A consultant in Glasgow has said he hopes to have found a cause by next week for the mysterious deaths and illnesses among heroin-users in Scotland. Dr Laurence Gruer, a consultant in public health medicine with the Greater Glasgow Health Board, said specialists in Glasgow and Atlanta were focusing on a bacterium which grows in the absence of oxygen. When drugusers inject heroin into dead tissue or muscle, instead of veins, they are susceptible to the bacterium. "Some people are working through the weekend to push things on as fast as they can," Dr Gruer said. Dr Joe Barry, a public health specialist with the Eastern Regional Health Authority, said they were not as definite about the cause of the illness, which has led to eight deaths in Dublin. [continues 340 words]
No New Addict Deaths Recorded As Scientists Remain Baffled Gardai have arrested and charged two dealers in connection with the supply of rogue heroin which is being linked to the deaths of 29 addicts in Ireland and Britain. Eight of these deaths have been among heroin users in Dublin, but there have been no new recorded deaths in the past 10 days, according to the Eastern Regional Health Authority. The key question for health authorities and gardai is to establish whether the rogue heroin was contaminated by a chemical or a bacteria. The infection causes abscesses and organ failure if untreated within three days. Heroin addicts, who inject their fix into muscles, are at risk. [continues 428 words]
Federal and state governments agreed on new rules yesterday to help stamp out the use and sale of illegal drugs in schools. The national framework for protocols for drugs in schools builds on the $27million national school drug education strategy. Prime Minister John Howard said governments had demonstrated through the framework that they were determined to work together in partnerships with schools, parents and local communities to address the issue of drugs in schools. "The framework sets out an agreed set of guiding principles for schools to follow so that every school can have in place, a comprehensive set of protocols for drug education and for handling incidents involving drugs in schools," Mr Howard said. [continues 161 words]
A corrections officer who says he was wrongly dismissed from his job six months ago for failing a drug test after eating a bagel with poppy seeds will go back to work at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge Saturday. State Attorney General John J. Farmer Jr. announced the adoption of a revised drug testing policy on Tuesday, resulting in reinstatement of Reginald Fredette of Jackson. But Fredette said yesterday that despite being pleased that his name is being cleared, he was not satisfied with the state's "compromise" policy. [continues 199 words]
Barbara Walters: You may have heard that marijuana can help cancer and AIDS patients feel better. Well, the federal government doesn't accept that, and to that John, you say, give me a break. John Stossel: I do, Barbara, because the federal government's so eager to fight the war on drugs, sometimes it thumbs its nose at the wishes of the people. John Stossel: Peter McWilliams is an author who has AIDS. We met him three years ago while doing another story. Some drugs he takes to combat the disease make him nauseous, so, like many others in California, McWilliams smoked marijuana to reduce the nausea. He assumed it was legal because of Proposition 215. [continues 569 words]
I was halfway around the world, with an afternoon to kill in Amsterdam, and simply had to know. Did the Dutch truly smoke marijuana in sidewalk cafes? Did their police really ignore it? Every herb advocate I know speaks of Holland in reverent tones, as though it were the only site of sanity on the globe, but I wasn't so sure. I'd heard that a flood of European dopers had been keeping Dutch police hopping. The police officers I met in the train station directed me to a marijuana cafe called "Hill Street Blues" -- right next door to an Amsterdam PD detachment. [continues 579 words]
An initiative signature drive launched this week in Washington state is the first in the nation to distribute petition forms entirely via the Internet--and state officials would set a precedent if they accept the petitions. The initiative, sponsored by the Reasonable People's Campaign, would change state law so people found guilty of possession (as opposed to manufacture or sale) of any illegal drug could be sentenced to a treatment program but not prison. Possession of less than 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of marijuana would be a minor infraction punishable only by a fine. [continues 561 words]
When I read "Officer bids for pot pact," May 28, my mind became saturated with questions regarding the moral of this story. When it was profitable to "bust" innocent people for growing this natural "health providing" plant for some, this ex-cop did that. And now that the government is crying for bidders to make what I'm sure will be a handsome profit, this man steps forward again. Are there any ethics shown here? This is all about profit! The writer makes it clear the herb the ill are using has a potency between 10-25%, while the government is planning on growing ditch weed at 6% THC potency. Anyone can grow low-grade cannabis. I will never trust any government that saw fit to incarcerate me for trying to heal myself, nor will I buy the ditch weed that they have for sale! Grant W. Krieger (You're obviously a cannabis connoisseur, Grant.) [end]
June 11, 2000 - According to popular mythology, we start with a group of dedicated scientists who examine various substances in the laboratory. After running exhaustive experiments, they issue a recommendation to a legislative body, along the line of "Substance A is not harmful to society, but Substance B is," and the appropriate legislation is enacted so as to remove Substance B from public access. That's the idea you get from schoolbooks. The truth is that the legislative decision is made more along these lines: Group C (a racial, ethnic, or economic category not in the mainstream) is fond of Substance D, and if we outlaw Substance D, then we diminish Group C's political and economic power. [continues 601 words]
Notorious drug dealer Derek Dunne met a bloody end on the streets of Amsterdam. But John Mooney says there are plenty of young Irish criminals ready to take his place Rachel Mitchell was on the phone when the doorbell rang. It was in the early hours of June 3 and she was not expecting visitors. Neither was her husband, Derek Dunne. Mitchell looked through the spyhole in the front door of their ground-floor apartment at 81 Singerstraat in the leafy Amsterdam suburb of Slotervaart. Years of answering the door to police officers with search warrants had taught her to be cautious. But it was not the police - it was a friend of her husband from Liverpool. She unlocked the door and let him in. [continues 1487 words]
