Fighting the Drug War With Peanuts

wFIGHTING THE DRUG WAR WITH PEANUTS One critic of the drug war is wrong. In a recent newspaper story, the Washington Office on Latin America - a liberal think tank based in the town that thought up the drug war - announced that the war on drugs is failing. Why is it wrong? Because what never had a chance to succeed can never fail. Plan Colombia is now passing the $4 billion mark and, yet, the price of illegal drugs in the U.S. continues to fall. Jodie Sweetin of "Full House" fame summed it up when referring to her methamphetamine addiction while married to a cop, "He had no idea," she said. America has no idea either. And we need intervention. The UN reports that cocaine production will remain flat through 2005. Nevertheless, U.S. drug forces continue to bombard the Colombian coca plant with herbicide day and night by aerial attack. Despite the absence of any light at the end of the half-mile long drug tunnel just discovered on the Mexican border, herbicide stockholders and Wall Street insist that it is better to fight the coca plant in Colombia than here at home. The U.S. Congress is about to debate Plan Colombia, the U.S. drug plan for our neighbor. And when the debate dust settles, and more drug war is stuffed up the nose of Americans, Plan Colombia and the dusting of the Colombian coca plant will continue, maybe under a new name, because drugs are bad. Because the American people want it. Because this is a democracy, and what Americans want, Americans get. Four billion dollars for Plan Colombia is peanuts to the American economy anyway - whether the drug war works or whether it doesn't. As President George W. Bush often says, "We have the strongest economy in the world." Certainly, Americans can afford drug war even if it is a useless placebo. It's Medicare-Part D that's a budget buster. Four billion dollars represents less than four days of deficit spending. That amount is only a twentieth of the promise to rebuild New Orleans or the cost of lunch for U.S. soldiers in Iraq. ( All right, the cost of lunch is slightly exaggerated. ) The drug war can never fail, because there was never any hope it could succeed. JAMES E. GIERACH Oak Lawn









paternity test dallas uni-stat medical
how to pass a drug test

Hemp: A Growing Need?

HEMP: A GROWING NEED? Advocates Say It's Time U.S. Legalized Crop BRADENTON - Hemp. It's a fantastic product, says Elizabeth Western, a local clothing retailer who sells hemp purses, shirts and jeans at Chameleon Natural Boutique on Manatee Avenue. She'd like to see laws change to make it legal to produce hemp for clothing. The United States is the only developed nation in the world that doesn't produce hemp as an economic crop, according to NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Several states have passed laws allowing hemp to be grown for research and commercial purposes. But farmers in those states can't grow the outlaw crop without a federal OK. Hemp and marijuana are varieties of the same plant, cannabis sativa. Industrial hemp is bred with low levels of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient. You can't get high from smoking industrial hemp, according to the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Association, a research foundation in Manitoba, Canada. All you can get is a headache. Tina Kimball and other activists believe hemp is illegal because it looks like marijuana. Kimball is president of the student chapter of NORML at the University of Central Florida. It's a mindset that irritates Western. "When you're growing hemp, you're not growing a field of pot," she says. But that's exactly what could happen if it were legal to grow hemp, according to Tom Riley, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington D.C. "The problem is that the plants all derive from the cannabis genus," Riley said. "It would allow marijuana and hemp to be grown side by side. It would impose an unreasonable burden on local law enforcement." Hemp's strength and earth-friendly qualities appeal to Western. It doesn't require pesticides, unlike cotton, the most popular crop for clothing, and also the most sprayed. Western researches the companies she buys from and looks for businesses that subscribe to fair trade practices, provide employment to destitute women and try to minimize impact to the environment. At Chameleon, Western sells organic cotton teething bears, T-shirts dyed with clay, and other home and clothing products. But hemp is her favorite frustration. It's grown legally in Canada, she says. "Why not here?" Hemp has myriad applications. Its fiber, seed and oil are used for food, paper, building materials and personal products, like hand cream. Grown with little or no fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, it's no wonder the plant is called weed. The seed of the hemp plant has all 10 amino acids humans need to survive, says one of its admirers, Anthony Lorenzo. Lorenzo is a member of the Florida Cannabis Action Network in Sarasota, an organization that supports the tax and regulation of all forms of cannabis. "It's almost as if this plant's evolutionary tactic to survive was to be useful to humans," Lorenzo said. Activists for the legalization of industrial hemp predict that the United States is entering a period of greater tolerance to alternative resources. With today's high gas prices and biofuels becoming more viable, cost benefit analyses for hemp production are also becoming more viable, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML in Washington D.C. "It's not just the durability of the fabric that makes it appealing," he said. "They're reflecting the desire of the marketplace. The problem is, the product is too expensive. It would be cheaper for an American company to grow it." In 2005, Ron Paul, R-Texas, and a handful of senators introduced legislation to repeal the federal ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp as a commercial crop. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act would have allowed states to license and regulate hemp cultivation. The bill was dead on arrival in Congress, said St. Pierre. "In every state where individuals have a chance to vote for marijuana reform, voters vote for it," he said. "Politicians then pass resolutions 180 degrees in the opposite direction. This Congress doesn't seem capable of divorcing itself from prohibition tendencies." The chief objection to legalizing industrial hemp appears to be that law enforcement would be unable to tell the difference between it and marijuana. Hemp and marijuana are close relatives that are either different-looking or impossible to tell apart, depending on who you ask. "The plants in the field look very similar," says Keith Watson, a hemp specialist with the Manitoba Agricultural Foods and Rural Initiative, Canada's equivalent of the Department of Agriculture. Canada produced 20,000 acres of hemp last year, and 74 percent of it went to the United States. "The U.S. is certainly behind as far as licensing and growing industrial hemp," Watson said. In Canada, industrial hemp has 0.3 percent of THC as opposed to marijuana, which has 2 percent or higher. In the field, the two crops cross-pollinate. But when they do, it tends to dilute THC levels in marijuana. If a field of hemp registers above the accepted level for THC, it is immediately ploughed under, according to Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Co-op, a research foundation in Manitoba. St. Pierre looks to the past for hope. Hanging in his office is a poster dating back to World War II, proclaiming "Hemp For Victory." Although marijuana became illegal in the United States in 1937, the law was reversed from 1940 to 1945 when a dire shortage of canvas rope, caulking oil and cordage prompted the Department of War to circulate the poster. The word canvas is derived from cannabis, according to Webster's dictionary. The federal government subsidized Scouts and Boys & Girls Clubs, teaching children how to make hemp rope and twine during World War II, St. Pierre said. How much hemp does the United States import? The Hemp Industries Association in Occidental, Calif., doesn't have the numbers but is working on a market study. Steve Logothetis imports hemp from Romania for Hemp Basics, his Warren, N.J.-based company. Most fiber products come from Asia and eastern Europe, he says. Canadian hemp imports are mostly dedicated to seed products. But despite its earth-friendly qualities, hemp is more expensive to produce than cotton, mostly because the technology hasn't caught up, Logothetis says. For hemp fiber to be produced in the United States it will take not only a change in mind-set but considerable capital investment in production and processing. "The industry would have to be built from the bottom up," he said. "It doesn't exist here." Changing the mind-set would require politicians to stop equating hemp with marijuana, he said. "It's like outlawing corn because it could be made into moonshine." People who wear hemp, like Amy Arnell, love it for its softness and durability. But Arnell said she wears hemp for other reasons. "I feel good about wearing hemp, knowing that I'm supporting the people that take the time to manufacture it," she said. "People are not just smoking it. We are using it. It is resourceful."















