School-age children aren't just interested in marijuana, cigarettes and alcohol anymore. A national study released yesterday showed the number of students who are using marijuana is decreasing, but the number of students abusing cough syrups and prescription drugs to get high is on the rise. Locally, officials said New Hampshire teenagers mirror the trends revealed in the 2006 National Institute on Drug Abuse survey. Each year, the survey is taken by 50,000 students in grades eight through 12 at more than 400 schools nationwide. [continues 670 words]
ABINGTON -- After an 18-year-old girl was found dead in her home of an apparent heroin overdose last weekend, Police Chief David Majenski went to the house to comfort her family. It was, he said, a heart-breaking visit. He said it should also be a wake-up call to everyone in Abington and surrounding communities. "You can go to any community, it is not just in Abington, and heroin can be found among this age group," Majenski said. "We can no longer put our head in the sand and say it's not around." [continues 631 words]
As the nation ponders its lost cause in Iraq, it's past time to reconsider yet another misbegotten crusade: America's 35-year-old "War on Drugs." Conceived by President Richard Nixon in 1971 partly as an attack on the anti-Vietnam war "counterculture," like most governmental efforts to abolish sin and folly, it's a complete failure. For different reasons, Democrats and Republicans alike refuse to acknowledge reality. I yield to none in my contempt for the romance of narcotics. Like alcoholism, illegal drugs have brought misery, sorrow and death to millions. Few American families are untouched. I used to play Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" for college kids to test the seductive idea that "beauty is truth, truth beauty." To anybody with a feeling for blues-rooted rock, it's paralyzingly beautiful; it's also a bittersweet rationalization of evil. [continues 702 words]
As the nation ponders its lost cause in Iraq, it's past time to reconsider yet another misbegotten crusade: America's 35-year-old "War on Drugs." Conceived by President Richard Nixon in 1971 partly as an attack on the anti-Vietnam war "counterculture," like most governmental efforts to abolish sin and folly, it's a complete failure. For different reasons, Democrats and Republicans alike refuse to acknowledge reality. I yield to none in my contempt for the romance of narcotics. Like alcoholism, illegal drugs have brought misery, sorrow and death to millions. Few American families are untouched. I used to play Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" for college kids to test the seductive idea that "beauty is truth, truth beauty." To anybody with a feeling for blues-rooted rock, it's paralyzingly beautiful; it's also a bittersweet rationalization of evil. [continues 708 words]
BROCKTON -- Store manager Shahid Qadeer says the new ban on the sale of blunt cigar wrappers in the city will hurt his business. "It does not make sense," Qadeer, manager of the 28 Corner Convenience Store on Montello Street, said Thursday. "If somebody comes to buy these, they will buy other stuff." The city has banned the sale of all blunt cigar wrappers in Brockton stores in an attempt to curb illegal drug use, city officials said. The wrappers, which are sold behind the counter at convenience stores across the region, are intended for use with cigar tobacco. But they are often used with controlled substances, such as marijuana, said Police Chief William Conlon. [continues 344 words]
Pick your week or month, the evidence keeps rolling in to show this country's vaunted "war on drugs" is as destructively misguided as our cataclysmic error in invading Iraq. There are 2.2 million Americans behind bars, another 5 million on probation or parole, the Justice Department reported on Nov. 30. We exceed Russia and Cuba in incarcerations per 100,000 people; in fact no other nation comes close. The biggest single reason for the expanding numbers? Our war on drugs - a quarter of all sentences are for drug offenses, mostly nonviolent. [continues 742 words]
On Tuesday, John Walters, the White House director of National Drug Policy, and Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon, announced with great fanfare at a high school in Florida that $8.6 million in federal money had been earmarked for student drug testing programs across the country. That money would be better spent to fund programs designed to increase participation in after-school sports programs that could reduce drug usage by our teens and stem the epidemic of childhood obesity. There is an urgent need to reform the interscholastic sports programs in the nation's public middle and high schools to provide for full inclusion. [continues 566 words]
