Currently, it is illegal to introduce counterfeit drugs into interstate commerce, but the penalties are the same as for illegal trafficking other goods, such as electronics or other merchandise. In essence, the penalties for copying a company's logo on a prescription bottle were more severe than for making and selling counterfeit drugs. The Bill targets violators who knowingly manufacture, sell, or traffic counterfeit medicines in the United States.
Senator Leahy was clearly pleased with the result and is urging the House to act quickly on the Senate's lead, stating:
We cannot allow the counterfeiting of life-saving medicine to be just one more low-risk venture from which international organized criminals can profit . . . While we should not expect that enactment of this or any legislation will completely deter the serious problem of counterfeit medication entering the American supply chain, it is an important step in the fight. I urge the House of Representatives to act quickly on this legislation.
Worldwide counterfeit medicines are a multi-billion dollar industry, and growing at an alarming pace, especially over the internet. These medicines pose a serious threat to the health and safety of unsuspecting Americans . . .The House should act as quickly as possible to ensure that counterfeit drug traffickers are punished accordingly for putting people's lives at risk with this serious crime.
The federal government's illegal war on drugs is big business for lobbyists who profit on making sure you never have access to marijuana, whether for recreational or medicinal purposes. And one such lobbyist, John Lovell, reportedly raked in nearly $400,000 from the...
Rome - The Health Ministry has recalled hair-loss treatment drug "Crescina", on grounds that it doesn't make hair re-grow. Consumer organisation Codacons announced that it will take legal action against the move in support of those people who have already bought the drug. "All the people who bought the product, out of confidence in the miraculous effects of Crescina, have the right to be refunded.
AFTER securing a $40m judgment against a newspaper that criticised him and jail sentences for its employees, Ecuador's president announced he would pardon them. The Economist 's readers supported this decision: 77% of them said they supported the pardon.
Led by Boxer and DeFazio, Bicameral Letter Calls for Reversal of Two Decade-Old Labeling Policy, Supports CFS Legal Petition In Only 6 Months, Already 850,000+ Public Comments To FDA In Support Of Labeling This morning a bicameral letter signed by 55 Members of Congress was sent to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg calling on the agency to require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE foods. The bicameral, bipartisan letter led by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR was written in support of a legal petition filed by the Center for Food Safety (CFS on behalf of the Just Label It campaign and its nearly 400 partner organizations and businesses; many health, consumer, environmental, and farming organizations, as well as food companies, are also signatories. Since CFS filed the labeling petition in October 2011, the public has submitted over 850,000 comments in support of labeling.
The revelation that Australia has recorded it first death related to use of the abortion pill RU486 has prompted a warning from the gynaecologist who supported the drug's legalisation in Australia.
I was sitting in my office in Seattle watching the snowfall on this St. Patrick's Day, while working on one of the latest food disasters, when the staff at Food Safety News reminded me that my "Publisher's Platform" was due. After spending most of my day reading about the horrible illnesses and deaths caused by eating Listeria cantaloupes, I honestly needed something a bit more positive to write about.
For those who have known me for sometime you have often heard me say: "put me out of business." But, I doubt most know when I first said it. It was in an Op-ed in the Denver Post on August 4, 2002, entitled, "Four steps to safer food." Here it is in full:
This summer, scores of Americans, most of them small children or senior citizens, have already or will become deathly ill after eating ground beef boldly labeled "USDA approved." The now infamous ConAgra case started with a few sick kids in Colorado and quickly spread coast-to-coast, eventually triggering the recall of 18 million pounds of ground beef tainted with E. coli.
Now we know that this recall came weeks late, after most of that meat had been consumed by innocent consumers from Washington State to New Jersey. Because they trusted government's food inspections, several kids suffered kidney failure and spent days or weeks hooked up to kidney dialysis machines. For some, the long-term prognosis is grim, with the risk of further kidney failure, dialysis, transplants or worse. I know this because I am a trial lawyer who has built a practice on food pathogens. Many of those kids' parents have hired me to help them get compensation for hundreds of thousands in medical costs. Which may prompt some readers to consider me a blood-sucking ambulance chaser who exploits other people's personal tragedies.
If that's the case, here's my plea:
Put me out of business. Please.
For this trial lawyer, E. coli has been a successful practice - and a heart-breaking one. I'm tired of visiting with horribly sick kids who did not have to be sick in the first place. I'm outraged with a food industry that allows E. coli and other poisons to reach consumers, and a federal regulatory system that does nothing about it.
