Judge has last word in death case





BANGOR, Maine ??” A Rockland woman who has admitted supplying a dose of methadone to her brother the day he died four years ago pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Rochelle Kenney, 47, pleaded guilty to distribution of methadone between December 2004 and December 2006 that resulted in a death and to health care fraud during the same time period that resulted in a death.

Under her plea agreement with federal prosecutors, a third count, distribution of diazepam, is expected to be dismissed at her sentencing.

By pleading guilty to the charges, Kenney admitted that she sold and-or gave away methadone that was paid for by Medicaid.

She will be held without bail pending sentencing.

A sentencing date has not been set but is not expected until late September or early October.

Kenney told U.S. District Judge John Woodcock that she was ???nervous, confused and scared??? during the nearly 90-minute hearing that reviewed what the judge called a ???pretty complicated plea agreement.???

???I am guilty of giving my brother the methadone,??? she said in entering her guilty plea.

She wept throughout the hearing and stopped several times to compose herself before continuing to answer the series of questions Woodcock is required to ask before accepting a guilty plea.

Her family members talked among themselves during the hearing. At one point, a U.S. marshal advised them to be quiet. They complied with that request.

Kenney??™s brother John Kenney, 43, died April 26, 2005, six months after he and three crew mates survived the sinking of the 44-foot dragger Canadian Mist 30 miles southeast of Nantucket.

The day John Kenney died, his sister shared with him methadone she had picked up earlier in the

day from a Waterville clinic. Later that day, he flew with others in a private plane from Rockland to Matinicus Island to go on a fishing trip.

Shortly after they arrived on the island, he was found slumped over on a doorstep at the home of the person the group had come to visit, according to court documents. The autopsy showed that he died of ???acute methadone and diazepam toxicity,??? the state medical examiner determined in late 2005 after toxicology tests were completed.

The autopsy also showed that John Kenney suffered from ???hypertrophic cardiovascular disease,??? or an enlarged heart, which may have been a factor in his death, according to David Bate, the Bangor attorney for Rochelle Kenney.

It will be up to Woodcock to determine whether the methadone the defendant gave her brother was the sole cause of his death. If the judge finds it is more probable than not that the methadone caused John Kenney??™s death, Rochelle Kenney would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.

If Woodcock determines that the methadone did not cause the fisherman??™s death, Kenney will face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Bate said after the hearing that to send his client to prison for a minimum of 20 years, Woodcock must find that John Kenney wouldn??™t have died except for the methadone dose his sister gave him. The fisherman??™s methadone level was below the midrange of a therapeutic level, the defense attorney said.

???He had an enlarged heart,??? Bate said. ???He changed his heart medication the morning of his death. Also, he had been told not to go fishing offshore, where he would be far from emergency medical care, due to his heart condition.???

The attorney said that he plans to call the medical examiner for the state of Maryland as an expert witness at the sentencing hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey declined to comment on the case. It is the policy of the U.S. Justice Department not to comment on cases until they have been resolved.


http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/108005.htm



-Sean

"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make

Mobile prosecutor: Mother knew toddler who died had ingested methadone
Posted by Gary McElroy, Staff Reporter June 10, 2009 5:03 PM





MOBILE, Ala. -- The mother of a 13-month-old toddler who died last year after ingesting methadone told authorities shortly afterward that she was aware that her baby boy had grabbed some of the medication and swallowed it, but he looked okay and she did not call for help, a prosecutor said today.


The child was soon dead. Angela Garcia, 31, originally told investigators that she went to sleep and woke to find the boy not breathing, according to prosecutors.

The new details offered in the prosecution's case came today during a preliminary hearing before District Judge George Hardesty, who sent Garcia's case to a grand jury. She is charged with chemical endangerment of a child, a crime which upon conviction could earn her 10 to 99 years in prison.

Methadone is synthetic drug used to treat addictions to such opiates as heroin and morphine.

Garcia took the drug regularly, records show.

In November her child grabbed some while he and a pill bottle lay on a bed together, prosecutors said earlier today.

Hardesty today reduced Garcia's bail from $100,000 to $60,000



http://blog.al.com/live/2009/06/da_m...r_ingeste.html


-Sean



"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Addict died at Flintshire parents' home




Published Date: 12 June 2009
A MAN who had a lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol was found dead at his parents' home, an inquest heard.
Craig Williams, 38, was found at the house in Ivy Crescent, Mold, Flintshire, in September last year.

