CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) - A doctor who agreed to stop treating heroin addicts with a controversial rapid detox procedure linked by state investigators to the deaths of six of his patients defended the practice Thursday, saying "I was trying to help." Dr. Lance Gooberman reached an agreement Wednesday with the state Board of Medical Examiners that temporarily bars him from performing the treatment in his clinic in a Philadelphia suburb. He is among only a dozen doctors in the country to perform the treatment touted as a swift and relatively painless cure for heroin addicts who are anesthetized while drugs cleanse their brain of heroin. [continues 247 words]
Attaching a copy of the FAX you got from the DEA, I sent the following: The Honorable Carl Levin United States Senate Washington D.C. "Dear Senator Levin: The following was sent by the DEA in response to a question about why it arrested and impounded in Detroit, almost 20 tons of birdseed which had a THC content of barely .0014 percent. I have a budgie by the name of Petey and keep a small supply of birdseed on hand to feed him. [continues 99 words]
She then makes a statement about the potency of marijuana and cites a number of recent marijuana-possession cases to support her claims. I've researched her premises and found that they are either false or they don't support her conclusions. First for her claim that "there are strains available today far more potent than those of a generation ago": Many such assertions (if not all) originated from a study done at the University of Mississippi. I've reviewed various reports from this study and various independent analyses of the findings. From all the information I have read, the conclusion that marijuana is more potent today is false at best and "really not true at all" at worst. [continues 164 words]
Lance Wilde [end]
A total of pounds 30,000 is to be provided to train creche staff working in drug-treatment centres, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue, has announced. The Minister was speaking in Dublin yesterday at the publication of a report, The Availability, Use and Evaluation of Creche Facilities in Association With Drug Treatment. The report, published by the Health Research Board, finds that of the 45 centres providing treatment to drug-misusers in Dublin, just nine - or 20 per cent - provide childcare facilities for their clients' children. [continues 132 words]
Ron Klinger (Don't give them ideas.) [end]
SIR -- Your article on cocaine trafficking from Colombia ("new class of trafficker", September 11th) is incorrect to claim that the majority of the heroin consumed on America’s eastern seaboard originates in Colombia. Most of the heroin used in America comes from Myanmar. The myth of large South American opiate production is a result of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) narcotics surveying practices. The DEA primarily focuses on cocaine and so is heavily staffed with officers of Hispanic origin. There are very few ethnic Asians among the staff so intelligence gathering on ethnic-Chinese gangs is limited. [continues 229 words]
In a realm dominated by males racing automobiles pasted with cigarette company logos, Formula 1600 race car driver Marybeth Harrison is definitely unique. The Vancouver native started her racing career in open-wheel cars after taking a racing course in 1992. Since then she has worked her way up from kart racing to Formula 1600. She has won races in every division she has raced and recently won the Canadian Formula Drivers Association Championship. But perhaps more extraordinary than her meteoric rise through the racing world in such a short period of time has been how she has done it. [continues 460 words]
A former OPP officer who said he "made a terrible mess of things" was sentenced to 18 months in jail, three years of probation and banned from ever owning firearms or other weapons in a Chatham court room Oct. 8. David Balakowski, 35, last month pleaded guilty to 14 charges including uttering forged documents, assault, uttering death threats, carrying a concealed weapon and careless use of firearms. Balakowski, who had spent four years as a police officer and is a veteran of the armed forces, was suspended by the OPP when the first charges were laid against him last year. [continues 561 words]
GOV. Gray Davis' veto of SB 873 (Page 1B, Oct. 11), which would have authorized a study of the "three strikes" law, was very disappointing. Taxpayers are spending millions of dollars locking up people for life, but Davis is unwilling to let a non-partisan group look at the cost and benefits. He must fear what the results would show: We're locking up far too many people who are no longer violent. Susan Steffens San Jose [end]
