I know that I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but I dare anyone who doesn't believe in Global Warming to come up here and live in Wisconsin for a couple months. This weather is getting crazier and crazier all the time. And every single one of you know exactly what I am talking about. It certainly isn't only happening here in Wisconsin. I have gotten emails from many of you who totally understand what I am talking about.
Dan from Phoenix wrote to tell me that inside of the National Geographic magazine this month, they are telling that although the Arctic sea ice shrinks as summer warms up, the melting of it is showing us that it is amazingly ahead of schedule. Although the scientists predicted Global Warming would mean the end of a year-round polar ice cap not until the end of the 21st century, the region could actually be open water by the summer of 2030. That is pretty scary to me. I don't worry too much about myself....heck, the way I have abused my body, I probably won't make it until 2030, but as for my children and grandchildren, that truly scares the hell out of me.
And you think that what I just told you is scary? Just wait until you see "What's Happening" in the world of addiction......
President Bush, whose administration has long expressed the opinion that federal dollars should not be the primary means of funding state and local law enforcement, has dramatically cut funding in the 2009 budget for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants, the primary program used to finance drug enforcement in nearly every state for more than 20 years.
In FY 2007, the Byrne program was funded at $520 million. For FY 2008 -- which starts on October 1st, 2008 -- the Senate had originally funded the Byrne program at $660 million and the House at $600 million in their respective appropriations bills. However, in the omnibus FY 2008 appropriations bill signed into law in December 2007, the Byrne program funding was cut to $170 million for the coming year -- a 67 percent decrease from 2007 funding levels. The cuts will devastate state law enforcement efforts by shutting down multi-jurisdictional drug task forces, requiring layoffs of police and prosecutors.
Since there is no way to measure where the underground drug industry is most active, the grants have always been a prime pork-barrel way for members of Congress to help their districts. As Congress returns to session this week efforts to restore the full grant funding will continue.
As news clippings from this year in the MAP archives show, with new clippings being added frequently, law enforcement and elected officials at all levels are in a panic about the possible loss of funds.
Some of the articles indicate that the grant funds have caught some bad folks who, perhaps, deserve to be caught. Of course the articles are not likely to tell you about the busts of marijuana users, including medicinal users, which have been funded at least in part by the grants. None of the news about police corruption or drug raids gone bad are likely to be tied to Byrne grant funds, as they often are. Remember Tulia, Texas? That was Byrne grant money at work.
Please contact your members of Congress to let them know what you think about fully funding the Byrne grant program.
And of course, adding your comments below about Byrne grant funding are, of course, always welcome.
Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.
A senior Tory politician has been criticized after claiming many Scots drug addicts were sitting "fat, dumb and happy" on methadone.
Bill Aitken, the party's Holyrood justice spokesman, said improved abstinence-based projects were needed to help treat heroin users.
Drug treatment experts and Labour hit out at his comments.
Mr Aitken acknowledged methadone had its place but refused to apologize for his remarks to BBC Scotland.
Mr Aitken told BBC Scotland's Politics Show using methadone as a first-resort treatment, which kept patients in a state of "partial suspended animation", had to be tackled.
"We have a very high proportion of the drug-abusing population sitting fat, dumb and happy on methadone," he said.
"We have got to stop this over-reliance on methadone, get people off that particular form of treatment and get them back into the community.
"The only way you're going to do that, not in every case I accept, is by a much greater degree of abstinence-based treatment."
Scottish Labour public health spokesman Dr Richard Simpson branded the Tory MSP's comments "deeply offensive."
"We do need a grown-up debate about what's available for people with drug addiction," he said.
"We need to look at the alternatives, including abstinence and other pharmacological treatments, but we do not need this sort of language in this discussion."
Source: BBC Scotland news websiteSunday, 23 March 2008
How many different newspapers or online newsletters do you open to read and at least one of the articles are about a Methadone clinic that townspeople are attempting to put a halt to its opening? Due partly to my position here, I personally can guarantee that I have seen at least 100 articles since the beginning of this year......and those were only covering 10 new clinic openings!
Every paper and website within a 50 mile radius from where the clinic is opening writes about it, and every single one sounds exactly like the next. There are never harsh words written in the article from the side promoting the Methadone clinic, and that is simply because they know that they will win. But no one has told that to those against the clinic opening, and some of the things that are thrown out of the mouths of those opposing townspeople have taught me that they know nothing at all about Addiction, Methadone, Crime or Compassion.