how to pass a drug test

how to pass a drug test

herpes simplex virus

herpes outbreak

how to pass a drug test

passing drug test

Iowa Doesn't Need New State Prison

IOWA DOESN'T NEED NEW STATE PRISON Gov. Tom Vilsack and some other political leaders wanted the state to build a new maximum security prison in Fort Madison to replace the old one. They argue that a new facility is justified, in part because of the security and other problems that drew national attention when two inmates escaped in November. This week, however, an Iowa legislative committee that oversees the operating budget for the state corrections department said there's no money to build a new prison, which would cost an estimated $80 million. The committee's decision appears to kill the proposal, at least for this year. Good. We think it's a mistake to rush into building a new prison after one high-profile incident. Swift, knee-jerk responses do not serve the long-term interest of this state's residents and taxpayers. Yes, there were some problems at the prison that needed fixing. It is an aging facility that undoubtedly will have to be replaced some day. But even Gary Maynard, the Department of Corrections director who had recommended building a new prison, acknowledged this week that his department can effectively operate the Fort Madison facility by making some physical changes and repairs and improving security procedures. Meanwhile, the bigger problem is the number of people going to prison. The state's inmate population has hovered around the total prison capacity for several years, and already has forced construction of more prison space, such as the facility in Fort Dodge. The root of this problem lies elsewhere. You can blame increased drug and alcohol addiction, more single-parent families, too many biological fathers who don't parent or stay committed to their spouses, or Iowa's status as having one of the nation's highest rates of families with both parents employed full-time outside of the home take your pick or choose several. It's evidenced by troubling statistics, such as one of every four black men in Iowa has been convicted of a felony. Or the rising number of families devastated by methamphetamine addiction over the past decade. Or, a state that is increasingly addicted to gambling as entertainment and tax revenue. Iowa leaders and our communities, our neighborhoods, should put the focus on education, prevention and treatment. And, if necessary, throw an additional $80 million toward those kinds of initiatives rather than just build another prison to fill up with more prisoners. After all, what will cost Iowans more in the long run?















passing drug test

ways to pass a drug test

passing drug test

hepatitis b vaccine

ways to pass a drug test

passing drug test

how to pass a drug test

DAILY MARIJUANA USE LINKED TO LIVER FIBROSIS PROGRESSION IN HCV

DAILY MARIJUANA USE LINKED TO LIVER FIBROSIS PROGRESSION IN HCV Your Dose Of Medicine Daily cannabis smoking of at least one marijuana cigarette per day in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection was strongly associated with liver fibrosis progression, according to a new French study of 211 patients presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. However, the study's "occasional" cannabis smokers - those having less than one cigarette per day - had no increased risk of progression of fibrosis. Based on the findings, daily cannabis smoking should be avoided in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The daily cannabis smokers in the study were long-term users who averaged 16 years of daily marijuana intake. The study was "semiquantitative" because it's difficult to know exactly how much cannabis is being smoked by patients. In our cohort, the participants smoke pot as the rest of us may drink a glass of wine to casually relax and unwind. The cannabis smokers in the study were former intravenous drug users. According to some patients infected with hepatitis C virus ( HCV ) who are receiving interferon and ribavirin as antiviral therapy use marijuana to cope with the side effects of the treatment, which include nausea and loss of appetite. Studies say that cannabis helps. So if you are using cannabis for six months while you attempt to clear the virus, OK. However, if you are using it daily over the long term, then no, it is not advisable. Of the 150 men and 61 women in the study ( mean age, 42 years ), 32 percent were daily smokers and 51 percent were nonsmokers. All participants in the study were treatment - naive and had a known duration of HCV infection. Chronic HCV infection was histologically proven in all study participants. A multivariate analysis revealed that daily cannabis smokers were four times more likely to have a "rapid fibrosis progression rate" than occasional smokers and nonsmokers. The association between daily smoking and rapid fibrosis progression has "strong link." Rapid fibrosis progression was defined as a change in fibrosis status of greater than 0.08 fibrosis units per year. Doctor also observed that participants in the study who consumed "excessive" amounts of alcohol ( 30 g/d ) were 2.1 times more likely to have rapid fibrosis progression than those who drank less than that amount. These data from a colleague should be taken into account when counseling patients with chronic hepatitis C about marijuana use. We don't have evidence to date that [demonstrates the] use of marijuana for a limited period of time - say, the typical HCV treatment period of time - is hepatotoxic. However, these new data deserve frank discussion with patients. Marijuana's potential benefit in modulation some of the side effects of antiviral and other drug therapies. There is a body of evidence that suggests if traditional treatment for alleviating side effects does not work, then cannabis can assist in managing nausea and loss of appetite. In the United States, CV infection is related to injection drug use in 60 percent of patients. Comorbid cannabis use is not uncommon ( among these patients ). Doctor also noted that marijuana use can alter the immune system, but that the impact of its use on interferon and ribavirin treatment was not known. Cannabis smoking has no impact on the liver in someone who does not have liver disease.














drug testing pass

ways to pass a drug test

clinic flu locator shot

how to pass a drug test

tips on passing a drug test

passing drug test

drug testing pass

tips on passing a drug test

Up In Smoke: Legalizing Marijuana

Grass. Weed. Cannabis. Ganja. You can visualize what I'm going to be talking about at this point. Growing up, your parents instilled in you all the negatives associated with the drug, but do the negative aspects of legalizing marijuana really outweigh the positives? Numerous studies have documented the negatives of getting high off of weed. Scientists claim that aside from marijuana's weak association with depression and anxiety, it can cause brain deterioration of "critical life skills" over time. The same study further finds that marijuana users impair their ability to memorize and organize information, ultimately functioning at a "reduced intellectual level." Funny, since half of the people I meet hourly already function on a "reduced intellectual level," and they don't even smoke marijuana. More recently, research has made an aim to focus on the positives of the drug. The use of medical marijuana to treat chronic pain sufferers has helped these people live nearly pain-free lives, even after they tried numerous other treatments in an attempt to control their pain. Other arguments against marijuana include "dangerous" behavior, such as driving under the influence or being "boring" as the life-like marijuana commercials out there portray various situations. In other words, the advertisements tend to stretch the truth just a little bit. How about the one where a group of guys smoking weed in their car in the fast-food drive-thru lane run over a little girl on a bike? Private organizations like these invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, on commercials like these that depict such incidents that rarely ever happen. Needless to say, similar arguments could be made about alcohol ... and they were, back during Prohibition in the United States. After a few years of the government attempting to impose its morals on its citizens, it got smart and realized there was money to be made. The fact of the matter is that legalizing marijuana can help boost the economy, which benefits us all in the long run. Through the implementation of high taxes and regulations on the drug, profits in the billions would help the country by pumping money back into social programs such as Medicare, Social Security and education. Instead, the United States government just stores all drugs acquired from drug trafficking laws into its 60-plus locations around the country, letting the potential moneymaker gather dust. Think I'm crazy? Maybe, but before you jump to any hasty conclusions, consider cigarettes for a moment. Cigarettes alone are the second leading cause of death among males and females. Thanks to their addictive nature, lung cancer accounts for more deaths than any other cancer. Yet studies show that the addictive properties of alcohol, cigarettes or even cocaine exceedingly overshadow that of marijuana's. Bringing this drug into the mainstream can undoubtedly provide many economic benefits to our society. Although some aspects of weed has its negatives when abused, proper oversight and regulation of this drug, like any other, can potentially make its use beneficial. Jonathan Shalom is a second-year biological sciences major.













ways to pass a drug test

passing drug test

tips on passing a drug test

passing drug test

tips on passing a drug test

gonorrhea treatment

how to pass a drug test

how to pass a drug test

NV: Marijuana Petitioners Call the Current Law a 'Miserable Failure'