Stop making kids sick - and I'll happily move on. Here's how:
Actually inspect and sample food. At present, the U.S. Department of Agriculture employs thousands of inspectors across the nation to inspect hundreds of plants that produce millions of pounds of beef at processing plants and retail outlets. The General Accounting Office has warned that the USDA's food samplings are so scattered and infrequent that there is little chance of detecting microscopic E. coli or any other pathogen.
So hire more inspectors and give them real authority to sample meat and stop its distribution as soon as a pathogen is detected. Implement a sampling system that provides a reasonable chance of preventing another outbreak.
Doing so might add a nickel a pound - maybe less - to the price of hamburger. But it will also cut into my business. And isn't that the idea?
Consider mandatory recall authority. This authority was required in Sen. Tom Harkin's Safer Meat, Poultry and Foods Act of 2002. Under the present system of voluntary recalls, no company has actually refused to recall contaminated product. But in its recent report, the GAO did document several instances where companies delayed complying with recall requests. Delays mean tainted product has more time to reach consumers.
Require the meat industry to document where specific lots of food are sold. That way, it can be recalled quickly if a pathogen is detected. In most E. coli outbreaks, there is no recall because retailers don't know where the meat came from and processors rarely step forward. ConAgra deserves credit for owning up to its responsibility to track down as much of the tainted meat as possible and for covering the medical costs of its victims.
But ConAgra is the exception. Timely online records would allow meat to be efficiently tracked down and recalled as soon as inspectors get a positive test result. Those plastic club cards issued by grocery chains could enable stores to contact specific individuals who have bought suspect ground beef. Merge the two federal agencies responsible for food safety. Right now USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service and the inspection arm of the Food and Drug Administration share this mission. The system is bifurcated, which leads to turf wars and split responsibilities. We need one independent agency that deals with food-borne pathogens.
None of this will stop E. coli entirely. This invisible poison has been around a long time and is bound to pop up again. But these steps will enable us to detect it far more quickly, to alert stores and families, and to keep our most vulnerable citizens - kids and seniors - out of harm's way. And, with a little luck, it will force one more damn trial lawyer to find another line of work.
I sit here now working on the cases of two 80 plus year olds, who fought in World War II, (splitting three purple hearts between them - coming home as heroes who got married, who raised families and who then died from eating cantaloupes tainted with Listeria.
In years past, my Saturday would have been focused on a 5-year-old who had died or suffered from acute kidney failure ( hemolytic uremic syndrome - HUS due to E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger. From 1993 though 2003, most of my firm's revenue was directly related to E. coli O157:H7 in hamburger. That has changed and changed for the better.
To the beef industry -- yes, including those who sell "pink slime" -- thank you for meeting my challenge. That being said, there is still much the industry can do. Shiga-toxin producing E. coli will always be an issue, and antibiotic resistant Salmonella, and other bad bugs we do not even know about lurk around the corner. The industry cannot let up. Even with the success there still have been people like Stephanie Smith and Abby Fenstermaker who remind you the battle will likely always have to be fought.
However, to the beef industry, take some solace that you have been doing a far better job on food safety -- and doing really well not putting money in my pocket.
Dana Thornton was admitted to pretrial intervention and will be required to see a probation officer, complete 50 hours of community service and undergo a psychological evaluation
Tim Farrell/The Star-Ledger
Dana Thornton, pictured in a November photo, today was admitted to pretrial intervention after she was accused of creating a fake Facebook page to mock her ex-boyfriend, a Parsippany police detective.
BELLEVILLE — A Belleville woman accused of creating a fake Facebook page to humiliate her ex-boyfriend – a Parsippany police detective – was admitted into the state’s Pretrial Intervention program today.
Dana Thornton, 41, faces a single charge of identity theft, but that charge would be dismissed if she successfully completes PTI.
Superior Court Judge David Ironson, sitting in Morristown, this morning admitted Thornton into the PTI program for one year. Thornton will be required to regularly see a probation officer, complete 50 hours of community service and undergo a psychological evaluation, as part of the conditions imposed by Ironson.
Ironson told Thornton, “PTI is not a right. It is an opportunity to get the charges dismissed” upon successful completion of the program. Otherwise, the charges would be reinstated.
