Frank (and, of course, Wonkette)

A PLEASURE TO WATCH
THANK YOU BARNEY FRANK
(and Wonkette)

Action alert! Please tell Congress to extend the Ryan White CARE Act.

The current Ryan White CARE Act sunsets on September 30, 2009. That's just 6 weeks away.
*The Ryan White Program provides essential medical and support services to hundreds of thousands of individuals each year. The services are a critical part of our HIV health care safety net. Congress must extend the Ryan White Program as a Stand-Alone bill by September 30, 2009 to avoid gaps in coverage.
This moment is critical. Your letter will make a difference.
Together the HIV community has reached a broad consensus for a three-year extension of the Ryan White Program. Please take a moment to urge Congress to take action and support the community consensus document by emailing your Representatives and Senators.*
TAKE ACTION NOW!

you can read more about the legislation here

evidence that a genetic variation predicts response to standard Hep C treatments

Genetic variation in IL28B predicts hepatitis C treatment-induced viral clearance
Dongliang Ge, Jacques Fellay, Alexander J. Thompson, Jason S. Simon, Kevin V. Shianna, Thomas J. Urban, Erin L. Heinzen, Ping Qiu, Arthur H. Bertelsen, Andrew J. Muir, Mark Sulkowski, John G. McHutchison & David B. Goldstein
Nature Letter • 8/16/2009 • advance online publication

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects 170 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of cirrhosis in North America1. Although the recommended treatment for chronic infection involves a 48-week course of peginterferon-a-2b (PegIFN-a-2b) or -a-2a (PegIFN-a-2a) combined with ribavirin (RBV), it is well known that many patients will not be cured by treatment, and that patients of European ancestry have a signifi- cantly higher probability of being cured than patients of African ancestry. In addition to limited efficacy, treatment is often poorly tolerated because of side effects that prevent some patients from completing therapy. For these reasons, identification of the determinants of response to treatment is a high priority. Here we report that a genetic polymorphism near the IL28B gene, encoding interferon-l-3 (IFN-l-3), is associated with an approximately twofold change in response to treatment, both among patients of European ancestry (P 5 1.06 3 10225) and African-Americans (P 5 2.06 3 1023). Because the genotype leading to better response is in substantially greater frequency in European than African populations, this genetic polymorphism also explains approximately half of the difference in response rates between African- Americans and patients of European ancestry.

read the paper here or a Bloomberg article here

City studies safe-injection site for Toronto

City studies safe-injection site for Toronto
By Michael McKiernan, National Post
A city-sanctioned study is looking into the feasibility of Vancouver-style safe injection sites in Toronto, but critics fear the study’s support for such sites is a done deal.
The study, part of Toronto Public Health’s drug strategy, comes as Vancouver’s six-year-old InSite program (pictured above) faces increasing doubts over its own future. The federal government wants it shut and has appealed a 2008 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that allowed it to continue operating. ....
read the somewhat hysterical article here

snugget, the hangover buddy

better late than never

I wonder why people think the South is slow and backward...
Ala. no longer bars HIV inmates from work release
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama has shed the distinction of being the only state to bar inmates with HIV from work release programs.
The American Civil Liberties Union has fought to end the practice for decades and on Thursday praised the Alabama Department of Corrections for doing so this week.
Corrections officials say all eligible prisoners with HIV have been approved to participate in the work release program.
Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said the organization is thrilled with what she called an overdue change.
Work release allows eligible inmates to hold free-world jobs, earn money, wear plain clothes and spend the day without supervision of corrections staff.

Be reminded.

I could have done without him citing Phil Zimbardo, but I am happy to see this in nytimes.
Op-Ed Columnist
Getting Smart on Crime
Charles M. Blow
After decades of supercharged incarceration rates, our bloated prison system is straining under its own weight, and policy makers are finally being forced to deal with the need to shrink it.
According to a study last year by The Pew Center on the States entitled “One in 100: Behind bars in America 2008,” the prison population of the United States has nearly quadrupled over the last 25 years while the nation’s population has grown by less than a third.
We now have more inmates per capita than any of the 36 European countries with the largest inmate populations, and our total number of inmates is more than all the inmates in those countries combined.
This comes at a cost. According to a report published last month by the Vera Institute of Justice, an independent, nonprofit research group, $1 in every $15 from states’ general funds is now spent on corrections. That doesn’t work in a recession.
Much of the rise in the prison population was because of draconian mandatory sentencing laws that are illogical — sociologically and economically. ....