Bust In Seabrook Sets Regional Mark When 12 pounds of crystal methamphetamine arrived in Seabrook on Oct. 24 , officials say, federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents and Seabrook police officers were ready. They arrested four men and seized the drugs, which had an estimated $1.5 million street value - -- the largest amount ever seized in New England . While the bust was significant, local law enforcement officials are more concerned about the possibility that methamphetamine labs will proliferate in New Hampshire as they have in other parts of the country. The crystal meth they seized locally was manufactured in a lab in Mexico. [continues 542 words]
Thefts Suspected; Staff at Depository Is Shifted All 10 officers working in the Boston Police Department's central drug warehouse have been transferred to other duties, because anticorruption investigators believe that evidence is being stolen, officials said yesterday. For now, only department auditors and investigators from the Internal Affairs Division who are working on the case will be allowed into the Hyde Park depository, where drugs seized as evidence in thousands of cases are stored until trial. In another sign that the two-month investigation is broadening, police officials also said they are seeking help from State Police and confirmed for the first time that they believe that drugs have been stolen. [continues 871 words]
Center to Fill Growing Need WORCESTER-- The state Bureau of Substance Abuse Services has awarded a $1 million grant to Community Healthlink to open the state's first substance abuse detoxification and stabilization program for adolescents. The 20-bed program for youths 13 to 17 years old is scheduled to open in April in Community Healthlink's Thayer Building at the corner of Queen Street and Jaques Avenue. While some people were surprised that there is a need for the lower-level of services provided in six residential facilities across the state -- including one run by Community Healthlink at 280-282 Highland St. -- for children as young as 13, the inpatient facility providing medical intervention and stabilization to adolescents will provide even more intense services. [continues 596 words]
If children are under the influence of heroin and Oxycontin and parents ignore the possibility, does a drug problem really exist in Marshfield? Police, parents and community members upset about the lack of attendance by parents at a drug awareness parent night at Furnace Brook Middle School Thursday night say the answer is yes. Lt. Phil Tavares summed up the sentiment expressed by many at the forum about the lack of attendance - about two dozen people. For every middle school or high school student, there are usually two parents, he said, so where were the 5,000 parents who did not attend to learn about the "it" drugs - heroin and Oxycontin - in the Marshfield schools? [continues 1055 words]
A former Tiverton, R.I., police officer convicted of acting as a lookout for a drug ring had almost six years shaved off his 24-year sentence Tuesday following an appeals court ruling that found errors in calculating his original sentence. William Sedoma, an 18-year police veteran, was convicted in February 2001 for his role in a cocaine and marijuana distribution ring that operated in Fall River and Tiverton, alerting drug dealers when their packages were intercepted by police. Prosecutors also said Sedoma warned members of the ring when an undercover Massachusetts police officer was trying to infiltrate the organization. [continues 118 words]
Supporters of Question 4 on Last Week's Election Ballot Gave New Meaning to the Concept of Grassroots Campaigning. Nearly 70 percent of Bedford voters cast their ballots in favor of the nonbinding initiative, which calls for legislation that would allow seriously ill patients to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for medical use. The Public Policy Question appeared on ballots in the nine communities that make up the 3rd Middlesex Senatorial District, represented by Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, who heads the Joint Committee on Public Health. The ballot initiative also appeared in parts of Milton and Randolph, which comprise the 7th Norfolk Representative District, represented by Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry. The question was passed in all 11 communities by an average margin of 67 percent. [continues 725 words]
Dear Ask the Youth Commission: My daughter and I have a very open relationship. I am honest with her and she is honest with me, which has created a strong sense of trust. However, she just started the ninth grade, which means a lot of new experiences and change, including more exposure and access to drugs and alcohol. In our latest conversation, I asked her how kids even go about obtaining drugs and her response was, "What kind? I mean there are different dealers you would go to for pot, coke or whatever." I was flabbergasted, not because there are dealers in the high school, but because they are actually selling and kids are buying cocaine. [continues 1112 words]
Recommendation Heavily Backed in S. Shore Towns Voters would rather have a little dope in their pockets than wine in supermarkets. The nonbinding ballot question asking voters to instruct their representatives to support legislation that would make possessing less than an ounce of marijuana a civil rather than a criminal infraction passed by nearly 2 to 1 in Plymouth, Duxbury, Kingston and Halifax. A question to approve medical use of marijuana passed 2 to 1 in Milton. Meanwhile, voters in the four towns soundly rejected the proposal to allow wine sales in grocery stores. [continues 314 words]