Mr Williams, of Elm Drive, Mold, was said to have had three and a half times more than a fatal amount of methadone in his system.

An inquest a

at Flint heard Mr Williams had a long-term dependency on heroin and alcohol and had been prescribed methadone as an alternative.

Mr Williams, who suffered with asthma, swelling of the heart and liver problems, had been admitted to hospital for overdoses on a number of occasions in 2006, the inquest heard.

The night before his death, Mr Williams had returned to the family home as he was not feeling well.

He had slept during the evening and on waking spent the rest of the evening with his father and sister, who described him as being in good spirits.

His father, George Williams, said his son had started to depend on drugs and alcohol after he moved to Rhyl but had returned to Mold after his marriage failed.

He told the inquest his son had entered detox but it had not helped and he received daily prescriptions of methadone from a chemist.

The inquest heard George Williams had been woken by his wife on the morning of Friday, September 26 after she had found their son on the sofa. He said he knew straight away that his son had died.

He added that he had not seen his son take his methadone prescription the previous evening.

A post-mortem examination revealed there were 1.4 milligrams of methadone in Mr Williams' blood, three and a half times more than the fatal limit.

John Gittins, acting coroner for North East Wales, said the amount was something that not even a regular user of methadone would be able to sustain. However, he ruled out any suggestion of suicide.

He said the reality was that Mr WIlliams had somehow obtained that amount of methadone without the knowledge of his family



http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/...s39.5362106.jp



-Sean




"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Police: Man shot another over methadone

By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 10:12 pm on 6/15/2009


Athens-Clarke County police took out warrants charging a man with aggravated assault Monday night after he robbed another man of his methadone and shot him, Athens-Clarke police said.

Jamere Pierce Parrott, 22, picked up 50-year-old Anthony Starks at the Jack R. Wells housing complex in West Athens, drove him to the area of Reese and Franklin streets and drew a gun, demanding his methadone pills, police said.

Both men got out of the car, and Parrott fired six times, once into the ground and five times into the victim's legs, according to police.

"It appears he was shooting just to wound him," said Capt. Clarence Holeman, assistant commander of the Athens-Clarke police Criminal Investigations Division.

Parrott left his Chevrolet Caprice behind, and witnesses last saw him running toward Ebenezer Baptist Church West, police said.

Officers found spent .40-caliber shell casings at the shooting scene.

Starks sought help at a nearby residence, and officers found him on the porch of a home on Reese Street. He was treated at an area hospital for nonlife-threatening injuries, all in his lower extremities, Holeman said.

Police had not caught Parrott as of Monday evening.

His last known addresses were on North Rocksprings Street and Bristol Trace, in Western Clarke County.

• Staff reporter Allison Floyd contributed to this report.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, June 16, 2009



http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/...51262832.shtml



-Sean




"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Sentencing in drug death is July 23




Thursday, June 18, 2009
By Danielle Quisenberry


A Jackson man accused of giving a woman the methadone that may have contributed to her death is to be sentenced July 23.

Timothy Patterson, 50, pleaded no contest June 5 to manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and being a habitual offender.

Patterson initially was charged with delivery of a controlled substance causing death.

Assistant Prosecutor Allison Bates said Patterson gave Terri Best, 50, one pill, but Best may have taken more.

Best took the narcotic early April 8 and died in her sleep, Blackman Township Public Safety Director Mike Jester said.

Patterson, who had a valid methadone prescription, went to a party at Best's home on Firethorn Drive in Blackman Township, and Best was intoxicated from drinking alcohol, police said.

Methadone, used as a painkiller and to treat drug withdrawal and dependence, is not to be taken with alcohol.

Patterson told police he knew this, police said.

Best, a mother of two who did not work, had struggled for years with alcohol abuse, said her mother, Bonnie Archambeau of Summit Township.


http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/ind...820.xml&coll=3



-Sean

"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Grieving mom speaks out in hopes of saving others




By Meghan E. Murphy
Times Herald-Record
Posted: June 22, 2009 - 6:00 AM

SAUGERTIES *— Christine Summers wants to talk about what happened to her son, Evan Wisniewski, but for the last year she's been silenced by the investigation into his death.

