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20080108

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Families - Health-Care - Drug - Corporations - Multinationals - US - Jobs - California - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - "Edwards focuses on health in final campaign push." ... "[2008 Election Democratic President] John Edwards appealed to the emotions of New Hampshire voters in his final campaign push last night by bringing on stage with him three families who had suffered from lack of health care." ... "On a 36-hour non-stop, marathon bus tour round New England, he put health care at the core of his message." ... "At a rally in Elk Lodge, Dover [New Hampshire], he lambasted health insurance firms and drug companies, as well as multinationals who have transferred US jobs overseas. "The powerful interests in Washington have an iron-clad clasp on your democracy," he said." ... "The families with him included a mother, Hilda Sarkisyan, whose 17-year-old daughter Natalie died from cancer on December 20 in California after an insurance company failed to pay up for a liver transplant that could have saved her." ... "Edwards said: "This should never happen in the United States of America. Things have to change."" ... "Hillary Clinton's team accused him of exploiting the families. Edwards, who has been outspoken in criticism of Clinton, retorted that the Clinton campaign had "no conscience"." -By Ewen MacAskill -Guardian.co.uk

20080107

John Edwards - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - California - Teenager - Health - Company - Drug - Christmas - Working - People - 2008 Election - "Underdog Edwards says he won't give up the fight for the White House." ... "The former senator from North Carolina [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards] sought to bring added emotional wallop to his message before Tuesday's primary by campaigning with the family of a Northridge [California] teenager who died after her insurance company delayed approval for a liver transplant." ... "The newest participants in the Edwards campaign were the Sarkisyans of the San Fernando Valley [California], whose 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, died just before Christmas of complications from leukemia. After much debate, the family's insurance company had approved a liver transplant, but she died hours later." ... ""When I talk about what insurance companies and drug companies are doing to America, this is what I mean," Edwards said to a crowd of about 500 in Manchester [New Hampshire], where some were moved to tears by the family's story. "This has real effects on real people's lives."" ... "Grigor Sarkisyan told the audience how he had promised to buy his daughter a white car after she got out of the hospital, but had to buy a white coffin instead. He said he thought he had done everything he was supposed to as a father: working hard, supporting his family and buying health insurance he thought would take care of them if they got sick." ... "His wife, Hilda Sarkisyan, had heard Edwards' speech Thursday after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and called the candidate's campaign. The family arrived in New Hampshire on Sunday morning." ... "The couple urged voters to support Edwards, saying he is the lone candidate who will fight for Americans against such powerful interests as insurance companies." ... ""They cannot tell us who's going to live and who's going to die," Hilda Sarkisyan said." -By Seema Mehta and James Rainey -LAtimes

20080105

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Politics - 2008 Election - 2004 Election - Iowa - New Hampshire - Working - People - Investment - Civil Rights - Lawyer - Drug - Oil - "Obama borrows from Edwards." ... "After beating [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards in Iowa on Thursday, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama has decided to join him -- repeatedly poaching his opponent's themes, language, and even jokes." ... ""We shouldn't just be respecting wealth in this country -- we should be respecting work," Obama told an overflow crowd in a [New Hampshire] high-school gym today." ... "Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign was centered around the idea that the [Republican President] Bush administration had launched a "war on work" through tax cuts that offer incentives for investment over labor. "Hard work should be valued in this country, so we're going to reward work, not just wealth," Edwards said in accepting his party’s vice-presidential nomination at the Democratic’ convention in Boston. In this campaign, he has sharpened his populist rhetoric, railing against greedy corporate CEOs who are waging war on working people and the middle class." ... "Since arriving in New Hampshire Friday, Obama has borrowed Edwards's favorite verb by bragging that he had "fought" as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer, and conceding that "insurance companies and drug companies will not give up their profits" -- which Edwards asserts repeatedly to ridicule Obama's talk of conciliation. Obama repeatedly invoked those interests, as well as "big oil and big insurance," common villains in Edwards speeches." -By Sasha Issenberg with contributions by Foon Rhee -Boston/Globe

20080104

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Corporate - Drug - Legislation - Iowa - North Carolina - Illinois - 2008 Election - Health-Care - "Edwards Campaign Asserts Obama Once A Sellout To Corporate Interests." ... "Roughly twelve hours after a second-place finish in the Iowa caucus, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and former North Carolina Senator] Sen. John Edwards' campaign went on the attack against the winner, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama, asserting that the Illinois Democrat was once a sellout to corporate interests." ... "In an appearance on MSNBC, David Bonior, Edwards' campaign manager, ripped into Obama's record on health care from the time when he served in the Illinois State Senate." ... ""Barack Obama's kind of change is where you sit down and you cut a deal with the corporate world," Bonior said. "If you look at his record in Illinois when he had a major -- sponsored a major health bill that's what he did. He watered down with the help of the corporate lobbyist and they got a weak product out of that."" ... "MSNBC host Joe Scarborough interjected: "Are you saying that Barack Obama is a sellout to corporate interests?"" ... "Bonior responded, "He was four years ago in Illinois. All you have to do is look at the legislation I'm referring to."" ... "The Obama campaign was quick to respond, defending their candidate's credentials both on health care policy and his ability to stand up to lobbyists. " ... "But as the Boston Globe reported on September 23, 2007, in the process of crafting the legislation, Obama consulted with "insurers and their lobbyists" and amended the bill "more to their liking."" ... ""The wrangling over the healthcare measure, which narrowly passed and became law in 2004, illustrates how Obama, during his eight years in the Illinois Senate, was able to shepherd major legislation by negotiating competing interests in Springfield, the state capital," the Globe reported. "But it also shows how Obama's own experience in lawmaking involved dealings with the kinds of lobbyists and special interests he now demonizes on the campaign trail."" ... "On the campaign trail Edwards has railed against the disproportionate influence corporations and lobbyists have had on the formulation of health care policy. In a recent television ad, he blamed the lack of universal health care in the United States on "drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists in Washington, D.C." " -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

20071229

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Oil - Drug - Money - Foreign - Government - United States - Iowa - 2008 Election - "Edwards Pledges Ban on Lobbyists." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards vowed Saturday that corporate lobbyists would not be allowed to work in his administration, if elected." ... "“When I am president of the United States, no corporate lobbyists or anyone who has lobbied for a foreign government will work in my White House,” Mr. Edwards said, speaking at a public library." ... "He followed it up with an implicit attack on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama] Mr. Obama." ... "[John Edwards said,] “I hear people argue that the way you can get things done is you sit at a table with drug companies, insurance companies, oil companies and negotiate with them, and somehow they will voluntarily give away their power,” he said. “I think it is a complete fantasy.”" ... "In a November speech to Iowa Democrats, Mr. Obama promised that lobbyists would not work in his White House." ... "But he [Obama] later amended his position, saying that lobbyists would not “dominate” his White House.”" ... "When campaigning, Mr. Edwards frequently reminds voters that he has never taken campaign contributions from lobbyists." -By Julie Bosman -NYTimes

20071218

Mitt Romney - Mike Huckabee - Crime - Drug - Religious - Television - Ad - Iowa - New Hampshire - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Romney continues Huckabee attacks." ... "This week, the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt] Romney campaign launched a TV ad in Iowa accusing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee of being soft on crime and reducing punishments for those caught manufacturing meth." ... ""I think people recognize this is very critical time in our nation's history and the issues are important," he said. "This is not just about feel-good. This is about how we would deal with important issues."" ... "Romney's "feel-good" comment was a reference to Huckabee's own television ad currently running in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, in which Huckabee dons a red sweater and tells viewers that "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ."" ... "Romney questioned whether the ad, with its clear Christian overtones, is politically appropriate. He said he hopes "we don't divide America on the basis of faith."" -By Peter Hamby -CNN

20071217

Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Drug - Criminality - Race - Religion - New Hampshire - Iowa - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Clinton's stereotyping of Obama may backfire." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama said Friday that he accepted the apology of Democratic presidential rival [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton after Bill Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire cochairman, suggested that Obama's teenage drug use would hurt him in the general election." ... "It was clear, though, that the apology did not cover all the recent shots at Obama that raise questions as to whether the Clinton campaign is getting desperate." ... ""The kindergarten stuff was not mentioned," Obama said in an interview after a morning town hall event here in eastern Iowa. The Clinton team was ridiculed in political circles for dredging up an Obama kindergarten I-want-to-be-president essay." ... "That leaves open as to how far the Clinton campaign, whose poll leads have evaporated in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, will go to stereotype Obama as not only naive, but cast him in a sinister light in a nation where black drug use and criminality is exaggerated in the media and where Muslims face undue wariness. Earlier this week, the Clinton staff fired two Iowa volunteer coordinators for circulating a hoax e-mail saying Obama, a Christian, was a Muslim who might help destroy the United States." -By Derrick Z. Jackson -BostonGlobe via -SeattlePI

20071216

Secret - Surveillance - Terrorism - Crime - Telecommunications - Companies - Government - Legislation - Politics - Intelligence - Drug - Consumer - Wireless - Technology - United States - Global - Space - Colorado - New Jersey - "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry." ... "For months, the [Republican President] Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program." ... "But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime." ... "The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure." ... "To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed." ... "In a separate N.S.A. [National Security Agency] project, executives at a Denver [Colorado] phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them." ... "The federal government’s reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." ... "[An ATT engineer is claiming in a lawsuit that as early as February 2001,] “What he saw,” said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs along with Carl Mayer, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the [Republican] Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”" (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Scott Shane -NYTimes

20071216

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - North Carolina - Illinois - New York - 2008 Election - Government - Oil - Drug - Companies - Health-Care - US - Iraq - Military - Iowa - Fields - "Edwards cuts sharper edge in Iowa trail speeches." ... ""The few, the powerful, the well-financed, they now control the government," [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards told a tight crowd of about 350 last week. "They've taken over your democracy. And it affects everything that happens in this country."" ... ""Everything," he emphasized." ... "During an 18-minute span, the former North Carolina senator took aim and fired freely at insurance, oil and drug companies and failed chief executives rewarded with golden parachutes. He described the Republican field as [Republican President] "George Bush on steroids" and said his Democratic competitors are talkers, not fighters." ... "In what has often been portrayed as a two-Democrat battle between [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Hillary Clinton of New York the populist Edwards is making an eight-day blitz across the frozen fields of Iowa, a sort of red-meat express to convince the middle class that he is the one who will wrest the country from the clutches of "corporate power and greed."" ... ""I know some people suggest we'll be able to sit at the table with drug companies and oil companies and think they can get their power away. Right," Edwards said dismissively, indirectly referring to the approaches he says Obama and Clinton would take." ... ""I'll tell you when they'll [corporations] lose their power: when we take it away from them," he told a cheering crowd at the [Iowa] Grinnell Eagles Club." ... ""There's been a change in America. We have greater concentration of wealth and power in a few. We have an increasingly dysfunctional health-care system. We have this war in Iraq that has gotten much worse," he said. "I think we need a president who's willing to be tough and to go after these things."" -By Tim Jones -ChicagoTribune

