Drug Abuse

Federal lawmakers say they are studying whether horse racing is doing enough to curb abusive drug practices endangering horses and their jockeys -- or whether Congress must step in. Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, and Rep. Edward Whitfield, a Republican from Kentucky, are reviewing dozens of pages of data received from three industry groups Friday in response to the legislators' series of safety-related questions. Udall and Whitfield want to learn whether the industry has toughened its anti-doping rules since a congressional hearing two years ago. The hearing followed the breakdown of Eight Belles after the 2008 Kentucky Derby and of Barbaro in the 2006 Preakness.

As the federal government shifts its drug control strategy toward drug treatment and education initiatives, the U.S. drug czar said Wednesday at an event in Baltimore that he plans to emphasize the expansion of drug courts to divert nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison. Gil Kerlikowske, director of national drug control policy, announced the changes at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as he laid out his goals for the year. The former Seattle police chief said there would be no official change in the federal stance that marijuana is an illegal and harmful drug, a hot issue since two states voted to allow its use last year.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional leaders criticized the Bush administration yesterday for overstating its gains in reducing drug abuse, and the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman said the government should spend $3 billion more than the White House has proposed next year for the war on drugs.Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., released his own 198-page plan fight drugs a week after the Bush administration presented its annual update on suppressing narcotics. Senate and House committees held separate hearings yesterday to review the administration's plan.

Lawmakers in Annapolis rejected a bill this year that would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, but prosecutors in Baltimore City are already ahead of the curve in treating the offense as a public health issue rather than as a crime. This is the beginning of a sane policy on marijuana that one can only hope city officials will seek to expand in coming years. When the idea of treating drug abuse as a medical problem rather than as a criminal justice issue was proposed in the late 1980s by former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, critics dismissed the suggestion as not only dangerously naive and impractical but as morally and ethically wrong.

Six months after firing the longtime director of its Bureau of Substance Abuse, Baltimore County has hired a new head for the agency as part of an effort to re-emphasize drug treatment. Kathleen Rebbert-Franklin, who has been program manager of the addiction recovery program at Sinai Hospital for six years, a job in which she oversaw administrative fiscal and clinical components of a 700-person outpatient program, has been hired, Dr. Michelle A. Leverett, the county's health officer, announced this week.

A workshop on preventing drug abuse, for teenagers ages 11 to 15 and their parents, will be offered at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Glenwood branch library, 2350 Route 97, Cooksville. Topics include talking with children about drugs, preventing abuse before it starts, adverse health effects, risk factors, and the legal consequences for substance abuse. The substance abuse prevention coordinator for the Howard County Health Department will facilitate. The program, which will be offered at the Miller branch library in Ellicott City on Oct. 19, is co-sponsored by The Horizon Council and the Howard County Coalition for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.

A. Robert Kaufman hurriedly scribbled notes on a pad as Edythe Jones rattled off a list of objections to 6th District Councilman Norman Handy's resolution urging the federal government to treat the drug crisis as a public health issue."

WHEN HE SPEAKS, Ernie Graham takes you through a full range of emotions. His story starts out as a feel-good, the one about the poor boy who succeeds. Then it becomes riches to rags, about a young man who lost everything because of selfishness and drugs. And now Graham is preparing the final chapter, the one about being a born-again Christian. For almost seven years, he has been lecturing at college campuses and in Baltimore County public schools about drug and alcohol abuse. His stories are intense, and at times riveting.

WASHINGTON -- Drug abuse is on the rise in Baltimore and many other cities, but not enough federal drug-fighting dollars are reaching these troubled areas, the U.S. Conference of Mayors said yesterday."

Hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote amateur athletics in Maryland -- including money intended to bring an Olympic Festival to Maryland -- came from government funds intended to combat drug and alcohol abuse, the dismissed director of the Maryland State Games said yesterday.James E. Narron, who was fired last week amid allegations that he misused money as director of the Maryland State Games, said he acted with the full support of Adele A. Wilzack, the secretary of health and mental hygiene, and her deputies.