The largest cigarette manufacturer in the world has finally admitted that smoking is addictive and causes lung cancer and other fatal diseases. The confession, contained on a corporate website launched today, comes after years of denying the health risks and in the wake of multi-million dollar civil suits brought against tobacco companies. Philip Morris now admits that smoking is "addictive as that term is most commonly used today." It also accepts that there is an "overwhelming medical and scientific consensus" that smoking cigarettes can lead to lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease. [continues 731 words]
American academic Dr Karen McElrath today offers a frightening glimpse into the murky underworld of heroin use in Northern Ireland. For the last two years, she has been slipping away from the comfortable environs of Queen's University to interview addicts. It was a difficult task, first in identifying potential subjects and then persuading them to overcome their suspicion of authority and take her into their confidence. Controversially, Dr McElrath, who carried out previous research in Miami, decided to offer payment of pounds 15 to pounds 20 per interview. [continues 482 words]
Matt Elrod has once again worked his magic on the news archive. The entire archive has been put into a relational database. You can now search by author, title, source, area, and date range and sort your results three ways from Sunday. You can view your results in three different levels of detail including excerpts. From each article you can see more from the same author, source and area. You now have the ability to filter out LTEs, hone in on opinion pieces or news articles, include or exclude specific areas. [continues 70 words]
The BBC said yesterday that it would allow the presenter Johnnie Walker back on Radio 2 even though he had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine. Walker, 54, was fined pounds 2,000 and ordered to pay pounds 200 costs when he appeared at Horseferry Magistrates' Court in central London. He was told by the magistrate, Rosmond Keating, that he had a duty as a star to maintain higher standards of life than other people. He had let down both himself and his listeners, she said. However, she noted that he had sought help for his addiction, and said: "I hope some good will come out of this appalling incident." [continues 714 words]
NORTH BRANFORD -- After three months of gathering evidence, state police are ready to re-enact the fateful July night that left a West Haven woman dead from a police officer's bullet. State police Lt. Ralph Carpenter said the Major Crime Squad has sent a packet of evidence and information to Henry Lee, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, for his review. "He always does that prior to a re-enactment," said Carpenter. "We'll reconstruct the sequence of events as best as possible, based on the evidence, interviews and photographs that we have." [continues 372 words]
A 20-YEAR-OLD woman who died after taking Ecstasy and amphetamine had consumed Ecstasy for five nights and had not slept for six, an inquest was told yesterday. Elizabeth Wood, who collapsed on the dance floor of the Cream nightclub in Liverpool, died of non-dependent abuse of drugs, the Liverpool Coroner recorded. David Jones, a witness at the club, said that Miss Wood's boyfriend, Dermott McGuigan, told him outside the club's medical area on Sunday, July 11, that she had taken "a couple of pills". [continues 510 words]
Three prosecution witnesses in the Josie Dwyer manslaughter trial in Dublin Circuit Court yesterday contradicted statements they made to gardai about details of the killing. Two of the three also claimed that gardai falsely recorded their statements about the attack on Mr Dwyer by anti-drugs vigilantes. Trevor McMahon, a resident in the Fatima Mansions flat complex in south central Dublin, said he was forced to make a statement to gardai and said that a signature at the bottom of the statement was not his. [continues 294 words]
Colombia's deadly drug mobs could unleash a new reign of terror after police smashed a cartel accused of shipping up to $1bn of cocaine a month to the United States, two former anti-drug officials warned last night. Over the last two days, Colombian and US forces arrested 31 people, including billionaire drug baron Fabio Ochoa. He was a former lieutenant of the late kingpin Pablo Escobar, whose once powerful Medellin cartel brought the state to its knees with a campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings in the 1980s. [continues 149 words]
WACO, Texas Baylor officials have recently expressed concerns regarding the use of drugs on campus. "We are concerned about illicit, illegal [drug] use," said Dr. Jimmy McCluskey, dean of student development and services. "It is on the rise." Marijuana is the most-used illicit drug. According to the Health Education and Wellness Office, marijuana was once thought of as a religious drug. It causes euphoria, sensory distortion, increased heart rate and increased appetite. "I would say it seems to be fairly prevalent," said Dr. Glenn Pack, director of counseling services. "From what I've heard, if a person's interested enough, they can find it." [continues 273 words]