Thornton’s application for PTI represented a change of legal strategy. She had previously rejected the state’s offer of PTI, saying she “didn’t do anything wrong.”
Thornton’s former attorney, Richie Roberts, withdrew from the case after the rejection, but she hired a new attorney, Vincent Sanzone, and wound up applying for PTI with his assistance.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Werner said his office is not opposing Thornton's entrance into PTI.
Thornton allegedly created the fake Facebook page in the name of Parsippany narcotics detective Michael Lasalandra on which the impersonated officer admitted using drugs, having herpes and going to prostitutes.
The fake posts included, "I’m a sick piece of scum with a gun" and "I’m an undercover narcotics detective that gets high every day," according to a brief filed by the prosecution.
?Latin American Presidents' Calls For Legalization Debate Go Unheeded At UN Drug Policy MeetingThe annual Drug War meeting of the United Nations is just wrapping up in Vienna, and sadly, none of the sentiments recently expressed by Latin American presidents about the need to consider legalization were raised during the sessions."Alarmingly, the U.S. even opposed amending one of its resolutions to include mention of the need to consider human rights when implementing drug policies," Tom Angell, media relations director at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP , told Toke of the Town on Friday morning.Even while several Latin American presidents are calling for an outright debate on drug legalization, delegates at the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting this week failed to even discuss a change in the global prohibitionist drug treaties, reports a group of judges, prosecutors and jailers who were at the meeting in Vienna to promote reform. Continue reading "Human Rights Is A Foreign Concept In The UN's War On Drugs" >
A claim for restitution filed by Pennsylvania's attorney general caused a last-minute delay in the sentencing of Merck & Co. (MRK for its violation of a federal drug law in connection with its marketing of former painkiller Vioxx.
At a hearing Friday in federal court in Boston, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris delayed Merck's sentencing until April 19 to allow for more time to consider the Pennsylvania claim. Merck was originally scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., agreed in November to pay $950 million and plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of marketing a misbranded drug, to resolve government allegations that the company illegally promoted Vioxx and deceived the government about the drug's safety.
The government alleged Merck promoted Vioxx for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis before that use was approved by regulators. A portion of the $950 million settlement also was to resolve parallel civil allegations that Merck made false and misleading statements about Vioxx's safety, causing government health programs to pay for the drug's use. Merck denied the civil allegations.
Merck had withdrawn Vioxx from the market in 2004 after a study showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular events.
The proposed November settlement was to resolve claims by the U.S. Justice Department, more than 40 states and the District of Columbia.
But last week, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed a so-called victim impact statement with the court. Pennsylvania's attorney general office argued that Judge Saris shouldn't impose a sentence unless Pennsylvania obtains restitution for Medicaid payments allegedly resulting from Merck's criminal misconduct, according to a court document filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
Pennsylvania is continuing to pursue Vioxx-related claims against Merck in proceedings coordinated by a federal judge in Louisiana, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department argued that Pennsylvania therefore has a forum to pursue its claims, and it shouldn't hold up the sentencing in Boston.
Merck also urged Judge Saris to decline Pennsylvania's application for restitution because it would delay distribution of the settlement money to participating states.
In a written statement Friday, Merck said: "Through a last minute request the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has attempted to derail an agreement already reached in good faith with the federal government, 44 other states, and the District of Columbia. There is no legal foundation for the Commonwealth's claim in this court and Merck will vigorously oppose it."
The Justice Department said Pennsylvania was allocated $4.5 million for alleged Medicaid losses under the $950 million settlement. States had the choice of either accepting their allocations or initiating or continuing litigation against Merck.
In medical practice, the term "drug abuse" is typically understood to describe habitual consumption with harmful consequences to the user.
It's also sometimes used to describe non-therapeutic or unintended use of a medical drug. But when it comes to illegal substances, the press routinely -- and ignorantly – calls it full-blown "drug abuse," even if you try the substance just one time.
Medtronic enrolls the initial patient into its Medtronic Registry for Epilepsy to look at the long-term efficacy and safety of deep brain stimulation therapy for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — As neuromodulation therapy celebrates its 25th year, Medtronic (NYSE: MDT enrolled the 1st patient into its Medtronic Registry for Epilepsy, a database tracking the safety, efficacy and quality of life of patients receiving deep-brain stimulation for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.