We have a great capacity for placing people into categories and minimizing their humanity. One such category is "felons" and another is "drug addicts. " We can easily forget that men and women who have been convicted of crimes or are suffering from substance abuse issues are the same as the rest of us at the core - fallible but resolutely hopeful. Here in Baltimore, a celebration of that capacity for hope and a reminder that redemption comes in many forms took place earlier this year in a small chapel within a church on Cathedral Street.

Next week, the Baltimore City Council will consider the changes to the zoning code that will affect about 100 of the city's 1,300 existing liquor outlets. These outlets have been non-conforming for more than 40 years, and it's time for them to be closed. During the Planning Commission's hearings, two students from Patterson High School testified on why the number of liquor outlets needs to be reduced. One of the commissioners said their testimony moved him more than any of the others.

A LGBT community center in Baltimore's Mid-Town Belvedere neighborhood will be opening an information and resources center to the public on April 1. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Maryland (GLCCB) will use its new Welcome, Information and Drop-In Center to offer support services, community resources and city information to a variety of local groups, the organization said. The space will include a computer lab, Wi-Fi and free bookstore featuring LGBT-themed books at its Baltimore location.

In response to a 2010 Youth Commission Survey, in which 49 percent of youth in grades six to 12 indicated they feel strongly that alcohol and drug abuse educational program and initiatives are needed, the Harford County Department of Community Services launched the new prevention program, Above the Influence Alcohol and Drug Education Program, in January. The Above the Influence Alcohol & Drug Education Program was attended by eight Harford County youth. The morning portion of the program focused on alcohol education and featured a victim impact speaker, a discussion on the effects of alcohol and drug use on the family, as well as some interactive activities.

As efforts to crack down on the abuse of prescription drugs have worked, a new problem has emerged, with addicts who can no longer get their fix by popping pills turning to the old-fashioned street drug heroin, health and law enforcement officials say. The trend shows up in local arrests, drug seizures and overdose deaths. Drug dealers are finding new markets in the suburbs, where teenagers once got their stash from local drugstores or their parents' medicine cabinets, some experts say. "The kids who got addicted to prescription pills are flipping to heroin, and, as a result, these kids are dropping like flies," said Mike Gimbel, a longtime drug counselor in Baltimore County who now works at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

It's so hard ... to say goodbye ... to  Jersey Shore (I hope you slowly sang that in your head just like I did!). But hey -- at least we have another season before we have to come to term with our emotions. I was very excited when I found out that the premiere would be a double-header. It was so great to see all the cast members back in action times two, however I must say, it did lack the usual amount of drama. I know, I know -- they just reunited and it's too early for people to be throwing wine bottles or each other's belongings outside, but the cast overall definitely seemed more mature.

With no money for drug-addiction programs and the criminal justice system swamped by drug-related cases, "We are losing our fourth generation," a prominent Baltimore lawyer told a mid-Atlantic conference of black physicians yesterday."

Substance abuse among America's soldiers is increasing and the Department of Defense isn't doing enough to address the problem, according to a new report. The report released today by the Institute of Medicine found that the military health system TRICARE doesn't cover the best treatments for alcohol and drug abuse. The system also does not permit long-term use of certain medications to treat addiction and requires treatment in a specialized rehab center. The report, conducted at the request of Congress, calls for updating TRICARE coverage, including allowing for outpatient treatment.

One hundred and ninety six people were murdered in Baltimore last year. Recent figures show our violent crime rate is more than two and a half times the national average. Many of these crimes spawned from the illegal nature of the drug trade, and the vast majority of them will go unsolved because so much police time is spent arresting drug users and low-level dealers. But this weekend, a cross-country caravan of victims of the drug war brings a message of change to Baltimore. Dozens of Mexican and U.S.-based drug war survivors, law enforcement officers and others with firsthand experience with failed drug laws have been traveling for weeks now, educating people about the destruction our policies have wrought and the futility of continuing them.