CARSON CITY - The head of the committee calling for legalization of marijuana in Nevada says the group does not support use of the drug but rather believes the current prohibition is bad policy and "a miserable failure." Neal Levine, of the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, said instead of banning pot, the proposed statute on Nevada's 2006 ballot would set up a system of manufacture and sales for small amounts of marijuana in Nevada. It would allow possession and use of an ounce or less of marijuana by adults in their own homes but would double the penalties for selling to minors and prohibit use by those under 21. It would also provide for creation and licensing of retail stores to sell small amounts of pot and tax those sales. Half the revenue would go to the state treasury and the other half to drug and alcohol programs. The goal, he said, is to "pull marijuana out of the criminal market where we're financing the activities of violent gangs and drug dealers and put it into a tightly regulated market where we can have some controls and not penalize adults for something that doesn't harm another person or property." Levine said 770,000 people were arrested in the United States on marijuana offenses - the vast majority for possession. He said federal surveys show 57.5 percent of high school seniors in Nevada admit they've smoked marijuana and more than a quarter of those seniors admit to habitual pot use. "Current marijuana laws just don't work," he said. "If the goal of prohibition was to eradicate marijuana use and the marijuana supply, you'd be hard pressed to find another policy that's more of a miserable failure." He emphasized that the committee and its parent organization the Marijuana Policy Project don't advocate marijuana use. He said they want to break the chain of criminal providers and take drug profits away from them. "And we're not saying pass this initiative so we take marijuana out of the hands of teenagers," he said. "What we're saying is current laws don't work so let's pull marijuana out of the criminal market." Levine rejected the often-repeated law enforcement theory that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that leads to use of hard drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. He said a 1999 National Institute of Health study found no evidence marijuana is a gateway drug. "If that were true we'd have 100 million hard drug addicts in the country because almost 50 percent of the people in America have tried marijuana," he said. The ballot question asking voters to change the law to legalize possession of an ounce or less of pot and to set up a system of regulated stores to tax and sell it is already on the 2006 ballot, qualified by petition more than a year ago. Levine said organizers are depending on a volunteer-based, grassroots campaign, knocking on doors and calling people to get out the vote. "What we're saying is we have a bad policy. Let's replace it with good policy," he said. Election 2006 The ballot question asking voters to change the law to legalize possession of an ounce or less of pot and to set up a system of regulated stores to tax and sell it is on the 2006 ballot, qualified by petition more than a year ago. What would it mean? Passage by voters of the measure to legalize marijuana would: - -- set up a system of manufacture and sales for small amounts of marijuana; - -- allow possession and use of an ounce or less of marijuana by adults in their own homes; - -- double the penalties for selling to minors; - -- prohibit use by those under 21; - -- provide for creation and licensing of retail stores to sell small amounts of pot and tax those sales. - -- Half the revenue would go to the state treasury and half to drug and alcohol programs














http://how-to-pass-a-drug-test.blogspot.com/2005/08/t-shirts-sending-message.html
http://how-to-pass-a-drug-test.blogspot.com/2006/02/judge-quashes-warrant-that-led-to-bust.html
http://passing-drug-test.blogspot.com/2006/02/model-success.html
http://pass-a-drug-test.blogspot.com/1996/07/going-after-poor-is-easier.html
http://how-to-pass-a-drug-test.blogspot.com/2005/08/software-tracks-clues-from-crime.html
tips on passing a drug test

passing drug test

how to pass a drug test

Drug Dealing And Trafficking Bigger

EVEN in a society where drug dealing and drug trafficking are no longer out of the ordinary, the "shabu tiangge" in Pasig City that was busted by the police last week stands out as the biggest and most blatant drug den in the Philippines. They were called "restaurants" but were certainly not the places where you could sit down to eat because shabu was the only thing on the menu. To think that they had operated for more than a year under the very noses of police and city officials is truly incomprehensible. Politics aside, you have to support Congressman Dodot Jaworski's move to haul Mayor Vicente Eusebio of Pasig to court to determine his responsibility for the illegal operation, if not the alleged attempt at cover-up after the "shabu tiangge" was raided. While it was the police who were responsible for the raid based on a tip that they got, some members of the police themselves are saying that it is apparent that the "shabu tiangge" was given the green light to operate by their brothers in uniform, perhaps in return for bribes worth millions of pesos. Perhaps their activities were not even limited to just huge kickbacks and monthly retainers. It would not surprise me if the guilty officers ( maybe some high-level commanders among them ) set up the drug network themselves. The issue of police involvement in the case provides a microcosm of life in and around the police force. As chairman of the Citizens DrugWatch Foundation and previously the chairman of the Senate ad hoc committee on illegal drugs, I frequently exposed not only police officers, but also local officials who were directly involved in drug trafficking and drug dealing, as well as the members of judiciary who acted as their protectors. There were many cases when drug operations were granted by the police through a system of franchises. Their corrupt activities for sure extended beyond the drug trade. For instance, jueteng operations are also granted as franchises. However, getting involved in drug trade to me is the worst possible offense for the police because of the destruction it causes to our society. Seventy-five percent of all heinous crimes are drug-related and most drug users and addicts are 35 years old and below. The drug trade is literally destroying the country's future. The Philippine National Police has a lot of explaining to do as to where its intelligence funds go. If I were Congress I'd take it to task for not knowing about the "shabu tiangge" despite its substantial intelligence budget allocation. What exactly have they been doing about the money? Also, if ever there was a need for an exemption to the anti-wiretapping law, this would be the case. I personally wouldn't mind using listening devices and phone intercepts to monitor the police and find out who among them are coddlers or co-conspirators of drug dealers. We certainly need more sting operations to catch these police criminals but does the present administration have the political will to rock the boat so to speak in the police force when it direly needs the support of the men and women in uniform to hold on to power? Does it even have the moral ascendancy to root out the corruption not only in the police and the military, but also in the entire government itself, when its leader is accused of notoriously perverting the course of justice in the country? Nevertheless, it's sad to say the least that the very evils I've been fighting against several years ago in the halls of the Senate are still around today. Corrupt cops have not only survived but a new generation of police drug traffickers has surpassed the "old guard." Drug dealing and drug trafficking are bigger than ever today because of police-sanctioned illegal drug activities. It is inconceivable that such levels of corruption and abuse of power could exist without being known in the highest echelons of the police force. In the case of the "shabu tiangge," given the scale of the proceeds, more senior officers must have been involved than those already sanctioned. According to some friends in the media reports, some honest members of the police force have indicated that this ( last week's drug bust ) is just the tip of the iceberg; that the widespread corruption and the involvement of the police in the illegal drug trade and other criminal activities are embarrassing beyond belief, and that exposing this would surely and permanently damage the image of the police in the public's eye.

















herpes simplex 1

how to pass a drug test

drug testing pass

how to pass a drug test

paternity testing center

ways to pass a drug test

FL: Column: Frontline - The Meth Epidemic

Want the straight dope on meth? It's not an epidemic, usage is not increasing, and anybody who tells you otherwise is a liar. Sadly, that includes the PBS documentary series Frontline, which tonight airs an episode titled The Meth Epidemic that seems to have been pasted together from old Reefer Madness outtakes. Meth, or methamphetamine, is the latest drug-scare story from the same people who brought you LSD-crazed hippies going blind from staring at the sun, crackhead baby sitters roasting babies in the microwave and Jimmy the 9-year-old heroin addict. Everybody from Newsweek to Investor's Business Daily ( honest! ) has been running stories lately about how meth use is spreading through America like wildfire, and tonight Frontline joins the crowd. Here's a fact that never, ever appears in any of these stories: The U.S. government's own National Survey on Drug Use and Health says that from 2002 to 2004, the last year for which data is available, meth use did not increase at all. Nada, nothing, zero, zip. What's more: The average age of first-time use during that period increased from 18 to 22, which means that another major component of Frontline's "epidemic" -- that meth users are indoctrinating their children into the abuse of the drug, turning them into a prehooked junkie generation -- is also purely fictional. Oh, and those 1.5 million meth addicts Frontline mentions -- well, don't waste your time trying to find them. When you actually look up the National Survey on Drug Use statistics, that's the number of Americans who have ever, at any time in their lives, tried meth. The closest thing to a figure for addicts is the survey's number of people who used meth in the past month, which is about 600,000. If that's an epidemic, then so is the Home Shopping Channel. But there's no use trying to confuse Frontline with facts when the same old drug-horror stories of murder, rape and really bad hair days ( lots of scary-looking police mug shots in this show ) are so much more fun. Lurid phrases like "the meth crime wave" and "the most addictive drug there is" are tossed around with the faintest attempt to back them up with evidence. There's even an interview with a meth-head from Portland, Ore., who insists, without contradiction: "I think meth has destroyed this community. I think, in all reality, they need to take a bomb and blow it all up, it's that bad." Luckily for Portland, budget cuts have grounded PBS' fleet of B-1s. The bombing of Portland is only slightly more extreme than most of the policy suggestions that come up in Frontline. Though the program didn't have time for a single interview with a meth-epidemic skeptic, it drags out every nutty drug warrior it can find in support of shutting down the production of pseudoephedrine, the chemical from which meth is most easily manufactured. If pseudoephedrine sounds familiar, that's because it's the active ingredient of most allergy and cold medicines. Frontline's drug Rambos say that anybody who buys those medicines should have to register with the government. There's an epidemic here, all right -- of lunacy. And bad journalism is not the cure.
















