Governor Vows To Push Lawmakers For Needle-Swap And Stem Cell Laws Frustrated by a deadlock in the Legislature, Gov. Jon Corzine vowed yesterday to use the bully pulpit of his office to push through controversial measures to legalize needle exchanges for drug users and to boost stem cell research. Corzine said he had hoped both initiatives would be enacted by now but that each has stalled because "the legislative process has the ability to tie it up in knots." The governor called it "unconscionable" that New Jersey leaders have "sat on our hands," failing to establish a program to give intravenous drug users access to clean needles to help prevent the spread of the AIDS virus. Delaware is the only other state that prohibits both the sale of syringes and their distribution through needle exchanges. [continues 826 words]
Luz Espinosa is not the sort of woman who figures large in the calculations of Trenton politicians. She's lived most of her adult life as a prostitute in Newark, addicted to heroin, sleeping in abandoned buildings and vacant lots. She has AIDS, and it's almost killed her over and over. There aren't many votes to be had in her demographic group. But it would be nice if the politicians in Trenton invited her to testify someday. Then they might realize how much damage they are doing by re fusing to allow addicts in New Jersey to get clean needles. The political stalemate over this issue has deadly consequences. [continues 565 words]
HAMILTON, N.J. - Twice every workday, John I. Hogan drives past Milepost 63 on the New Jersey Turnpike and feels his pulse begin to quicken. These days, he makes the trip as a civilian, just another commuter, as he heads between his home in Bordentown and his job as a salesman in Jamesburg. Eight years ago, though, Mr. Hogan was a decorated New Jersey state trooper who patrolled the turnpike and called himself "King of the Big Road," when a brief encounter near Exit 7A changed his life, the lives of others and police policy. [continues 1029 words]
Re: "Don't legalize" (letters, March 29). The letter writer needs to realize that illegal drugs cause crime, prostitution and disease. Drug dealers survive by the enslavement of others to illegal drugs. Legalization will pull their profitable rug out from under them and then it's back to school or bust. Prostitution will decrease dramatically since women will no longer need to sell their bodies for a fix. In fact, no one will get mugged and killed for just a few dollars for a fix anymore. [continues 149 words]
When most parents hear the word marijuana they immediately yell "Don't do drugs!" and change the subject. Of course, parents are only looking out for the well-being of their children, but merely discussing drugs does not inject any chemicals into our veins or shoot smoke into our lungs. As America's government continues to wage a costly war on drugs, it is necessary to objectively acknowledge that legalization of marijuana is an idea that should receive serious consideration, without succumbing to the subjectivity of propaganda. Therefore, in the interest of opening our propaganda-blinded eyes to the issues that directly affect teenagers, here first are the facts from the National Institute on Drug Abuse: Marijuana is a product of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, which contains some 400 chemicals, including the brain-altering THC. Researchers have found that THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted upon by the hippocampus, the component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations; as a result, learned behaviors deteriorate. [continues 1066 words]
Re: "Activist preaches drug legalization" (C-P, March 19). I don't see how anyone can figure that, by legalizing, taxing or regulating the sale of drugs, we will eliminate the violence associated with them. A recent proposal to Camden political leaders was aimed at this idea, and I think it is absurd. If you have gangs or cartels selling illegal drugs openly on the streets and violence is part of their game and marketing strategy, how will legalizing drugs stop this violence? It's a lucrative business for them. [continues 189 words]
Recently, the Columbian newspaper El Tiempo published an editorial supporting the legalization of drugs. El Tiempo is one of the most conservative publications in Latin America. One of its owners, Francisco Santos, is the vice president of Colombia. The other owner of the newspaper, Juan Manuel Santos, is the director of a political group leading campaigns to re-elect president Alvaro Uribe. Around the time the El Tiempo column was published, Frank Fulbrook, president of the Camden Neighborhood Revitalization Corp., delivered a lecture on the Camden campus of Rutgers University in favor of the same position. [continues 888 words]
Students Visit, Talk to Younger Pupils TEENS' MESSAGE: "YOU DON'T NEED DRUGS" MIDDLETOWN -- Seventeen-year-old Laura Picardo is on a mission. Since the 11th-grader became a student at High School South, she has made a formal pledge to say "no" to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. She also has made it a priority to get elementary and middle school students in Middletown schools to make the same decision. "The underlying message is that you don't need drugs to be a good person," Picardo said. [continues 379 words]
