In the race to be Kentucky's next Attorney General, there's a broker, a toker and a joke(r). Generally speaking, it's a race we'd rather cancel. c d kaplan brings you the sad but true tale. Take a look at the trio vying to be Kentucky's next attorney general and you've got to wonder: Is this the best Kentucky's legal community has to offer? One can't be blamed if they are reminded of Chester A. Riley in the old '50s sitcom, "The Life of Riley." When he and pal, Gillis, found themselves in yet another mess with their wives, Peg and Honeybee, Riley would rasp, "What a revoltin' development this is!" [continues 2731 words]
Times have changed and drugs have changed. As we Americans stand and defend our country and wait for a better economy, a dark shadow looms over our country. The war on drugs began with the prohibition era of the 1920s. Today, the Drug Enforcement Agency has become the main federal drug fighting power. The DEA has become the strongest force against a Republican country's view of what is wrong. Rural America is facing a big drug problem and it's not drugs taken with a needle or smoked. Pain medication is prescribed on a dally basis. [continues 103 words]
Harlan incident is 2nd recent case involving drugs In the second instance of drug use at Kentucky coal mines in recent months, state regulators have cited a Harlan County mine after inspectors conducting a surprise underground search last month found a marijuana joint belonging to a miner. Inspectors also cited B&D Mining, LLC, operating a mine in Liggett, after a cigarette was found under another miner's foot, according to documents on file with the Kentucky Mine Safety Review Commission and obtained under a Kentucky Open Records Act request by The Courier-Journal. [continues 1169 words]
Police Fight To Contain Prescription Drugs LOUISVILLE (AP) - More people in Jefferson County have died from prescription drug overdoses than in homicides this year. Through July, 28 people died in homicide cases, and 36 people died from overdosing on prescription drugs such as OxyContin and hydrocodone. Taken correctly, the pills are powerful painkillers, but when abused they produce intense rushes that can stop a person's heart. "Homicides get publicized," said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner R.D. Jones. "Overdoses, whether accident or intentional, they don't get publicized." [continues 366 words]
DARE Lessons Revamped, Paired With Life Skills A plan to restructure the way fifth- and sixth-graders learn about drug prevention and life decisions is calming the fears some parents and school leaders had when city and county governments merged early this year. They worried that Jefferson County Public Schools would lose the officers who teach classroom programs such as DARE and Life Skills. But under a new plan, partially funded this year by community groups, students will begin a four-year program about drugs and alcohol, peer pressure and self-image. [continues 793 words]
Police Recruit Pharmacists, Physicians To Help Recognize And Prevent Prescription Drug Fraud So far this year, more people in Jefferson County have died from prescription drug overdoses than in homicides. Through July, 28 people died in homicide cases. But 36 people died during that period from accidentally overdosing on prescription drugs such as OxyContin and hydrocodone. Taken correctly, the pills are powerful painkillers, but when abused they produce intense rushes that can stop a person's heart. "Homicides get publicized," said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner R.D. Jones. "Overdoses, whether accident or intentional, they don't get publicized." [continues 1398 words]
Local Governments To Receive $8.2 Million Dollars for substance abuse treatment are greatly needed in Daviess County, people at a Citizens Health Care Advocates meeting said Thursday, and at least some of the $8.2 million local governments stand to receive upon the restructuring of Owensboro Medical Health System should be devoted to filling that need. "We have not made it a health care priority, and it's time to do so," said Debbie Zuerner Johnson, director of Community Solutions, an organization that combats substance abuse. [continues 382 words]
As a registered Republican, I believe in certain conservative principles, chiefly the fiscal concerns of our government. Being fiscally conservative is a cornerstone of the Republican Party, but unfortunately, in some cases the (very) far right has made it harder for money-saving legislation to pass. An example -- and this may offend many of my fellow Republicans -- is the issue of legalizing marijuana. Do I think it should be legalized? No. Do I think it should be decriminalized? Yes. The federal government spends billions of dollars a year on a so-called "drug war" that isn't working. Many Republicans have supported this war over the past 20 or so years, thinking that it would help to rid the streets of drugs and, in return, crime. In the real world, it has done nothing to decrease teens' use of marijuana, and the use of exotic drugs like Ecstasy and the consumption of prescription pills like OxyContin have skyrocketed. [continues 88 words]