oral herpes

tips on passing a drug test

how to pass a drug test

passing drug test

tips on passing a drug test

passing drug test

MI: Marijuana Defendant Claims He Was Targeted

Ex-Bloomingdale School Counselor Has Called for Legalizing Drugs SOUTH HAVEN - A former Bloomingdale elementary and middle school counselor claims he has been targeted unfairly for prosecution on a marijuana charge because he has been a vocal advocate of legalizing drugs. "This is very much about my standing up against an unreasonable search and standing up against harassment," said Greg Francisco. Francisco, 48, of Michigan 43, Paw Paw, will face a jury trial within the next several months on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana on May 5 in Bloomingdale. Francisco claims his truck was illegally targeted when a dog trained to sniff out controlled substances was brought to the middle school parking lot for a routine search. The search found a stem and some "roach" material in the truck that tested positive for marijuana. After a hearing on Wednesday in South Haven, Van Buren District Court Judge Arthur Clarke III ordered that a trial date be scheduled within 60 to 75 days. During the hearing, Francisco's lawyer, Matthew Abel of Detroit, argued unsuccessfully that the charges should be dismissed because there was no probable cause for the search and because the federal categorization of marijuana as illegal is unconstitutional because it has a medicinal purpose in relieving pain. He also argued that causing Francisco to have a criminal record under the circumstances was cruel and unusual punishment. Clarke did grant Abel's motion to allow a private expert to analyze the drug evidence. He also ordered the prosecutor to turnover copies of all pertinent lab and police reports. That information is expected to include videotape of the search at the school parking lot. Francisco said he was charged because of his "high profile" effort to legalize drugs. "I write lots and lots of letters to the editor and I send them all over the United States and Canada and Europe on the efficacy of the war on drugs. It is not that I advocate using drugs, it is just that what we are doing is just making the problem worse. I use the analogy that we abandoned Prohibition in this country not because we realized that alcohol was not dangerous but because our grandparents came to learn that by criminalizing it we were just driving it underground." Assistant Prosecutor Cory Johnson said Francisco has not been targeted and that prosecution in the case is a routine matter. "Until the case was brought to my attention I had never heard of Mr. Francisco," Johnson said. Francisco said he was active in organizations that advocated legalizing drugs. He is a former board member and treasurer of Michigan NORML ( National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ) and was a founding board member of Educators for Sensible Drug Policies. He said the school district received complaints about his political activities, and he resigned from his position on the state NORML board in January 2005. Francisco said he has cooperated in the past and allowed searches when detection dogs had alerted on his vehicle, but decided to refuse a search in May based on principle. Francisco said dogs from private companies were unreliable and not a legal reason for a probable cause search. He also noted that on the same day the dog alerted on five other teacher vehicles and nothing was found in those vehicles. A law enforcement dog was brought in after a private detection dog singled out the truck. The police dog also alerted on the truck. Francisco said he was forced to resign from his counselor job after the search. Bloomingdale Public Schools Superintendent Dale Schreuder said Francisco resigned last May, but the resignation was voluntary. He said Francisco was with the district for five years. Francisco said if he were convicted he would permanently lose his credentials to work with students. "This will take his livelihood, and all because of a stem the size of a toothpick on the floor of his truck," said Francisco's wife, Amy. The case has attracted advocates for drug law reform from across the state. "This is a free speech case," said Charles Ream, a trustee in Scio Township near Ann Arbor and member of Michigan NORML, who attended the hearing. "It has nothing to do with drugs."















ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

Attorney General Misrepresented The Facts

Attorney General David Marquez's recent commentary ( "Opportunity to Toughen Drug Laws," Voice of the Times, Feb. 2 ) grossly misrepresents the data on marijuana use. Marquez writes, "Studies show ( children ) often get ( marijuana ) at home, or at a friend's home," implying kids get it from their parents. In fact, no studies indicate this. In testimony last year, his office cited the U.S. government report "How Youths Obtain Marijuana," which simply says if youths obtained marijuana for free, they "obtained it ... inside a home, apartment, or dorm," but if they paid for the marijuana, they more likely obtained it "in a public building, outside in a public area, inside a school building, or outside on school property." Marquez also claims, "Marijuana was found in the urine of nearly 70 percent of adult male domestic violence abusers arrested in Anchorage, but only 5 percent of men arrested for other crimes. ... ( T )here must be a reason why so many more domestic violence abusers use marijuana compared to other criminals." This is nonsense. Researchers at UAA's Justice Center note "the consistency in rates of marijuana detection across categories of charges ( approximately 45 percent of offenders across all offense types )." The percentage for domestic violence arrestees was lower than for assault or robbery arrestees, and the percentage for all violent offenses was slightly lower than property and other offenses. Sadly, these examples are just part of a pattern of distortion of the facts about marijuana by the attorney general's office. ---- Tim Hinterberger, Ph.D. Anchorage Editor's note: The writer is chair of the Alaska Drug Policy Forum and a past sponsor of an initiative to legalize marijuana.















tips on passing a drug test

drug testing pass

how to pass a drug test

what does herpes look like

passing drug test

valtrex herpes

CA: Daring To Do Right

Kings Beach Elementary fifth graders and their parents gathered in the school gym last Friday for fun and cake to celebrate their graduation from the 10-week drug abuse prevention program known as D.A.R.E. "It was really fun and amazing. I learned a lot," said 10-year-old Olivia Duner, a first place D.A.R.E. essay winner. "Our parents tell us not to do drugs, but they don't say why. [In D.A.R.E.] we actually got to learn why not to do drugs." Indeed, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is designed to teach kids about the effects of drugs and alcohol, the consequences of abuse and the skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. D.A.R.E. was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and is now taught in more than 75 percent of the nation's school districts, according to the program's Web site. Tahoe D.A.R.E. Officer Stephanie Novick, who just completed teaching her first classes after taking over the program from Russ Potts, said she focuses on the effects of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and inhalants with the fifth graders. "My job as a D.A.R.E. officer is to give them the ammo to make the right decisions," Novick, a Placer County Sheriff's deputy, said. "It is more than a drug or alcohol class. You have to teach them about violence and peer pressure." Novick, who had to take a two week class in Beverly Hills to teach D.A.R.E., said she tries to make the class fun and interactive for the students. She uses facts, statistics and graphs to make her points, like that alcohol can cause bad breath, cigarettes contain 200 poisons and marijuana causes short term memory loss. Novick then teaches the fifth graders how to apply the facts into every day life and how to say no. It was obvious at Friday's D.A.R.E. graduation that the kids are getting it. "Learning to say 'no' is the most important thing," 10-year-old Lauren McLaughlan noted after the ceremony. Her friend, Maddie Johnson, 10, said she was glad she was taught how to deal with peer pressure. To reinforce the message of drug prevention, Novick brought in two young speakers to talk to the classes during the graduation. Novick's own son, 14-year-old Michael Novick who attends Alder Creek Middle School in Truckee, read a poem by a Meth addict and reiterated the importance of staying off drugs. Jake McDermott, an 18-year-old North Tahoe High School senior, told of his quest to keep away from drugs and alcohol. "I was like all of you. I went to school here. I went through what all of you did. Once you get to high school, it is a lot different," McDermott, a cross country runner, said. "Hanging out with kids who don't do drugs - you can't go wrong. ...I have these medals because I found something I love. You can't afford to lose your life to a pill or a drink." Novick knows she may not be able to keep every child off drugs and alcohol, but she thinks D.A.R.E. helps reach children that may not otherwise hear the message about staying off drugs. "You never know who you are going to touch," she said. "It's a great program. I've built a bridge and friendship between the sheriff's department and the schools." A D.A.R.E. BBQ and golf tournament will be held May 7 at the Old Brockway Golf Course in Kings Beach. The cost is $200 for a team of four. There will be awards and a raffle. Contact Stephanie Novick at ( 530 ) 581-6300 to participate.