As though Camden did not have enough socioeconomic problems to cope with, along comes Frank Fulbrook, a so-called "activist," propounding an illegal proposal to legalize drugs in the city. He ignores a minor problem: Neither Camden nor anyplace else in the United States can legalize drugs. Numerous times, courts have struck down efforts to do so, including the so-called medicinal use of marijuana. An "activist" who shamelessly admits to using drugs ("I've tried them all") should know this. [continues 193 words]
Regarding the March 8 Point/Counterpoint article "Should drugs be legalized," there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for zero tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they be committing crimes if not for artificially inflated black market prices. Heroin maintenance pilot projects are underway in Canada, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the ubiquitous advertising. [continues 121 words]
CAMDEN -- A Camden activist says legalizing drugs is the solution to bringing down violence, crime and drug-related deaths in the city. Trying to persuade his audience, Frank Fulbrook, a longtime Camden activist, said the war on drugs is simply hurting society and cities like Camden, and therefore, drugs should be legalized. "Camden can't be revitalized as long as drugs are illegal," said Fulbrook, who conducted the recent "Forum on America Drug Policy and Impacts on Cities like Camden" at Rutgers University. [continues 227 words]
An iconoclastic activist told a Rutgers forum the way to curb violence is to "just say yes." Frank Fulbrook, a Camden activist familiar for his efforts to improve the city, says he believes he has the solution to the crime that is one of its biggest problems. Plain and simple: Legalize drugs. "Drugs are everywhere," Fulbrook said, arguing that the war against drugs had been a failure and predicting that Camden's underground narcotics economy would remain vibrant with about 150 locations, or "drug sets," around the city. [continues 503 words]
Point/Counterpoint The United States' campaign against recreational drugs is a fine example of lofty ideals trumping reality. The United States spends over $50 billion dollars annually on the War on Drugs but has had little to show for it; the use of every major recreational drug has increased since the laws that illegalized them. 60% of prisoners are in jail for drug offenses - each at a cost of almost half a million dollars to the government. Yet, it is estimated 50 million Americans have used illegal drugs within the past year. [continues 1088 words]
The Weedman is hoping the grass is greener on the other shore. Ed Forchion - the deadlocked marijuana-legalization activist possibly best known for amassing more than 9,000 votes in a $370 gubernatorial campaign to forward his so-called "reefer revolution" - has moved from Pemberton to California. "I had a whole bunch of things happen to me," Forchion said Tuesday, just days after he left New Jersey for the Sunshine State. "I had a string of bad luck." Forchion, who once tried to change his name to NJWeedman.com, has often claimed persecution at the hands of authorities who don't like his pro-marijuana message. But Forchion said while repeated clashes with law enforcement have weighed him down, it was a family court matter that ultimately prompted him to leave town. [continues 293 words]
MANALAPAN -- Trinity Financial, Sports and Entertainment Management Company and the Manalapan Englishtown Educational Foundation will sponsor the Manalapan Police Department's "Basketball Extravaganza" on March 17 to support the Manalapan Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programs. New York Jets legend Joe Klecko and former New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts running back Keith Elias, both members of Trinity's corporate advisory board, will be on hand for autographs and pictures. To be held at the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School, Millhurst Road, from 5:30-8 p.m., the event will feature a benefit basketball game pitting the Manalapan teachers against the Manalapan police. From 5:30-7:30 p.m., Klecko and Elias will be signing 8 x 10 photos for a donation of $20 (one of each player; package of two), as well as additional items at an additional cost. All proceeds from the night's events will go to the Manalapan DARE program. [continues 249 words]
The American Nurses Association recognizes that patients should have safe access to therapeutic cannabis - marijuana. The ANA passed such a resolution in 2004 at the request of its Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics. The nursing community supports the resolution overwhelmingly. Part of the resolution stresses the need for the education of nurses regarding current evidence on therapeutic use of cannabis. Patients Out of Time is providing the education called for by not only the nursing profession, but dozens of other health care organizations of a variety of medical specialties. [continues 160 words]