?Country music legend Willie Nelson has endorsed the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012 , which is gathering signatures to qualify for the November general election ballot. If passed by the people of Oregon, OCTA 2012 would regulate the legal sale of marijuana through state-licensed stores, allow adults to grow their own, license Oregon farmers to grow marijuana for state-licensed stores and allow unlicensed Oregon farmers to grow hemp for fuel, fiber and food.OCTA 2012 will raise an estimated $140 million a year by taxing commercial cannabis sales to adults 21 and older, and save an additional estimated $61.5 million as law enforcement, corrections and judicial attention can focus on violent crimes and theft."We estimate this will amount to $200 million a year more funding for state government," the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH said. Ninety percent of those proceeds will go into the state general fund, seven percent for drug treatment programs, with one percent each going to drug education in public schools and to two new state commissions to promote hemp biofuel, hemp fiber and food. Continue reading "Willie Nelson Supports Oregon Cannabis Tax Act" >
21 Jump Street (15 (Phil Lord, Chris Miller, 2012, US Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson. 109 mins.
As with comic books, now that all the big titles have gone, it's down to TV's B-list to feed Hollywood's appetite for ready-made movie concepts. Based on the show that first traded on Johnny Depp's youthful good looks, it stars Hill and Tatum – a great odd-couple anchor – as two low-flying cops who are sent back to high school to infiltrate a drugs ring. The premise is an almost pitifully obvious excuse to aim for broad-appeal paydirt with a mix of fratboy crudity, teen-movie romance and crime-flick action, but for all the box-ticking, it has intermittently hilarious results.
Contraband (15 (Baltasur Kormakur, 2012, US Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi. 110 mins.
Mark Wahlberg sticks to what he's good at, which is muscled, breathy and slightly high-pitched posturing in a brooding action thriller. Here he plays a smuggler lured out of retirement for one last job, carrying counterfeit bills out of Panama City.
We Bought A Zoo (PG (Cameron Crowe, 2011, US Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church. 119 mins.
Crowe brings his hard-to-resist sentiment to bear on this story of an LA hack (Damon who buys a rundown zoo after his wife dies and tries to get it up to legal standards. A fluffy, melancholy romcom.
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (15 (Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2011, Tur/Bos-Herz Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan. 158 mins.
Ceylan's latest is his most ambitious yet, a slow-burn procedural as an arrested man searches in the Turkish wilderness for the body of a man he is said to have killed. It's long, rigorous, with many loose ends, but rewarding for those brave enough to take the challenge.
Booked Out (12A (Bryan O'Neil, 2012, UK Sylvia Sims, Mirren Burke, Rollo Weeks. 86 mins.
Small-scale Brit movie about a lonely illustrator. Tries to be a charming homegrown Amelie, but resembles more a goofy US indie.
Del Monte Fresh Produce has withdrawn its threatened lawsuit against the Oregon Public Health Division and its senior epidemiologist, who with other public health officials last year traced a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infection to cantaloupes imported from the company's Asuncion Mita farm in Guatemala.
The news was reported by Lynne Terry of The Oregonian. She wrote that Del Monte Fresh Produce notified the state earlier this month that it would not go forward with legal action against William Keene and his department.
Del Monte Fresh Produce had announced its threat in a news release in August, claiming that "misleading allegations" had been made in naming the Guatemalan cantaloupes as the likely source of Salmonella infection that sickened at least 20 people, and sent three to the hospital. The case patients were from Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington.
Twelve of 16 ill people had reported eating cantaloupe in the week before they became ill, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on the outbreak investigation. Eleven of those 12 people had purchased cantaloupes from eight different Costco stores and traceback information indicated the melons were from a single farm -- Asuncion Mita in Guatemala.
Del Monte Fresh Produce voluntarily recalled the Guatemalan cantaloupes on March 22, 2011 after it was notified of the epidemiological link between the melons the outbreak of Salmonella Panama infection.
But when the Food and Drug Administration banned further cantaloupe imports from the company's Guatemalan farm, Del Monte Fresh Produce sued the FDA and got it to back down on the import alert. It also claimed it was wrongly blamed for the outbreak.
Food safety experts and consumer activists predicted the case targeting Oregon Public Health -- recognized for its food safety leadership -- would not go far, but said they saw the complaint filed by Del Monte Fresh Produce as an attempt to intimidate public health programs across the country.
Dr. Katrina Hedberg, Oregon state epidemiologist, told The Oregonian that dealing with the tort claim had been time-consuming, so it was a relief when it was withdrawn and they could resume focusing on their job -- protecting the public's health.