how to pass a drug test

dallas flu shot

ways to pass a drug test

acyclovir herpes

drug testing pass

how to pass a drug test

paternity services test

influenza vaccines

Plenty Of Drugs, No Convictions

OSOYOOS -- At the time, it was called the largest drug bust ever at the Osoyoos border crossing, but now justice officials and police say they can't make a case. Charges were recently dropped against the man caught trying to drive a transport truck full of pot across the Osoyoos border crossing last summer and justice officials say it's because they just can't win the case. "Criminally, it's going unpunished. Nobody's going to have to answer for it .. criminally, it's about as far as we can go with it," said Sgt. Kevin Schur, of the South Okanagan RCMP detachment about the bust that was considered the largest drug bust in the history of the Okanagan-Kootenay district of the Canada Border Services Agency. Jasdeep Singh Litt, of Surrey, B.C., was driving the transport truck carrying approximately 102 kg of pot, sealed in 192 vacuum-sealed bags. The drugs were stashed in the roof of the cab, above an electronically-rigged platform that was connected to the truck's electrical system. Drug detector dog Shad and his controller, Robbin Walterhouse, discovered the drugs during an inspection of the truck before it crossed into the U.S., and Litt had been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and unlawfully exporting drugs. But the charges were dropped. "I believe what happened with that one is there was some question as far as pegging down the person and tying ( him ) to the drugs," Schur said. "Basically, in this type of situation, if there's a transport truck and it's not an owner-operator ( driving the truck ), if it's a driver for hire and they just get paid to hop in the truck and the load is there and they deliver it to wherever, then the problem is proving they had guilty knowledge of what's in that load." Lyse Cantin, spokesperson from the B.C. region of the federal department of justice, said they can't give out the specific reasons the case was dropped. "Basically, what the prosecution looks at is whether there is a reasonable prospect of conviction. If there isn't then the charges are dropped." She said there are strict measures taken by the federal prosecutors to ensure justice will be served. Just because Litt was found in the truck containing the drugs doesn't mean he is guilty. "There's obviously a crime -- but if you can't link it to a person, there's no reasonable prospect of conviction. I could give you hundreds of reasons why charges might be stayed." Schur said it's a bit frustrating. "We always want to get a conviction, which is the deterrent, but in the end if we are getting the drugs and the vehicle associated with it, that's certainly going to hurt whoever is responsible for it." He said that he understands the border services agency is attempting to have the transport truck forfeited. "They're not letting it go," he said. "The vehicle was altered in such a way that it couldn't be released anyway." But Paula Shore from Canada Border Services wouldn't confirm what actions are being taken, nor does she think this sends an encouraging message to those considering an attempt to smuggle drugs. "I certainly hope people realize trying to import illegal drugs is illegal, and each case goes before the court," Shore said. "What is important to us, is these drugs are off the street."















drug testing pass

passing drug test

ways to pass a drug test

drug testing pass

how to pass a drug test

drug testing pass

Pot Bill Lights Up Debate

BOSTON -- As advocates for substance abusers applaud legislation to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, some crime watchdogs are slamming the measure they said would send a mixed message on drug use. A legislative committee advanced a bill on Monday that would make possession of less than one ounce of marijuana a civil offense with a $250 fine for a first offense, instead of a criminal infraction that could land a first-time offender in jail for six months with a $500 fine. Supporters said the bill that has languished in the Legislature in past sessions may have fared better this time because it was weighed by the Legislature's new joint Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee. "I think as a committee we really do have a perspective of focusing on education, prevention and treatment, and that's different than the criminal justice tough-on-crime approach," said the committee's House chairwoman, state Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton. Supporters said decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana would prevent offenders from having difficulty securing federal student loans, jobs and housing because of criminal records. A 2002 report by a Boston University economist estimates marijuana possession arrests and bookings cost the state $24.3 million a year. Balser said some of that money could be better spent on substance abuse treatment. "There's way too many people with substance abuse problems in jail and in the criminal justice system," said James Cuddy, executive director of Framingham social service agency SMOC, who applauded the legislation. The bill still would have to clear several hurdles to become law -- approval first by the Senate, then the House and Gov. Mitt Romney, and Romney's office has signaled he may oppose it. Spokeswomen for Senate President Robert Travaglini and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi could not confirm the legislative leadersa=80TM stances on the bill yesterday. Framingham Police Chief Steven Carl said the bill would "unnecessarily endanger the public in the big picture." "On a daily basis, we deal with the issue of alcohol and driving when intoxicated...and now we're going to say it's easier to use marijuana?" Carl said. Carl said judges are the appropriate caretakers to determine how to punish marijuana offenders. Many first-time offenders, he said, have their cases continued without findings. Milford Police Chief Thomas Loughlin said the bill would send a mixed message to young adults. "If the age is 18, are we sending messages to kids that are different, ( that ) you can't have that can of beer but you can have five or six joints in your pocket, that's OK?" Loughlin said. He questioned how the bill would be enforced, saying many of the offenders would not end up paying the civil fines. State Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury, a member of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, said the bill "sends the wrong message." "I think ita=80TMs a very narrow group of people that want the passage of this law," said Polito, who was not present for the committeea 6-1 vote. Fellow committee member Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, said he dropped his initial opposition to the bill. "The more I heard about how even a small infraction follows someone for the rest of their lives, and ( marijuana ) has become such a prevalent use in society, it seemed like an unfair tag to stick on somebody," Ross said. Eleven other states have decriminalized possession of marijuana to some extent, according to Whitney Taylor, the executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts.
