20071211

John Edwards - US - Iraq - Military - Corporate - Government - Energy - Drug - Health - Family - Farmers - 2008 Election - "AP Interview: Edwards on Iraq and Dems." ... "While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards continues to invoke ending the [Iraq] war as one of the major challenges facing the nation, the thrust of his message is that entrenched corporate power has prevented the government from tackling long-standing domestic problems." ... ""You hear a lot more questions about corporate power, health care, energy, family farmers," he said. "Those are the things people ask about."" ... ""My focus for these last few weeks is on a positive agenda," he said. "That's what America rising is all about."" ... "That's not to say Edwards' message doesn't have an edge." ... "His culprits are "powerful, well-entrenched, well-financed interests that are distorting the democracy in their favor and against the interests of most Americans."" ... ""The specific examples are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, power companies, there are lots more examples," he said. "They've used money and power to spread their influence and have kept the democracy from working for most people."" (1, 2) -By Jim Kuhnhenn -AP via -NOLA.com

20071209

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Drug - Government - Politics - Qatar - Hong Kong - North Korea - Crime - Global - US - 2008 Election - "Giuliani Won't Release Client Names." ... "For the past year, though, Giuliani has declined to identify his clients on the grounds that they entered into confidentially agreements with his firm." ... "Giuliani formed the consulting firm in early 2002, offering "management consulting service to governments and business" and over the next five years it earned more than $100 million. That income, along with a robust speaking schedule, helped transform the moderately well-off public servant into a globe-trotting consultant whose net worth is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars." ... "Giuliani Partners has represented a pharmaceutical company mired in a lengthy investigation; a confessed drug smuggler who hired Giuliani to ensure his security company could do business with the federal government; and the horse racing industry, which was eager to recover public confidence after a betting scandal." ... "But many of the firm's clients have never been listed on its web site or identified publicly by associates, and two of the most controversial arrangements among them only surfaced in recent weeks. One involved a 2005 agreement to provide security advice to the government of Qatar. The second stemmed from a deal to assist a partnership proposing a Southeast Asian gambling venture. Among the partners were relatives of a Hong Kong billionaire who has ties to the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to international organized crime, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune." -By Matthew Mosk -WashingtonPost

20071127

US - Iraq - Blackwater - Corporate - Military - Politics - Steroids - North Carolina - "Witnesses testify in Blackwater lawsuit." ... "A federal grand jury investigating Blackwater Worldwide heard witnesses Tuesday as a private lawsuit accused the government contractor's bodyguards of ignoring orders and abandoning their posts shortly before taking part in a Baghdad [Iraq's capital] shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead." ... "Filed this week in U.S. District Court in Washington, the civil complaint also accuses North Carolina-based Blackwater of failing to give drug tests to its guards in Baghdad — even though an estimated one in four of them was using steroids or other "judgment altering substances."" ... "Before the shootings in Baghdad last September, the three teams of an estimated dozen Blackwater bodyguards had already dropped off the State Department official they were tasked with protecting when they headed to Nisoor Square, according to the lawsuit filed by lawyers working with the Center for Constitutional Rights." ... "Blackwater and State Department personnel staffing a tactical operations center "expressly directed the Blackwater shooters to stay with the official and refrain from leaving the secure area," the complaint says. "Reasonable discovery will establish that the Blackwater shooters ignored those directives."" ... "Additionally, the lawsuit notes: "One of Blackwater's own shooters tried to stop his colleagues from indiscriminately firing upon the crowd of innocent civilians but he was unsuccessful in his efforts."" -By Lara Jakes Jordan with contributions by Matthew Lee and Matt Apuzzo -AP via -Yahoo

20071104

Fred D Thompson - Criminal - Drug - Money - Jet - 2008 Election - "Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing." ... "Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."" ... "Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights." ... "Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation." (1, 2, 3) -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Alice Crites, Jonathan Weisman, and Sarah Cohen -WashingtonPost

20071026

John Edwards - Corporate - Law - Kids - Safety - Employees - Food - Drug - Des-Moines - Iowa - 2008 Election - "Edwards Gets Tough on Business." ... "[2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards is targeting Corporate America and what he argues are its corrupt and greedy practices. In a speech today in Des Moines, Iowa, he is outlining his plan to renew the “social contract” between business and government if elected president. “In corporate America, where a broader sense of social responsibility once held sway, a culture of greed has taken over. Instead of treating their employees fairly, being accountable to their shareholders and contributing to America’s prosperity, CEOs act like their corporations exist just to build their own massive fortunes,” says Edwards, according to speech excerpts provided to Washington Wire by his campaign." ... "Edwards is proposing, among other things, universal retirement accounts that employers would be required to provide if they don’t offer pension programs." ... "Edwards is also proposing stronger protections for workers seeking to unionize and increased shareholder rights. And he’s proposing to cap tax-deferred compensation funds for top executives at $1 million annually, and pushing for more disclosure of corporate governance structures, the pay and demographics of top corporate officers, as well as political contributions, government contracts, and taxes paid." ... "He also proposes tougher Food and Drug Administration inspection standards and safety regulations on products, like kids’ toys, made abroad." -By Susan Davis -WSJ.com

20071007

Drug - Money - Sales - Politics - Elderly - Consumer - Health - Law - Audits - Michigan - "Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans." ... "Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the [Republican President] Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found." ... "The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores." ... "Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits." ... "The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint." ... "The audits document widespread violations of patients’ rights and consumer protection standards. Some violations could directly affect the health of patients — for example, by delaying access to urgently needed medications." ... "Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he had “verified countless stories of deceptive sales practices by insurance agents who prey upon the elderly and disabled to sell them expensive and inappropriate private Medicare plans.”" (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes

20070911

Secret - Federal - Health - Safety - Consumer - Law - Politics - Food - Drug - Traffic - Manufacturers - Companies - "Stealth Rules War Pits Lawyers Versus Companies." ... "Official Washington loves the word ``stealth.'' It connotes intrigue and secrecy, making the term well understood in a capital where spies and invisible fighter jets aren't all that's sneaking around." ... "At least that's how the nation's trial lawyers view the [Republican President] Bush administration's increasing use of federal health and safety regulations as a line of defense for manufacturers trying to fend off multimillion-dollar liability claims from consumers in state courts." ... "The fine print of a 2006 U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule on prescription labeling that preempts, or overrides, state laws is proving to be a powerful weapon in the courtroom at a time when Merck & Co. is fighting thousands of lawsuits from consumers claiming they were harmed by its drug Vioxx." ... "Since 2005, federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Homeland Security have issued more than a dozen rules that stress the primacy of federal law." ... "Plaintiff attorneys, who have been watching the trend with alarm, say eliminating the option of suing a company at the state level will result in weaker federal regulations, more cost to the government for consumers' medical bills, and a usurping of congressional authority." ... "The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow: ``Regulatory Preemption: Are Federal Agencies Usurping Congressional and State Authority?''" -By Cindy Skrzycki -Bloomberg

20070820

Drug - Money - OxyContin - Law - "AP: Pain medicine use has nearly doubled." ... "Retail sales of five leading painkillers nearly doubled over the last eight years, reflecting a surge in use by patients nationwide who are living in a world of pain, according to a new Associated Press analysis of federal drug prescription data." ... "More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone [brand: OxyContin], hydrocodone [brand: Vicodin] and meperidine [brand: Demerol] were purchased at retail stores during 2005, the most recent year represented in the data. That is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in the country." ... "Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, is responsible for most of the increase. Oxycodone use jumped nearly six-fold between 1997 and 2005. The drug gained notoriety as "hillbilly heroin," often bought and sold illegally in Appalachia." ... "The privately held company [Purdue Pharmaceuticals] has pleaded guilty to lying to patients, physicians and federal regulators about the addictive nature of the drug." -By Frank Bass with contributions by Dave Collins and Samira Jafari -APvia -Yahoo

20070817

John Edwards - Iowa - Oil - Drug - Seniors - Health - Business - Law - 2008 Election - "Edwards Attacks 'Robber Barons,' Lobbyists to Win Votes in Iowa." ... "[2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards,] In campaign speeches and conversations with voters, the presidential candidate calls some companies ``robber barons.'' Business lobbyists have ``rigged'' the system to block fair trade policies and efforts to curb reliance on overseas oil, he says. Drug and insurance companies are to blame for 83-year-old Marguerite Erickson's $3,000-a-year health bill, he told her at a rally in Perry this week." ... "Did she believe it? ``You bet,'' she said after the event. ``I think he's got the right idea.''" ... "Edwards's populist themes are nothing new for him. His standard 2004 campaign speech lamented the existence of ``two different Americas, one for people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans who work hard and still struggle to make ends meet.''" ... "Still, his rhetoric then, and even earlier in the current campaign, lacked the accusatory edge it has acquired in the past month. ``We need to take back America from the Washington insiders running the country,'' he said Aug. 14 in Pocahontas, Iowa. Earlier in the week, Edwards told a crowd in Perry, about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines, that health-care costs remain high because ``we have not taken on and beaten down the drug companies and insurance companies.'' " -By Nicholas Johnston -Bloomberg

20070808

Sports - Drug - Law - San Francisco - California - "Bonds Sets Baseball's Home Run Record: Giants Slugger Passes Aaron With No. 756." ... "Seven fifty-five, the most cherished number in baseball if not all of American sports, lived a good, long, noble life. Spawned from the powerful bat of an aging slugger named Hank Aaron on July 20, 1976, it grew in stature over the years, surviving the occasional challenge and ruling over the record book even as other, lesser records fell. But on a cool Tuesday night near the shores of San Francisco Bay [San Francisco, California], 755 finally perished at the hands of a relentless, controversial invader from the west named Barry Lamar Bonds. Seven fifty-five is gone. Behold, 756." ... "Only three players in the last 86 years have held the sport's signature mark. Babe Ruth first captured it in 1921, then surrendered it posthumously to Aaron in 1974. And now, for better or worse, it belongs to Bonds." ... "Across the land, baseball fans, including many who play and run the game, are unsure what to make of 756 because of the player who struck it. Bonds is alleged to have used steroids beginning in the late 1990s, fueling a late-career explosion in offensive production that is unparalleled in baseball history. Even as Bonds took aim at Aaron's record this summer, a grand jury continued to investigate him for possible perjury and tax evasion charges stemming from his involvement with an alleged steroids ring." ... ""This record is not tainted," Bonds said in his postgame news conference. "It's not tainted at all. At all. Period. You guys [in the media] can say whatever you want."" -By Dave Sheinin -WashingtonPost