The claim was unprecedented, Terry noted:
State epidemiologists investigate dozens of foodborne illness outbreaks every year and name the culprits to prevent more people from getting sick. No other company has ever filed a suit or threatened to sue Oregon over one of those investigations.
"There have been lots of outbreaks," Hedberg said. "Why some companies choose to work with public health and others want to fight it -- I can't answer that."
A Del Monte Fresh Produce spokesman declined to comment, telling Terry the company "does not comment on ongoing or closed investigations."
See what the cast of "The Hunger Games" looked like back in the day.
By Drew Mackie and Rebecca Silverstein. Let the games begin! Well, soon enough, anyway. While you ravenous fans of "The Hunger Games" get excited for the movie premiere, have a look at who the "Hunger" stars were before they embodied the characters in this epic story. Jennifer LawrenceRole: Katniss EverdeenJennifer rose to fame when she was nominated for a 2011 Oscar for "Winter's Bone." But that was far from the actress's breakout role. After moving to Hollywood from Louisville, Ky., Lawrence began acting in 2006 at age 16. From 2007-09, Jennifer starred as Lauren Pearson on the TBS sitcom "The Bill Engvall Show." Sure, it wasn't Emmy-worthy material, but it got her where she is today.
Liam Hemsworth. Role: Gale HawthorneBefore he was known as Miley Cyrus' boyfriend and Chris Hemsworth's little brother, Liam (seen left in 2008 was a star back in his native Australia. In 2007, he got his big break playing paraplegic Josh Taylor on the soap opera "Neighbours." (Liam and Chris' other brother, Luke, had previously starred on the show as Nathan Tyson. But it wasn't until he showed his abs in "The Last Song" that U.S. audiences got a load of Liam's leading man potential.
Josh Hutcherson. Role: Peeta MellarkIf you're just catching wind of Josh right now, then you obviously weren't a kid -- or didn't have children -- in the early- to mid-2000s. This chubby-faced youngling (seen left in 2003 moved from Union, Ky., to Los Angeles when he was 9 and quickly became a go-to guy for tween-friendly fare, bringing him starring roles in movies like "Little Manhattan," "Zathura: A Space Adventure" and "Bridge to Terabithia." We think it's about time he's grown up, don't you?
Woody Harrelson. Role: Haymitch AbernathyHarrelson's road to "The Hunger Games" began in Midland, Texas. In 1985, Harrelson joined the cast of "Cheers," and he used the popularity of the show to launch a successful film career (beginning with 1992's "White Men Can't Jump" that has brought him to play Katniss' mentor in "Hunger." Harrelson wed his longtime love, Laura Louie, in 2008; they have three daughters: Deni Montana, Zoe Giordano and Makani Ravello. A tireless advocate of liberal political causes, he has become known in particular for his support of marijuana legalization, vegetarianism and biodiesel.
Elizabeth Banks. Role: Effie TrinketBack in 2002, this Pittsfield, Mass., native and UPenn grad was a relative Hollywood unknown who had just scored big playing Betty Brant in the "Spider-Man" trilogy, but comedy fans already knew her as the burger-loving French kisser from "Wet, Hot American Summer." Since, Banks has become a mom and a bankable star known for smart comedy ("30 Rock" and dressing to impress. Banks married Max Handelman in 2003, and she had a son, Felix, via surrogate in March 2011.
Lenny Kravitz. Role: CinnaThe son of "The Jeffersons" star Roxie Roker, Kravitz has performed music his entire life, making his mainstream splash in 1993 with "Are You Gonna Go My Way." (He's pictured at left at the 1993 MTV VMAs with Cindy Crawford… and his signature shades. Kravitz has continued to rock in the interim, and today, his role as Cinna, Katniss' stylist, marks his second major movie role after his turn in "Precious." Kravitz married actress Lisa Bonet in 1987, and Bonet gave birth to Kravitz's only child, singer-actress Zoe Kravitz, in 1988.
Wes Bentley. Role: Seneca CranePictured at left during his high school days, Bentley, now 33, is best remembered for two major movies in the late '90s: "American Beauty," in which he played the creepy videographer neighbor boy, and "Beloved," in which his character sexually assaulted Oprah's. Following those, Bentley married actress Jennifer Quanz in 2001, but Bentley's drug problems ultimately caused the two to split. Finally sobering up in 2009, Bentley refocused his energies on his career. In 2010, he married producer Jacqui Swedberg. They have a son, Charles, who was born in 2010.