IT was around 1:30 on an afternoon last November, prosecutors say, when Jeffery Romano, a councilman from Tenafly, pulled his 2006 Chevrolet Corvette up to the Joseph P. Bradley Court housing complex, a notorious collection of 20 dreary, low-slung brown brick buildings on the outskirts of Newark. Mr. Romano had a passenger with him by the name of Jerome Yelletts, a 47-year-old man from Orange who lived with his parents and had a record for assault and criminal mischief. Mr. Yelletts got out of the Corvette and walked into a building. He emerged a few minutes later and got back in the car. Mr. Romano pulled away. [continues 1664 words]
Students at Monroe Township High School who participate in sports, co-curricular activities, or have parking permits could be randomly drug-tested in September. MONROE -- The school board is considering rules that would require random drug testing among certain groups of students at Monroe Township High School beginning in September. Superintendent Ralph Ferrie said Jan. 25 that about 10 percent of athletes, students involved in co-curricular activities and students with parking permits could be tested. Students would be suspended from the team or activity if they tested positive for drugs, he said, but they would not be suspended from school. [continues 638 words]
A former Hammonton man serving a 25-year sentence in Florida for possessing prescription narcotics has taken his case to CBS's "60 Minutes." Richard Paey, 47, was convicted last year of drug trafficking for possessing a large quantity of prescription narcotics. He says he needed the medicine to alleviate the excruciating pain caused by a car crash and subsequent botched back surgery. But Florida officials say he was buying too much of the drug for personal use. In an interview Monday, Paey's wife, Linda, said three months of police surveillance revealed no evidence that Paey was selling drugs, but police were able to charge him with drug trafficking anyway, under Florida laws that don't require evidence of actual sale. [continues 839 words]
ATLANTIC CITY -- THE mobile health van is parked outside the old stone church on Pennsylvania Avenue. It's a prime location for reaching this town's large population of drug users: The church houses a busy soup kitchen; there's a probation office across the street; adjacent Pacific Avenue has an active sex trade. A man with a goatee comes tapping at the window. "Do you have free condoms?" "Will you come in and be tested?" counters Scherri Rucker-Graves, the nurse administering HIV tests. [continues 685 words]
PEQUANNOCK - One student at Pequannock Township High School tested positive last week for substance abuse, an administrator said Tuesday. It was the first trace of drugs or alcohol found through the school district's drug policy. District high school students may voluntarily join the random test pool, but those who participate in sports or extracurricular activities are required to do so. Pequannock is the first district in the state with voluntary drug testing of middle school students. Officials would not provide specifics on the student or illegal substance, said William Trusheim, the Pequannock Valley Middle School principal and spokesman for the district's drug program. For example, Trusheim wouldn't say whether the student volunteered or was picked randomly because he was involved in activities. But he did confirm that the student remains in school. [continues 313 words]
Millions of Americans are battling addictions. Statistics show, however, that only a small percentage of these demon-plagued souls will remain drug or alcohol free for a significant length of time. James Frey's best seller "A Million Little Pieces" is a journey through the experience of one man's struggle to break the stronghold of such an addiction. In the case of Frey, it was an alcohol addiction which began in grade school and soon progressed into a dependency on crack cocaine. [continues 331 words]
Playing Hardball "Senatorial courtesy" - a New Jersey legislative tradition that allows state senators to block, without giving a reason, appointments of people from their home districts to state positions - is an ugly and archaic practice. But what about the use of senatorial courtesy in the service of a good cause? Frankly, we have to give state Sen. Nia Gill, D-Essex, our grudging approval. She's openly using senatorial courtesy to block the appointment of two reformers to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey board of trustees (insert obligatory "tsk, tsk" here). But she's doing it to force acting Gov. Richard J. Codey to put the stalled needle-exchange bill up to a vote in the Senate. And in one of his rare missteps, Codey, who is also Senate president, is refusing to give the needle bill special consideration. [continues 182 words]
Those in the region with drug, gambling and tobacco problems need to get help. As a new year begins, South Jerseyans have some life-wrecking and even potentially fatal habits that should be addressed. To trivialize them as the sort of resolutions most of us halfheartedly make then break at the start of each year wouldn't be right. No, educators, law enforcers and parents in our region need to make a commitment to do more to prevent kids from succumbing to substance and gambling addictions. Adults consumed by these vices, especially those looking for a way to quit, need to be made aware of the resources out there to help them. Then they must have the conviction to take advantage of that help. [continues 901 words]