Since 1998, November has been recognized as Substance Abuse Awareness Month in Bedford. During the next month, articles in the Bedford Minuteman will provide information about prescription drug abuse by youth and young adults, the use of harm reduction as a strategy to deal with alcohol and youth, concerns about the new energy drinks, and an opportunity to weigh in on community perceptions about alcohol and drug use in Bedford. Youth and Family Services bulletin boards at both the middle and high school will have displays on smoking to coincide with the The Great America Smokeout campaign held nationwide on Nov. 16, which encourages smokers to stop smoking for the day. There will also be a display table at each school at lunch time offering students information about the dangers of smoking as well as ways to support smokers in their efforts to quit or cut down. [continues 109 words]
Parents might not guess an empty soda can with holes punched in it could be a pipe for smoking marijuana, but after a series of seminars slated for next month, they will be able to spot these and other telltale warning signs of a child with a drug problem, according to Dedham Police Officer Richard Huyler. The "Citizens Drug Recognition Academy" is a free program for parents running on Nov. 2, 9, 16, and 30 from 7-9 p.m. at the Dedham Middle School auditorium. Huyler said the program will teach participants how to recognize different types of drugs and drug paraphernalia, and how drugs affect behavior in kids. [continues 156 words]
To the editors: Regarding Juliet S. Samuel's thoughtful op-ed of Oct. 10 ("Drug Policy? What Are You, High?"), the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. Punitive marijuana laws have little, if any, deterrent value. The University of Michigan's "Monitoring the Future" study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than in any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to have caused an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many Americans. [continues 106 words]
A group of about 50 students gathered last week at Stoneham High School, signed in for a class, picked up a handout and filed into the auditorium. "Do your kids know you're here?" the program's instructor asked the audience not of teens, but rather adults. "Tell them you're getting an education," said Marilyn Grifoni Belmonte - lessons in how to recognize drugs and symptoms of drug use. In the first of four sessions, the drug recognition instructor talked about plant-based drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. [continues 804 words]
Last week the University Health Services (UHS) Health Fair came to town, complete with such goodies as free massages and tiny boxes of Sunmaid raisins. Students left loaded up with pens, pamphlets, and tips for "wellness." One of the stalls, however, was not organized by UHS but by the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services (AODS). Its leaflets contained such informational gems as, "You still think marijuana isn't bad for you? What are you, high?" The message was clear: Don't do drugs, man. [continues 836 words]
I'm writing in response to a recent letter to the editor in support of the DARE substance abuse prevention program. It is obvious that he had a positive experience with the Wilbraham DARE program. While DARE apparently worked for the writer, it is important to know if DARE is equally beneficial for all, or even many, young people. For earlier versions of the curriculum, evaluation results showed no statistically meaningful impact of DARE, (see "Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General"). [continues 222 words]
Pregnancy tests are no longer the only over-the-counter tests available in local drugstores. Stores have stocked their shelves with over-the-counter drug tests for the past four years. But in the past few months, the number of tests being offered on shelves has doubled at some stores, and they're even showing up in sale fliers. By testing a urine sample, the over-the-counter tests will show in five minutes if someone is using drugs ranging from marijuana to cocaine. [continues 668 words]
SPRINGFIELD - The Phoenix Houses of New England will receive $1.1 million in grant money to provide mobile treatment services to juvenile offenders and their families in the Hampden County Juvenile Drug Court. The grant, awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration during the next three years, will strengthen the partnership between Phoenix House and the Juvenile Drug Court. "It is difficult for many working parents to be as involved in their child's treatment as they need to be," Susan O'Connor, lead case coordinator for the Hampden County Drug Court, said. "This model treatment program brings the treatment to them, and addresses the needs of the adolescent and the family, both individually and as a unit." [continues 154 words]