For eight years, Gov. Paul Patton has ignored pleas to help Kentuckians taking chemotherapy treatments for cancer and people with AIDS and has shown a lack of concern for those with wide-angle glaucoma. And many probably voted for him. It's time for gubernatorial candidates Ben Chandler and Ernie Fletcher to share their views. Will they ignore the need for cannabis as a medicine, hoping those like me just fade away? They must understand, it can be the young or seniors who need this medicine. Is being elected more important than helping citizens of Kentucky? I challenge both Chandler and Fletcher to express their views. We'll put one of them in office and deserve to know. Both Arizona and California have tried to help those who need cannabis as a medicine. Why can't we do the same? It's time our candidates for governor address the problem.... Lexington, Ky. 40508 [end]
ALLEGRE -- Before the lights go down, Bob Gregory makes sure to look into the eyes of every person sitting before him. After all, he's there to tell them bad news. But even worse, he's there to show them something that he hopes they will never forget. "Tonight, we will talk about your worst nightmare," he told the congregation at Bellview Baptist Church in the Allegre community. "Tonight, you will see how methamphetamine destroys the brain and only leaves the body to wither and die on the vine. It's worse than any cancer." [continues 383 words]
A drug task force in Kentucky is getting money from the federal government even though its spending practices are under FBI investigation. The Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force in Hopkinsville, Ky., will get $745,125 in grant money this year from the Department of Justice to fight methamphetamine use. On May 12, the FBI in Louisville served a subpoena to Cheyenne Albro, task force director, for records pertaining to the group's past use of grant funding. Patrick Bashore, special agent in the Louisville FBI office, confirmed Friday the task force remains under investigation but did not provide further details. [continues 255 words]
Three years ago, I lost my dear husband to cancer. He was 45. So it was with great interest that I read your Sept. 26 article about OxyContin theft and recreational use. Because of people who use this drug for sport, it makes it difficult for legitimate patients like my husband to obtain the pain relief they need to be able to die at home with dignity instead of in some cold, lonely hospital room. I have only one message for recreational users of OxyContin: If you think toying with cancer treatment drugs is a great lark, try a round of two of chemotherapy. Now there's a rush! I would suggest that they be forced to do community service with Hospice, but I wouldn't want people like them anywhere near people like my husband, who face death with such dignity and grace. Constance Story Louisville 40205 [end]
Teen Overdoses Spur Treatment Drug-addicted teens now have a new option to help them get and stay sober in Northern Kentucky. St. Luke Hospitals on Wednesday opened an intensive outpatient adolescent chemical-dependency program in Florence exclusively for teens ages 14-17 who want to kick drug addiction. The program is designed to treat addiction to any drug, but it was Northern Kentucky's recent wave of teen heroin and opiate overdose deaths last winter which first called attention to the need for more treatment options for high school-age youngsters. Last winter three teen-agers died in four months of suspected opiate overdoses in Northern Kentucky. [continues 168 words]
Bill's Purpose Closer Eye On Prescriptions FRANKFORT - Health cabinet officials would be required to scour Kentucky's prescription-drug database for patterns of pill abuse and report them to regulators, law enforcement, and in some cases the public, under a proposed bill approved yesterday by a legislative task force. But, in contrast to earlier proposals, the final draft, if approved by the 2004 General Assembly, wouldn't permit such statistical studies to target specific doctors, pharmacists or patients for investigation. [continues 573 words]
Grant Will Help NOW Group Fight Susbstancesubstance Abuse A Portland group received a $100,000 federal grant yesterday to help keep the neighborhood's pre-teens and young adults from abusing tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Because Portland is such a tight-knit community - generations of families often live side-by-side and go to school together - it had an edge in the competition among this year's 582 applicants, federal officials said. "It wasn't an easy application to write or to win. Congratulations," Mary Ann Solberg, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told 30 well-wishers and residents gathered at Portland's Neighborhood House community center for the announcement. [continues 551 words]
Supreme Court justices are bitterly split on crucial matters of law, and judges on some appeals courts seem to have adopted insults of each other instead of footnotes of precedents as their preferred mode of disputation. But on one issue, the nation's fractious federal judiciary stands united: Congress is flat wrong to destroy one of the lynchpins of American justice - - respect for the individual - and to replace it with politically dictated, Washington-decreed, one-size-fits-all punishments. The 27-member Judicial Conference, headed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, voted unanimously last week to ask Congress to repeal its misguided decision to curb further the already limited discretion that judges have in imposing sentences. [continues 209 words]