A distinguished group of black Americans will assemble in Washington next month to put finishing touches on a blueprint for uplifting their race. Called "The Covenant with Black America," this plan is the product of a brain trust of black leaders -- people committed to fixing what's broken in black America. The 254-page document, a copy of which I obtained in advance of its scheduled late February release, is an action plan to make black people healthier, improve the education of black children, reduce the high black incarceration rate and help black Americans acquire wealth and become economically self-sufficient. [continues 462 words]
One week after federal authorities took over management of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, an effort to reform the scandal-plagued school has been derailed by a political standoff in Trenton that has dismayed the governor and angered the U.S. attorney. State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) is blocking acting Gov. Richard Codey's appointment of two reformers to the UMDNJ board of trustees until the governor uses his power as Senate president to revive an unrelated proposal to provide clean needles to drug addicts. [continues 665 words]
JACKSON -- Less than a month after Township Committeeman Michael Kafton pleaded guilty to drunken driving and was charged with possession of a toxic chemical, the Township Committee voted to provide voluntary, random drug testing for its members. "I believe that the Jackson Township Committee should take the lead, set an example, and subject themselves to random drug testing to prove that Jackson's elected officials are willing to hold themselves up the highest standards of personal conduct," Republican Committeeman Mark Seda said Tuesday night. [continues 436 words]
This is submitted in response to the front-page article "Police search for suspect, find marijuana instead" (DJ-12/14). Luis Alvarado of Vineland was arrested charged with marijuana possession with intent to distribute after police allegedly seized a backpack containing more than $1,000 worth of marijuana. If found guilty and sentenced to prison, he will join the 25 percent of inmates (about 500,000 out of 2.1 million) sentenced for drug offenses, all thanks to the war on drugs. Unfortunately, it's safe to say that we haven't even begun to make a dent in the drug-using population. About 35 million people admit to having used an illegal drug. [continues 150 words]
On Sunday I phoned a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, to seek his views on the question of the legalization of marijuana. This is a subject dear to his heart, for reasons that will soon be obvious. I told him that I had recently visited California, where I had, among other things, attended the Notre Dame-Stanford football game. "Wait a minute," my friend replied. "The Notre Dame-Stanford game is on TV right now. I was just watching it." [continues 754 words]
Op-Ed writer Jon Shure's "Changing drug-free zone laws makes sense" (Other Views, Dec. 15) was right on target. New Jersey is not the only state grappling with overcrowded prisons. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for non-violent drug offenders. A RAND Corp. study found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. [continues 95 words]
Regarding Jon Shure's Dec. 14th op-ed, "Drug-free school zones keeping prison cells full," New Jersey is not the only state grappling with overcrowded prisons. Throughout the nation, states facing budget shortfalls are pursuing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. A study conducted by the RAND Corp. found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.48 in societal costs. There is far more at stake than tax dollars. The drug war is not the promoter of family values that some would have us believe. Children of inmates are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency. The children lose out, and society as a whole does too. Incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders alongside hardened criminals is the equivalent of providing them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behavior. [continues 82 words]
An A.C. hero Addicts who want to get off drugs still face a shortage of treatment beds in New Jersey. They are still treated as criminals, even though it is now widely accepted in the medical community that addiction is a disease. They are still pretty much last on anyone's compassion list. But today's attitudes are downright enlightened compared to how people felt in the 1960s and '70s about drug addicts -- back when an Atlantic City heroin addict named John Brooks got out of prison for the second time and decided to turn his life around. [continues 244 words]
Years ago, New Jersey's legislators, in one of their recurring crackdown-on-crime modes, enacted a law creating so-called drug-free zones within 1,000 feet of a school or school bus, and another law creating 1,000-foot zones around parks, libraries and other public facilities. Anyone convicted of a drug crime within the zone gets a mandatory three-year prison term tacked onto his penalty, with the judge given no leeway to consider the circumstances. Passing the law enabled its supporters to boast to the voters that they were tough-minded protectors of children. But its results have been disastrous, according to a report by the New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. [continues 511 words]
