[In The News] Drug Policy-related News for July 30, 2007
Give Us $hot In The Arm: 'Exchange' Depends On State Aid
Jersey City officials will get a shot at a long-awaited program aimed at reducing rates of AIDS among drug users - but unless it comes with critical state funding, city officials say they won't take it. A spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services says the state will accept new applications from cities seeking permission to run needle exchange programs, which would allow drug users to trade used syringes for clean ones, beginning as soon as later this week. City officials missed the original deadline to apply at the end of May.
Reality on needle exchange
It may have been logical to assume that sooner or later New Jersey might put some state funding behind its decision to allow pilot needle exchange programs in communities hit hardest by AIDS. But the money was not there from the beginning and isn't yet. Nonetheless, officials in Newark, which hopes to be one of the six pilot projects to be named soon, say they expect and need state funding to run the program they have designed: a $1.2 million project for at least 300 drug users.
Taliban forces Nato to rethink its strategy
When Nato officials talk of their Taliban foes, they do so with a mixture of contempt and grudging admiration. Contempt because of the Taliban tactics that have become so shockingly familiar over the past six years, beheadings and hostage-taking among them. There is also a sense that the "Taliban" is not a homogeneous organisation but a series of interlocking groups, which include drug traffickers and other criminals as well as religious zealots.
Justice Dept. and Prosecutors Are Said to Have Disagreed on OxyContin Case
Federal prosecutors may have differed with their superiors at the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue fraud charges against the maker of the narcotic painkiller OxyContin, two lawyers who were briefed about the case say. Those lawyers, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the case, said that higher-ups within the Justice Department appeared initially to favor a less aggressive approach to the case against OxyContins producer, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn.
Al Gore III pleads guilty to drug charges
Former Vice President Al Gore's son pleaded guilty Monday to possessing marijuana and other drugs when he was caught speeding this month in south Orange County. The entire case could be dismissed once he completes a drug rehabilitation program offered to first-time offenders. Al Gore III, who has been receiving treatment for his addictions at an undisclosed location since his arrest, had not been scheduled to be arraigned until Wednesday.
Jersey City officials will get a shot at a long-awaited program aimed at reducing rates of AIDS among drug users - but unless it comes with critical state funding, city officials say they won't take it. A spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services says the state will accept new applications from cities seeking permission to run needle exchange programs, which would allow drug users to trade used syringes for clean ones, beginning as soon as later this week. City officials missed the original deadline to apply at the end of May.
Reality on needle exchange
It may have been logical to assume that sooner or later New Jersey might put some state funding behind its decision to allow pilot needle exchange programs in communities hit hardest by AIDS. But the money was not there from the beginning and isn't yet. Nonetheless, officials in Newark, which hopes to be one of the six pilot projects to be named soon, say they expect and need state funding to run the program they have designed: a $1.2 million project for at least 300 drug users.
Taliban forces Nato to rethink its strategy
When Nato officials talk of their Taliban foes, they do so with a mixture of contempt and grudging admiration. Contempt because of the Taliban tactics that have become so shockingly familiar over the past six years, beheadings and hostage-taking among them. There is also a sense that the "Taliban" is not a homogeneous organisation but a series of interlocking groups, which include drug traffickers and other criminals as well as religious zealots.
Justice Dept. and Prosecutors Are Said to Have Disagreed on OxyContin Case
Federal prosecutors may have differed with their superiors at the Justice Department over how aggressively to pursue fraud charges against the maker of the narcotic painkiller OxyContin, two lawyers who were briefed about the case say. Those lawyers, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the case, said that higher-ups within the Justice Department appeared initially to favor a less aggressive approach to the case against OxyContins producer, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn.
Al Gore III pleads guilty to drug charges
Former Vice President Al Gore's son pleaded guilty Monday to possessing marijuana and other drugs when he was caught speeding this month in south Orange County. The entire case could be dismissed once he completes a drug rehabilitation program offered to first-time offenders. Al Gore III, who has been receiving treatment for his addictions at an undisclosed location since his arrest, had not been scheduled to be arraigned until Wednesday.
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