The Stoneham Rotary Club and the Stoneham United Council of PTOs will be sponsoring a program for parents and concerned citizens called "Citizens Drug Recognition Academy," Wednesdays, Oct. 4-25, 7-9 p.m., in the Stoneham High School auditorium, 149 Franklin St. This free, four-part course is open to adults only and will provide the community with a comprehensive training on recognition of drugs, drug paraphernalia, eye clues and physical symptoms of drug abuse. Each week a different section of drug abuse will be discussed: plant-based/traditional drugs; prescription and over-the-counter drugs; club drugs; drug-facilitated sexual assaults and breaking barriers of communication when talking to your kids about drugs. The last session will include a panel discussion with members from the Stoneham Police and School Department about drug issues in town. [continues 71 words]
In reading your recent news article on concerns regarding disposal of hypodermic needles, an obvious solution came to mind. When the Bottle Bill was passed, it required those who sold beverages in containers that were covered by the bill, to accept the returned bottles and cans. Also those who sell oil must, by law, accept the oil that was replaced by the oil they sold. Doesn't it make sense to require those who sell hypodermic needles to also have an approved receptacle in their store for the return of used hypodermic needles? Doctors and hospitals have medical waste collected. This could be easily done with or without a deposit and may require an amendment to the law. Hopefully now, that needles can be purchased legally and inexpensively, we can save the taxpayers money by doing away with the needle exchange program. Donald J. Flannery Wilbraham [end]
Imagine The Following Tv Commercial: A close-up shot of an egg. A narrator says, "This is your tax money." Then the egg rolls onto the floor, smashing open. The narrator continues: "And this is your tax money working to keep kids off drugs." It might bring to mind a famous anti-drug spot. "This is your brain," a voice said as an egg was shown on screen. "And this is your brain on drugs," he continued ominously as the egg was seen frying in a sizzling skillet. [continues 316 words]
WALTHAM -- While it may be intended to brighten a loved one's spirits, an item being sold at convenience stores and gas stations throughout the city could actually be used as a pipe for smoking crack cocaine, according to City Councilor Sarafina "Sally" Collura. Referred to as a "rose tube," the sealed four-inch glass vial containing a miniature fake flower can be found on convenience store counters next to lighters and jars of candy. Collura said she was informed about the unintended use of rose tubes by a friend who is a recovered drug addict. [continues 531 words]
The most enlightening speech at the United Nations this week, I'm sorry to say, was the one by Evo Morales of Bolivia. I don't mean it was a good or even a coherent speech. That would be too much to expect from the world leaders' annual gasathon. The rhetorical bar is extremely low. Morales, like his friend Hugo Chavez, spent much of his time ranting about a new world order based on the economic policies that have worked such wonders in Cuba. [continues 690 words]
When Gov. W. Mitt Romney vetoed a bill this summer to allow the sale of needles without a prescription, a spokesman explained why the governor was opposed to the legislation. "Legalizing needles is like giving matches to an arsonist," said Eric Fehrnstrom. The Legislature overrode the governor's veto, and on Sept. 18, Massachusetts became the 48th state in the nation allowing over-the-counter sales of hypodermic needles. The legislation still has its critics who say it will encourage illegal drug use, but public health officials say it is the single most important prevention legislation in this state in the past decade. [continues 262 words]
Thanks to columnist John Tierney for an intelligent article on the "Coca Wars" ("Put the coca back in Coca-Cola," The Republican, Sept. 26. ), Many are unfamiliar with benign coca leaf. They think it is a strong intoxicant. It is not. It has been said, "coca leaf is to cocaine, as rye bread is to rye whiskey." But the "powers that be" will never decriminalize it, or the other fairly innocuous - nay even therapeutic - devil's weed: ganja, kif, herb, bhang, charas, majum, grass, Kannabis, marijuana. [continues 52 words]
This letter is in response to The Republican news article titled: "Wilbraham's DARE under board scrutiny." (Sept. 19). I have been a resident of Wilbraham since I was born. I attended Minnechaug Regional High School and graduated in 2000. During the course of my education at the elementary and high school levels, I was exposed to various Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programs and classroom education. Dennis LaPlante was my DARE officer. Through his teachings, lectures, and classroom exercises, I began to develop a friendship with him and viewed him as a role-model. [continues 201 words]
