Swiss Approve Prescription Heroin

Swiss voters have approved a health policy that offers prescription heroin to addicts on a permanent basis. The heroin vote was one of a series of referendums held to decide policy on illegal drugs. Under the scheme, addicts visit clinics up to twice a day, where they inject the drug under medical supervision. They can also be treated for other medical issues or mental health problems.

> A New Tack on Drug Policy Could Save the State Billions

While New York reels from the most severe budget crisis since the Great Depression, Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature are scrambling to close ever-expanding deficits. So let's stop spending over $500 million every year on ineffective, wasteful policies like the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

> Study: Anti-Drug Ads Haven't Worked

Despite investing $1 billion in a massive anti-drug campaign, a controversial new study suggests that the push has failed to help the United States win the war on drugs. A congressionally mandated study released concluded that the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign launched in the late 1990s to encourage young people to stay away from drugs "is unlikely to have had favorable effects on youths."

Reading: Wendy Chapkis "Dying to Get High"

December 1, 2008. New York, NY

Free admission. In "Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine," Wendy Chapkis investigates a community of seriously-ill people fighting the federal government for the right to use marijuana, and she provides moving account of the struggles of the chronically ill and their caregivers. Chapkis is also the author of "Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor" and "Beauty Secrets: Women and the Politics of Appearance."

>  Law Enforcement and Civil Rights Groups Divided Over
    California Ballot Measure
    New York Times (US) [11/01/08]    

>  To Jail or Not Jail for Drug Relapse?
    AlterNet (US Web) [10/26/08] 

>  Prop. 5 Would Overhaul Sentencing of Drug Offenders
    Los Angeles Times (CA) [10/02/08]