uncommon news - field of opium poppies found in Oregon

OPB News
Discovery Of Opium Poppies Has Law Officers Concerned
By April Baer
....McKnight is a Forest Patrol Officer for the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde. He was here -- on a remote, 40-acre clear-cut on tribal forestland, training some helpers for fire season, when he stumbled across a field of some 12,000 specimens of Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy -- gorgeous, and illicit. ....

criminalization of poverty

op-ed contributor
Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?
By Barbara Ehrenreich

In case you have not been paying attention, the answer is a resounding yes. If you have the time, read the referenced report as well.
Homes Not Handcuffs: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities
by The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless

one more reason DC should get to govern itself

D.C. to Offer STD Tests In Every High School
Expansion of Program Draws Praise
By Darryl Fears and Nelson Hernandez
D.C. school officials are planning to offer tests for sexually transmitted diseases to all high school students in the coming school year, expanding a pilot program that uncovered a significant number of infected children.
The program conducted last year at eight high schools found that 13 percent of about 3,000 students tested positive for an STD, mostly gonorrhea or chlamydia, according to the D.C. Department of Health.....

Close to Home
STD Tests at High School?
There is broad agreement among District educators and health officials that testing high school students for sexually transmitted diseases is a good idea ["D.C. to Offer STD Tests in Every High School," front page, Aug. 5]. But should the District conduct this testing, and provide for follow-up treatment, without telling parents when their children have an STD?
Absolutely!
True, parents' permission is required for such school-sponsored activities as sports and field trips, but this is different. Notably, all 50 states and the District allow minors older than 12 to be screened for STDs without parental consent. But this policy shouldn't be driven by legalities alone. Instead, it should be rooted in the cost of not being sufficiently diligent.
Surveys tell us that a majority of high school students engage in sexual activity, much of it unprotected, despite what some parents believe. This can have particularly dire consequences for our children and community. The District has by far the nation's highest HIV/AIDS rate. While curbing treatable STDs such as gonorrhea is vital, changing reckless behavior and preventing deadly HIV/AIDS infections is imperative.
While parents won't automatically be told the results of STD tests, they will be able to have their children opt out of the program in advance. But I hope that as they consider their children's best interest, they will embrace this intervention. I know that when my daughter entered college at 17, and despite my excellent relationship with her, I would have wanted someone to intercede, even without my knowledge, to protect her from any self-destructive behavior I might not have known about.
That said, the District can't win this struggle to alter our children's sexual behavior without parents. Parents should be included early on in the educational process. They should be invited to the schools to learn how to talk to their children about avoidance of an early sexual debut and about safe sex, as well as to be counseled to lead by example.
We need everybody in this fight.
-- Celia Maxwell, Washington
The writer is assistant vice president for health sciences, director of the Women's Health Institute and associate professor of medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Howard University.

HOPE Probation

I am interested to know what happens when probation ends...

HOPE Probation
"In 2004, First Circuit Judge Steven Alm launched a pilot program to reduce probation violations by drug offenders and others at high risk of recidivism. This high-intensity supervision program, called HOPE Probation (Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement), is the first and only of its kind in the nation. Probationers in HOPE Probation receive swift, predictable, and immediate sanctions - typically resulting in several days in jail - for each detected violation, such as detected drug use or missed appointments with a probation officer.
In HOPE Probation, defendants are clearly warned that if they violate the rules, they go to jail. Defendants are required to call a hotline each weekday morning to find out if they must take a drug test that day. Random drug testing occurs at least once a week for the first two months.
If probationers test positive, they are arrested immediately. If they fail to appear for the test or violate other terms of probation, warrants for their arrest are issued immediately. Once they are apprehended, a probation modification hearing is held two days later, and violators are typically sentenced to a short jail term. The jail time may increase for subsequent violations and repeat offenders are often ordered into residential treatment.
Evaluation results indicate the program is highly successful at reducing drug use and crime, even among difficult populations such as methamphetamine abusers and domestic violence offenders."

Program Evaluation Results
"For the 745 defendants who have been in HOPE Probation for at least three months, their missed appointments rate has decreased by 80 percent and their positive drug test rate has dropped by 86 percent. For those offenders in HOPE the longest, 42 months, the decrease is even larger: 92 percent fewer missed appointments and 96 percent fewer positive drug tests."

We make me sick.