20070801

Michael J Elston - Alberto R Gonzales - Paul J McNulty - Government - US Attorneys - OxyContin - Drug - Manufacturer - Money - Politics - Virginia - "U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.." ... "The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday." ... "John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke [Virginia], testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year." ... "Brownlee settled the case anyway. Eight days later, his name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials had suggested be fired." ... "Brownlee ultimately kept his job. But as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales confronts withering criticism over the dismissals, the episode in the OxyContin case provides fresh evidence of efforts by senior officials in the department's headquarters to sway the work of U.S. attorneys' offices." ... " ... Elston's attorney, Robert N. Driscoll, said his client had telephoned Brownlee at the direction of [Deputy Attorney General Paul J.] McNulty, who that evening had received an appeal for more time by Mary Jo White, a defense lawyer representing an executive for OxyContin's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma." -By Amy Goldstein and Carrie Johnson -WashingtonPost

20070720

US - Iraq - Military - Immigration - Alberto Gonzales - Energy - Labor - Drugs - Legislation - Politics - History - "Senate tied in knots by filibusters." ... "This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before, a pattern that's rooted in — and could increase — the pettiness and dysfunction in Congress." ... "The trend has been evolving for 30 years. The reasons behind it are too complex to pin on one party. But it has been especially pronounced since the Democrats' razor-thin win in last year's election, giving them effectively a 51-49 Senate majority, and the Republicans' exile to the minority." ... "Seven months into the current two-year term, the Senate has held 42 "cloture" votes aimed at shutting off extended debate — filibusters, or sometimes only the threat of one — and moving to up-or-down votes on contested legislation. Under Senate rules that protect a minority's right to debate, these votes require a 60-vote supermajority in the 100-member Senate." ... "Democrats have trouble mustering 60 votes; they've fallen short 22 times so far this year. That's largely why they haven't been able to deliver on their campaign promises." ... "By sinking a cloture vote this week, Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic bid to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by April, even though a 52-49 Senate majority voted to end debate." ... "This year Republicans also have blocked votes on immigration legislation, a no-confidence resolution for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and major legislation dealing with energy, labor rights and prescription drugs." -By Margaret Talev -McClatchyDC.com

20070717

Karl Rove - Sara Taylor - North Carolina - Political - Sheriffs - Government - Drug - Media - 2006 Election - "Drug czar's visit questioned." ... "A visit from the White House drug czar to western North Carolina last year has raised questions in a congressional investigation into the politicization of the national drug policy office." ... "Drug czar John Walters met with [North Carolina Represenative] Republican Reps. Patrick McHenry and [North Carolina Republican Represenative] Charles Taylor in their home districts in August." ... "The meetings, each with local sheriffs, were held behind closed doors but highlighted in local newspapers at the time." ... "According to a memo and e-mails obtained by a House oversight committee, the visits appeared to be part of a larger program to have officials from the Office of National Drug Control Policy visit districts of vulnerable GOP [Republican] members of Congress [before the 2006 election]." ... "The memo, authored in part by White House political affairs director Sara Taylor, describes 31 suggested or completed visits by Walters to Republican districts around the country." ... "In a follow-up e-mail, a White House official passed along praise from Karl Rove, [Republican] President Bush's top political advisor, for the work of Walters and his deputies." -By Barb Barrett -NewsObserver.com

20070713

Mexico - Drug - Terrorism - Texas - American - Journalist - "Journalist along Texas-Mexico border receives threat: Gulf drug cartel reportedly targets reporter." ... "Government officials and journalist organizations expressed concern Friday about a reported threat against an unnamed American reporter working on the Texas-Mexico border." ... "Members of the Gulf drug-trafficking cartel were said to have originated the threat, and it seemed to focus on a journalist operating in Nuevo Laredo [Mexico], across the Rio Grande from Laredo [Texas]." -By Dudley Althaus -Chron

20070711

David Vitter - Rudolph W Giuliani - Thomas Ravenel - Gay - Abortion - Immigration - Drugs - Law - 2008 Election - Louisiana - "A Senator’s Moral High Ground Gets a Little Shaky." ... "From the beginning of his political career 16 years ago, [Louisiana Republican] Senator David Vitter has been known for efforts to plant himself on the moral high ground, challenging the ethics of other Louisiana politicians, decrying same-sex marriage and depicting himself as a clean-as-a-whistle champion of family values." ... "That self-created image, a political winner here [Louisiana] since 1991, when Mr. Vitter joined the Louisiana House, took a tumble Monday with the disclosure that his phone number was among those on a list of client numbers kept by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam, who is accused of running a prostitution ring in Washington." ... "But the fallout was far bigger than local: his admission is also a blow to the presidential campaign of [2008 election Republican] Rudolph W. Giuliani, for whom he is Southern campaign chairman." ... "Mr. Vitter, an uncompromising foe of abortion, same-sex marriage and the immigration compromise that died in the Senate in June, was supposed to be Mr. Giuliani’s ambassador to a region with large numbers of social conservatives suspicious of the candidate’s moderate views." ... "But Mr. Vitter’s position in the campaign could now be all the more tenuous given the questions surrounding some of Mr. Giuliani’s other choices, including that of Thomas Ravenel, who stepped down as South Carolina campaign chairman last month after being charged with distribution of cocaine." -By Adam Nossiter with contributions by Marc Santora -NYTimes

20070630

People - Health - Drugs - Companies - Politics - Kansas - "'Sicko' a pain in the neck for health care industry: Uncomfortable attention on insurers, drug companies." ... "In "Sicko," his new film assailing the U.S. health care system, filmmaker Michael Moore doesn't try to be fair to health insurers and pharmaceutical companies." ... "That's because Moore -- the man behind anti-Bush "Fahrenheit 9/11" and pro-gun control "Bowling for Columbine" -- makes no pretense of balance. He has a point of view: Greedy pharmaceutical companies need to be much more tightly regulated. And health insurers? They shouldn't exist at all, replaced instead by government-subsidized health care." ... "Moore builds his case against managed care through a series of anecdotes: a woman whose health insurer denied treatment on the basis she was "too young" to have cervical cancer; another who was billed for an ambulance ride after a car accident because she failed to get the trip "pre-approved."" ... "Some cases are heart-wrenching, such as a Kansas City [Kansas] man who died from kidney cancer after his insurer deemed his treatment options "experimental."" -By Victoria Colliver -SFGate.com

20070625

US - Iraq - Military - Rudy Giuliani - South Carolina - Drugs - Law - Religion - 2008 Election - "Giuliani confronts string of bad news." ... "Republican [2008 election] presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has confronted a spate of bad news in recent days, from the drug indictment of his South Carolina chairman to criticism for skipping meetings of the Iraq Study Group." ... "Among Giuliani's woes:" ... "_Giuliani's South Carolina chairman, state Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, was indicted on federal cocaine charges last week and stepped down from Giuliani's campaign." ... "_Giuliani drew criticism last week for failing to attend official meetings of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that unanimously called for gradual troop reductions in Iraq. Giuliani said he quit the panel after two months because it didn't seem that he could keep it focused on "a bipartisan, nonpolitical resolution." However, Newsday reported that instead of attending two meetings, Giuliani was at paid speaking engagements." ... "_Victims' advocates called on Giuliani to fire Monsignor Alan Placa, a Catholic priest suspended from the church over abuse allegations, from Giuliani's security consulting firm. A Giuliani spokeswoman said last week that the company has no plans to fire Placa, a childhood friend of Giuliani's." -By Libby Quaid -AP via -Yahoo

20070619

Thomas Ravenel - Giuliani - South Carolina - Drugs - Enforcement - Politics - 2008 Election - "Giuliani’s S.C. chairman faces cocaine charge: State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel considered rising star in state politics." ... "South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a former real estate developer who became a rising political star after his election last year, was indicted Tuesday on federal cocaine charges." ... "The millionaire is accused of buying less than 500 grams of the drug to share with other people in late 2005, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd said." ... "State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said his agents were aware of the allegations before Ravenel was elected in November, but they didn’t have enough information to pursue criminal charges." -AP via -MSNBC

20070614

John Edwards - 2008 Election - Health - Companies - Drugs - Patent - "Edwards details health care plan." ... "[2008 election] Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Thursday proposed cutting health care costs by overhauling the patent process for breakthrough drugs and requiring health insurance companies to spend at least 85% of their premiums on patient care." ... ""Dealing with the health care crisis is about more than just about coverage," Edwards said. "Our health care system is entirely too expensive. We put more money into health care than any country in the industrialized world and we get one of the worst products out in the other end." -AP via -Yahoo

20070613

Government - Radio - Phone - Patent - Tech - Drug - Laws - Consumer - Politics - "UPDATE: New Bush Aide Has Extensive Corporate Lobbying Ties." ... "The line between lobbying the federal government and running it just got blurrier." ... "A new high-ranking adviser to President George W. Bush will enter the White House with recent lobbying ties to dozens of companies seeking the federal government's help on everything from proposed acquisitions to patent disputes." ... "Ed Gillespie, named Wednesday as the next White House counselor, is a partner in Quinn Gillespie & Associates LLC, a lobbying firm whose clients include: Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), which needs antitrust approval to acquire a rival; Qualcomm (QCOM), which wants Bush to veto a federal agency's ban on imported cell phones made with its chips; and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group trying to limit drug industry regulation." ... "Consumer advocates lamented Bush's decision to put Gillespie in his inner circle, fearing that the interests of average citizens would be trumped by those of corporate America." -AP via -CNN

20070510

Rudolph Giuliani - Bernard Kerik - Drug - Money - Politician - Government - Med - Enforcement - New York - Election 2008 - "OxyContin: The Giuliani Connection." ... "[2008 election Republican Presidential candidate] Rudolph Giuliani and his consulting company, Giuliani Partners, have served as key advisors for the last five years to the pharmaceutical company that pled guilty today to charges it misled doctors and patients about the addiction risks of the powerful narcotic painkiller OxyContin." ... "Federal officials say the company, Purdue Frederick, helped to trigger a nationwide epidemic of addiction to the time-release painkiller by failing to give early warnings that it could be abused." ... "Prosecutors say "in the process scores died."" ... "Drug Enforcement Administration officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com Giuliani personally met with the head of the DEA when the DEA's drug diversion office began a criminal investigation into the company." ... "According to the book "Painkiller," by New York Times reporter Barry Meier, both Giuliani and his then-partner Bernard Kerik "were in direct contact with Asa Hutchinson, the administrator of DEA."" ... "Meier wrote that "with Giuliani now in the mix, the pace of DEA's investigation into Purdue's OxyContin plant in New Jersey slowed as Hutchinson repeatedly summoned division officials to his office to explain themselves and their reasons for continuing the inquiry."" -By Brian Ross, Richard Esposito, and R. Schwartz -ABCNEWS.com