tips on passing a drug test

tips on passing a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

flu get shot

drug testing pass

ways to pass a drug test

how to pass a drug test

ways to pass a drug test

how to pass a drug test

how to pass a drug test

Shabu Mart Demolished

USING CROWBARS, hammers, saws and a payloader, wreckers on orders of Mayor Vicente Eusebio yesterday demolished Pasig's once thriving "shabu restaurants" -- and what police said could be evidence pointing to their operators and protectors. The wrecking operation turned the compound that had served as a haven for drug addicts into a heap of rusting iron sheets, broken plywood sticks and shattered glass. "To say the least, I think that it is interfering in the administration of justice," Director Marcelo Ele, the police's chief anti-illegal drugs law enforcer, said of the demolition and its resultant destruction of potential evidence. More than a hundred wreckers carried out the operation as Mayor Eusebio kept his promise to raze the drug dens located just half a kilometer away from his City Hall office. "We intentionally planned this surprise demolition so the owners of the drug dens would not have time to come back here," Eusebio told reporters while his demolition crews were flattening 53 shanties inside the 600-square-meter compound. The compound sits on an apparently privately owned lot. He said the destruction of the place would show "we are sincere in the war against drugs." The sudden operation surprised the police's Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force ( AIDSOTF ), which spearheaded last Friday's raid. More than 300 people, including pregnant mothers and children, were detained as a result of the raid. "The suddenness of the demolition was quite surprising," said Ele, the AIDSOTF chief, who is also a lawyer. He said the standard operating procedure would have been to "preserve the evidence." Although the compound was already deserted when the wrecking crews came -- many residents were in detention -- the shanties were still littered with tooters, lighters and pieces of aluminum foil. The plywood walls also had markings showing the extent of the operation of the "restaurants" where users could rent sniffing paraphernalia and order shabu ( methamphetamine hydrochloride ) by the gram. "I hope that the ( demolition ) will not adversely affect the case," Ele told the Inquirer. Eusebio admitted he did not coordinate with the national police, but he said he sent notices to the Commission on Human Rights and the City Regional Trial Court. Eusebio: I Am Rich He said his men also took photos and videos of the compound before demolishing it. Asked by a radioman about reports alleging he was linked to drug activities, Eusebio said: "Siguro sa itsura ko hindi naman ako siguro ganon. Mayaman ako bago ako nagpolitiko. Mayaman ako ( I don't look like anyone like that. I was rich before I entered politics. I am rich )." Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has ordered the creation of a task force to investigate the possible criminal, civil and administrative liability of public officials, including policemen, in connection with the operation of the shabu dens. Vip Room "I want to know if we could haul these people before the anti-graft court," Gutierrez said. "If they have done their duty they have nothing to be worried about." Director General Anselmo Avenido Jr. of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the dens "could not have lasted this long without the cooperation of corrupt police officials and men." Police had hoped to keep the compound intact in case a judge would want to see how the drug dens looked. "Now, how could the judge see for himself on the ground that there were indeed multiple drug dens?" said Ele. At least one of the dens, which were rented out to addicts, was marked "VIP room." Ele Not Informed Ele said Eusebio had told him on the day of the raid about his intention to set the place "on fire," but the AIDSOTF had no idea the mayor would "immediately keep his word." He said his office was not informed that Eusebio was going ahead with the demolition. "I think it is fundamental that these shanties or the compound itself ( be preserved ). It is important evidence in the case, especially so that we are investigating the possible involvement of some local officials and the police." 'Do Not Cross' Ele added: "The entire compound is an evidence. The entire colonies of shanties are real and actual evidence." The police have taken photographs and video footages of the place and the judge will now have to rely on these, he said. "We are confident that we have enough evidence to sustain the prosecution," said Ele. He said the police had intended to go back to the shanties, which they had padlocked and sealed off with police yellow lines bearing the sign "Do not cross." Displaced Families Ele, however, refused to attribute any other motive to Eusebio's action. "The mayor is just probably keeping his word that he will have the area demolished," he said. "We will refer the matter to our legal ( unit ) and to the DoJ ( Department of Justice ) to ( determine ) liability, if any." The Pasig City Council has allocated P300,000 as financial assistance to displaced families willing to return to their provinces. The mayor said he was thinking of erecting a drug rehabilitation center on the compound. Eusebio also said he had filed gross dereliction of duty and negligence charges against Barangay Sto. Tomas chair Jaime Viray. Viray earlier told reporters he informed the city police about drug activities in the area several times. With armed guards standing by, wreckers from the Traffic Parking and Management Office, the Engineering Office and other departments started tearing down the shanties at 9:45 a.m.

Afghanistan Mustn't Become a Narco-State

Last month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Afghanistan that could pave the way for a new and more open-minded approach to counternarcotics strategies worldwide. In fact, the resolution called on the participants at a conference of donors, which took place in London at the end of January, "to take into consideration the proposal of licensed production of opium for medical purposes, as already granted to a number of countries." This proposal was originally made by the Senlis Council, an independent organization based in Paris, during a workshop in Kabul last September. The text introduced by the European Liberal Democrats, with the support of virtually all political groups in the European Parliament, is revolutionary, not only because it goes against conventional thinking, but also because it raises the issue above the stagnant reality of the "war on drugs." In Afghanistan, that so-called war has essentially been based on eradication campaigns and alternative livelihood projects, which have achieved only scant results. The European Parliament's new stance may, I hope, mark the beginning of a radical policy shift by all actors involved in rebuilding Afghanistan. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, despite concerted efforts at eradication and crop substitution, Afghanistan produced 87 percent of the world's opium in 2005, generating $2.7 billion of illegal revenue, which amounts to roughly 52 percent of the country's GDP. The 2005 Afghanistan Opium Survey, released last November, estimates that the total value of this opium, once turned into heroin and distributed around the world, could reach more than $40 billion. Moreover, in recent years, factories and laboratories for processing opium into heroin have been sprouting in Afghanistan, producing 420 tons of heroin last year alone. The increase in domestic production has provided a massive boost to the local retail market, giving rise to concerns about HIV-AIDS spreading in a country with poor infrastructure and nonexistent health services. In addition, the itineraries used by the export convoys are no longer limited to the infamous "golden route" through Pakistan and Iran, but have multiplied, employing exit points in former Soviet Republics, such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. This is helping to promote further instability in already volatile political contexts. International counternarcotics policy is currently driven by pressure for rapid and visible results. But eradication and alternative livelihood projects mainly affect the lowest end of the value-added chain - the farmers - with no real impact on those higher up, such as large landowners and local traffickers, not to mention the extremely powerful drug lords and international cartels and mafias. Most landless farmers find it difficult to switch to different crops, being caught up as they are in the illegal opium-denominated market, which forces them to live at the mercy of the drug traffickers, who provide them with access to credit and market outlets. The result of this was laid out in a report by the European Union's Election Observation Mission that I presented in Kabul last December: Afghanistan risks becoming a "rentier" state with easy access to resources that lubricate corruption throughout its entire political system, finance illegal armed groups, and fuel regional destabilization. Illicit Afghan networks, replicating well-known methods that organized crime gangs have applied successfully for decades in other parts of the world, are mobile and resourceful, and can plug into a range of legal economic activities to sustain themselves. This might lead Afghanistan into a situation of no return: becoming a narco-state that drifts away from any form of rule of law and disengages itself from the fragile social contract with its own citizens that it has started to establish. As New York University's Barnett Rubin, an expert on Afghan society, has put it: "Afghanistan cannot be stabilized while the most dynamic sector of its economy is illegal, nor if more than half of its economy is destroyed." So what should be done? Because of the serious threat that the illegal drug economy poses to stability and democracy in Afghanistan, we must start thinking in terms of regulated poppy growing for medical purposes, in particular for painkillers, with the active participation of donor countries and the United Nations itself. Indeed, the UN estimates that just six countries prescribe 78 percent of the total legal production of opiates, implying shortages of opium-based painkillers in many of the UN's 185 other member states. Hence the potential legal demand is huge. Moreover, the UN also estimates that there are 45 million people living with HIV-AIDS in countries where health systems are either absent or very poor, and that over the next 20 years there will be some 10 million new cases of cancer in the developing world. These estimates, together with poor countries' additional needs when natural catastrophes strike, imply that the potential legal demand for medicinal opiates is even higher. An increase in production of "medical" opium would address its lack of availability worldwide. It would also provide Afghan peasants, who have been growing poppy despite forced eradication of the plant and incentives to change crops, with an option that is regulated by law and that, in time, could have an impact on the heroin trade. Governments, international organizations and individuals that participate in the London conference must not dismiss the call made by the European Parliament, for it offers a far more workable strategy to promote Afghanistan's future than the current counternarcotics policies permit.















