BOSTON - State Rep. John Keenan watched his mother slowly succumb to lung cancer, taking morphine to try to blunt her pain. When Emma Keenan died in 1994, she was just 56. Her son was a prosecutor whose family experience led to his eventual support for marijuana for medicinal purposes. "To see the pain and suffering she went through was enough," he said yesterday as the Massachusetts Legislature's Judiciary Committee reviewed bills to allow medical marijuana. Keenan, D-Salem, is cosponsoring one of the bills. Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover, is cosponsoring another bill. [continues 492 words]
BOSTON - The state will give schools $100,000 to launch voluntary student drug testing as part of a new strategy released yesterday to combat drug and alcohol abuse. The testing is billed as the linchpin for redoubled prevention efforts to head off epidemic levels of drug abuse, notably OxyContin and heroin abuse. Salem School Superintendent Herbert Levine, who joined Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in unveiling the plan, said students would have to take the tests if a district voluntarily decides to implement the program. He recounted his experience in helping his 20-year-old son battle an OxyContin addiction. And he said his son said testing would have scared him away from taking opiates. [continues 671 words]
BOSTON - Schools that want to implement drug testing will each receive a $100,000 boost from the state, the lieutenant governor announced yesterday. The testing is billed as the linchpin for redoubled prevention efforts to head off epidemic levels of drug abuse, with OxyContin and heroin as notable targets. The plan earmarks 80 percent of the money to substance-abuse counseling, with the rest used for testing. Salem School Superintendent Herbert Levine, who joined Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in unveiling the plan at the Statehouse, said students would have to take the tests if a district opts to implement the program. [continues 978 words]