20070503

Health - Science - Consumer - Food - Drug - Safety - Terrorism - Emergencies - Lawmakers - Politics - Animal - Pets - Pennsylvania - Colorado - Michigan - Calif - Kan - Mass - "FDA plan to close field labs draws fire." ... "A Food and Drug Administration plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories has angered some lawmakers, government workers and safety advocates, who fear the move will chase away skilled veteran employees and hurt the FDA's ability to respond to public health emergencies." ... "The FDA's field labs inspect and analyze food, drugs, animal medications and feeds, medical devices and other health products." ... "The labs check for compliance with federal guidelines, protect consumers from unsafe, ineffective and mislabeled products, and help investigate public health threats such as product tampering, bio-terrorism, food-borne illnesses and contaminated blood supplies." ... "Several of the facilities helped investigate the recent pet food scare and E. coli and salmonella outbreaks in spinach and peanut butter. On the heels of these crises, the proposed lab closings have been met with strong suspicion." ... "Over the next several years, the FDA wants to close labs in Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]; Denver [Colorado]; Detroit [Michigan]; Alameda, Calif. [California]; Lenexa, Kan.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Winchester, Mass [Massachusetts]. Those operations and an estimated 250 employees would then be moved to five multi-purpose "mega-labs" that could handle all types of FDA testing." ... "But some fear that fewer labs would delay the testing of food, biological medical products or drugs in the event of a public health emergency." -By Tony Pugh -McClatchy via -RealCities

20070417

Government - Health - Drug - Money- Law - Nev - "Medicare Bill Seems Headed for Defeat." ... "Democrats signaled that a main post-election agenda item — giving the government the authority to negotiate for lower drug prices in Medicare –appears headed for defeat in the Senate in a procedural vote scheduled for Wednesday." ... "“Based on the power of the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the closeness they have to the administration and the Republicans, I don’t have a lot of confidence,” said Senate Majority Leader [Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid (D., Nev.), when asked about the bill’s prospects." ... "In any case, the White House has threatened to veto the measure. " -By Sarah Lueck -WSJ.com

20070111

Georgia - Civil Liberties - Drug - Law - "Report: Lies involved in no-knock warrant." ... "An Atlanta police narcotics officer has told federal investigators at least one member of his unit lied about making a drug buy at the home of an elderly woman killed in a subsequent raid, according to a person close to the investigation." ... "In an affidavit to get a search warrant at the home Nov. 21, narcotics officer Jason R. Smith told a magistrate he and Officer Arthur Tesler had a confidential informant buy $50 worth of crack at 933 Neal St. from a man named "Sam."" ... "But narcotics officer Gregg Junnier, who was wounded in the shootout, has since told federal investigators that did not happen, according to the person close to the investigation. Police got a no-knock warrant after claiming that "Sam" had surveillance cameras outside the Neal Street residence and they needed the element of surprise to capture him and the drugs." ... "The resident at the home, Kathryn Johnston, who is reported to be either 88 or 92, was startled by the sound of her burglar-bar door being battered in, and she fired her revolver at the officers. She was killed and three officers were wounded by gunfire or shrapnel." -By Bill Torpy with contributions by Jeffry Scott-AJC

20061110

US - Government - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Privacy - Environment - Health - Seniors - Drugs - Oil - Industry - Legal - History - Missouri - "Democrats are set to subpoena: The new majority is expected to hold hearings on military spending and the Iraq war -- just for starters." ... "[Missouri Democrat] Rep. Ike Skelton knows what he will do in one of his first acts as chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the Democratic-led House: resurrect the subcommittee on oversight and investigations." ... "The panel was disbanded by the Republicans after they won control of Congress in 1994. Now, Skelton (D-Mo.) intends to use it as a forum to probe Pentagon spending and the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war." ... "With control of every committee in Congress starting in January, the new majority will inherit broad powers to subpoena and investigate. And that is expected to translate into wide-ranging and contentious hearings." ... "The agenda is likely to be dominated by the Iraq war, but could include probes into the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance, environmental policies and new prescription-drug program for seniors. Industries, such as oil companies, could also come under closer scrutiny." ... ""This could be remembered as a historically unique period in which an administration got immunity from Congress to engage in errors with impunity," said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor and a former House counsel." ... "Democrats are expected to bore into the Iraq war, including review of no-bid contracts for reconstruction, intelligence failures and decisions to ignore the advice of military commanders about troop levels." (1, 2) -By Richard B. Schmitt and Richard Simon -LAtimes

20061105

Ted Haggard - Gay - Drug - Politics - Colorado - "Disgraced Haggard: I am a "deceiver and a liar." ... "In a letter of apology read to the congregation of [Colorado's] New Life Church Sunday morning, Ted Haggard confessed to sexual immorality and described himself as "a deceiver and a liar."" ... ""There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life," Haggard wrote." ... "Describing a lifelong battle against temptations that were contrary to his teachings, Haggard said he had sought assistance "in a variety of ways," and while he had stretches of "freedom," nothing proved effective." ... "Haggard was fired as senior pastor of the church on Saturday by an oversight board of pastors that concluded Haggard committed "sexually immoral conduct." The board had investigated claims by a male prostitute who said publicly this week that Haggard paid him for sex and took methamphetamine over a three-year period." -By Eric Gorski -DenverPost.com

20061104

Ted Haggard - Gay - Drug - Politics - Colorado - Law - "Haggard fired for "sexually immoral conduct"." ... "Ted Haggard, the beleaguered pastor of a Colorado Springs [Colorado] evangelical church who had denied having sex with a male prostitute, has been fired by an oversight board, which found him guilty of "sexually immoral conduct."" ... "The findings stand in stark contrast to the immensely popular public image of the New Life Church's founding pastor. A rising star, Haggard, 50, was at times a consultant to the White House, the author of several books, and until he stepped down this week, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 30 million worshippers." ... "The board that made the decision, called the "Overseer Board of New Life Church," said in a prepared statement Saturday afternoon: "Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."" ... "Mike Jones, 49, of Denver [Colorado], had come forward Wednesday and said Haggard had had a paid sexual relationship with him monthly for three years. Jones also said Haggard used crystal meth." ... "And though he said he didn't want to ruin Haggard's life, there was too much at stake in keeping silent. Haggard is a vocal support of Amendment 43, which would define marriage in Colorado as being strictly between a man and a woman." -By Chuck Plunkett with contributions by Kirk Mitchell -DenverPost.com

20061103

Ted Haggard - Drugs - Gay - Colorado - Politics - "Powerful pastor's drug purchases shocks evangelicals." ... "The Rev. Ted Haggard, who has resigned as one of the nation's top evangelical leaders, admitted Friday he had contacted a male prostitute for a massage and bought methamphetamine." ... "Haggard also acknowledged contacting Mike Jones but has denied Jones' accusation that the two men regularly had sex over three years." ... "The admissions -- after Haggard's earlier denials that he even knew Jones -- resonated among America's evangelicals and Christian leaders." ... "Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group representing more than 45,000 churches with 30 million members." ... "He also temporarily stepped aside Thursday as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs [Colorado], pending an internal investigation into Jones' allegations." ... "Haggard was one of a group of religious leaders who regularly participated in conference calls with White House aides, Time magazine reported." -Contributed to by Delia Gallagher -CNN
Ted Haggard - Drugs - Gay - Religious - "Evangelist Admits Meth, Massage, No Sex: National Evangelical Leader, Gay Marriage Opponent, Admits to Meth and Massage but Not Gay Sex." ... "Evangelist Ted Haggard admitted Friday that he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the outspoken gay marriage opponent." ... "Talking to reporters outside his house Friday, Haggard denied the sex allegations but said that he did buy meth from the man because he was curious." ... "Haggard was appointed president of the evangelicals association in March 2003. He has participated in conservative Christian leaders' conference calls with White House staffers and lobbied members of Congress last year on U.S. Supreme Court appointees after Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement." (1, 2, 3) -By Catherine Tsai with contributions by Dan Elliott -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Ted Haggard - Drugs - Religious - Gay- Colorado - "Christian Leader Admits to Buying Drugs." ... "The Rev. Ted Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, admitted today that he had purchased the illegal drug methamphetamine from a gay escort in Denver [Colorado], but denied that he ever had sex with the man." ... "Ted Haggard, the former president of the U.S. National Association of Evangelicals, resigned on Thursday after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a male escort." ... "Mr. Haggart resigned as president of the evangelical association and stepped aside as senior pastor of the New Life mega-church in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday after Michael Forest Jones, a self-described former gay prostitute, accused him of having a sexual affair for three years and using the drug, commonly known as crystal meth, during those encounters." -NYTimes

20060815

Secret - Reporters - Business - Sports - Drugs - San Francisco - California - "Reporters must testify over Bonds leak." ... "A federal judge told two San Francisco Chronicle [California newspaper] reporters they must comply with a subpoena and tell a grand jury who leaked them secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government's steroid probe." ... "The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White means reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada must appear before a grand jury investigating the leak unless a higher court blocks the ruling. The pair have said they would not testify and would go to jail rather than reveal their source or sources." ... "The Hearst Corp., owner of the Chronicle, argued that the reporters should be immune to testifying because of a combination of factors, including the First Amendment." ... "Hearst said the leak doesn't involve national security and that a lot of good has come from the writers' reporting." -By David Kravets -AP via -USATODAY

Search the case: <United States v. Fainaru-Wada, 06-90225> via <Google-[News]>

20060809

Kids- Behavior - Enforcement - Texas - Drugs - "At schools, less tolerance for 'zero tolerance'." ... ""Zero tolerance" discipline policies that are enforced widely in U.S. schools are backfiring: They may be promoting misbehavior and making students feel more anxious, the American Psychological Association (APA) said Wednesday." ... "The group called for more flexibility and common sense in applying the policies, reserving zero tolerance for the most serious threats to school safety." ... "Zero-tolerance policies spread in the 1990s as a tool to fight drug use and violence on campuses. Schools often suspend or expel students for having weapons or drugs, which can include over-the-counter medicine, says educational psychologist Cecil Reynolds of Texas A&M University. Verbal threats, fighting or sexual harassment also can get kids booted, he says. "There are cases such as the kindergarten boy who hugged two classmates. His teacher reported him for sexual harassment, and he was suspended."" ... ""The 'one-size-fits-all' approach isn't working. Bringing aspirin to school is not the same as bringing cocaine. A plastic knife isn't the same as a handgun," Reynolds says. He led an APA panel that summarized research on the topic." -By Marilyn Elias -USATODAY