Crime Package Includes Grants To Add Officers Democrat Ben Chandler yesterday proposed a crime package that includes a grant program to help local governments hire police officers. With uniformed officers in the background, Chandler said the grants could pay for as many as 380 officers. Chandler did not give an estimate of the cost. But he promised that he would make cuts in state government to pay for it if he's elected governor over Republican Ernie Fletcher. One source of cuts could be a reduction in political appointees, Chandler said. [continues 448 words]
FRANKFORT (AP) -- If Ernie Fletcher can be blamed for a bad economy, then it seems Ben Chandler can be pinned with the illicit drug trade. The governor's race, somewhat insidiously, has taken on a more personal and negative tone, signaling the attack ads that are sure to come. Each camp engages almost daily in pointing a finger at the candidate of the other camp. Whatever the occasion or issue at hand, one candidate can find a way to drag the other into it, sometimes gratuitously. [continues 477 words]
It starts with a little shopping at a local store. A 38-year-old father of two makes the rounds picking up ingredients used to make meth. He is spotted by employees trained to look for this activity and city police are notified. A squad car soon arrives and the suspect is taken into custody and his vehicle searched. Officers seize a meth lab, a quantity of meth and the items the man has just purchased to make more of the illegal drug. [continues 808 words]
I read a news article online from a major media source reporting that marijuana does not cause brain damage. Who knew? Not all the ex-hippies who toked then -- and do now -- and are heads of major corporations, charities, museums, and pretty much the whole gamut. They're everywhere. Yet Kentucky's major newspapers lack for information on this subject. It seems to be our natural state of being. I was speechless when a former governor of Kentucky went public with the fact he didn't know the truth about hemp and marijuana while he was in office. [continues 103 words]
FRANKFORT - An Ernie Fletcher administration would spend upward of $9 million to expand "drug courts," running mate Steve Pence said yesterday. He said the money would come from a reordering of justice priorities. "There is plenty of money there to fight drugs," Pence said in a telephone interview. Kentucky now has 22 drug courts serving 35 counties. The courts manage drug intervention and treatment programs for non-violent drug offenders. Fifty-four drug courts to serve 58 more counties are in the planning stage, according to figures from the Administrative Office of the Courts. [continues 574 words]
The three candidates for attorney general touted their plans for attacking the state's drug problem in an hour-long debate last night, and said problems they've had should not be issues in the race. Republican nominee Jack Wood of Louisville and Gatewood Galbraith, a Lexington lawyer running as an independent, focused some harsh criticism on the Democrat candidate, longtime state Rep. Greg Stumbo of Prestonsburg, who has far more campaign money and wider name recognition. Stumbo avoided criticizing his opponents, but did say Galbraith might not support his plan to attack illegal drugs because it would probably catch some friends of Galbraith, who says he smokes marijuana to relieve emphysema and has a prescription for it from California. [continues 505 words]
A Daviess County group fighting drug and alcohol abuse is inviting residents to awaken Saturday with a wider perspective on the problems and needs facing the community. Community Solutions for Substance Abuse is hosting a treatment forum Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon which will feature a panel of 11 people ranging from Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain to Daviess County District Judge Joe Castlen and treatment counselors and recovering addicts. The event is intended to inform the public on the magnitude of the drug and alcohol problem while also examining the gaps in services, said Karen Coleman, who is the Treatment Committee co-chairwoman with Community Solutions. [continues 310 words]
The U.S. government must be pleased with itself for bringing down a man who has spent most of his life making us laugh. Tommy Chong, one half of the Cheech & Chong comedy team that practically invented marijuana comedy back in the 1970s, was arrested for selling bongs, smoking paraphernalia. For this our U.S. Government has incarcerated a non-violent person for nine months. Does anyone believe that this will stop the sales, production of such products or stop the use of marijuana? [continues 56 words]
Child Support Suit, Use of Drugs Cloud Campaigns FRANKFORT -- Apparently you don't have to be a Boy Scout to run for Kentucky's top law enforcement job. The race for attorney general pits a state lawmaker being sued for child support against a one-time judge twice disciplined on the bench and an independent who says he is "anti-drug" yet regularly smokes marijuana. Some prosecutors consider it a less-than-ideal field. "I have the same concerns that other citizens would have," said Allen Trimble, commonwealth's attorney for Whitley and McCreary counties. "We expect our attorneys general to kind of take the moral high plain. If they fall from that, it kind of hurts them." [continues 382 words]