herpes picture early

how to pass a drug test

paternity test

hiv virus

herpes virus

at home paternity testing

genital herpes photo

cause of hiv

influenza virus vaccine

AIDS Scourge Travels Fast On Ancient Chinese Road

RUILI, China -- This ancient road has had many names: Old tea-horse trail. The Burma Road. Route 320. But the label that matters most today is one that appears on no sign at all: the AIDS road. Past truck-stop brothels and through disease-ravaged cities and villages in China's far southwest Yunnan province, this two-lane road carves the path of an HIV epidemic that is growing faster than international health officials previously thought. This is the main road through the epicenter of AIDS in the world's most populous country, where a new national study shows that 200 people are being infected every day. It is a central artery through which sex, drugs and trade are spreading the virus into previously untouched swaths of the population, researchers say. There are ominous precedents. Key trucking routes like this helped spread AIDS to tens of millions of people in India and Africa, the world's worst-hit regions, starting with drug users and prostitutes, then truck drivers and, ultimately, their families. As China's surging economy fuels the construction of thousands of miles of new roads, health officials, activists and frontline doctors are racing to curb the Chinese epidemic before a similar explosion occurs. "Most Chinese people still think that only drug users and sex workers are affected," said Wang Jing, an HIV counselor in the provincial capital, Kunming, "but . . . the disease has begun affecting everyone." After initially denying it had an AIDS problem, China acknowledged the full scale of the epidemic in 2003 and has made strides in embracing foreign aid, tackling drug abuse and providing medical care, AIDS experts say. To journey along the road to Ruili, Baoshan, Mengshi, Kunming and many stops in between is to traverse a timeline of China's struggle with AIDS: the origins, the present and the obstacles ahead. Life along the road also illustrates how a shortage of government funds, the stigma surrounding the virus and public misunderstanding of its spread into the wider population are threatening efforts to control the epidemic. The largest survey on AIDS in China, released Jan. 25, showed that the rate of infection is rising, with 70,000 new cases reported last year. More important, the joint study by China, the World Health Organization and the United Nations' AIDS program found that the disease is moving into the general population, with a growing share of infection in pregnant women and the spouses of men who visit prostitutes. "Sex work is moving it toward the general population," said Henk Bekedam, the China representative for WHO. The new infection rate, he said, showed the situation in China was "more serious than we thought." Ground zero of China's AIDS epidemic is this remote border town, where Route 320 begins its 500-mile journey north to Kunming as an inconspicuous ribbon of dirt veering over the boundary from Myanmar. Pivotal City For Centuries Ruili has a reputation as China's gateway to Southeast Asia, where explorers, armies and criminals have gravitated for centuries to swap jade, arms and poppies. Some of China's earliest AIDS cases were found here in 1989, and by the mid-90s the mix of Chinese and Burmese heroin addicts and prostitutes accounted for more HIV cases than any other city in the country. When the government vowed to strike hard against prostitution, police simply closed the karaoke bars and "hair salons," sending sex workers into even darker corners of society. But Ruili now illustrates China's efforts to stem the epidemic. The government has opened 10 methadone clinics to help wean addicts from heroin, and foreign-aid groups are permitted to promote testing and condom use among prostitutes. That new approach is on display at the Rainbow Center, a foreign-funded non-governmental organization in Kunming, where former and current drug users slip into a nondescript two-story building to spend their days together, pick up free needles and condoms, and get tested for HIV, with the assurance that they won't be arrested when they step outside, as they still are in much of China. "Many of those programs were illegal until last year," said Hu Jin of Save the Children UK. "In the past, just holding condoms could be used as evidence to arrest [sex workers]." But China's challenge has moved beyond simply high-risk populations. The task is educating a population that misperceives the virus as the exclusive scourge of drug addicts and prostitutes. The road north through the mountains--part of the Burma Road supply line used by U.S. and Chinese troops in World War II--is lined with scores of hamlets such as Sugarcane Garden Village, little more than a cluster of palm trees, small stone homes and an elementary school. The population of 1,100 makes its living planting vegetables and rice and selling snacks to truck drivers. "Our No. 1 problem? Drugs," said Yang Senbin, 62, a farmer. "It will ruin your life. We hate this problem." Yang lives amid one of the densest concentrations of AIDS cases in China, but asked if he has ever met a person living with the disease, he said he didn't think so. That's because people with HIV in China rarely dare to reveal it. In her denim jacket and lightweight black scarf, 33-year-old Ma looks like anyone else in a Kunming restaurant. Ma, who didn't want her full name used, contracted HIV after 10 years of shooting heroin, which she took up as a teenager because it seemed as though everyone else was doing it, she said. She is hardly the image of a street addict, yet she is the face of China's evolving HIV problem. Even though Ma works full time helping people with HIV get access to government services, she doesn't dare tell her parents she is sick. "I'm afraid they will be very disappointed," Ma said. The recent study estimated that China has 650,000 HIV/AIDS cases, revised from rougher estimates of 840,000. That change reflects only a better measure of how many people were infected in a limited outbreak tied to a blood-selling scheme. As the study's authors cautioned, "those new numbers should not mask the fact that HIV infections are on the rise." That rise reflects in part the rapid growth of prostitution during two decades of economic reform, which have fueled unemployment and sent millions of peasants migrating in search of work. Chinese authorities estimate there are 3 million to 4 million women working as prostitutes in massage parlors and truck stops and so-called karaoke bars and hair salons. They are places such as the Chrysanthemum Inn, a dilapidated roadside shack just up the road from Ruili. A bare bulb illuminates the unheated dining room and a row of rooms--each with bare walls, a bed and a pink blanket--are marked with hand-painted white numbers: 1, 2, 3. The overloaded trucks that whine to a stop here are headed everywhere --Beijing, Shanghai and beyond. "Are you looking for a virgin?" the lead cook asked a table of visitors. She could produce one, she said, for about $2,500. A local taxi driver snorted and countered that he could find one for $125. After lunch, the cook offered sex with a female kitchen worker for $6. But asked what it would cost for sex without a condom, she said, "No way. Not in this day and age. Everybody's afraid of dying." To prevention specialists, that is very encouraging--far more encouraging than the experience of one counselor who recently demonstrated condom use to a group of peasants by employing a banana as a prop. When she returned weeks later, she was greeted by puzzled villagers who pointed to the banana tree, with the condom still affixed on a piece of fruit, and complained that its presence had produced no benefit. Nowhere is prostitution's role in the epidemic clearer than in Baoshan, a low-slung mountain town of white-tile-covered buildings, where HIV spreads mostly through sex rather than drugs, according to the local center for disease control. That means key players in the epidemic are people like 19-year-old Fangfang, who spends her evenings wearing a denim miniskirt in an open-air storefront of the red-light district, trying to entice passersby into spending about $18 to stay a couple of hours. When she left her remote Yunnan hometown two months ago, Fangfang was drawn by the whispered promise of far rosier prospects than she found, she said. "Friends had come back and told us how good the outside world is," she said. "But they tricked us." Fangfang plans to go home soon. She will tell her family she worked at a supermarket. In the meantime, she says she uses free condoms but complains that health workers give her only three a day, so she has to make up the shortfall with her own money. Asked whether she knows how to avoid AIDS, she is quick to nod but later admits she is short on details. "Can you tell me," she said, "what are the ways the disease is transmitted?" City health authorities estimate there are 5,000 prostitutes like her in the Baoshan area, and they concede that, even with high-level cooperation from party officials, they don't have the money to adequately promote condom use among them. "Last year the government spent half a million yuan [$62,000]" on AIDS prevention in the area, said Yang Xuanmei, head of Baoshan's AIDS prevention program. "That might sound like a lot of money, but we're talking about 2.4 million people." Condom Effort Uneven As a result, prevention efforts are patchy. The government adopted a high-profile condom distribution plan, and though condoms can be found in the rooms of the high-end Landu Hotel, there are none at the Military District Inn, where a stay is less than $4 a night. Moreover, things are about to get much more complicated. By next year, 50 miles of sleek new expressway will link Baoshan to points south. From an AIDS standpoint, the new Baolong Highway poses multiple threats: an influx of 10,000 mostly male workers, who later will scatter to their home provinces, and then a fast new road to boost traffic and speed the transfer of the virus. The urgent task is getting the workers and drivers to use condoms, which traditionally are unpopular in China--only 4 percent of contraceptive users choose that method. The Asian Development Bank is sponsoring a project to limit and measure the rise in HIV along the new highway, hoping to raise condom use among men like road worker Zhang Mingzheng. Zhang, 58, who was carrying rocks in the fading light of a setting sun one recent evening, laughed when asked whether he uses condoms at local brothels. He is too old to seek out nights like that, he said. "But the young men, sure, in the summers they go into town," he said. "And everyone knows the truth is people don't use condoms every time."