This is in response to the article "Wilbraham's DARE under board scrutiny." (The Republican, Sept. 19.) It's smart business to educate our kids about the risks of using drugs. But that message is best delivered by qualified health care professionals and counselors, not by uniformed police officers and DARE. Ten- and 11-year-old kids will pretty much do whatever a cop tells them, including the recitation of anti-drug mantras. Such cooperation makes parents smile, but ignores that most kids of that age are not able to ask the tough questions to a police officer. [continues 177 words]
As a Christian, I'd like to encourage students and others to continue efforts re-legalizing the God-given cannabis plant (kaneh bosm/marijuana) because it's Biblically correct (Freedom Rally at Common May Support Us All, Sept. 16, 2006). Caging humans for using cannabis is anti-Christian; Christ God Our Father indicated He created all the seed bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page of the Bible (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). Cannabis is a blessing to be accepted, not sinfully persecuted, prohibited and exterminated. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Regarding Miryam Wiley's Sept. 16th column: If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican migration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. [continues 98 words]
I totally agree with Greg Devereaux's thoughtful letter, "A victim of the war on drugs" (Sept. 12). It seems to me that adult citizens of a so-called free country should be free to smoke, swallow, snort or inject any substance that they want in the privacy of their own homes. We don't punish those who attempt suicide and survive. So why punish those who consume the wrong (politically selected) recreational drugs? KIRK MUSE, Mesa, Ariz. [end]
WILBRAHAM - The Board of Selectmen will decide in January whether to replace the Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer in the elementary and middle schools. Police Officer Dennis LaPlante, who has been on sick leave, anticipates retiring in January. Selectman Patrick Brady said studies have shown there is no statistical difference in drug use depending on whether students have had a DARE program or not. School Superintendent Paul C. Gagliarducci said it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of a DARE program. [continues 208 words]
UN Director Continues Worldwide Campaign WORCESTER-- If AIDS is to be brought under control any time in the near future, it will be in large part because of courageous decisions made in spite of public opinion, the executive director of UNAIDS told an overflow crowd of about 200 at the Clark University Traina Center for the Arts last night. That kind of courage will be needed all around the world, in Cape Town, in Geneva and in Worcester, said Peter Piot, who is also under-secretary general of the United Nations. [continues 524 words]
Pharmacist Tracey Cole of Louis & Clark Pharmacy in Holyoke said yesterday she understands the public health sentiment supporting the selling of $5 bags of 10 hypodermic needles to people who use them, including intravenous drugs users. But she said she is concerned about how and where people will discard the syringes. So far the state has designated fire and police stations and other municipal buildings as discard sites and directed pharmacists to hand out literature to patrons detailing the proper way to discard a needle. [continues 522 words]
As legal over-the-counter hypodermic syringe sales begin today, the state is listing no disposal sites for dirty needles in 10 of the state's 13 counties and, according to proponents of the law, has failed to put a system in place for the proper disposal of used needles. As part of the new law, which proponents say is intended to reduce the spread of diseases, especially among users of illegal drugs, the Department of Public Health was required to release public information today on needle safety and drop-off sites for used syringes. The department web site lists sites in only Barnstable and Franklin counties as well as the city of Haverhill. [continues 633 words]
Editor's Note: This is one in an ongoing series of columns written by local high-school seniors, High-School Confidential, that run in our Saturday and Monday editions. The past few weeks have been just lovely while they lasted. Clean and waxed floors, fresh air, a distinct absence of flies or other pests have made my school experience a hundred times more enjoyable. Of course, every honeymoon must come to an end. I was hoping -- in the darkest recesses of my heart -- that perhaps I wouldn't have to smell it this year. [continues 482 words]
Hemp Fest Lights Up Commons Hemp Fest-- the annual public convention held to advocate the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts -- was held Saturday and Sunday at the Boston Commons, with local students and dread-locked, tie-dyed demonstrators alike demanding one thing: freedom. Mike Cann, a spokesman for MassCann, which sponsored the event, said he was unhappy with Massachusetts' current political agenda. "The police are not our enemy," he said. "We have one common enemy: politicians. I will never vote for someone who wants to arrest me." [continues 412 words]