If John Ashcroft keeps it up, we're going to have to change his title from Attorney General to Avenging Angel: Since nobody else in the justice system is morally trustworthy enough to mete out justice, he's taking over the job himself. First, he was so appalled that so few people were being executed that he started overruling his own advisers' recommendations and ordering up more death penalty prosecutions. Next, he set out to strip federal judges of what little sentencing discretion is left to them. He ordered that his office be told every time some deviant judge dares to temper justice with mercy, so he can loose his terrible swift sword in an appeal. [continues 74 words]
The vast majority of people with substance abuse problems don't seek the treatment they need. And the select few who do ask for help often find that the necessary treatment isn't readily available in the area -- or even near the area -- where they live. The findings are just a sample of the troubling picture painted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health released this month by the Department of Health and Human Services. In 2002, 22 million Americans were dependent upon drugs and alcohol, but only 6 percent sought treatment, the HHS reports. And even when people did seek help, nearly one in every four found treatment for drug abuse to be unavailable. [continues 377 words]
After 9/11, we saw the Taliban, which brought the world's annual $400 billion U.S. trade in drugs to a halt in Afghanistan, removed and replaced. At the same time, the world's western economies have been suffering a debilitating decline. Also, the Taliban was opposed to a Unocal oil pipeline through Afghanistan. Today, that $400 billion a year is safely back on its way to Wall Street. Thanks to fractional reserve banking, western banks can lend $10 to $20 for each of those dollars deposited. [continues 157 words]
HARTFORD -- Getting help, not a criminal record, is the focus of a new student drug policy being considered by Ohio County Schools, its drafters say. The "reasonable suspicion" policy would allow drug testing with parental permission if at least two trained observers in a school agree that a student shows signs of substance abuse. "We're looking at it as a positive thing to get them counseling and the help they need," said Ruth Fields, an assistant superintendent and one drafter of the policy. [continues 653 words]
During the last couple decades, a dreadful increase of drug trafficking from some Latin American countries has been a major attack on the United States' society, economy and security. Drug cartels in Colombia and Peru have operated like international business corporations with a single aim: reaching the U.S. market. An array of U.S. institutions, including the DEA, FBI, CIA and Delta Force, have been facing a supernatural challenge in their efforts to foil drug trafficking. The drug trafficking is less docile than the political and ideological terrorism that posit some clear objectives, take responsibilities, seek negotiations, put conditions, etc. The drug barons are motivated only from greed and, unfortunately, due to their criminal activity, possess enormous financial resources. [continues 497 words]
This is in response to the Sept. 14 letters from John Goldie of Flatwoods, which proclaimed marijuana leads to harder drugs. The only knowledgeable reasoning in this statement is that cannabis and harder drugs aresold on the same market: The black market. A drug dealer will sell harder drugs and cannabis together wherever he can make loads of money because cannabis, along with cocaine and other hard drugs, are illicit. To state that cannabis has some type of mystical power over its users that would transform them into heroine fiends or lead to an addiction to crack is bunk. It's like saying tobacco use leads to alcoholism. [continues 205 words]
Paducah-based Society Seeking Drug Database FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A Paducah-based doctors' group that is lobbying Congress for a national prescription-tracking program to combat drug abuse has become a major source of political contributions in Kentucky. Since January 1999, the group's president and founder, Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, and others affiliated with his American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians have made $1.1 million in political contributions. That is twice the contributions made during the same period by the Kentucky Medical Association's powerful political action committee. [continues 1536 words]
Drug Use, 'Blasting From Solid' Dangerous Kentucky law recognizes that explosives and illegal drugs are a lethal mix. But without the authority to order drug tests, state mining inspectors are helpless to enforce the law. The General Assembly should fill that gap. The state mine safety agency was poised to recommend this needed change as part of its report on an underground explosion in June that killed one miner and seriously injured another. But shortly after releasing the report earlier this week, the Department of Mines and Minerals sent out a revision that calls only for analyzing the need for authority to drug test in suspect situations. [continues 416 words]