Attacks on Homeless Bring Push to Broaden Laws on Hate Crimes
By Eric Lichtblau
WASHINGTON — With economic troubles pushing more people onto the streets in the last few years, law enforcement officials and researchers are seeing a surge in unprovoked attacks against the homeless, and a number of states are considering legislation to treat such assaults as hate crimes. ....
A report due out this weekend from the National Coalition for the Homeless documents a rise in violence over the last decade, with at least 880 unprovoked attacks against the homeless at the hands of nonhomeless people, including 244 fatalities. An advance copy was provided to The New York Times.
Sometimes, researchers say, one homeless person attacks another in turf battles or other disputes. But more often, they say, the assailants are outsiders: men or in most cases teenage boys who punch, kick, shoot or set afire people living on the streets, frequently killing them, simply for the sport of it, their victims all but invisible to society.
“A lot of what we see are thrill offenders,” said Brian Levin, a criminologist who runs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. ....
Further, in the last several years the Internet has seen a proliferation of “bum fight” videos, shot by young men and boys who are seen beating the homeless or who pay transients a few dollars to fight each other.
Indeed, the National Coalition for the Homeless, which works to change government policies and bring people off the streets, says in its new report that 58 percent of assailants implicated in attacks against the homeless in the last 10 years were teenagers.
Michael Stoops, the group’s executive director, said social prejudices were “dehumanizing” the homeless and condoning hostile treatment. He pointed to a blurb titled “Hunt the Homeless” in the current issue of Maxim, a popular men’s magazine. It spotlights a coming “hobo convention” in Iowa and says: “Kill one for fun. We’re 87 percent sure it’s legal.” ....

hiking snugget!

thank you.

op-ed columnist
Anger Has Its Place
By Bob Herbert
.... The president of the United States has suggested that we use this flare-up as a “teachable moment,” but so far exactly the wrong lessons are being drawn from it — especially for black people. The message that has gone out to the public is that powerful African-American leaders like Mr. Gates and President Obama will be very publicly slapped down for speaking up and speaking out about police misbehavior, and that the proper response if you think you are being unfairly targeted by the police because of your race is to chill.
I have nothing but contempt for that message. ....

do you see a trend?

As far as I can tell, none of these are available as ebooks, kindle or otherwise.
Indigenous Peoples and Diabetes
Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History
Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town
Down These Mean Streets
Righteous Dopefiend
Manchild in the Promised Land
Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil
Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Culture
Dialectics of Nature
Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice
Tales of the City 1-5
Randy Shilts' books

fascinating.

Drug War Chronicle
Europe: British Prisons Install Methadone Vending Machines
In a bid to promote opiate maintenance therapy behind bars, the British government has begun installing methadone vending machines in the country's prisons. Justice Minister Phil Hope told parliament last week that 57 vending machines have been installed so far.
The machines allow prisoners to receive an individualized dose of methadone by giving a fingerprint or an iris scan. The machines are paid for by the Department of Health and will cost about $6.5 million dollars, about 10% of the department's prison drug treatment budget. The target is to have the machines in half of Britain's 140 prisons.
According to the latest available prison population statistics, in 2007, nearly 6,400 of Britain's 81,000 prisoners were there on drug charges, with slightly more than half of them charged with simple drug possession or possession with intent to distribute. The official statistics provide no breakdown of which drugs were involved.
"Methadone dispensers are a safe and secure method for providing a prescribed treatment," said a health department spokesman. "They can only be accessed by the person who has been clinically assessed as needing methadone and that person is recognized by a biometric marker, such as their iris."
Providing methadone to addicted prisoners allows them to manage their habits without resorting to illicit heroin supplies within the prisons. But the opposition Conservatives were quick to try to score political points, claiming that the Labor government would rather "manage offenders' addiction" than end it.
"The public will be shocked that Ministers are spending more on methadone vending machines than the entire budget for abstinence based treatments," said Dominic Grieve, the Conservative shadow justice secretary. "Getting prisoners clean of drugs is one of the keys to getting them to go straight. We need to get prisoners off all drug addiction -- not substitute one dependency for another. The government's approach of trying to 'manage' addiction is an admission of failure."
The Conservatives are hammering away at Labor any way they can as they prepare for national elections sometime in the coming months. Attacking enlightened approaches to inmate drug addiction is just another arrow in their "tough on crime" quiver.

According to multiple articles on the subject, the main advantage of machines is that they obviate corruption.

so close, yet so screwed up.