Get caught with drugs in Orange County and you could lose your car -- until you pony up the cash to get it back. Impounding vehicles may be the toughest measure in a new strategy by state and county authorities who aim to clamp down on drugs. Other efforts unveiled Tuesday involve seeking help from criminologists and better rehabilitation for drug users, but county officials hope impounding vehicles will send the strongest message. "That's going to make them stop and think," Tom Hurlbert, the county's public safety director, said of the impounding -- and the $500 fee that would accompany it. [continues 409 words]
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has asked the U.S. Department of Justice not to appeal a recent court ruling that opened the door to legal medicinal use of marijuana. In a letter last week to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Lockyer said the ruling, permitting exemptions from federal anti-drug laws for some gravely ill patients, was consistent with the will expressed by California voters in 1996 in endorsing Proposition 215, the state's medical marijuana initiative. The ruling was handed down a month ago by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Justice Department, the losing party in the case, must decide in the next two weeks whether to seek review by an 11-member panel of 9th Circuit judges. [continues 419 words]
ALBUQUERQUE -- Gov. Gary Johnson, continuing his push to legalize drugs, said Friday he would participate in two forums next month examining the war on drugs and alternatives to combating drug use. "The idea again is to present all sides," Johnson said after announcing the forums in a speech to the New Mexico Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association. The discussions -- "The Drug War: Who is Winning" and "Drug Legalization: A Bold Alternative to the Drug War" -- are scheduled Nov. 2 and Nov. 16 in Albuquerque. The forums are sponsored by the nonprofit New Mexico Drug Policy Foundation, created in 1996 to provide information about the drug war, its political and social impacts and possible alternatives. The foundation "is concerned about the efficacy of continuing the current policy," said Albuquerque attorney Steve Bunch, its president and executive director. [continues 188 words]
Dental Supply Store Owner Was Disoriented, Had Tank Of Laughing Gas, Police Say Waukesha - A New Berlin dental supply store owner stole a tank of nitrous oxide from a dentist and inhaled it for two hours before police found him slumped and dazed in his office, said a criminal complaint filed Thursday. Eric F. Packard, 53, told officers that he has been inhaling nitrous oxide mixed with oxygen for "many years" when he wants to go to a "peaceful place for a while," according to the complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court. [continues 388 words]
Knight Ridder LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Justice William Cooper noted that sugar looks a lot like cocaine and wondered whether possession of sugar should be made a crime. Chief Justice Joseph Lambert wondered whether you could distinguish between a marijuana patch and a hemp field from a helicopter. Thus did The Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. Woodrow Harrelson, a legal case that began more than three years ago when the actor planted hemp seeds in a rocky Lee County field, get its day before the Kentucky Supreme Court. [continues 591 words]
The veteran Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker was yesterday fined pounds 2,000 for possession of cocaine, but he is to return to the Drivetime show the BBC suspended him from following initial disclosures of his drug misuse. Sentencing Walker, 54, the magistrate, Rosamond Keating, said his position meant he had a duty to maintain higher standards in his private life than his listeners. But Ms Keating said she did not approve of the methods used by the News of the World journalists who exposed Walker and she condemned their story as "filth". [continues 343 words]
WOMEN guerrillas, armed and dressed in battle fatigues, guarded a roadblock on the potholed gravel road leading to the cattle town of San Vicente del Caguan. They marked the gateway into a Marxist mini-state, which Colombia's largest left-wing rebel group is carving from the peasant-populated, cocaine-producing southern jungle regions. "From here on, you are under the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and subject to guerrilla regulations and taxes," a stern-faced "Comrade" Maria said as she leafed through the documents of a crowded bus of farmers taking their produce to San Vicente. [continues 500 words]
