NEW YORK (AP) - People with religious faith are markedly less likely to abuse alcohol and illegal drugs than non-believers, a Columbia University research report issued Wednesday says. The report from the university's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, found a greater tendency to shun drugs and alcohol both among people who attend worship regularly and among those who personally consider religious belief important - whether or not they are regular worshippers. Previous studies have claimed that religion has beneficial effects in mental health, physical health and life expectancy. [continues 440 words]
Two Sydney detectives at the centre of an inquiry into thousands of drug dollars which allegedly disappeared during a raid could not recall key details of the incident today. Neither appeared to remember who officially counted the money, who first found it, or how it managed to get from the scene of the 1992 Manly drug raid to the police station. The officers, who entered the witness box of the NSW Police Integrity Commission (PIC) today, could not recall how officers from the Major Crime Squad North came to be involved in what was initially an investigation of somebody smoking marijuana in a room of the Manly Pacific Hotel. [continues 487 words]
SACRAMENTO -- A federal district judge in Sacramento has overruled a magistrate judge's order on how prosecutors must handle at least 6,000 client and patient files seized from an attorney-physician couple who advocate the medical use of marijuana. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows last month ordered prosecutors to use an independent, court-appointed special master to review the files and determine which of them the government could legally access. He also ordered that the special master segregate initial-visit questionnaires and medical records of the clients and patients and return those documents to the couple. [continues 639 words]
Before September 11, the Capital Times was a strong voice against the granddaddy of attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the so-called war on drugs. Years of drug prohibition have created so many exemptions to our freedoms that the recently passed and perversely named USA Patriot Act is merely the bitter icing on the cake. And while the Capital Times and the nation are fixated on the new war, the old war continues with a new vengeance. The new administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa Hutchinson, has launched a chilling war against medical marijuana in California, where voters passed the state's medical marijuana law five years ago November 5. An entry in the Congressional Record seems to indicate that several congressman including the maniacally anti-medical marijuana zealots Bob Barr and Mark Souder, sent investigators to the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, triggering a raid by 30 armed DEA agents soon after their visit. [continues 104 words]
The "sneakiness and secrecy" of anti-marijuana policy at Ohio University to which Larry Hayman, president of the OU chapter of the ACLU refers (The NEWS, Nov. 12), is nothing new in this nation when we speak of the "War Against Drugs." The Marijuana Tax Act of 1936 was slipped through the back door of Congress, supported by the fabrications and lies of William Randolph Hearst, the religious fanaticism and racial bigotry of Harry J. Anslinger, and then the perjury of Congressman Vinson, who was later rewarded by being appointed chief justice. [continues 964 words]
Lawmakers Worry About Sending Wrong Message A top supporter of a proposal to allow the University of Illinois to study industrial hemp said Tuesday he probably won't call his controversial bill for a vote during the fall veto session. Rep. Ron Lawfer, R-Stockton, attempted Tuesday to persuade his colleagues to override Gov. George Ryan's veto of House Bill 3377. But Lawfer withdrew the bill from consideration after several minutes of debate. The debate included a comment from Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw, R-Naperville, that approving the bill would send the wrong message to young people about illegal drugs. [continues 436 words]
Students at Breton Education Centre will once again take to the streets to help get drugs off their streets. Wednesday, Nov. 21, in conjunction with Drug Awareness Week across Canada, 1,100 students, 66 staff members and residents of the community will march through the town to promote alcohol and drug awareness. Dorothy Kaiser is a guidance counsellor at BEC and one of the organizers of the walk. She said the walk is not a fund-raiser; its goals are to increase awareness of the problems caused by drugs. [continues 66 words]
Twice as many people are addicted to alcohol than to all other drugs, according to a report. The study also reveals a rise in the number of deaths attributable to alcohol addiction. The State of the Nation report, launched by Alcohol Concern at their annual conference on Thursday, reveals that one person in 13 in Britain is dependent on alcohol. That figure compares to one in 26 who are hooked on all forms of drugs, including prescription drugs. But despite these statistics, says the report, just UKP1m is spent on alcohol prevention and treatment each year in England and Wales, compared with an expenditure of UKP91.45 million on drug prevention. [continues 416 words]
MEXICO CITY -- Giovanni Mejia and his friends in a poor Mexico City neighborhood wear baggy blue jeans, eat hamburgers and take cocaine, like the Americans they see in films and television. "You imitate things, clothes, food, expressions. You feel the U.S. influence here in Mexico," said Mejia, 26, who is undergoing drug abuse treatment in lieu of serving jail time after being arrested a month ago with cocaine. Mejia, who sports a 1950s-style rockabilly haircut, doesn't blame anyone but himself for his addiction. [continues 450 words]
In the wake of much troubling recent news, many of us have found new appreciation for our community and sense of unity. This week we pause to gratefully acknowledge those who sacrificed to preserve our freedoms and democracy. It is in this context that I found three news items in the Nov. 11 Register-Guard alarming. On Nov. 6, Attorney General John Ashcroft directed the Drug Enforcement Administration to seek the termination of prescription licences of doctors who prescribe federally controlled drugs in assisted suicides. The directive is clearly targeted at the Oregon law, debated and passed overwhelmingly, which is designed to provide terminally ill patients with a choice in the circumstances of their own death. [continues 145 words]