Community Responds To Substance Abuse

The first meeting of a group looking at substance abuse in Valemount drew 14 people last Thursday. Rick Publicover volunteered to see if there was interest in a grass roots community project that would endeavour to reduce substance abuse in the community. Apart from village staff and some councillors, the meeting drew people from the RCMP, Chamber of Commerce, United-Anglican Church, Northwest Specialty Mill, as well as social workers, drug addiction workers and concerned citizens. Publicover said that the first exercise was for those present to speak about their concerns regarding drug and alcohol addiction in Valemount. The concerns included: Drug abuse as it relates to violence Safety issues in the logging industry and highway safety Concern for youth and high risk activities How employers can help employees Parent substance abuse and effects on children Community tolerance to drugs and alcohol Crystal meth Safety of residents Publicover became involved with this issue while a manager in a mill in Fort Nelson. Fort Nelson was struggling with drug addiction throughout the community, and Publicover said it was a problem in the mill as well. When it was discovered that one employee snuck pot cookies into someone else's lunch, Publicover called the police and asked them to deal with it. He was surprised when the officer said that it was up to the mill to manage its own drug problems. But eventually the idea of managing the problem before the law enforcement stage began to make sense. Publicover became part of a group based in Fort Nelson that helped the mill and the broader public become more aware and less tolerant of drugs. Enabling Publicover said that to deal with the drug issue people have to understand how their actions can enable others to carry on with their addictions. "Enabling means either you do something, or don't do something, that causes somebody not to be held accountable. "Let's say I'm a supervisor at work, and I happen to be at the doorway as an employee is coming back from the parking lot after lunch, and I smell marijuana on them. I know I smelled marijuana, the employee knows I smelled marijuana, but I let the person go by and don't do anything." He said the message to the employee is that smoking marijuana is OK and there are no repercussions if they do it. "It could be a co-worker lending a person money, because they think they are helping them out," he said. He said that there has to be some catalyst that causes people with substance abuse issues to seek help. Publicover said he's been in situations where management didn't deal with a substance abuse concern because there was no policy or information, because they weren't aware of the issues and because they didn't know what resources were there to provide help. Meetings This new group, which doesn't have a name yet, will attempt to provide employers, parents and community members with the information and resources they need to help the community deal with substance abuse. The group will be meeting on the first Thursday each month at the village meeting room at lunchtime. The drug scene Sean Tobin, the addictions counsellor in Valemount and McBride, said he didn't have any statistics on drug abuse in the valley, and in keeping with their policy on confidentiality, he couldn't release any details about his caseload. Tobin works with individuals who seek out help for their addictions, either through a referral from a doctor, or directly. He said that because he deals only with individuals who seek out treatment, he hasn't got a sense of the greater drug problems in the community. Tobin used a metaphor to describe his work and how it relates to this new community effort: "In social work, we sometimes find ourselves pulling people out of the river. Eventually someone has to go up river and find out who is pushing all these people into the river in the first place." Tobin said the community would benefit from prevention work. "I'm all for the [new group]. I was really happy with the turnout and the wide variety of people there," he said. "It is a tremendous first step."













dna paternity testing uni-stat medical
paternity testing dallas texas flu shot

Pembroke Tobacco Shop Owner Wins Latest Round

A Pembroke tobacco shop, under fire for selling what police regard as drug paraphernalia, has been handed a favorable court ruling. Karen Brennan Fontana, owner of Brennan's Smoke Shop on Church Street, said Pembroke police "picked the wrong shop" to target in enforcing the state's drug paraphernalia law. "This is my livelihood, and I'm not doing anything wrong," said Fontana. "They're portraying me as a head shop, and I am not. I'm a legitimate smoke shop." She added, "I'm not going anywhere." On Jan. 30, an assistant clerk magistrate in Plymouth District court ruled that Pembroke police had not met the criteria for establishing that the smoke shop was in violation of the 1998 drug paraphernalia law when items were seized in a police raid three months ago. Responding to a complaint, Pembroke police obtained a search warrant and raided the smoke shop on Nov. 16, on the grounds that Fontana's store was allegedly in violation of the drug paraphernalia law. The law forbids a business from pedaling products that are likely to be used for the consumption of an illegal drug, such as marijuana. Police confiscated what Fontana said was $20,000 worth of scales, water pipes and other items. In denying the Pembroke police department's request to go forward with a formal complaint against Brennan's, Asst. Clerk Magistrate Lucy Canavan stated, "I don't know whether the Pembroke Police Department is collectively aware of specific instances of any type of pipes being sold at Brennan's and then used to smoke marijuana. If it had any such evidence, it was not presented at the hearing. On the contrary, Ms. Fontana's testimony and photographs indicate that people under 18 are not even allowed in the store, and that all of her inventory is sold for use with tobacco products." Authorities will reportedly appeal the ruling. Fontana said the store in no way promotes the use of the products sold there for drug use and does not advertise in that context. "We don't cater to the drug trade." Authorities have said it's disingenuous for storeowners to insist water pipes and other items are being used primarily for smoking tobacco. Fontana's attorney, Ron Whitney of Whitman, said this is part of a longer battle. "We're going to pursue a defense. It's unfortunate the town of Pembroke has gone forward with an appeal." He said Fontana "is running a legitimate smoke shop." Items seized in the raid may remain in police custody during the appeal period. Fontana said that while she could technically put similar items back on the shelves, she will not do so until the entire matter is resolved on appeal. She said she wants the confiscated items returned. Whitney said he sympathizes with Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz's efforts to fight drugs. "We certainly appreciate the efforts of the DA to solve the drug problem, but this is a case that's outside the box." In December, Cruz met with Pembroke selectmen, urging stricter enforcement of the drug paraphernalia law. Selectmen agreed that storeowners would be warned of the drug paraphernalia law when their licenses came up for renewal and that the town will enforce compliance. Cruz told selectmen during the meeting that he believes the state's drug paraphernalia law is constitutional. It was signed into law in 1998 by Gov. Paul Cellucci. In explaining the position of the District Attorney's office on drug paraphernalia, Cruz told selectmen, "There are certain things, like pipes, that people selling them should know what they're selling them for. If they're selling a scale in a smoke shop, it's different than if it's in a pharmaceutical company." He added, "I'm willing to prosecute if they're buying these items to be used illegally. The law is what it is, and it's my job to enforce it." Meanwhile, in Hanover, the Plymouth County District Attorney's office has dropped charges against two employees of Spencer's Gifts in the Hanover Mall. In January the employees were charged with violating the drug paraphernalia law by selling water pipes. In the plea agreement, Spencer's agreed to stop selling water pipes at the mall in exchange for no charges being brought against the employees.













paternity testing
uni-stat medical
dna paternity testing

Who's Buying Pot From Dispensaries?

Regarding "Poll: Voters support medical marijuana law" ( Local, Jan 9 ): I doubt very much that voters who approved Proposition 215 to allow medical marijuana envisioned centers illegally distributing drugs in their neighborhoods. I was visiting a friend who lives near the Ocean Beach Dispensary. I noticed an inordinate amount of traffic going in and out of this store. It took a little time to figure out what type of business it was because the signage was not obvious. Every five minutes or so another young male was going in to purchase marijuana. There's a reason marijuana use and possession remain illegal under federal law. I have two young adult sons and I've seen the ill effects of marijuana use on the lives of some of their friends over the years. These kids don't have any idea what they are playing with when they're smoking marijuana. One of my son's friends actually has a recommendation from a doctor to use marijuana for stress. How stressful can life be attending community college? ROBERT BROWN Oceanside
















http://www-overstock.info/overstock_clothing.htm
http://www-overstock.info/overstock_tank_top.htm
http://www-overstock.info/laptop_overstock.htm

DUI Drug Arrests Increase In GA

Arrests for driving under the influence of drugs have increased during the past five years in Georgia as more officers learn how to recognize the kinds of drugs people are using, Georgia law enforcement officials said. Statewide, 150 law enforcement officers have been trained to look at pupil dilation, pulse, raised taste buds and other specifics of suspected impaired drivers and are certified as drug recognition experts, commonly known as DREs, said Bruce Stanford, an instructor at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth. In 2001, 1,682 Georgia drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of drugs, compared with 2,229 in 2005, according to statistics released by the GBI. Stanford, who trains DREs, said the training is responsible for such a large increase. The problem, he said, is many officers don't know the specific effects different drugs have on the body. "They may see something and know something is unusual, but they don't know what it means," Stanford said. "Every class someone says 'you mentioned something and I've seen that ( during a traffic stop ) before and I let them go.' " Some defense lawyers question whether DREs can find probable cause for blood and urine tests and whether the other tests used are any better than a hunch. But Stanford said that 91 percent of the