First, she must assure that her son receives justice; then she can tell his story.

The hushed veil lifted a bit Friday when the Ulster County district attorney charged Lindsey Latourette, 24, with criminally negligent homicide, rape and criminal sale of a controlled substance. Latourette was sent to Ulster County Jail pending her arraignment Monday.

Summers found 15-year-old Evan's lifeless body in his bedroom on the last day of his freshman year in high school. She gave him CPR but Evan had died in his sleep on June 14, 2008. An autopsy showed that Evan overdosed on methadone.

Summers said her son loved body building and baseball. He was not, she said, a drug addict.

For the last year, Summers has aided the state police investigation. She joined the advocacy group Helping America Reduce Methadone Deaths to convince lawmakers to keep methadone in the clinic. "If that medicine were being properly safeguarded, I would still have my son," Summers said.

Summers and her 17-year-old son, Eli, still live in the same house where Evan died, but she sees the community where he grew up in a new light. Summers thought Saugerties was a safe place to raise a family, but now she sees teens with prescription addictions who can buy methadone from a friend. "As far as I knew methadone was to wean somebody off of heroin so they didn't get withdrawal. I never thought that it was on the street," she said.

Summers wants to become a public speaker, to inform other parents and teens about the dangers of methadone. She blogs on Myspace with the user name "Wiskys Mom."

Summers will never bring Evan back, but she hopes she can save someone else's child.

To learn more about the campaign against methadone deaths, go to harmd.org.



http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/906220323



-Sean





"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Very Inspiring Story!!




By Randy Sharer
rsharer@pantagraph.com
Advertisement

DWIGHT -- Former world class marathoner Dick Beardsley has plenty of reasons to be devoid of hope and full of negativity. But the 53-year-old former Minnesota farmer was the one bringing a message of hope to an audience starving for inspiration at Dwight Correctional Center Wednesday. | Video

Beardsley cast an uplifting spell recounting his journey from a shy teenager with little running talent to runner-up in the 1982 Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 53 seconds, a time which still ranks third among American-born marathoners.

The standing ovation he drew from the near-capacity crowd in the prison chapel wasn’t for his running exploits, but for what came after.

In 1989, Beardsley’s clothing became entangled in farm machinery. Before he could turn off the machine, it had broken many of his ribs and his right arm and mangled his left leg so badly doctors mulled amputation -- twice.

He survived that first of an unbelievably accident-prone four-year stretch, which included a severe car accident, being hit by a truck while running, a vehicle rollover and falling from a cliff while hiking.

Twenty years later, Beardsley can make light of his absurdly bad luck, but there was nothing funny about the consequences.

Each trip to the hospital brought him more prescription pain medication to which he became addicted. His forgery of prescriptions to feed his addiction came to an end when he was caught in 1996.

“By August of 1996, I was taking a cocktail of Valium, Percocet and Demerol, 80 to 90 pills a day,” he said. “That I didn’t die is an absolute miracle. I’ll tell you what was even a bigger miracle is that I didn’t kill some innocent family (while driving impaired).”

During a 10-day stay in a psychiatric unit, Beardsley was prescribed methadone, to which he also became addicted. Doctors told him getting off methadone would make him wish for death.

They were right.

“It has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” said Beardsley, who has been drug free since 1997. “The 12-and-a-half years I’ve had of sobriety have been without a doubt the best 12-and-a-half years I’ve ever had.”

Those years have brought ups and downs and Beardsley expects more.

“That’s what life is about,” he said, “but today, for me, life is good.”

Beardsley called addiction a disease like cancer, but it doesn’t elicit sympathy.

“It’s a disease that causes people to look down on you like you’re the scum of the earth,” said Beardsley, noting everyone makes mistakes. “Making mistakes aren’t so bad if you learn from them.”

After Beardsley’s address, inmate Lacy Eason said, “It was so inspirational to hear. I struggled a lot with my drug addiction. I’m always down on myself. He was really inspirational.”

“He never gave up,’’ added inmate Belinda Hale. “He kept trying and trying and trying. That’s the part I see in me now. I really enjoyed his speech.”

Beardsley, who has been a full-time motivational speaker for 10 years, feels prison audiences appreciate his message “a little more.”