20060731

Women's - Abortion - Pill - History - Teens - Gov - Science - Politics - "History of the morning-after pill." ... "Major events in the history of the morning-after pill:" ... "-July 1999: Plan B is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for prescription use as an emergency contraceptive." ... "-April 2003: Women's Capital Corp. files an application with the FDA to make Plan B available without a prescription." ... "-December 2003: An FDA panel votes 23-4 to recommend Plan B be sold over the counter." ... "-May 2004: The FDA says Plan B "not approvable" for over-the-counter use, citing concerns about young teens using the drug." ... "-October 2005: The Government Accountability Office calls the FDA's handing of Plan B "highly unusual."" -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource

20060615

Drug

Police

Home

Privacy

History

"Court Rules Warrant Is Enough." ... "A closely divided Supreme Court ruled today that drug evidence found in the search of a home may be used against a suspect even if police officers violated the law by not giving the homeowner fair warning before they rushed inside." ... "In the past, the court has insisted that evidence must be thrown out if the police violated the Constitution's ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures." This so-called exclusionary rule was among the most controversial legal developments of the 1960s, and it continues to irritate many law and order conservatives." ... "In 1995, the justices agreed unanimously that the 4th Amendment usually required officers to knock on the door and call out "Police!" before they burst into a home. This rule helped protect the safety of the police and the privacy of the residents, the court said then." ... "Until now, however, it was not clear whether the police would be penalized if they ignored this rule. Officers were told they should usually wait about 20 seconds after announcing their presence before they tried to enter a house. They may move faster if they suspect the residents are going to flush drugs down a toilet, the court said." -By David G. Savage -LAtimes

20060601

Reporters - Law Enforcement - Politics - Sports - Drugs - San Francisco - California - "Justice Dept. Is Criticized by Ex-Official on Subpoenas." ... "Subpoenas issued last month to reporters for The San Francisco Chronicle were criticized yesterday by a former chief spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "reckless abuse of power."" ... "The former spokesman, Mark Corallo, made similar statements in an affidavit filed in federal court yesterday. He said Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, had acted improperly in issuing the subpoenas." ... ""This is the most reckless abuse of power I have seen in years," Mr. Corallo said in an interview. "They really should be ashamed of themselves."" ... "The subpoenas, part of an effort to identify The Chronicle's sources for its coverage of steroid use in baseball, would not have been authorized by Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Corallo said. "You just don't ride roughshod over the rights of reporters to gather information from confidential sources," he added." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes

20060529

Colombia - Military - Drugs - Employment - Economy - Poverty - History - "Victorious Colombian Uribe faces high expectations." ... "Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe on Sunday scored a landslide re-election victory that handed him a solid mandate for four more years as Washington's closest ally in Latin America." ... "One of Colombia's most popular presidents, Uribe won 62 percent of the ballots as conflict-weary voters rewarded him for his campaign to curb warring left-wing rebels and militia and the cocaine trade that fuels a long-running insurgency." ... "But even as the first incumbent president to be re-elected in Colombia's modern history, Uribe must sustain his security crackdown on FARC rebels and control disbanded right-wing militia while tackling social issues such as unemployment and poverty." ... "While Colombia's economy has grown solidly under Uribe's guidance and foreign investment has expanded, half of the country's 41 million people still live in poverty." (1, 2) -By Patrick Markey -Reuters

20060508

Secret - Health - Consumer - Drug - Industry - Legislation - E-Mail - Bill Frist - Tennessee - "Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law: E-mails reveal private meetings." ... "Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group." ... "E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers show the organization met privately with Frist's staff and the White House about measures that would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines." ... "The communications were made public in a report released this week by the group Public Citizen. Its study follows a February story in The Tennessean that Frist, along with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., ordered the vaccine liability language inserted in a defense spending bill in December without debate and in violation of usual Senate practice." ... "The group, called the Biotechnology Industry Organization, wanted such language in the bill, the e-mails reflect." -By Bill Theobald -Tennessean

20060222

Health - Drugs - Seniors - Technology - Government - "Health Care Spending for U.S. May Double to $4 Trillion by 2015." ... "U.S. spending for health care may double to $4 trillion by 2015, propelled by an aging population using more drugs, hospital care and technology, according to a government forecast." ... "If medical spending rises that much, it will consume about 20 cents of every dollar in goods and services produced in the U.S, up from 16 cents last year, said authors of the outlook." ... "The health-care spending outlook was compiled by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicare and Medicaid programs are the largest purchasers of health care in the U.S., paying for treatments for 90 million older, poor and disabled people, or about three in 10 Americans." -Bloomberg

20060117

US - Oregon - Health - Drugs - Netherlands - "Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's assisted-suicide law today, declaring that the Bush administration had exceeded its authority in trying to undo the statute by punishing doctors who help people end their lives." ... "In a 6-to-3 decision, which would apply to other states if their people chose to follow Oregon's lead, the court held that former Attorney General John Ashcroft went well beyond his authority and expertise when he ruled in 2001 that doctors would lose their federal prescription privileges if they prescribed lethal doses of medications for patients." ... "Today's ruling allows the state of Oregon to continue to follow the practice of the Netherlands, which in 2002 became the first country to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in limited circumstances." (1, 2) -By David Stout -NYTimes

Search Google: <Gonzales v. Oregon, No. 04-623>

Oregon - Health - Drugs - John Roberts - "Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's challenge to the nation's only right-to-die law today and ruled Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft overstepped his authority when he sought to punish the Oregon doctors who helped terminally ill people end their lives." ... "The 6-3 decision was a victory for states and their independent-minded voters, and a defeat for social conservatives." ... "New Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in his first significant decision, joined Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in dissent." ... "The high court majority said the states — not federal authorities — have long had the power to regulate the practice of medicine and the licensing of doctors." -By David G. Savage -LAtimes

20051222

US - Arizona - Mexico - Drugs - Terrorism - Law - Intelligence - "Surprise - terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate 118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct. 1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year, fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing, increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor

20051221

Vietnam - Drugs - "Bird flu victims die after drug resistance." ... "In a development health experts are calling alarming, two bird flu patients in Vietnam died after developing resistance to Tamiflu, the key drug that governments are stockpiling in case of a large-scale outbreak." ... "The experts said the deaths were disturbing because the two girls had received early and aggressive treatment with Tamiflu and had gotten the recommended doses." ... "The new report suggests that the doses doctors now consider ideal may be too little." -By Alicia Chang -AP via-Miami/Herald

20051216

US - Mexico - US Immigration - Drugs - Law - California - New Mexico - Texas - Arizona - "House Votes for 698 Miles of Fences on Mexico Border." ... "House Republicans voted on Thursday night to toughen a border security bill by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to build five fences along 698 miles of the United States border with Mexico to block the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into this country." ... "The amendment to the bill would require the construction of the fences along stretches of land in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona that have been deemed among the most porous corridors of the border." ... "The vote on the amendment was a victory for conservatives who had long sought to build such a fences along the Mexican border. But the vote was sharply assailed by Democrats, who compared the fences to the Berlin Wall in Germany. Twelve Republicans also voted against the amendment." -By Rachel L. Swarns -NYTimes

20051214

Canada - US - World - Drugs - Internet - Privacy - "Meth addicts' other habit: Online theft." ... "Hot on the trail of identity thieves, veteran [Alberta, Canada] Edmonton Police Service detectives Al Vonkeman and Bob Gauthier last winter hustled to a local motel, a cinder-block establishment where rooms rent by the hour." ... "Inside Room 24 the detectives found meth pipes, stolen credit cards, notebooks with handwritten notations about fraudulent transactions and printouts of stolen identity data." ... "Evidence in the motel room would ultimately lead them to a much bigger revelation: The Edmonton ring had gone global." ... "It no longer relied solely on dumpster-diving, mailbox-pilfering street addicts to supply stolen credit cards, checks and account statements, the grist for local thefts. Instead, it had advanced to complex joint ventures, conducted over the Internet, in partnership with organized cybercrime rings outside the country." ... "What's happening in Edmonton is happening to one degree or another in communities across the USA and Canada — anywhere meth addicts are engaging in identity theft and can get on the Internet, say police, federal law enforcement officials and Internet security experts." -By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz -USATODAY

20051213

Psychology - Drugs - Science - Alabama - "Parkinson's hope over 'implants': US scientists have moved a step closer to developing a brain implant therapy for Parkinson's disease symptoms." ... "The most common drug treatment for the brain condition is levodopa, but the pills can leave people susceptible to involuntary movements such as twitches." ... "The Alabama University team found in tests on six patients, eye cells which produce levodopa can be implanted safely and without the side effects." ... "The study was published in the Archives of Neurology journal."-BBC /News

20051129

New Jersey - Health - Drugs - Business - "Merck to cut 7,000 jobs: World's third-largest drugmaker says it will close 5 plants in the wake of 6,400 lawsuits over heart medicine problems." ... "Merck & Co. announced yesterday it will eliminate 7,000 jobs, the biggest reduction in the company's 114-year history, and said it still has "work to do" after a three-year earnings decline." ... "Chief executive Richard Clark said the world's third-largest drugmaker will close five plants to trim costs by as much as $4 billion through 2010 and will seek acquisitions to boost product offerings. The job cuts represent about 11 percent of Whitehouse Station, N.J.[New Jersey]-based Merck's global workforce of 62,000 and will be completed by the end of 2008." -Bloomberg via -Newsday.com

20051124

Samuel Alito - Family -Woman - Privacy- Law - Politics - Advertising - Pennsylvania - Drugs - "Alito ad flap centers on strip search of woman, daughter." ... "When police in a small Pennsylvania coal town went to the home of a suspected methamphetamine dealer, they sent for a female meter maid to search the suspect's wife and 10-year-old daughter." ... "The woman took the two to an upstairs bathroom, had them lift their shirts and drop their pants and patted them down. Then she directed them downstairs, where they sat on a couch while a Schuylkill County drug squad searched the home." ... "As a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Alito found it acceptable to search family members even if they were not specifically named in the warrant. But his view came in a dissent to the 2-1 majority opinion written by colleague Michael Chertoff then a judge, now the nation's Homeland Security secretary who said that officers went beyond the terms of the search warrant and were liable for potential damages." -AP via -USATODAY