I read your article on Aug. 20, "Patch to deliver marijuana chemicals," with great skepticism. While it is wonderful that AIDS and cancer patients can now get the medicine that they may need, the very facts cited in your article argue for a cheaper, and more reasonable, course: legalization of marijuana. The article states that cannabinoids don't have the side effects associated with opiates, and UK researcher Audra Stinchcomb is quoted as saying, "They're much safer as drugs." To overdose on cannabis, a normal person must smoke almost 18 pounds of cannabis at 10 percent THC content, or almost double normal street content. The person would die of lack of oxygen first. [continues 108 words]
Report on Fatal Blast May Prompt Abuse Tests FRANKFORT - Employees at a Floyd County coal mine routinely violated safety rules before a fatal blasting accident in June, and one witness even said two miners had been using drugs underground, according to a state report. The Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals released its report yesterday on the June 13 accident at Cody Mining Co. Inc., near McDowell in Floyd County. The blast killed miner Paul Blair, 21, and severely injured the superintendent, Robert Ratliff Jr., 28, whose father owns the mine. [continues 1042 words]
A Ludlow police detective, under investigation for seeking thousands of dollars as part of plea negotiations with people arrested on drug charges, was fired from the Kenton County Jail four years ago for continually violating various county policies. Ludlow Detective Bill Schilling had been fired by County Jailer Terry Carl for performing what were described as law enforcement tasks that he had been told not to do. The Ludlow allegation follows a similar pattern. Schilling is under investigation by state police. Other state police targets could include the Kenton Commonwealth Attorney's office. [continues 847 words]
Ludlow Police Chief Ray Murphy offered to make a felony drug case disappear for $1,000, a man in court on drug charges testified Wednesday during an open court hearing. Murphy, who was not at the hearing, later called the charge bogus. But Edward Elmore told Kenton District Judge Doug Grothaus that his attorney had passed along the offer, saying it came directly from Murphy. And while the attorney, Brad Braun, declined to testify at the hearing Wednesday on the basis of attorney-client privilege, he said later that Elmore was telling the truth. [continues 794 words]
This is in response to the Sept. 14 letters from John Goldie of Flatwoods, which proclaimed marijuana leads to harder drugs. The only knowledgeable reasoning in this statement is that cannabis and harder drugs are sold on the same market: The black market. A drug dealer will sell harder drugs and cannabis together wherever he can make loads of money because cannabis, along with cocaine and other hard drugs, are illicit. To state that cannabis has some type of mystical power over its users that would transform them into heroine fiends or lead to an addiction to crack is bunk. It's like saying tobacco use leads to alcoholism. [continues 195 words]
Good Sense About Combating Prescription Drug Abuse Prevailed In Washington And Frankfort Last Week In Washington, an advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration rejected the bad idea of restricting the legitimate use of and access to the highly effective narcotic painkiller OxyContin in order to combat its abuse. Eastern Kentucky's U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers had been among those pushing the blunderbuss approach the panel rejected - proposals to forbid family physicians and other nonspecialists from prescribing OxyContin and to bar physicians from using it in any but the most severe cases of pain. [continues 194 words]
This is in response to the Sept. 11 letter from Sandy Cote of Toledo: Marijuana is against the law. Pot users are criminals. I am a man in my 60s. I have seen some of my best friends use marijuana, thinking it to be harmless, then later turning to harder drugs, which caused their deaths. Marijuana does lead to harder drugs. These young people who start smoking pot cannot afford it. Smoking pot leads to stealing, stealing is also against the law. This also makes them a criminal. Case closed. John Goldie Flatwoods [end]
I agree with every word in "Caging humans for pot use called wicked" (In Your View, Sept. 7). Pot differs from alcohol in that it does not lead to aggressive behavior, violence or black outs. It is, by far, a milder intoxicant. I'm not condoning its use, just telling the truth. The vast majority of users are peaceful people who do not deserve to be treated like violent criminals. Sandy Cote Toledo Ohio [end]
Kentucky has an addiction problem, fueled in part by the willingness of some doctors to prescribe narcotics for healthy people looking for a high. So it makes sense to keep an eye out for those pushing the drugs, especially since the state has the technology to do so. That is the gist of what a legislative task force said this week in suggesting better ways to use a statewide database that keeps track prescriptions. The General Assembly should endorse the task force proposals as soon as the 2004 session begins. [continues 215 words]