It seemed like a good idea at the time. If you want to be serious about fighting crime, make rules that are very strict and inflexible. A prime example was the law that says if someone is convicted of a drug crime within 1,000 feet of a school, they will be subject to a more severe penalty than someone who is arrested 1,001 feet from a school. Caught within the zone, you face a mandatory prison sentence of three years with no parole. Even a judge can't change it. Outside the zone, though, plea bargains, probation, treatment and the like are much-used alternatives to incarceration. [continues 642 words]
Re: "School-zone drug law criticized: Assembly panel OKs bill to shrink area" (C-P, Dec. 6). It's difficult to understand the rationale of Barnett Hoffman, chairman of the Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing, and his recommendation that drug-free school zones be shrunk from the current 1,000 feet in every direction to 200 feet from the schools. He says the current zones do not protect the children and are "just plain ineffective." He goes on to say almost all the people convicted of violating the drug-free zones are from minority groups. [continues 145 words]
IT SEEMED like a good idea at the time. If you want to be serious about fighting crime, make rules that are very strict and inflexible. A prime example was the law that says if someone is convicted of a drug crime that occurs within 1,000 feet of a school they will be subject to a more severe penalty than someone who is arrested 1,001 feet from a school. Caught within the zone, you face a mandatory prison sentence of three years with no parole. Even a judge can't change it. [continues 635 words]
Panel Calls 200 Feet Fairer Than the Current 1,000 The city of Newark covers 24 square miles. It has 129 schools, each surrounded by a 1,000-foot "drug-free" zone. Similar 500-foot zones surround each of its 150 public housing complexes, 69 parks, 13 libraries and two museums. Plotted on a map, those overlapping circles form one big blob, within which the sale of drugs carries especially heavy penalties. Disregarding the airport, 76 percent of the city falls within that "drug-free zone." [continues 599 words]
Contending drug-free school zone laws have unfairly affected minorities in urban areas and failed to protect children, a state commission yesterday called for shrinking the zones to 200 feet but increasing sentences for violations in the zone. The commission found 96 percent of those jailed for drug-free school zone crimes are either black or Hispanic. "This is just wrong and unacceptable," said Barrett E. Hoffman, a retired Superior Court judge and chairman of the state Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. The zones typically cover large swathes of cities, which, according to the commission, undermines the law's effectiveness. It reviewed drug activity in Newark and found drug dealers were neither largely aware of school zones nor curtailed their activity because of them. "What the zones do accomplish, however, is a serious unintended result," Hoffman said. "That is, to discriminate against minorities with devastating effect." The Assembly has already moved on the recommendation. An Assembly committee on Monday voted to release for a final Assembly vote legislation that would implement the proposal. [continues 426 words]
Defendant Has Right To Top State Court Review Calvin and Ricky Lee did not submit quietly when state troopers stopped their pickup truck in 1995. According to court records, Ricky, the driver, fled on foot while Calvin struggled with a state trooper -- at one point grabbing for the trooper's gun before fleeing into darkened woods where he was captured after a search involving dogs and a helicopter. State troopers found 11 ounces of cocaine and 18 ounces of marijuana in the truck. [continues 557 words]
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP -- Heroin calls. It doesn't call softly. When it's leaving your system, your body aches, your nose runs, your eyes run and your skin crawls. You'll do anything to end the misery. Anything for another hit. "(When you're high), you don't feel; you don't care about anything," recalls Jennifer Hansen, who was addicted to heroin in her early 20s. "You notice time passing, but you really don't care. Heroin is such a physical addiction that you can't live without it." [continues 620 words]
MIDDLETOWN: The school district may initiate a random drug testing program for students involved in extracurricular activities such as athletics, and those who have an automobile parking permit on school property. "Our objective is not to punish those who are determined through the program to be taking illegal drugs or alcohol, but tohelp them to avoid such dangerous conduct," Karen Bilbao, the district's assistant superintendent of schools for pupil services, said at Tuesday's meeting. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for January to gather parental input, officials said. [end]