20051118

Japan - US - Drugs - Psychology - "Childhood Deaths in Japan Bring New Look at Flu Drug." ... "The [American] Food and Drug Administration is looking into reports of deaths and abnormal behavior among children in Japan who took the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu, which is being stockpiled by governments around the world for use in a possible flu pandemic." ... "Roche, the company that sells Tamiflu, said that the reports of these problems were rare given that millions of people had used the drug, and that the problems might have been caused by the flu itself." ... "The documents also said there had been 32 instances of "neuropsychiatric events," 31 of them in Japan, including delirium, abnormal behavior and hallucination." -By Andrew Pollack -NYTimes

20051116

Labor - Drug - Politics - "Baseball Backs Stiffer Penalties for Steroid Use." ... "Reacting to Congressional pressure, Major League Baseball announced yesterday that it would again toughen the penalties for steroid use and for the first time establish testing and penalties for the use of amphetamines." ... "Under the new agreement, players who fail a test for steroids next season will be suspended 50 games, with the penalties increasing to 100 games for a second offense and a lifetime suspension for a third. A three-time offender could seek reinstatement after two years." ... "Baseball currently mandates a 10-day suspension for the first positive test, a 30-day suspension for the second, a 60-day suspension for the third and a one-year suspension for the fourth. A fifth failed test would result in a penalty at the commissioner's discretion." (1, 2) -By Jack Curry -NYTimes

20051115

Government - Science - Medical - Woman - Drugs - "FDA's Actions on Pill Faulted: A GAO report bolsters charges that the agency bowed to politics over a 'morning-after' drug." ... "Federal drug regulators compromised their usual science-based decision-making process when they ruled in 2004 against letting the "morning-after" birth control pill be sold without a prescription, congressional investigators said Monday." ... "A detailed report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office bolstered critics' charges that the Food and Drug Administration had yielded to political pressure from social conservatives, who feared that easier access to the drug would encourage promiscuity." ... "GAO investigators also found that three separate FDA offices had recommended that Plan B be approved for sale without a prescription after reviewing data on safety and effectiveness. Two panels of outside advisors had reached the same conclusion at a joint meeting." (1, 2) -By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar -LAtimes

20051107

World - Switzerland - Drugs - "Roche plans 10-fold increase in Tamiflu." ... "Roche Holding (RHHBF) said Monday that will be able to produce 300 million treatments of Tamiflu in 2007, marking the first time the Swiss drugmaker has disclosed specific annual production plans for its increasingly-popular antiviral drug." ... "Tamiflu, which reduces flu symptoms, is being stockpiled by countries as a potential treatment if a worldwide flu pandemic occurs. Governments and health officials have pressed Roche to license manufacturing rights to other companies so that supplies can be increased faster." -By Julie Schmit -USATODAY

20051104

Samuel Alito - Drug - Parents - Privacy - Law - "Alito shows a different side in his dissents." ... "The facts of the case were stunning: A 10-year-old was strip-searched in her home by police officers whose warrant authorized only the search of her father, a suspected drug dealer." ... "To the other judges who heard the case, the law seemed clearly on the girl's side: The very purpose of a warrant is to limit the scope of permissible searches." ... "But Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito saw it differently. And his ruling opens a window onto one facet of his judicial philosophy." ... "Alito said the girl's search, while unfortunate, was justified because supporting documents broadened the warrant's sweep. It was a technicality, he said, that the particulars were left out of the warrant itself, and that was no reason to punish good cops who were just doing their jobs." ... "He was the only judge hearing the case who thought the police acted properly." -By Stephen Henderson -Knight Ridder via -MercuryNews

20051027

US - Switzerland - Global- Drug - Consumer - "Flu drug shipments to U.S. suspended." ... "Amid worries about bird flu, demand for a flu medicine is so extreme that the drug's maker has stopped shipping it to private U.S. suppliers just as consumers fret over whether they should try to stock up on the drug." ... "Tamiflu, a prescription drug designed to treat regular flu, is running scarce because of worries the bird flu in Asia might morph into a contagious human flu that circles the globe." ... "Tamiflu's maker, Roche Holding AG in Switzerland, said Thursday it was temporarily suspending U.S. shipment because of increased global demand. Company officials have previously said they are limiting supplies to pharmacies to thwart hoarding." ... "But there are signs that is happening." -By Lindsey Tanner -AP via-Miami/Herald

20051024

Brain - Genetics - Drug - Science - "Schizophrenia Linked to Genetic Mutation." ... "Heredity seems to play a major role in schizophrenia, since the disease runs in families, and now new research sheds light on exactly how a genetic mutation disrupts the brain and makes people develop the condition." ... "The findings could eventually result in better drugs for schizophrenia, which is difficult to treat. For now, however, they're helping scientists understand the development of the disease, said Dr. Doron Gothelf, a child psychiatrist at Stanford University and co-author of a study in the Oct. 23 online issue of Nature Neuroscience." -Forbes

20051017

Iceland - US - New Jersey - Drugs - "UPDATE 1-Alpharma selling generics to Actavis for $810 mln." ... "Alpharma Inc. (ALO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it was getting out of the generic drugs business by selling its largest division to Iceland-based Actavis Group (ACT.IC: Quote, Profile, Research) for $810 million in cash, sending Alpharma shares 4 percent higher." ... "The purchase bolsters acquisitive Actavis's generic drug business in the United States. Actavis leaped into the U.S. generics market in May when it agreed to pay more than $500 million in cash for privately held Amide Pharmaceutical Inc. of Little Falls, New Jersey." -Reuters
Oregon - Parents - Drugs - "Student suspended for bringing vitamins to school in backpack." ... "Jessica Booth, a senior at Oregon City High School, is on suspension after school officials say she brought vitamins to school without prior notification." ... "Her mother says she thinks the school overreacted to Jessica's over-the-counter supplements, which she says her daughter needs for lactose intolerance." ... "Booth also claims school officials told her that the pills could have led to arrest and jail." ... "Jessica's mother, Michelle Booth, says she thinks the school overreacted to the vitamins, and that threats of arrest, jail time and the five-day suspension are unwarranted." -KATU.com

20051013

Bill Frist - Health - Drugs - Business - Politics - Tenn. - "SEC Issues Subpoena To Frist, Sources Say: Records Sought On Sale of Stock." ... "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the subpoena within the past two weeks, after initial reports that Frist, the Senate's top Republican official, was under scrutiny by the agency and the Justice Department for possible violations of insider trading laws." ... "The disclosure of the subpoena comes as Democrats blasted Frist anew for his financial and personal ties to Hospital Corporation of America, a Nashville [Tennessee] chain founded in 1968 by his father and his brother, Thomas Frist Jr. Critics yesterday seized on a report that Frist held a substantial amount of his family's hospital stock outside of blind trusts between 1998 and 2002 -- a time when he asserted he did not know how much of the stock he owned." ... "During his decade in the Senate, Frist has been active in shaping health care policy, including creation of a Medicare prescription drug benefit." -By Carrie Johnson and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum -WashingtonPost

20051006

Australia - Medical - Drugs - Science - People - "A triumph for scientific freedom." ... "This week's Nobel Prize winners in medicine -- Australians Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren -- toppled the conventional wisdom in more ways than one. They proved that most ulcers were caused by a lowly bacterium, which was an outrageous idea at the time. But they also showed that if science is to advance, scientists need the freedom and the funding to let their imaginations roam." -By Madeline Drexler -Boston/Globe

20051005

Oregon - Medical - Drugs - "Justices Hear Arguments on Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law." ... "The question of assisted suicide reached the Supreme Court today for the second time in eight years, although the profound issues of professional ethics and personal autonomy that have animated the national debate largely remained outside the courtroom." ... "Instead, lawyers for the federal government and for Oregon, the only state to have authorized physician-assisted suicide, argued over a single question: whether John Ashcroft acted within his authority as attorney general when he decided in 2001 that doctors would lose their federal prescription privileges if they followed the Oregon law's procedures and prescribed lethal doses of lawful medications for their terminally ill patients who wanted to end their own lives." -NYTimes
Oregon - Medical - Drugs - "High Court Revisits Suicide Debate." ... "The Supreme Court is revisiting the emotionally charged issue of physician-assisted suicide in a test of the federal government's power to block doctors from helping terminally ill patients end their lives." ... "Oregon is the only state that lets dying patients obtain lethal doses of medication from their doctors, although other states may pass laws of their own if the high court rules against the federal government. Voters in Oregon have twice endorsed doctor-assisted suicide, but the Bush administration has aggressively challenged the state law." (1, 2) -CBSNews

Google Search: <Gonzales v. Oregon, 04-623-[News]>

20050731

OR - Salem - - Drugs - "Prescriptions for cold pills to fight meth OK'd by Ore. Senate." ... "A plan to make Oregon the first state to require a doctor's prescription for many cold and allergy relief medicines was approved Saturday by the [Salem] Oregon Senate with the aim of shutting down methamphetamine labs around the state." ... "The bill was endorsed despite complaints that the requirement will put a hardship on law-abiding citizens who can't afford doctor visits." ... "But backers called it a necessary step to help curb availability of ingredients used to make a drug that's ruining lives — especially those of children who are exposed to toxic chemicals and neglect in homes used as meth labs." -By Brad Cain -AP via -kgw.com

20050730

OR - Salem - - Drugs - "Oregon anti-meth law would require prescriptions." ... "A bill passed by lawmakers on Saturday would make Oregon the first U.S. state to require a doctor's prescription for cold medicines containing an ingredient that can be used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine." ... "The bills passed by the [Salem] Oregon Senate and House of Representatives also would toughen penalties for meth-related crimes." -Reuters

20050727

OR - Salem - - Drugs - "House passes bill to toughen penalties for meth-related crimes." ... "A bill to toughen punishments for methamphetamine-related crimes was overwhelmingly passed Wednesday by the [Salem, Oregon] House, sending the measure to Gov. Ted Kulongoski." ... "The other bill in the meth package, which also has passed the House, would make Oregon the first state to require prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which can be made into meth." -By Niki Sullivan -AP via -OregonLive.com