Allen Street Program Operated For Two Years Jennifer House, a transitional housing and rehabilitation program for women with alcohol and substance abuse problems, has closed after operating for two years at 1125 Allen St. "This was a good program. ... I feel terrible about its closing," said Sandra M. Brandt, vice president. "We were one of seven facilities like this in Kentucky." The board likely will meet this weekend to develop a final closing plan that includes how to dispense of the property, furniture and other items, Brandt said. [continues 280 words]
State police have been asked to look into whether Kenton County prosecutors and Ludlow police improperly sought cash payments as part of plea agreements with people arrested during a drug investigation in the small river city. Several defense attorneys recently received "proffers" -- an offer made during plea negotiations -- that asked the suspects to pay up to $12,000 in reimbursements to the Ludlow Police Department for the costs of its investigation. About a week ago, one of those defense attorneys carried the complaints to several Kenton circuit judges. Three of the judges agreed to forward the information on to state police for investigation. [continues 611 words]
RX Records Could Be Compared FRANKFORT - Doctors who prescribe high volumes of narcotics or work in communities notorious for pill abuse could face special scrutiny under proposed legislation that would go before Kentucky lawmakers early next year. Yesterday, a task force created by the 2003 General Assembly outlined six recommendations for legislation aimed at fighting the state's worsening prescription-drug abuse problem. Two key measures, if passed by the 2004 legislature, would significantly expand the current use of the Kentucky All-Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system. The statewide database, called KASPER, keeps track of who writes and who receives drug prescriptions. [continues 575 words]
Substance abuse is prevalent in America, and it affects individuals as well as families, friends and businesses. The 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, estimates that 16 million Americans (7.1 percent of the population 12 and older) were current users of illicit drugs in 2001. Seventy-six percent of these drug users are employed either full-or part-time. Illicit drug use among youth was highest for those between the ages of 18 and 25. Illicit drugs include marijuana, cocaine/crack, hallucinogens (like LSD), heroin, methamphetamine, and club drugs (like Ecstasy). Other misused and potentially addictive legal substances include inhalants, steroids, prescription drugs, and alcohol and tobacco. [continues 402 words]
Even majestic peaks that have thrust proudly into the sky since God's dog was a pup get nervous in an election season. For one thing, it is the time of the helicopter in the uplands, as our government whirs overhead and looks down on us, pursuant to regulation that says doing anything useful on a mountain is to be discouraged. Our government, sometimes intentionally, but more often with the blunder that seems to be democracy's main product, provides much of the problem facing mountain culture. [continues 461 words]
As Maj. Gen. Arthur T. Dean, (Fighting drug abuse is community effort, Sept. 4) slips and asserts about cannabis (marijuana): "... the perception of its harm..." and illustrates the fact that government must create the perception like an illusion. Cannabis is not nearly as harmful as the "Reefer Madness" government would like citizens to believe. It is commendable to help addicts abusing drugs or reaching out for help to end addiction of hard drugs. It is commendable to help keep kids from using alcohol and drugs, including the plant cannabis. But please do not confuse that with citizens that consume cannabis, yet do not abuse it. It defies integrity and rationality to cage humans for using cannabis. Fighting cannabis is not a community effort, but rather a biblically disobedient, government effort. As an obedient Christian I assert through the spirit of truth, it is wicked and sinful to cage humans for using a plant. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Purdue Pharma Wants Only To Get Painkiller To Those Who Need It Recent Herald-Leader coverage of OxyContin underscores a critical public health dilemma: preventing prescription drug abuse while protecting patients' rights to appropriate care. But the newspaper did little to advance understanding of this issue. By assembling facts selectively and making negative assumptions, the paper disposed of a complex social problem by blaming it on one company. This was a disservice not only to Purdue Pharma but also to innocent sufferers of accident and disease. [continues 666 words]
A new school year has begun. Many students may be excited by an array of new classmates, teachers and experiences. Unfortunately, some students may become overwhelmed by school and respond to peer pressure to try drugs. Children and adolescents are our most vulnerable populations when it comes to drug abuse. Deterring young people from using drugs is integral to their development into healthy adults. Research studies show that kids who make it past age 21 without trying alcohol, tobacco or other drugs are less likely to progress to substance abuse in the future. [continues 192 words]
Inside Kentucky