House Bill Lifts Ban On Needle Exchanges
Funding Would Give D.C. Tool in HIV Fight
By Darryl Fears
The House on Friday approved a bill that would lift the 21-year ban on using federal money for needle exchange programs, a move that could give the District and other cities more flexibility in their efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS among intravenous drug users.
"This is the first time in over 20 years that we are on the verge of recognition by the federal government of the proven cost-effectiveness and impact of syringe exchange as a very important tool for prevention of HIV infection and viral hepatitis," said Ronald Johnson, deputy executive director of AIDS Action, a Washington-based advocacy group. "Allowing the local community to use federal funds is very critical to stopping these epidemics."
But the bill, sponsored by Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), includes a restriction against using the money to assist any program that distributes needles within 1,000 feet of day-care centers, schools, parks, playgrounds, pools and youth centers. The House approved the measure, 264 to 153.
The District's annual appropriations bill, which passed the House on July 15, also would prohibit the city from using the money provided by the federal government for needle exchange programs near such locations.
AIDS Action said no part of the city would be eligible for a needle exchange program if the restrictions are approved.
"AIDS Action will have to continue to fight to remove the restrictions so D.C. can make its own decisions" on how to spend local and federal money, said William McColl, political director for the group. ....

Action alert! Act NOW to Defeat Syringe Exchange Amendment!

Act NOW to Defeat Syringe Exchange Amendment!
Take Action!
Amendment to Ban Federal Syringe Exchange Funding on House Floor
A House amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill is scheduled for floor debate, and may take place as early as tomorrow morning (July 24). Today, the Rules Committee approved an amendment by Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) which prohibits HHS funding for programs which distribute sterile needles or syringes for hypodermic injection of any illegal drug. If this amendment passes it will almost certainly ban federal funding of syringe exchange in the U.S. and may disrupt current syringe exchange operations. Syringe exchange saves lives!
This pernicious amendment must be defeated NOW!
Take immediate action to prevent the defeat of syringe exchange programs. E-mail your Representative NOW!
Forward this alert to your friends, family, and everyone you know!
TAKE ACTION NOW!

One reason I voted for Obama

one surprise, one mundanity

McWhorter: Decoding the Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest
Mundane: John McWhorter lives in a bubble.
SHOCKING: the New York Magazine commenters not only called him on the fundamental flaws in his reasoning, but also are infinitely more articulate and thoughtful than many of those in the nytimes or wall street journal.

yay, America.

Bridge Still Home For Miami Sex Offenders
by Greg Allen
July 21, 2009
State judges in Miami are being asked to mediate a dispute that involves the city, the state and a growing colony of sex offenders.
The colony is an encampment of tents and shacks under a Miami bridge that began when corrections officers began ordering offenders there a few years ago. The shantytown was created in response to local laws that restrict where sex offenders can live.
Now, local and state officials are trading charges about who's to blame for creating the situation and who should fix it.
Village Of Tents
It started more than two years ago -- a few tents pitched under a bridge on Miami's Julia Tuttle Causeway. Today, it's a well-established shantytown. More than 80 people make their home under the bridge.
There are half a dozen wooden shacks, some with cooking and toilet facilities. It's a village of tents, campers and cars -- also a dock with a few small rowboats. Shared generators provide power for a CD player -- also to recharge cell phones and electronic monitoring units required for sex offenders on supervised release.
Homer Barclay came to live here a year and a half ago. Barclay was convicted of attempted sexual battery in 1992. Last year, after a parole violation, he says probation officers gave him just one option.
"They told me that I had to live up under the Julia Tuttle Causeway," says Barclay. "I said, 'How come I have to live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway?' They said, 'If you want to go home, this is where you got to go.' "
Barclay has a driver's license issued to him at the time of his release. His address is listed as Julia Tuttle Causeway.
Like many of the sex offenders on supervised release, Barclay is required to be here between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. During the day, many of the felons leave for jobs or to visit their families.
On this day, Barclay was fishing.
"I'm not working because it's difficult to find a job. I went everywhere looking for a job. Woo, it's rough," Barclay says. "Right now, I'm hungry, you know what I'm saying? I need a bath. I'm fishing, as you see, to try to survive. We just want to do what they want us to do. We just want our life back. That's all we want." ....

Action alert!

The full appropriations committee will vote on FY 2010 appropriations this Friday. The HHS appropriations subcommittee removed the syringe exchange funding ban from the budget.
If your rep is on this list, [below & here] please ask him/ her to keep the ban out of the budget!
Read more details from Housing Works here

Full Appropriations Committee
David R. Obey, Wisconsin, Chairman
John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania
Norman D. Dicks, Washington
Alan B. Mollohan, West Virginia
Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana
Nita M. Lowey, New York
José E. Serrano, New York
Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
James P. Moran, Virginia
John W. Olver, Massachusetts
Ed Pastor, Arizona
David E. Price, North Carolina
Chet Edwards, Texas
Patrick J. Kennedy, Rhode Island
Maurice D. Hinchey, New York
Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
Sam Farr, California
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, Michigan
Allen Boyd, Florida
Chaka Fattah, Pennsylvania
Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey
Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Georgia
Marion Berry, Arkansas
Barbara Lee, California
Adam Schiff, California
Michael Honda, California
Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Steve Israel, New York
Tim Ryan, Ohio
C.A "Dutch" Ruppersberger, Maryland
Ben Chandler, Kentucky
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida
Ciro Rodriguez, Texas
Lincoln Davis, Tennessee
John T. Salazar, Colorado