Jack Quaid. Role: Marvel"The Hunger Games" may be Jack's movie debut, but he's been around Hollywood longer than most of his castmates. That's because his parents are Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid! "I've been on sets my whole life," Jack tells People, "but this is the first time in front of the camera and not in a chair with Sour Patch Kids from the craft services truck. ... It was a new sensation. It was weird ... I really liked it. " Check him at left with pudgier cheeks back in 2003.
Isabelle Fuhrman. Role: CloveThe last time we checked in with Fuhrman, the Washington, D.C., native was playing a psychotic seductress trapped in a child's body in the 2009 horror film "Orphan." That's not all that long ago, we admit, but it's worth it to see what a lovely young woman Fuhrman, now 15, has grown into… and, you know, that she isn't actually trapped in a child's body.
Jacqueline Emerson. Role: FoxfaceHer role as one of Katniss' competitors marks her feature film debut, but you still might have heard of this 20-year-old Washington, D.C., native before. Pictured at left back in 2005, she played keyboards in Devo 2.0, the bizzare, kid-friendly, Disney-produced "spinoff" group of the '80s band Devo. (Yes, that was actually a thing that happened.
Alexander Ludwig. Role: CatoThis Vancouver native had mostly TV and direct-to-DVD movies on his resume before scoring a starring role in 2007's "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising." It's not much to write home about, but at least it got him out of people's living rooms and onto the big screen.
Leven Rambin. Role: GlimmerConsidering how well she can work it on the red carpet, it's hard to believe that "The Hunger Games" is actually one of Leven's first flicks. Before now, she's been queen of the small screen. You might remember this 21-year-old Houston, Texas, native as Ava Benton on "All My Children," for which she attended the 2005 Daytime Emmy Awards. Leven also appeared as Riley Dawson on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and as Sloan Riley on "Grey's Anatomy."
Stanley Tucci. Role: Caesar FlickermanAfter this Peekskill, N.Y., native made his film debut in 1985's "Prizzi's Honor," Tucci went on to be one of Hollywood's most reliably great actors, whether for comedy ("The Devil Wears Prada" or drama ("The Lovely Bones" . Pictured at left in 1996, Tucci looks more or less the same today -- minus a bit of hair, maybe. Tucci had three daughters with his wife Kate, who died from breast cancer in 2009. Tucci has since become engaged to Felicity Blunt, sister of Emily Blunt.
Donald Sutherland. Role: President Coriolanus SnowWhere to start? This celebrated Canadian actor began with the amazingly titled 1965 film "Die! Die! My Darling!" and ever since has straddled the line between mainstream drama ("Ordinary People," "Klute" and niche weirdness ( "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" , so he's right at home in "The Hunger Games." Pictured at left in 1982, Donald had twins Kiefer and Rachel, with his second wife, Shirley Douglas. In 1972, Donald married his current wife, actress Francine Racette. They have three sons.
It's hard to know these days which way the proverbial worm is turning when it comes to shifts in drug policy. Election years tend to do that. Despite an historical turn of events in Central America which saw Presidents of drug trafficking nations come together to call for world wide decriminalization of drugs, in an effort to end the violence and corruption of the drug trade, the US continues to demur, absurdly claiming that the "War on Drugs" has been a success. Even stranger is Canada's recent announcement that they plan to follow the US model of a "tough on crime" approach to drug policy, which threatens to swell their correctional system in the same ways as in the US. Still, good news abounds with recent studies showing that LSD can cure alcoholism, psychedelics can cure PTSD, and cannabis smoking is not nearly as harmful as the prohibition governments claim. ~ CS
To liberalise or prohibit, that is the question. And to answer it the masters of live debate have joined forces with the masters of web technology to create a never-seen-before combination of Oxford debating and Silicon Valley prowess.
Prohibitionists argue that legalising anything increases its consumption. The world has enough of a problem with legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, so why add to the problem by legalising cannabis, cocaine and heroin?
The liberalisers say prohibition doesn’t work. By declaring certain drugs illegal we haven’t reduced consumption or solved any problem. Instead we’ve created an epidemic of crime, illness, failed states and money laundering.