What would you think if you found out your country's president plotted to have a journalist murdered? Or that the president is using taxpayers' money to finance newspapers and other media to discredit his critics? Impeachment, a speedy trial and a stiff jail sentence probably would be the president's fate were this to happen in the United States. But not in Latin America, where the enemies of freedom of speech--including current and former presidents--are on the loose and are enjoying all of the privileges and rights of law-abiding citizens. [continues 914 words]
London -- He may be only 17, but with his tall, handsome looks and the charming, bashful smile of his mother, Prince William is already being viewed as Britain's most eligible bachelor. So when 27-year-old Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, a friend of the Royal Family known for the glamorous parties she attends and the men she hangs out with, was reported to be horsing around with the heir to the throne, tongues started wagging. Saying she is a victim of "rumourtism," which she describes as a social disease in which lies are spread as fact, Ms. Palmer-Tomkinson now has denied suggestions she has been sexually involved with the Prince, claiming he is nothing but a "mate" to her. [continues 411 words]
Gov. Pete Wilson was extreme when it came to parole. He appointed a Board of Prison Terms dominated by ex-cops who almost never granted parole. In his first 10 months in office, Gov. Gray Davis has shown himself even more extreme and unjust. In a recent article, the Los Angeles Times reports that of 1,489 hearings held since Davis took office, the board has granted parole only 13 times. The governor revoked eight of those paroles outright and returned the five others to the board for reconsideration. Nudged by Davis, the board promptly reversed itself. [continues 252 words]
The Suspected Colombian drug trafficker Fabio Ochoa has been arrested along with 30 others after raids carried out in Bogota, Medellin and Cali. They are accused of smuggling 20 tons of cocaine a month into the US. [continues 5 words]
Never Touched The Stuff OTTAWA - No need to ask Preston Manning if he's ever inhaled - he says he's never even touched the stuff. It was the first question fired at the Reform leader yesterday during a Q-and-A when he visited Hillcrest High School. A teenaged girl demanded he explain what he intended to do "for the marijuana smokers of Ontario." "I would like to discourage marijuana smoking," Manning said to a huge round of boos. Although none of the 400 students asked if he'd ever smoked pot, reporters pressed him on the issue. [continues 146 words]
The BBC disc jockey Johnnie Walker was convicted yesterday of possessing cocaine and fined pounds 2,000 after he was caught in a sting operation organised by a newspaper. Shortly afterwards, Radio 2 announced that Walker would be reinstated to his drive-time programme. He was suspended in April when allegations about his cocaine use were published. BBC Radio said it was impressed by the way in which he had handled the allegations and his decision to seek treatment for drug misuse. [continues 146 words]
Regarding your editorial "Drug testing for self-sufficiency" (Oct. 12): On the issue of random drug testing of welfare recipients, the Tribune takes a practical, constructive position to live within current drug laws. A better position would be to support random drug testing as a short-term solution but acknowledge that random testing presses the Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable searches and therefore needs a long-term solution. Americans suffer from drug dyslexia. We confuse the danger of the drug with the danger of its illegality. We don't understand that most of the damage caused by an illegal drug requires both the drug and its illegality. Remove either one and the damage declines dramatically. Conversely, add illegality to a drug and the damage rises. Most of the social damage of the 1920s started when Prohibition began and stopped when Prohibition ended. [continues 88 words]
The Montana chapter of a national organization that favors reform of marijuana laws has sued Montana State University in a battle over documents relating to a fungus that destroys marijuana plants. The suit is filed in Missoula District Court because the director of the Montana chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, John Masterson, lives in Missoula. The suit stems from research done at MSU involving a fungus called fusarium oxysporum. The fungus is typically associated with tomato wilt, but varieties of fusarium have caused problems for dozens of crops. Because of its ability to cause wilt, fusarium has drawn attention from national and state governments interested in eradicating illicit drug crops - particularly marijuana, coca and opium poppies. [continues 603 words]