20050720

- - - - Drugs - - "Protesters in China get angrier and bolder." ... "The police began deploying in large numbers before dusk Monday, but the angry villagers had already made their moves. They had learned their lessons after studying reports of riots that had swept rural China in recent months. Sneaking over mountain paths and wading through rice paddies, they made their way to a pharmaceuticals plant, they said, for a showdown over the environmental threat they say it poses." ... "As many as 15,000 people massed here on Sunday night and fought with the authorities, overturning police cars and throwing stones, undeterred by thick clouds of tear gas." ... "The riots in Xinchang are part of a rising tide of discontent in China, with the number of mass protests like these reaching 74,000 last year from about 10,000 a decade earlier, according to government figures. The details have varied from incident to incident, but the recent wave of protests shares a foundation of accumulated anger over the failure of China's political system to respond to legitimate grievances and defiance of the local authorities, who are often seen as corrupt." -By Howard W. French -NYTimes via -IHT.com

20050630

- - - Drugs - "Canada to ban bulk drug exports, allow Internet sales." ... "Canada's health minister announced plans Wednesday to ban bulk exports of prescription drugs to the U.S. but stopped short of cracking down on the brisk cross-border trade in medications for American citizens." ... "Nearly 2 million Americans order prescription drugs from Canada each year, realizing savings of 20 percent to 80 percent off drug prices in this country. All together, Canada's Internet pharmacies rack up annual sales of about $1 billion, with another $500 million coming from so-called foot traffic across the border." -By Judith Graham -ChicagoTribune

20050606

- Drugs - "Court rules medical marijuana laws don't shield users." ... "Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes, even in states that have legalized the practice, the Supreme Court ruled Monday." ... "The court, in a 6-3 decision, concluded that state laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug. The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses." ... "Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana." -Contributed to by Richard Willing and the -AP / -USATODAY

20050523

- Drugs - "Tackling crime, Baltimore [Maryland] style." ... "Such is the self-confidence of the drug-dealing fraternity, that last year they made a DVD called "Stop Snitching"." ... "After a few months of careful production, they've [the police] released a video of their own, complete with hip hop soundtrack." ... "Videos are not the only potent hip hop medium that the police are dealing with." ... "A few months ago, several manufacturers began making Stop Snitching T-shirts, and one local chain began selling them in its stores." ... "The police have now printed their own T-shirts too." -By Matthew Wells-BBC /News

20050503

- Drugs- "Marijuana behind 45 percent of U.S. drug arrests." ... "Marijuana arrests account for almost half of all drug arrests in the United States, which spends $4 billion a year to catch, prosecute and incarcerate offenders, according to a report released on Tuesday.." ... ""Since 1990, there have been 6.2 million arrests for marijuana possession and an additional one million for marijuana trafficking. As of 2002, marijuana arrests comprised 45 percent of all drug arrests," the report by The Sentencing Project said." -By Alan Elsner -Reuters

20050411

Tom DeLay - - - - - - - "DeLay under fire: What's at stake." ... "DeLay has been admonished more by the House Ethics Committee than any sitting member of Congress." ... "Last year, the bipartisan panel — the only House committee with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats — unanimously criticized DeLay for three things. It said a golf fundraiser with executives of an energy company created the appearance that he was giving donors special access. It said he improperly tried to have the Federal Aviation Administration find Texas legislators who were hiding in Oklahoma to thwart action on his plan to redraw the state's congressional districts. And it said he promised a retiring House Republican he would endorse the man's son to succeed him if he voted for Bush's Medicare drug plan." ... "In 1999, the committee warned DeLay after he threatened the Electronic Industries Alliance, a trade group, for hiring a former Democratic congressman as its president. And it cautioned him in 1997 about creating the impression that campaign contributions would bring "official action or access."" ... "In addition, two investigations — one in Texas, the other in Washington— are targeting close DeLay allies." -By Kathy Kiely and Jim Drinkard with contributions by Jill Lawrence -USATODAY

20050223

- - - "Oregon's assisted-suicide law to get high court airing: Supreme Court agrees to review Bush administration's bid to block the nation's only doctor-assisted suicide law." ... "The United States Supreme Court has agreed to take up physician-assisted suicide, potentially one of the most profound political and social issues today. The case involves Oregon's law allowing certain individuals to take their own lives with the help of a doctor. The outcome could determine whether such laws are enacted in other parts of the country." ... "Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" became law in 1997 after voters twice had approved it at the polls by wide margins. It applies only to mentally competent adults who declare their intentions in writing, are diagnosed as terminally ill, and take the prescribed drug themselves orally after a waiting period. Oregon's law specifically prohibits "lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia."" -By Brad Knickerbocker -CSMonitor

20040422

- - "Santa Cruz group wins court OK to grow pot: Ruling allows medical marijuana distribution." ... "A Santa Cruz medical marijuana collective shut down by federal agents two years ago can grow and distribute marijuana for its patients while its civil lawsuit against the federal government is decided by the courts, a federal judge ruled Wednesday." ... "The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose marks the first time a court has granted a medical marijuana organization the right to grow the federally outlawed herb without interference from federal drug agents." ... "The ruling clears the way for the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz to challenge the federal government's authority to raid medical marijuana gardens operating within the boundaries of California law." -By Maria Alicia Gaura -SFGate.com

20031230

- "FDA Expected to Ban Herbal Weight-Loss Treatment Ephedra." ... "After years of debate, federal health officials are expected today to announce they will act to remove the herbal weight-loss treatment Ephedra from the marketplace, the first time the Food and Drug Administration has moved to ban a dietary supplement, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported." ... "Ephedra, once widely taken to enhance athletic performance and as a weight- loss aid, has been linked to heart problems and strokes and was fingered in the death earlier this year of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler." -Contributions by Sarah Lueck, Anna Wilde Mathews and Stefan Fatsis -WSJ.com -DJ via -Quicken.com

20031208

- - "Bush Signs $400B[illion] Medicare Overhaul Bill." ... "Overall, the new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare's creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006. At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program as it was designed at its inception during the Johnson administration." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- - "No Exams Required: Pharmacist Nailed for Online Drug Sales." ... "Francine Haight will never forget the day she found her son Ryan, a high school senior, lifeless, in his bed." ... "It turned out that some of the drugs that killed the La Mesa, Calif., teen on Feb. 12, 2001 came from nationpharmacy.com, a Norman, Okla.-based Internet drug store owned by pharmacist Clayton Fuchs, who also ran other similar Web sites." ... "In October, a federal jury convicted Fuchs, 33, on six felony offenses including conspiracy to dispense a controlled substance, operating a continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering. Prosecuted under the Drug Kingpin Statute, he faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 11." (1, 2, 3) -By Greg Hunter -ABCNEWS.com

20031203

- - Tucson News - "High court clears Raytheon in refusal to rehire worker: Drug user accused Tucson [Arizona] plant of bias." ... "[U.S. Supreme Court] Justices ruled 7-0 that a Raytheon Co. plant in Tucson has a legitimate reason to refuse to rehire workers who break rules, including former employees with addictions." ... "But the court dodged the more significant question, whether the more than 5 million workers with substance-abuse problems have workplace protection under the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act." -By Gina Holland -AP via -azcentral.com

20031202

- - "Google stops accepting ads from unlicensed pharmacies." ... "Google Inc. has stopped accepting advertisements from unlicensed pharmacies, joining other popular sites that have bowed to pressure to limit access to the drugs, such as Vicodin." ... "The crackdown on unlicensed pharmacies comes as regulators and Congress intensify their focus on third parties - Web sites, credit companies and shipping companies - that make it easier for illicit operators to sell potentially dangerous drugs." -By Michael Liedtke -AP via -Miami/Herald

20031123

- - - "Seniors' drug bill survives in House: GOP's late moves win changes in Medicare." ... "After an extraordinary overnight session of arm-twisting and parliamentary tricks, House Republican leaders narrowly staved off defeat yesterday and passed a Medicare prescription drug benefit that represented the most sweeping overhaul of the program in its 38-year history." ... "The measure would provide nearly $400 billion in prescription drug aid to seniors, and for the first time, allow private health care firms to offer Medicare services long guaranteed by the federal government. Its passage spared President Bush a political embarrassment over one of his top priorities as the administration fought to push through his agenda in the waning days of the legislative session." -By Susan Milligan -Boston/Globe

20031008

- - - - Tucson News - "Limits of disability act tested: The high court considers Wednesday whether a former addict should be afforded employment protections." ... "Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he's overcome his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)?" ... "That is the question the US Supreme Court takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case with major implications for companies with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies." ... "The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Joel Hernandez, a 25-year employee of the Hughes Missile Systems Company in Tucson." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor

20030704

- - "Scientists Enhance Ability to Feel: Method Might Restore Sensory Function in Elderly, Improve It in Young." ... "The enhanced sensitivity, achieved with a tiny stimulating device and a single dose of a drug, has reversed fingertip numbness in older people, many of whom have trouble performing everyday tasks such as buttoning shirts or turning switches on and off. Researchers said they suspect it could also help blind people read Braille. And applying the technique to the feet might prevent falls in diabetics who have lost sensation in their toes, which are crucial for balance.": ... "The ability to boost sensory sensitivity, scientists said, could even allow people with normal function to achieve bionic supersensitivity -- for work or recreational purposes -- enhancing the senses of taste or smell or adding to the tactile pleasure of a romantic caress." -By Rick Weiss -WashingtonPost

20030617

- "To stand trial, defendants can be medicated by force: High court rules that state can use drugs when mentally ill defendant is facing trial." ... "The US government can forcibly administer mind-altering drugs to render criminal defendants competent to stand trial, but only under certain limited circumstances." ... "In a case with potential implications for those opposed to conventional medical care, the US Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 Monday that the government's interest in bringing defendants to trial outweighs an individual's decision to be free from forced medication." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor

20030616

- "22 States Limiting Doctors' Latitude in Medicaid Drugs." ... "In one of the most successful efforts to rein in the fast-rising cost of Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor, states are limiting which drugs doctors can prescribe for Medicaid patients." ... "Two years ago, only three states had authorized the use of lists of preferred drugs for such patients; since then, 19 other states have done so, though not all their programs are up and running, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures." ... "Preferred drug lists steer doctors away from some of the most expensive drugs and toward different, less expensive ones that the state deems equally effective, a practice that many private insurance companies and employee health plans have adopted and that is being considered by Congress as part of a government-subsidized drug benefit for 40 million Medicare recipients." (1, 2) -By Richard Pérez-Peña -NYTimes via -Google-News

20030529

- ELECTION 2004 - "Democrat Kucinich endorses medical pot use: He says he'd issue executive order if elected president." ... "Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio became the first Democratic presidential candidate to endorse the legalization of medical marijuana when he told The Chronicle on Wednesday it should be available "to any patient who needs it to alleviate pain and suffering," regardless of the current federal drug laws." ... ""Compassion requires that medical marijuana be available" Kucinich said during a telephone interview after a campaign stop in Cupertino. "We must have health-care systems which are compassionate . . . so I support it without reservation."" -By Carla Marinucci, John Wildermuth -SFGate.com