Julian Assange and Richard Branson; Russell Brand and Misha Glenny; Geoffrey Robertson and Eliot Spitzer. Experts, orators and celebrities who’ve made this their cause – come and see them lock horns in a new Intelligence?/Google+ debate format. Some of our speakers will be on stage in London, others beamed in from Mexico City or Sao Paulo or New Orleans, all thanks to the “Hangout” tool on Google+.
The web will have its say, and so can you at the event in London. Be part of the buzz of the audience, be part of an event beamed across the web to millions. Come and witness the future of the global mind-clash at the first of our Versus debates, live at Kings Place
The message is (or should be deeply disturbing. Shouldn't the USA be ashamed at having the world's largest prison system and highest incarceration rate (754 per 100 000 people ? The richest country in the world has so many of its citizens in prison that it can't afford to house them with even basic minimum medical care (more than half of all prisoners have mental health or drug problems . Prison overcrowding itself has become so terrible in California, that in May, 2011, the US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court order that California release some 46 000 prisoners because of the inhuman conditions under which they were being held. In the Court's words, “A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in a civilised society.”
More women are ending up behind bars than ever. Between 1980 and 1989, the number of women in U.S. prisons tripled. And the number of women in prison has continued to rise since. In the last 10 years, the number of women under jurisdiction of state or federal authorities increased 21 percent to almost 113,000. During the same time period, the increase in the number of men in prison was 6 percentage points lower, at about 15 percent. The increase in women in the federal population was even larger- over 41 percent from 2000 to 2010.
Most women are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses. Over one-fourth are in prison for a drug offense, while 29.6 percent were convicted of a property crime. Addiction plays a large part in a number of women's property crimes, and a lack of available or appropriate treatment only serves to drive their contact with the justice system.
Stephen Vittoria is that rare commodity in Hollywood today: a filmmaker with a conscience. To be more precise, a filmmaker with a strong political conscience. After making two feature films,>Black and White& Hollywood Boulevard (1996 , as well as three feature documentaries:Save Your Life -- The Life and Holistic Times of Dr. Richard Schulze (1998 ,;Keeper of the Flame (2005 and the award-winning art house hit One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern (2005 , a portrait of the South Dakota senator who tried to unseat Richard Nixon from the White House in 1972.
For his latest exploration into America's socio-political landscape, Vittoria joins forces with radio producer Noelle Hanrahan to bring Long Distance Revolutionary, the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal, to the screen. Born Wesley Cook in Philadelphia, Abu-Jamal made his name as a tireless writer and journalist during the racially-charged 1970s that often portrayed the City of Brotherly Love as anything but. With his intense coverage of the MOVE organization, a black empowerment group whose ongoing battle with the police and city hall came to a fiery end in 1985, Abu-Jamal become a constant thorn in the side of the city's powerful establishment. Things came to a sudden head for Abu-Jamal himself on the evening of December 9, 1981 when he was accused of murdering a Philadelphia police officer. He received a death sentence the following year, and has been on Pennsylvania's death row until early this year, when his death sentence was commuted to a life sentence in December, 2011.
Abu-Jamal's case remains one of the most controversial and heatedly debated in American legal history, with participants on both sides either protesting his innocence in the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner or his absolute guilt with equal passion and more often, great vehemence.
At a recent conference of journalists at John Jay College, I raised an issue I have about language in the media: the frequent use of the word “felon” to describe a person who has been convicted of a crime.
“Felon” is an ugly label that confirms the debased status that accompanies conviction. It identifies a person as belonging to a class outside many protections of the law, someone who can be freely discriminated against, someone who exists at the margins of society.
In short, a “felon” is a legal outlaw and social outcast.
Scientific theories that addiction hijacks the brain have just increased the stigma that they were meant to stop. At least in the moralistic bad old days, addicts were still viewed as having free will. Here's an alternative to both of these no-win approaches.
Mind-altering compounds, such as LSD and psilocybin, stirred controversy in the 1960s. As the counter-culture’s psychedelic drugs of choice, the widespread use - and abuse - of hallucinogens prompted tougher anti-drug laws.
For those who have known me for sometime you have often heard me say: "put me out of business." But, I doubt most know when I first said it. It was in an Op-ed in the Denver Post on August 4, 2002, entitled, "Four steps to safer food." Here it is in full:
I sit here now working on the cases of two 80 plus year olds, who fought in World War II, (splitting three purple hearts between them - coming home as heroes who got married, who raised families and who then died from eating cantaloupes tainted with Listeria. 