“It gives them some hope,” he said. “It’s got to be difficult every day knowing you’re going to be here for maybe a long time.”

Beardsley hopes to keep running for a long time even though he had a full knee replacement in January.

“I’m running about 45 miles a week now and also cycling,” said the resident of Austin, Texas. “The knee each week gets a little stronger. Who knows, I may get another marathon in me down the road.”



http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2...e253330275.txt



-Sean





"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your B

[u]POLICE 'FIND METHADONE' IN JACKSON'S HOME</u>








Police reportedly found 20 types of drugs in Michael Jackson's Los Angeles mansion, including the heroin substitute methadone.

Methadone was reportedly found in Michael Jackson's home.

The heroin substitute and 19 other types of drugs, including potentially lethal painkillers and anaesthetics, were recovered from the pop legend's Los Angeles mansion by police investigating his death last week.

A source said: "The Jackson mansion was more like a drug store than someone's home."

Other drugs found included Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller given to terminal cancer patients and Oxycontin, another painkiller dubbed 'Hillbilly Heroin'.

Some of the medications had Michael's name on the label but many were labelled with other names, while some didn't have any labels.

It is thought Michael used different aliases to obtain his prescriptions including the names of his bodyguards and a doctor's manager.

The 50-year-old star died after a suspected cardiac arrest, amid claims it was caused by an accidental drug overdose.

Police are now said to be searching for those who helped supply Michael with the deadly cocktail of drugs and are considering manslaughter charges as the prescription medicines who reportedly obtained without regard for his safety.

The source added to Britain's The Sun newspaper: "Powerful narcotic painkillers of all kinds were found. There was no reasonable excuse for them all being there. Using more than one of this type of drug can be potentially fatal. But there were 10 in house - it's unbelievable.

"Police want to know whether other people named on the medicine labels really needed the drugs prescribed to them and will be speaking to all doctors involved. The drugs found remain at the very heart of the investigation into the death of Michael Jackson."

At least four doctors, including Michael's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray, are also at the centre of the investigation.

However, according to Murray's legal team he is not considered a suspect and is co-operating with the investigation.

He has denied injecting Michael with the painkiller Demerol before he died or prescribing the father-of-three with either Demerol or OxyContin.

03 July 2009 10:00:05 AM



-Sean





"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

JUNKIES' FIX COSTS US Pounds 16M ; Methadone Bill Doubles: EXCLUSIVE




July 5, 2009 -- By MARK AITKEN

THE bill for handing out methadone to heroin addicts has almost doubled in five years to more than pounds 16million.

Dispensing the drug - which is used to wean users off heroin - rose 84 per cent from pounds 9million in 2003-4 to pounds 16.6million in 2008-9. Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said she wanted to see a reduction in the number of heroin addicts who aregiven the substitute drug.

She said: "These are bone-chilling figures. Under eight years of Labour and the Lib Dems, Scotland's drug dependency became a methadone dependency.


Mistake "The SNP must not make the same mistake.

"That is why the Scottish Conservatives won the fight to secure a new national drugs strategy, based on recovery and abstinence.

"Methadone must stop being the treatment of first resort."


A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Just over one year ago we published Scotland's first drug strategy since devolution.

"It was widely welcomed by experts and approved unanimously by Parliament.

"Central to the strategy is the concept of recovery from problem drug use. We want to see more people move on from their drug use, towards drug-free lives as an active and contributing member of society."

. The mum of a child who died from a suspected methadone overdose has been charged with poisoning her daughter.

Bonny Richards, 27, of Coleford, Gloucestershire, and a 31-year- old man who has not been named, have both been charged with administering poison to 14month-old Holly Agius. They also face charges of assault and child neglect.


http://www.industrial-lasers.com/dis..._Bill_Doubles:



-Sean




"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Researchers Find Potential Patient Safety Risks Among Methadone Maintenance Treatment Patients



Posted on: Wednesday, 8 July 2009, 13:10 CDT
Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers have identified potential safety risks among methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients due to the quantity and accuracy of medical record documentation. Improved communication and coordination among substance use treatment and medical providers could mitigate and manage the potential adverse effects of methadone and interacting medications. The BMC study appears in the July issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.