20030503

- - "Gangs, Drugs Boost Chicago's Murder Rate, on Track to Be Nation's Worst." ... "As of Friday, Chicago had counted 179 murders this year, 16 more than the same time last year." ... "For years, (mayor Richard) Daley and Police Superintendent Terry Hillard have talked about rearranging beats to put more officers in the areas with the most crime. However, aldermen who represent lower-crime areas have resisted any plan that takes police from their areas." -AP via -ABCNEWS.com

20030502

- "With pot and porn outstripping corn, America's black economy is flying high: Illegal migrants provide the muscle for US black market." ... "Marijuana, pornography and illegal labour have created a hidden market in the United States which now accounts for as much as 10% of the American economy, according to a study. As a cash crop, marijuana is believed to have outstripped maize, and hardcore porn revenue is equal to Hollywood's domestic box office takings." ... "Despite laws that punish marijuana cultivation more strictly than murder in some states, Americans spend more on illegal drugs than on cigarettes. And despite official disapproval of pornography, the US leads the world in export of explicit sex videos, according to [the book] Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labour in the American Black Market, by Eric Schlosser." -By Duncan Campbell -Guardian.co.uk

20030408

- - "Baghdad running low on medicine: Aid agencies warned Tuesday that overwhelmed Baghdad hospitals were running low of life-saving medicines and that civilian casualties were mounting in Iraq's besieged capital." ... ""Nobody is checking every single hospital, nobody is adding up all the numbers ... (but) there clearly is a large volume of civilian casualties," World Health Organization spokesman Iain Simpson told a United Nations briefing." --Reuters via -CNN /World

20021115

- "U.S. Homeland Security Bill Faces New Hurdle." ... "Senate Democrats on Friday moved to strip what they called "egregious special interest provisions" from a bill to create a U.S. Department of Homeland Security, complicating efforts to complete one of President Bush's top legislative priorities." ... "Democrats said the vaccine provisions in the bill appeared to be aimed at shielding major U.S. pharmaceutical companies -- which were among the biggest donors to Republican campaign coffers -- from a wave of lawsuits seeking to link a mercury-based vaccine preservative to childhood autism." -By Andrew Clark -Reuters /Politics /World
- "Shields for vaccine makers weighed: Bush administration already offers it in war on terrorism." ... "While senators debate shielding childhood vaccine makers from lawsuits, the Bush administration already has provided such protection for at least two vaccines key to the war on terrorism —smallpox and anthrax." -AP via -MSNBC

20021114

- - - "USDA Orders Prodigene Biocorn Destroyed in Iowa." ... "A small biotech company experimenting with a corn variety engineered to produce insulin was ordered to destroy 155 acres of the crop in Iowa because it may have contaminated nearby fields, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday." ... "A growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting with biotech corn to produce cheaper proteins and compounds for use in pharmaceuticals. ProdiGene's biotech corn grown for pharmaceutical use is not federally approved for human or livestock feed." ... "The USDA, along with the Food and Drug Administration, is trying to determine if the Texas-based company violated any federal regulations. ProdiGene could face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation." -By Randy Fabi -Reuters/Politics
- - - "Biotech Firm Mishandled Corn in Iowa." ... "The biotechnology company that mishandled gene-altered corn in Nebraska did the same thing in Iowa, the government disclosed yesterday." ... "The disclosure raised new questions about the conduct of ProdiGene Inc., a company in College Station, Tex., that is now under investigation for allegedly violating government permits in two states. The ProdiGene matter is proving to be a black eye for the biotech industry, which has been trying to reassure the public it can be trusted not to contaminate the food supply." -By Justin Gillis -WashingtonPost

20021104

- "Conquering Cancer: Despite a spate of setbacks in testing new cancer drugs for the broadest possible market, mysterious miracle cures are emerging in a few patients." [Forbes/Magazine20021111Cover Story: "Miracle Pill: She was 18 and dying of lung cancer. This pill saved her life--but failed to help almost everyone else. Should it be approved?"] ... "Her options dwindling, she began taking Iressa, an experimental drug [Iressa] from AstraZeneca, in January of this year. Within a few months all of the remaining tumors had vanished." ... "But in one small trial the AstraZeneca drug didn't much help 90% of the cancer patients. Worse, Iressa failed to extend the lives of patients with lung cancer in two much larger tests involving over 2,000 people." ... "The problem is particularly complex. At least 200 defective genes play a role in causing cancer, and two dozen of them are the targets of over 500 experimental drugs now in development. In any one patient probably only 5 or 6 of the 200 genes are involved, and in the next patient a different mix of genes is at work. Yet drugmakers haven't figured out how to tell which particular bad genes are the driving force in an individual patient's case." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Robert Langreth 20021111 -Forbes /Magazine

Google Search: epidermal growth factor egf

20020904

- "U.S. Is Stepping Up Drive to Destroy Coca [plants, used to create cocaine,] in Colombia." ... "With the full support of the Colombian president, the United States has begun what American officials say will be the biggest and most aggressive effort yet to wipe out coca growing [through aeiral spraying]." ... "But despite the rosy predictions, drug policy analysts and some lawmakers in Washington warn that the intensified program could just cause coca planting to spread to a wider area." ... Also, "the spraying has raised the concerns of some environmental groups." 20020829 -By Juan Forero -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20020828

- "Afghan Opium Output Seen Eclipsing Golden Triangle." ... "Afghanistan will take back its crown this year from the notorious Golden Triangle [Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand] in Southeast Asia as the world's top producer of opium, the raw material used to make heroin, a Thai anti-narcotics official said on Wednesday." ... "Afghanistan lost its top spot in recent years as a result of strict Islamic rule by the Taliban regime and the U.S. led war which toppled the movement." -By Sasithorn Simaporn -Reuters via -Miami/Herald

20020801

"Senior drug plan falls to two parties' rivalry." ... "Recent polls show that older voters are the most eager for Congress to move on a drug benefit. Equally important, older Americans are among those most likely to vote in November. Polls suggest that while the public thinks Republicans have done a better job in the fight against terrorism, voters trust Democrats more on prescription drugs and Social Security." -By Sue Kirchhoff and Susan Milligan -Boston/Globe

"Senate Kills Plan for Drug Benefits Through Medicare." ... "The Senate today killed legislation to provide prescription drug benefits promised to the elderly by politicians of both parties." ... "Democrats had billed the proposal as a bipartisan compromise, a down payment on what was really needed. But it won support from only four Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Five Democrats joined 44 Republicans and one independent in voting against the proposal. The five were John B. Breaux of Louisiana, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina and Ben Nelson of Nebraska." -By Robert Pear -NYTimes via -AltaVista-News

20020731

"Senate Rejects Medicare Drug Plan, OKs Generics." ... The generics bill "passed with a bipartisan landslide 78-21 [Senate] vote." ... "The House however has not yet taken up legislation on generic drugs, fiercely opposed by the influential brand-name pharmaceutical companies, but a strong Senate vote can sometimes create momentum in the House." ... "The bill closes loopholes and stops abuses in drug patent law that have delayed generics' entry into the market. Critics said it will stifle innovation and research by brand-name companies, but backers said it will restore the competitive balance between the two sectors." -By Joanne Kenen -Reuters

20020718

- "Saudi prince indicted on drug charges: Goya and Foujita paintings seized." ... "A Saudi prince used diplomatic immunity to smuggle more than two tons of cocaine from South America to Europe on his personal airplane in a trafficking conspiracy where paintings by Goya and Foujita were used to pay for drugs, U.S. officials said Thursday." -Reuters via -CNN

20020715

"Pfizer to purchase Pharmacia." ... "July 15 — In the biggest corporate combination in more than a year, Pfizer Inc. agreed to buy Pharmacia Corp. for stock valued at $60 billion,..." ... "The deal will create an industry behemoth with over $48 billion in revenue and a research-and-development budget of more than $7 billion. The new combination will be the world’s largest drug maker by far and the leading pharmaceutical company by revenue in every major market around the globe." -By Robert Frank and Scott Hensley -WSJ.com via -MSNBC

20020711

"Malaysian addicts get natural high: ... from cow dung: Faced with some of the world's strictest anti-drug laws, some addicts in Malaysia are sniffing fresh cow dung to get high." ... "Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz was quoted in The New Straits Times newspaper Wednesday as saying she wanted the government to deal with addicts who sniff cow dung, glue and even polystyrene smoke." ... "She did not elaborate." -AP via -CNN/Asia

20020702

"New drugs restoring vision in elderly." ... "To doctors' amazement, experimental new medicines are rescuing people from the brink of blindness so they can read and drive and sometimes even regain perfect vision." ... "Several competing medicines are in development, all based on similar principles. They are designed to stop the two top causes of adult blindness -- the "wet" form of macular degeneration, which affects the elderly, and diabetic retinopathy, the biggest source of blindness in working-age people." -AP via -CNN

20020619

"Drug Firms Among Big Donors at GOP Event." ... "Pharmaceutical companies are among 21 donors paying $250,000 each for red-carpet treatment at tonight's GOP fundraising gala starring President Bush, two days after Republicans unveiled a prescription drug plan the industry is backing, according to GOP officials." -By Jim VandeHei and Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost

20020529

- "Crime falls in cannabis trial area." ... "The south London borough which is piloting a scheme to treat cannabis offenders more leniently has seen a dramatic drop in the level of street crimes." -BBC /News

20020521

- "China taking hits in designer drug war: Asia is battling a booming synthetic tide of amphetamine-type drugs like "ice" and "ecstasy," with China coming under the spotlight for its place in making them." -By Marianne Bray -CNN/Asia

20020518

- "Afghan Poppies Harvested Despite Ban." ... "In parts of Afghanistan, the fledgling, cash-strapped administration has destroyed some fields. But here in southern Kandahar province, the campaign never got off the ground because of a lack of funds. Officials also fear eradicating plants without compensating farmers could lead to an uprising." -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

20011022

"Improved Medications Have a Downside for Seniors: Advances help the elderly live longer but put them at risk for disabling side effects and dangerous reactions to drugs." ... ""People need to gather up all their prescription drugs, and show their doctors and pharmacists what they're on," says Harold J. Washington Jr., a Los Angeles pharmacist and president of the California Pharmacists Assn. "These professionals can work up a suitable drug regimen for the patient."" -By Linda Marsa -LAtimes

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