NEW YORK - A group of activists, elected officials, and celebrities on Thursday called for the repeal of the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws, demanding that Gov. George Pataki and the state Legislature get rid of them by a June 4 deadline. "It is unbelievable that we've allowed it to go on this long," hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons said of the decades-old laws. He was joined at a news conference by well-known figures including Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, and presidential hopeful Al Sharpton. [continues 293 words]
NEW YORK -- A group of activists, elected officials and celebrities on Thursday called for the repeal of the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws, demanding Gov. George Pataki and the state Legislature get rid of them by a June 4 deadline. "It is unbelievable that we've allowed it to go on this long," hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons said of the decades-old laws. He was joined at a news conference by well-known figures including Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and Democrat presidential hopeful Al Sharpton. [continues 330 words]
NEW YORK -- Drug and alcohol abuse appears to be up in many parts of the country since Sept. 11, especially in New York City and Washington, a survey suggests. "These are people who are self-medicating because of the stress they feel," said Joseph Califano Jr., president of the Columbia University National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, which conducted the survey. "I think we have the beginnings of a self-medicating epidemic." The conclusion that drug and alcohol abuse has in-creased was drawn indirectly, based on reports of people seeking substance-abuse treatment. [continues 295 words]
NEW YORK - Drug and alcohol abuse appears to be up in many parts of the country since Sept. 11, especially in New York City and Washington, a survey suggests. "These are people who are self-medicating because of the stress they feel," said Joseph Califano Jr., president of the Columbia University National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, which conducted the survey. "I think we have the beginnings of a self-medicating epidemic." The conclusion that drug and alcohol abuse has increased was drawn indirectly, based on reports of people seeking substance-abuse treatment. [continues 349 words]
NEW YORK -- American student John Tobin, back on U.S. soil and looking forward to his first hamburger in six months, said overcoming fear of the unknown was his greatest challenge while imprisoned in Russia on a drug charge. "I was most frightened in the beginning. I didn't know what charges were going to be brought against me," Tobin said Wednesday at a press conference at Kennedy International Airport upon his return from Moscow. A tired Tobin, who had lost some weight in jail and sported a close-cropped prison haircut, answered questions briefly before leaving for a rendezvous with family and friends. [continues 262 words]
Controversial 1973 Rockefeller Law Has Many Detractors Today NEW YORK - Lisa Oberg couldn't stop touching her mother - hugging her, kissing her, grabbing her hand. And for the first time in her 11-year life, she didn't have to. Gone were the days of sporadic visits with Arlene Oberg, who had been serving a 15-year-to-life prison sentence for a 1988 drug arrest and subsequent conviction. No more motherhood by correspondence, through letters and phone calls. On Wednesday, Oberg and two other women were freed from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility after winning clemency from Gov. George Pataki last month. [continues 520 words]
Union City,N.J.-Luis Torres' friends figured they could get him off heroin if he could only see himself on drugs, so they videotaped him as he was coming down from a high. For six or seven minutes, they recorded him as he went through body-wracking seizures and struggled to breathe. But Torres never got to see the tape. He died a few hours later, apparently of an overdose. "The whole point was to show him how stupid he looked," his friend Michael Shipman, 34, said Wednesday. "I didn't think anything was going to happen." [continues 273 words]
UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) For hours, Luis Torres struggled to come off a heroin high, enduring body-wracking seizures and fighting to breathe. His friends videotaped Torres for six or seven minutes, thinking that showing the scene to him later would do him good. Then they left him to sleep it off. Torres never saw the tape. He died a few hours later, apparently of an overdose. "If it wasn't for the drugs, the kid was perfect," said a teary-eyed Michael Shipman, standing in the doorway of his apartment, where Torres died. "Anything I ever needed, he was there." [continues 256 words]