The Radio 2 presenter Johnnie Walker was fined pounds 2,000 yesterday after pleading guilty to possession of cocaine. Walker, 54, was also ordered to pay pounds 200 costs and was told by the magistrate, Rosmond Keating, that as a public figure he had a duty to maintain higher standards of life than other people. Acknowledging that he had sought help for his addiction, Mrs Keating said: "I hope some good will come from this appalling incident." Walker's counsel, Antony Chinn, told Horseferry magistrates' court, central London, of the pressures that had causedWalker to turn to cocaine. He said Walker had been affected by the pressures of work and had lost both his parents in close succession. His long-term girlfriend had also left him. [continues 93 words]
State Department of Health secretary Alex Valdez is encouraged to continue taking steps toward reinstating the medical marijuana program established by the New Mexico Legislature in 1978, but which hasn't been funded since 1986. Last summer, Valdez asked the Drug Enforcement Administration what federal requirements the state needed to fulfill to reinstate the program, and says he received a reply this past week. It appears his request was prompted by threat of a class-action lawsuit demanding that the program be reinstated, spearheaded by University of New Mexico nurse and potential plaintiff Bryan Krumm. Krumm said advocates delayed filing a suit because Valdez told them he would move to restore the program. [continues 285 words]
The terminology - "racial profiling" and "driving while black" - is new. But the practice is old. Some law enforcement officers single out motorists of color for stops because of their race. People of color testify widely to this behavior, and studies, though few in number, tend to back up the testimony. Basing police stops on skin color is wrong and harmful; the practice fuels racial tension. Policy-makers must do what they can to halt the practice. Grasping the size and shape of the problem helps to fight it. [continues 301 words]
Calgary pot crusader Grant Krieger will launch a constitutional defence against trafficking charges that were set to be heard next April. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Patrick Sullivan ruled Wednesday that the constitutional argument - expected to last four days - will be heard first. If necessary, jury trial will follow on a yet-to-be-date. Defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli said in a press interview following the criminal arraignments that Krieger's rights under the Charter of Rights to use an effective medicine - marijuana - to ease symptoms of his multiple sclerosis are being infringed. [continues 79 words]
A 20-year-old clubber who died after taking an ecstasy and amphetamine cocktail had taken ecstasy for five nights and had not slept for six, an inquest was told yesterday. Elizabeth Wood, a tourist information officer, who was taken ill on the dance floor of the Cream nightclub in Liverpool on July 11, died of non-dependent use of drugs after taking a "snowball" ecstasy tablet and speed, Liverpool coroner's court heard. Miss Wood's boyfriend, Dermott McGuigan, was fined pounds 250 this month by Liverpool magistrates after admitting possessing amphetamine and ecstasy on the night she died and having cannabis resin at his home. [continues 158 words]
Canadian Drug Laws Challenged In Toronto Courtroom Terry Parker looks tired as he sits on a bench outside Courtroom One at the Ontario Court of Appeal. The day before, Health Minister Allan Rock announced 14 new legal exemptions for medical marijuana users but Parker -- the first man in Canada to win the right to inhale cannabis -- isn't impressed. "Rock's announcement sucks," says the blunt-speaking Parker, who says marijuana is the only medicine that eases his brutal grand mal epileptic seizures. "Having to bow down to doctors for exemptions for cannabis is ridiculous." [continues 593 words]
(BOGOTA, Colombia) - Although encouraged by their apparent crippling of a major international drug ring, U.S. law-enforcement officials remain worried about the remarkable resiliency of Colombia's cocaine entrepreneurs. Authorities arrested 31 people yesterday in what was called the biggest blow to Colombian drug trafficking since 1995. The ring smashed yesterday was the heir apparent to the Medellin and Cali cartels, Colombia's main drug mafias from the 1980s through the mid-90s, and shipped between 20 and 30 tons of cocaine a month into Mexico for distribution in the United States, officials said. [continues 374 words]
The cops have been known to pull a few boners when it comes to enforcing this country's pot laws. None more ironic, perhaps, than the visit drug-squad officers, battering ram in hand, paid recently to Terry Parker, this country's pioneer when it comes to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The cops, it seems, were not aware of a 1997 court decision giving Parker the right to possess and cultivate pot for his epilepsy. But that wasn't the end of it. Parker's personal stash of the sticky green was nowhere to be found after the cops left. [continues 89 words]