MMT is a chronic therapy for opioid dependence, a chronic relapsing disease that often requires lifelong treatment. MMT typically is provided separately from medical care. Ideally, when patients in MMT engage in outpatient or inpatient medical care, treating physicians are aware of MMT and document both methadone on the medication list and opioid dependence on the medical problem list. When this is not done, there is a chance for medication-methadone interactions, which could potentially contribute to clinically significant adverse events, including cardiac arrhythmias, overdoses and decreased cognitive function.

BMC researchers aimed to identify potential patient safety risks among MMT patients engaged in medical care by evaluating the frequency that opioid dependence and MMT documentation were missing in medical records and characterizing potential medication-methadone interactions.

The researchers found documentation of opioid dependence diagnosis was missing from the medical record in 30 percent of subjects; documentation of MMT was missing from either the last discharge summary or last primary care note in 11 percent of subjects; among subjects seen by a primary care doctor, documentation of MMT was missing in 7 percent; among subjects discharged from the inpatient hospital, documentation of MMT was missing in 10 percent
. Sixty-nine percent of the study subjects were taking at least one medication that potentially interacted with methadone and 19 percent were taking three or more potentially interacting medications.

"Among patients receiving MMT and medical care at different sites, documentation of opioid dependence and MMT in the medical record occurs for the majority, but is missing in a substantial number of patients," said lead author Alexander Walley, MD, MSc, general internist in the Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit at BMC and assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. "Most of these patients are taking prescribed medications that potentially interact with methadone. This study demonstrates opportunities to improve communication, care coordination, and patient safety among patients receiving medical and substance use treatment."



-Sean



http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...nce_treatment/




"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."

"Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either".
--Henry Ward Beecher


"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Warsaw family busted for two drugstore robberies






WARSAW ??” A woman and her uncle were arrested for robbing a Warsaw Walgreens four days after her father and her boyfriend were arrested for robbing another Warsaw drugstore.

Police say Traci Craig, 20, of Warsaw walked into a Walgreens at 2400 E. Center Street on Saturday at 8:02 p.m.. She handed a note to the pharmacist that said the pharmacist should not speak to anyone and demanding a bottle of methadone or the pharmacist would be shot, police said. She did not display a weapon.

Traci then ran from the store, getting in a red pickup driven by a male who was later identified as Traci??™s uncle, 43-year-old Todd Craig, according to police.

An officer watching surveillance footage of the robbery recognized Traci, as she had been to the police department on Friday to recover items from a Chevrolet Blazer that was involved in a robbery of Warsaw??™s Zale??™s Drug Store on Wednesday, July 8.

Traci??™s father, Troy, and her boyfriend, Jamey Roberts, had been arrested and charged for the Zale??™s robbery.

Police found Traci and her uncle Todd at Whispering Pines Trailer Park, located at 340 E. Levi Lee Road on Sunday. Officers say the two were lethargic and acting strangely. An ambulance was called, and it was determined that the two had injected methadone. They were taken Kosciusko Community Hospital and placed in the intensive care unit.

Both were released from the hospital on Sunday. Traci was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on a preliminary charge of robbery. Todd was preliminarily charged with aiding and abetting a robbery.



http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/50645982.html



-Sean


"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."



"Every time you express gratitude or compassion for any aspect of yourself or someone else, you breathe life in." ~Mariah Fenton Gladis~
Tales of a Wounded Healer



"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Drug vending machines
installed in 57 prisons





Thursday, 16 July 2009

As part of the Government’s ‘harm reduction’ programme, methadone vending machines have been installed in 57 prisons at a cost of ?4 million.

The technology will dispense methadone, a heroin substitute, to prisoners who will take it under the supervision of a health professional.

The approach has been criticised by Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Justice Secretary.

He said: “The public will be shocked that Ministers are spending more on methadone vending machines than the entire budget for abstinence based treatments.”

He added: “Getting prisoners clean of drugs is one of the keys to getting them to go straight.”

Mr Grieve continued: “We need to get prisoners off all drug addiction – not substitute one dependency for another. The Government’s approach of trying to ‘manage’ addiction is an admission of failure.”

Methadone-dispensing machines are planned to be eventually installed in half of the 140 prisons in England and Wales.

The machines deliver the drugs to prisoners identified by iris and fingerprint scanning.

In May the Government’s ‘harm reduction’ approach to tackling illegal drug use was dubbed a ?10 billion failure.