Want To Do Something Revolutionary Today? Consider attending the Freedom Rally on the Boston Common, from noon to 6 p.m. The mood will be the one of a big fair with musical groups and fun. The underlying reasons are much more serious and deserve everyone's attention. The Freedom Rally is part of a large movement that tries to educate everyone about a plant many of us know little about: hemp, or cannabis sativa, basically the same original plant as marijuana. [continues 775 words]
BOSTON - Hypodermic syringes are scheduled to be for sale without a prescription on Monday in Massachusetts under a controversial new law that passed over the objections of Gov. W. Mitt Romney. Donna E. Rheaume, spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health, said the law allows pharmacies to sell the syringes without a prescription, but pharmacies are not required to participate in the law. She said the law goes into effect on Monday. Rheaume said the state Department of Public Health is developing an educational pamphlet for distribution to people who buy needles without a prescription. Rheaume said the pamphlets would be available at drug stores on Monday. [continues 240 words]
Here's another classic example of what's wrong with the war on drugs. Diane Soule, by all accounts in the article, was described by the many people who knew her as "dearly beloved," "she's a nice lady" and "never accused of doing anything inappropriate at school or with a child" in 32 years! Yet she was immediately removed from her teaching job for getting caught after hours using an illegal intoxicant. What she chooses to use in her body is no one's business but hers. She is still a great teacher and kind person whose only crime was sampling a forbidden fruit. [continues 122 words]
The BEACON Coalition's next meeting is on Sept. 13, 4:15 p.m. in the conference room of the Institution for Savings on Prospect Street. Anyone interested in furthering the group's objectives is invited, including business leaders, parents and students. For information, contact Donna Holaday at 978-462-5654 or at d.holaday@comcast.net. Editor's note: Over the next few weeks the Current will feature various groups that support our local schools and students. A task force dedicated to preventing youth substance abuse in Newburyport will kick off the school year by starting a new program to prevent high-risk behaviors in middle-schoolers and by administering a survey that identifies parent perceptions about their children. [continues 595 words]
WALPOLE -- Crooks won't be the only ones getting busted after motel drug raids if the town's Board of Selectmen has anything to say about it. The board -- at the request of Police Chief Richard Stillman -- last night put new bylaws on the fall Town Meeting warrant which would hold motel owners accountable for recurrent crime and drug dealing in their rooms and parking lots. The bylaws would let the town license hotels, and yank their right to operate if they consistently fail to stop criminal activity. [continues 333 words]
Police and paramedics were called to a Larose Place residence last week for a report of a drug overdose. When police arrived on scene, they also found that the victim's infant daughter was at the site. When police arrived at the house, a 24-year-old woman who lived there was being treated by paramedics for a heroin overdose. Witnesses told police that the woman had been up and talking with them and then suddenly passed out on the bathroom floor. While in the apartment, officers saw the victim's 1-month old daughter on a bed, with discarded syringes on the bed and bedside table. [continues 82 words]
LOWELL -- While she does not line up completely with the Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition, (SHaRC) Green Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross does agree the state is throwing good money after bad. "Part of what worries me and part of the reason I'm running for governor is that we've heard all the rhetoric, but the state is still paying $43,000 a year for a prisoner who needs a rehab bed," Ross said. "It's the policy issues at the state level that have me concerned. There are basic solutions that we are not looking at." [continues 478 words]
Activists Alter Headline On Newsstands Sidebar: About 2,000 copies of the latest issue of Worcester Magazine were vandalized on newsstands. The headline on the cover story originally read: "What neighborhoods face when drugstores sell needles like cigarettes." But some copies of the free weekly newspaper were doctored so that the headline read as seen above.: "Less HIV infections is What neighborhoods face when drugstores sell needles like cigarettes." (T&G Photo) WORCESTER-- Some local activists were outraged with the headline on the cover story of the current issue of Worcester Magazine, believing it trivialized the importance of the new state law allowing over-the-counter needle sales. [continues 638 words]
Inside Massachusetts