Barbara Harris has become, quite by accident, a missionary seeking to prevent the births of drug-addicted children. Talk to her detractors and they don't see her work as anything close to noble. The 47-year-old California mother is the founder of CRACK -- Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity--and its controversial program that dangles a $200 reward for any drug addict--woman or man--who agrees to undergo sterilization or take long-term birth control. Harris said the goal of the non-profit organization is simply to provide an incentive for drug addicts to stop having children whom they do not want, and more importantly, cannot care for. [continues 1018 words]
To the Editor: Re "Now, State of Siege, Colombian Style" (Week in Review, Oct. 10): I don't want my tax money or our troops sent to Colombia. Whatever objectives our Administration asserts, our gifts will result in arming a country that is out of control, at greater danger and expense to us later. If our President feels that we need to help Colombia, I can see only two ways: Instead of cash, send them agricultural supplies from great American companies like John Deere and Caterpillar and live breeding stock to encourage poultry, pork and beef production so that they can satisfy their hunger without resorting to violence, and send well-drilling equipment to let them have clean water supplies. Also, legalize drugs through American pharmacists with physicians' prescriptions and end the whole basis for the unrest, killing and wasteful spending on interdiction and prosecution. JOHN P. TIERNAN Bedford, NY [continues 6 words]
Lockyer's Support: The Attorney General Urges Reno Not To Appeal A Judicial Ruling. SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court decision that could allow some seriously ill patients to use marijuana has won the endorsement of state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who wants the Clinton administration to drop its objections. In a letter last week to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, made public Thursday by supporters of an AIDS patient who wants to use the drug, Lockyer urged the government not to appeal the precedent-setting Sept. 13 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. [continues 487 words]
Three people who were in the apartment the night police shot Pedro Oregon Navarro have asked to be dropped as plaintiffs in the family's civil suit against the city. Attorney Richard Mithoff, who represents the family, said Rogelio Oregon, Salvador Lopez and Nelly Mejia decided to drop out of the lawsuit for the benefit of Oregon's mother and children. Rogelio Oregon is the brother of Pedro, who was killed in a soured drug raid at an apartment at 6711 Atwell on July 12, 1998. Lopez lived there and Mejia was Rogelio's girlfriend, Mithoff said. [continues 396 words]
A Kaslo school will be the first in the region to get a new RCMP anti-drug program. J.V. Humphries will hopefully pilot the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance) program with Grades 5 and 6 this year, principal George Lord told the school board Tuesday. "The age of startup is now between 10 and 12 for most substances," Lord said, explaining why the program - which is available for every age from kindergarten to Grade 12 - will target that age range at J.V. Humphries. [continues 214 words]
The prosecutor said he would accept lesser possession pleas from Anthony Farmer's wife and son because Anthony Farmer was the ringleader. BEDFORD - A Big Island man arrested with his wife and son-in-law on drug distribution charges pleaded guilty Wednesday in Circuit Court. Anthony "Tony" Farmer, 36, pleaded guilty to four counts of cocaine distribution, one count of LSD distribution and one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The marijuana charge came after Farmer bought more than 20 pounds of pot from an undercover officer, said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dirk Padgett. [continues 245 words]
VICTORIES IN the war on drugs are rare, so it would be wrong to be too churlish about this week's arrest of 31 suspected cocaine traffickers based mainly in Colombia. Their capture is certainly a triumph of collaboration between Colombian and American law enforcement officials. Colombia's police chief has pledged that the suspects will be extradited to America, a fate that the country's traffickers have successfully avoided since 1991. That said, some skepticism is called for. Colombian drug rings have been smashed before, with little obvious benefit. [continues 282 words]
HOUSE REPUBLICANS let it be known that they aren't the least bit interested in sitting down with the White House and Democratic lawmakers to work out a sensible compromise on the District's $4.7 billion budget. Rather than meeting to resolve the impasse over the city's spending plan, the House GOP, on a mostly party line vote, rammed through for the third time a bill that is unacceptable to the Clinton administration and city leaders. Fortunately for the city, the Senate took a major step toward saving the day by passing a better budget bill yesterday. [continues 337 words]