Kathy Gyngell, of the Centre for Policy Studies, said the approach was trapping people in “state-sponsored addiction”.

In 2008, the Scottish Government said it would drop its harm reduction policy deciding to focus instead on “recovery and helping people live drug-free lives”.

Holyrood estimates that the drug problem costs taxpayers ?2.6 billion each year. There are an estimated 22,000 drug abusers on the methadone programme in Scotland.

Professor McKeganey of Glasgow University’s Centre for Drug Misuse Research had attacked the use of methadone in drug treatment.”

He said: “I think far too much [money] is being absorbed by the methadone programme.

He added: “I think we need to refocus where that money is spent. We need to massively increase the availability of residential rehabilitation”.


http://www.christian.org.uk/news/200...in-57-prisons/



-Sean

"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."



"Every time you express gratitude or compassion for any aspect of yourself or someone else, you breathe life in." ~Mariah Fenton Gladis~
Tales of a Wounded Healer



"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

TV anchor's son enters not-guilty plea



Published online on Friday, Jul. 17, 2009
By Pablo Lopez / The Fresno Bee

A 20-year-old Fresno man pleaded not guilty Friday to robbery and drug charges that his lawyer said stem from his addiction to pain killers.

Benjamin Milam became addicted to prescription medicine while dealing with soccer injuries at Clovis West High, said attorney Charles Magill, who represents Milam in Fresno County Superior Court.

Milam had no criminal record until Tuesday, when police arrested him on suspicion of robbing people at automatic teller machines in northeast Fresno, Magill said.

A criminal complaint filed Friday accuses Milam of robbing three people at gunpoint and attempting to rob another person. He also is charged with unlawful possession of Methadone, Oxycodone and a hypodermic needle, and resisting arrest. Prosecutors say he faces nearly 50 years in prison if convicted.

During the brief court hearing, Milam, who wore a red jumpsuit and shackles, made little eye contact with his parents -- KFSN (Channel 30) news anchor Liz Harrison and Fresno attorney Jeff Milam. Harrison and Milam are divorced.

After the hearing, Magill said his client "is filled with remorse for what he is putting his parents through and for the choices he has made with his life."

His parents are disappointed in him, Magill said, "but they understand his ongoing battle with his addiction." Over the years, Milam has been "in and out of [substance-abuse] programs," Magill said.

Police say the robberies took place from July 4 to July 11 at Citibank at Champlain and Perrin avenues and at the Fresno County Federal Credit Union at Cedar and Nees avenues.

Milam was arrested late Tuesday at a Motel 6 near Shaw Avenue and Highway 99.

Matthew O'Connor, Jordan Pipes and Joshua Kahaian, all 19 years old, also were arrested on suspicion of harboring a fugitive. In addition, O'Connor is accused of unlawful possession of Oxycodone, Methadone and Ecstasy. They will be arraigned next week.

Jail records show Milam's bail is $761,000, but Magill didn't ask the judge for a reduction in bail. "My client is in the throes of addiction," Magill said. "He is not in the position to make wise decisions."

While at Clovis West High School, Milam earned several college scholarships, Magill said. But in 2007, he and Clovis West soccer player Alex Lloyd were prohibited from finishing their season after Lloyd took a college entrance examination using Milam's identity.

This past school year, Milam attended college but left partly because "he couldn't shake his addiction," Magill said.



http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1543773.html



-Sean





"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."



"Every time you express gratitude or compassion for any aspect of yourself or someone else, you breathe life in." ~Mariah Fenton Gladis~
Tales of a Wounded Healer



"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Only 4% kick drugs in rehab






By Sophy Ridge, 19/07/2009
BRITAIN'S war against drugs is on the brink of collapse - with just FOUR per cent of addicts coming out of rehab drug-free.

A massive 186,276 drug users were still addicted after treatment last year, despite the Government throwing billions at the schemes.

Rising numbers end up in prison or dead after desperately seeking help, according to official figures.

[u]The revelations sparked calls last night for treatment centres to GET TOUGH on addicts and stop giving them addictive heroin substitutes such as methadone - which some then trade with a dealer for a fix.</u>

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Brokenshire, who uncovered the statistics, said: "These stark figures highlight just how much Labour has failed to break the cycle of addiction."