These people say the rudest, most horrible things that you could ever imagine. They degrade the recovering addicts who simply want to rebuild their lives and be able to live a good life just like every one of those people who are spouting their mouths with those lies they have been told. I am not sure where they get their information, but it is obvious that they were all easily cloned to believe the ignorant things that were being told to them. Some of them need to learn the truth, as in the latest study done by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI). It showed Community-based substance abuse treatment reduces crime rates and helps states reduce corrections costs, according to their new policy brief released on January 22, 2008. http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/crime_statistics/index.html
The most recent article like the ones we have been discussing here pertains to a new Methadone Clinic opening in Kidder Township in Pennsylvania. Although I have personally seen 8 articles so far about the opening, all but one of the articles are simply too lengthy for the purpose of this editorial, so instead I am going to copy the shortest article there has been, but I can still promise you some stupidity lies even in the smallest of articles. Notice the mentality of these people:
A proposed treatment center for drug addicts is drawing fire in Carbon County.
Residents of Kidder Township packed a meeting last night.
A company called Pinncle Treatment Centers wants to build a methadone clinic in the community near White Haven. Residents spoke out against it.
"There's going to be people moving into the area that know that there's a methadone clinic there, that know they are easy targets for the drug dealers, and the drug dealers are going to show up and squat in houses that have never been occupied and you're going to have a big problem," said Howard Davis of Kidder Township.
Representatives from Pinnacle insisted the methadone clinic will not cause problems.
The clinic would go in an old gas station near the turnpike. It must first be approved by the township.
Source: WNEP16 News on the Web March 31, 2008 04:01 AM EDT
News Summary
A Toronto-based company says its abuse-resistant version of the painkiller oxycodone is now ready for full-scale clinical trials, in-Pharma Technologist reported March 30.
A pilot study of the once-daily oral formulation of the opiate analgesic has been completed, according to the company, IntelliPharmaCeutics. The firm said that its ReXista technology deters uses from crushing or chewing the drug, injecting it in a mixture with solvents, crushing or powdering it for inhalation, and mixing use of the drug with alcohol.
The initial study showed that the time-released formulation in 40 mg form was comparable with administration of 20 mg of Purdue Pharma's Oxycontin twice daily.
Source: JoinTogether.org March 31, 2008
Before I go, I wanted to touch base one more time on the Diversion that is still happening around our country. In the beginning of last year, I wrote a paper on the Diversion of Methadone, and how I believed that Methadone Diversion was primarily coming from the pain patients, or at least I could say that I believed wholeheartedly that it was the Methadone "Pills" which are being diverted. That paper is still being posted at our Methadone Forum: http://groups.msn.com/EverythingComingUpMethadone/diversionofmethadone.msnw
I am very happy to say that this past November, the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) issued a 23-page report on methadone overdose deaths. This report describes national and state efforts to explore the extent of the problem, the benefits of methadone for addiction treatment and pain management, the risks associated with methadone use, and efforts at a national and state level to better understand the problem and to reduce methadone overdose deaths. After reviewing data on opioid sales, patterns of prescribing and dispensing and data on drug-associated mortality, National Assessment participants concluded that the available data suggested that methadone tablets and/or diskettes that had become available through channels other than OTPs were most likely the central factor in the recent increases in methadone-associated mortality.
MMT Patients, keep on doing what you have been doing for so long.....because, as I have said all along, although I am a Methadone Pain Patient, it is time to lay the blame where it belongs, and that's not on the MMT Patients!
It's time to go, but before I leave I wanted to invite you to tell us how you feel. Regardless, if you would like to let us know how you feel about our website, our Patients Forum, "What's Happening?" or any of the articles or comments above, please feel free to do so.It matters to me what you think...even if you don't agree with something, I still want to hear about it. I want to thank those of you who commented last month...keep it coming!
Your opinion means everything to us, and we promise to take each comment seriously. We want to hear what you are thinking... Sending a Smile, Rozi
Mr Aitken told BBC Scotland's Politics Show using methadone as a first-resort treatment, which kept patients in a state of "partial suspended animation", had to be tackled. 