Before voting this year, I was a bit undecided on my choice for governor and opted to read the 10 candidates' statements on the back of my sample ballot. After perusing seven of the statements, I came across Edward Forchion's, under the Legalize Marijuana Party. Being a firm believer in freedom of speech no matter what the opinion, I decided to read his statement. The first sentence reads, "The reason I'm running for governor isn't because I think I will win, but for the opportunity running gives me (and anyone who votes for me) to give the "finger' statewide to our Demo-publican Party politicians who wage their lie-based "War on us.' " [continues 141 words]
Fueled by the illegal drug trade, Camden's crime problem is becoming Gloucester County's headache. For the second straight year, Camden has been dubbed the most dangerous city in America by city crime rankings from Morgan Quitno in Lawrence, Kan. But crime in Camden is not only caused by those who live in that city. It's just as much the fault of Gloucester County residents and those from other suburban communities, according to Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bill Shralow. [continues 626 words]
Medical marijuana is a popular issue. Medical marijuana ballot initiatives have passed in every state that has voted on them. So far, only two state legislatures -- Hawaii and Vermont -- have had the courage to stop arresting patients without a drive from the voters. Like Hawaii and Vermont, New Jersey has no voter initiative process for legislation. The state Legislature must have the courage to pass a bill if patients in the state will ever earn protection from arrest for medical marijuana. [continues 206 words]
Woman Claims Detective Sexually Assaulted Her; Says She Is Pregnant An attorney representing a female Jackson police informant has filed notice that the woman intends to sue Jackson Township for $10 million. The letter of tort claim notice, signed by attorney Robert F. Varady, of the firm La Corte, Bundy, Varady and Kinsella, Union, is required under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act prior to the filing of legal papers, according to the letter. Jackson's township attorney, Kevin Starkey, was not available and did not return calls for comment made to his office and home on Nov. 19. [continues 825 words]
A six-month investigation and the collective efforts of 31 northern New Jersey and federal law enforcement agencies ended in a massive drug bust Saturday which involved at least four counties. Morris County officials say the bust, which resulted in the arrest of more than 110 suspects -- including minor-league baseball players and the owner of a Morris County restaurant -- included Sussex and Warren county residents, but their names were not released Saturday or Sunday. The prosecutor's offices in both counties were part of the investigation task force. [continues 337 words]
Two forums aimed at raising awareness of gang activity, drug use and Internet predators offered practical tips for parents and other adults Tuesday night. The presentations were made in Sparta and Wantage, where children have been victims of teen violence in recent months. The forum at High Point Regional High School -- originally aimed at substance abuse -- widened to include gangs and violence after a 15-year-old Wantage boy was beaten with a baseball bat by other teenage boys last month. The victim underwent emergency brain surgery as a result of the attack and is still not back in school. [continues 553 words]
Peter J. Christ's argument is an old one but one that still warrants a debate. The former police officer and co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition took his message to the Warminster Rotary Club last week. He thinks our nation's War on Drugs should end because it's an unwinnable waste of money and police resources. If the possession and use of illegal drugs were decriminalized, he argues, the drug business could be taken out of the control of criminals and put under the control of the authorities. [continues 528 words]
CAMDEN -- Kathy, a heroin user and prostitute, said she can't go on a "date" without getting high. And, she can't get high and keep a roof over her head without going out on dates. For the first week after she turned to prostitution, "I cried and cried," said the 31-year-old woman, who declined to give her last name. Kathy climbed into the Camden Area Health and Education Center's van on Wednesday. The van provides free condoms, HIV screenings, blood pressure tests and blood sugar screenings for the uninsured. Intravenous drug users are frequent clients. [continues 823 words]
"There is a place where hope can become fact." That's the motto of Little Hill-Alina Lodge. Jacki M. is living proof of that motto. When she was first admitted to the long-term rehabilitation clinic in Blairstown for substance abuse 17 years ago, she was hopeless. "I couldn't stay sober. I had legal, financial, career and relationship problems. For me it was an emotional bottom," said the 48-year-old who works in Sussex County looking back in retrospect. "I looked in the mirror and hated the person staring back at me." [continues 979 words]
Inside New Jersey