Dealer

Last year a pitiful 7,324 - four per cent - of 193,600 users were drug free after attending programmes run by The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Britain is now the cocaine capital of Europe with more than a million people snorting it.

A staggering 19 per cent of the population are either addicts or know someone who is.

Mr Brokenshire said: "Exchanging a methadone prescription with a fix from the drug dealer isn't a sustainable solution.

[u]"Greater focus needs to be put on getting users drug free through abstinence rather than drug dependent courtesy of the state. Labour's drug policies are now part of the problem not the solution."</u>



http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news...-collapse.html


Note, The underlined text in red is my opinion of what needs to be done here in the USA, and not just the UK... Just my opinion though...Any comments on the subject are welcome.


-Sean




"Without a program life is like a soup sandwich. No matter how you make it, you always wind up with a mess."



"Every time you express gratitude or compassion for any aspect of yourself or someone else, you breathe life in." ~Mariah Fenton Gladis~
Tales of a Wounded Healer



"Just Cause You Got The Monkey Off Your Back Doesn't Mean The Circus Has Left Town." --George Carlin

"High on coffee and nicotine,I'm a serene machine"

Michael Jackson's death is being investigated as a possible manslaughter why?




Please this a commentary not intended to be a "News piece." So before you leave a comment about it not being a "News piece" look up what a commentary is supposed to be. Thank you for understanding as I'm not a professional journalist. I'm a retired police officer that has a great deal of expertise in homicides so I'm writing from that prospective.

Now first of all I believe the suggestion that Mr. Jackson is a manslaughter victim is someone's delusions. Why the DEA is getting involved and wasting more taxpayers dollars really should result in an investigation in and of itself.

Under California law as is the case in most states a doctor can legally addict a patient to drugs and then maintain the addiction. It's been reported that Jackson may have been taking hundreds if not thousands of pills each month. Does that sound familiar to anyone? How about Elvis Presley whose doctor was prescribing over 300 pills per day to Elvis. You might remember they put Elvis Presley's doctor on trial. They spent a few hundred thousand dollars only to have the case tossed out because the law allows a doctor to addict a patient and then maintain that addictions.

I'm not defending the law, I'm just stating the law enforcement agencies are barking up the wrong tree if they think they can hold this doctor to a higher standard than thousands of other doctors across America.

I suffer from chronic pain and I've taken medication for it for years. Medication provided for me by the U.S. Government as I'm a disabled Vietnam veteran. Recently I had a doctor that wanted to put me on Methadone as its a very good medication for chronic pain. It's also one of the most addicting drugs known to man. I passed on his offer but if I had not the U.S. Government would have addicted me to a strong narcotic and then maintained my addiction.

I suppose the government may be concerned about the powerful anesthetic Propofol allegedly found in Jackson’s home. I could see where this might raise some questions that might need to be answered. I could think of a few questions myself. However. I suspect it is more likely that LA PD is responding to some political pressure to see why the pop idol died unexpectedly than it is looking to put his doctor on trial.

After Mr. Jackson history with court cases in LA County you can be assured the police department does not want to be seen as not turning over every stone in finding out why he died. To say that a large number of law enforcement officers still believe strongly that Mr. Jackson got away with committing serious crimes would be an understatement.

If law enforcement were to be seen as just going through the motions on the Jackson case they would be open to severe criticism. The LA PD has suffered it's share of criticism when it comes to dealing badly with Blacks. Rodney King, O.J. Simpson and basically losing twice against Jackson. Even though the first case never came to trial because of a multi-million dollar settlement worked out that basically placed a gag order on the alleged victim and his parents. LA PD can't really be blamed for dotting every (i) and crossing every (t).

Let us suppose Mr. Jackson was using a legally prescribed drug in massive doses and he died as a result. Isn't that more closely related to a suicide than a manslaughter? He was basically playing Russian Roulette with a pill bottle rather than a gun. The outcome is the same you end up in the morgue being autopsied. In his case twice because I'm sure the family does not trust any finding by LA County.

It is only my opinion but if someone takes a huge quantity of drugs and accidentally or on purpose kills themselves, than we should not be wasting hundreds thousands if not millions of dollars on some public relations investigation. Way too much public money was spent on Mr. Jacksons funeral. The public was not asked if they wanted to spend perhaps two million o