Heroin overdose victims in Rio Arriba County often die at home before medical help arrives, or they may be dumped outside the Espanola Hospital emergency room by friends who fear arrest. In hopes of preventing more overdose deaths, the state Health Department delivered 100 syringes of naloxone Wednesday to doctors in the Espanola Valley who will prescribe the potentially life-saving drug to addicts. When injected, naloxone helps reverse the effects of an overdose of an opiate -- such as heroin, morphine or methadone -- by binding tightly to receptors in the body that normally attract opiates, said Dr. Steve Jenison, physician administrator for the Infectious Diseases Bureau in the state Public Health Division. [continues 564 words]
PANAJI - The smell of drugs is in the Goan ambience now. Narcotic substances like charas, ganja, estassy, LSD and cocaine are playing a key role in building Goa as a hot tourist destination among a section of its young visitors and also those who put this place on the world drugs map in the first place. The tiny emerald on the west coast of the country, with its natural scenic beauty, attractive beaches, churches, temples, feasts and festivals, has over the years built up a reputation of an easy-drugs paradise. [continues 526 words]
TOUGHER sentences for drug dealers would not work unless communities were prepared to "dob in" offenders, the mayor of a western NSW town said yesterday. Acting Prime Minister John Anderson had called for tougher sentences, including life for drug dealers, saying Aboriginal children were being forced into prostitution to support their addiction. But the mayor of Bourke, Wayne O'Malley said the real problem was convicting drug dealers. "Until communities are prepared to take a stand and dob the dealer in it's going to be very difficult for the courts to deal with them," Mr O'Malley said. [end]
New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson Interviewed by Michael W. Lynch I've been in New Mexico less than 10 minutes when I realize that no ordinary politician rules the Land of Enchantment. After the young woman working the rental car counter discovers I need wheels to visit her very own governor, she starts talking excitedly and positively about his efforts to pass a school choice bill. One of her co-workers, a Democratic activist, tries to straighten her out, and the conversation soon grows to include other employees, all of whom are surprisingly well-informed due to the governor's high-profile efforts to pass a statewide voucher program. The Democrat wants to make something else clear about New Mexico's top pol: She doesn't appreciate his crusade for drug legalization. Struggling to come up with the worst possible epithet, she finally spits out, "I think he's a liberal," adding that as one he embarrasses her state. (Such is the New West that even Democrats think of liberals as lower than rattlesnakes.) [continues 4294 words]
The governor has promising proposals on drug laws and school aid, but is he overspending? In his seventh and seemingly not last state -of-the-state speech, Gov. George Pataki delivered a litany of proposals that might have stirred one of his heroes, Ronald Reagan, to say, "There he goes again." A good portion of Pataki's agenda is so progressive-everything from expanding state-funded health insurance to softening excessively harsh drug laws-that you don't have to be a cynic to decide he is more interested in running for re-election than seeking a spot on a conservative new White House team. [continues 323 words]
Outgoing drug czar optimistic but warns of increased `club drug' use WASHINGTON -- Drug use among teens is down 21 percent during the past two years, but steroids and club drugs such as Ecstasy are increasingly popular with young Americans, according to drug czar Barry McCaffrey's final annual report. McCaffrey, who leaves office today after five years as director of national drug policy, gave a largely positive appraisal Thursday of national trends and attitudes toward drug use, and said he's optimistic that the Bush administration will continue initiatives on prevention and treatment that he has pushed. [continues 457 words]