Jerry Lewis, California, Ranking Member
C.W. Bill Young, Florida
Harold Rogers, Kentucky
Frank R. Wolf, Virginia
Jack Kingston, Georgia
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
Todd Tiahrt, Kansas
Zach Wamp, Tennessee
Tom Latham, Iowa
Robert B.Aderholt, Alabama
Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri
Kay Granger, Texas
Michael K. Simpson, Idaho
John Abney Culberson, Texas
Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois
Ander Crenshaw, Florida
Dennis R. Rehberg, Montana
John R. Carter, Texas
Rodney Alexander, Louisiana
Ken Calvert, California
Jo Bonner, Alabama
Steven C. LaTourette, Ohio
Tom Cole, Oklahoma

Google News gaffe

morning!

woot, for now!

Prepared Statement Of Chairman David R. Obey
2010 Labor-Hhs-Education Appropriations Bill
Subcommittee Markup
July 10, 2009
...
Significant Policy Provisions
As you know, this bill traditionally carries a number of “policy” riders. For the most part, this bill continues all significant funding restrictions in fiscal year 2010. For example, it continues all of the anti-abortion provisions in fiscal year 2010 without change. The bill also maintains the current prohibition on the use of funds in this bill for human embryo research. One key exception that I want to mention concerns needle exchange programs. This bill deletes the prohibition on the use of funds for needle exchange programs. Scientific studies have documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy, are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use. The judgment we make in this bill is that it is time to lift this ban and let State and local jurisdictions determine if they want to pursue this approach.

full text here
reuters article here

there is way too much 1982 in the air...

HIV-Positive Woman Charged After Spitting On Man - WLWT Cincinnati
even though spitting does not and cannot transmit HIV

Swim club accused of racial discrimination against kids - CNN.com
and they did, in fact, incontrovertibility discriminate against kids because of their race

okay, we all know this is not my clinque.com order. Could this package have been any more wasteful? A box big enough for 100 lipsticks to ship just one?? Why do they think this is still acceptable?

uh, just like NAFTA?

Let me get this straight: under NAFTA, the illegal drug industry in Mexico ballooned. Free trade with Colombia will have the opposite effect?
Obviously, our recent approach to Colombia is a failure. Maybe this free trade arrangement would help. Maybe. I am a little confused by the logic...

Trade deal would reduce drug flow
By Robert Weiner and Zoe Pagonis
During the Colombia Free Trade Agreement discussions in the White House and Congress, a major point has been missed. Colombia is the No. 1 source of drugs that lead to murders, crowding in prisons and family disunion. Congressional ratification of the Colombia Free Trade agreement will help Colombia create jobs outside of the drug trade and reduce the export of these lethal products.
Colombia currently provides us with 90 percent of our cocaine and in the past, as much as 50.1 percent of our heroin. Colombian cartels and drug-funded terror group FARC help cause U.S. drug and crime problems.
Without free trade, Colombia's people will be forced to remain dependent on drugs as their most lucrative business. Even as the world's third largest producer of coffee, revenue from that industry pales in comparison. The annual profit on a hectare of coffee is $500 versus an estimated $5,000 for coca. ....

the biggest news of the day

what is wrong with the nyt, part 15

Overdose down in Baltimore for the 2nd year

Heroin
Baltimore City resident deaths
2007     2008
150        90
Deaths resulting from intoxications in Baltimore City
2007     2008
185        106

Health Department Releases Quarterly Drug Intoxication Report
Deaths Drop More Than One-Third In 2008
The report covers the fourth quarter of 2008 and includes totals for calendar year 2008.
Press Release
Intoxication Deaths Associated with Drugs of Abuse or Alcohol; Quarterly Report: Fourth Quarter 2008 and 2008 Summary

cutest ad EVER (and filmed in SF!!)

you will notice, acetaminophen is the main concern.

Panel Recommends Ban on 2 Popular Painkillers
By Gardiner Harris
ADELPHI, Md. — A federal advisory panel voted narrowly on Tuesday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, two of the most popular prescription painkillers in the world, because of their effects on the liver.
The two drugs combine a narcotic with acetaminophen, the ingredient found in popular over-the-counter products like Tylenol and Excedrin. High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage, and the panel noted that patients who take Percocet and Vicodin for long periods often need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect. ....

my dog hates my mother!

can't you tell?