| Group home for teens planned for Soudan
An organization that specializes in providing residential services to adolescents recovering from alcohol and drug addiction is looking to purchase the old Parkside Homes building in Soudan. Phoenix Group Homes currently operates three half way houses in the state and hopes to bring their fourth to this area. They are licensed through the Minnesota Department of Corrections as a group foster home and have been operating for 14 years. Weve been getting a number of referrals from the upper third of the state, and decided that we should look north. The property were looking at there in Soudan is perfect for what we would need, said Executive Director of Phoenix Group Homes, Howard Meier. Phoenix offers a variety of services to youth ages 14-19. The main concentration of the group is to provide a constructive transitionary period for individuals coming out of treatment facilities.
Treatment improves, but availability doesn't
The good news about treatment for heroin and opiate addiction is that there are new drugs to help the user and better understanding of addiction than ever before, said Dr. Allan Ebert, a Flint doctor and expert on substance abuse treatment. The bad news is that those who want treatment but who don't have private health insurance or who are uninsured face waiting lists or shortened stays in programs, given the lack of funding by the state Legislature, officials say. Payments for heroin users who receive methadone were also cut in the spring. What should a person do to try to get help for heroin or other substance abuse addiction? Those without health insurance can contact the Intake Assessment and Referral Center (IARC) at 235-9555 for a free assessment.
Hargrove Returns to Camp with Bills
The Buffalo Bills returned to training camp Sunday afternoon at St. John Fisher College for the first time since the NFL suspended one of their own. Defensive end Anthony Hargrove was arrested last weekend after an altercation with Rochester police. He's accused of shoving an officer and resisting arrest. Saturday the NFL suspended Hargrove for four regular season games. The league said he violated the NFL's substance abuse policy. “I apologize to Ralph Wilson himself, the Bills organization. The last two weeks have been rough, I'm trying to put this behind me and be a better man; trying to learn to be humble," said Hargrove. The NFL has not said what illegal substance was found in Hargrove's system. Hargrove can still practice with the team.
The ‘slaves’ on cannabis farms
Illegal immigrants are being made to work like "slaves" inside indoor cannabis farms in Scotland, which are being raided at a rate of more than one every week since the first such farms began production around a year ago. In only 12 months, police have closed 66 of the industrial-scale drugs centres, which are often run by organised crime, according to Graeme Pearson, head of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA). The cannabis plants are being grown in homes or business properties using equipment such as lamps and fans, with each farm housing up to 1000 plants, capable of a £100,000 harvest. Recent estimates suggest most cannabis smoked in Britain is now home-grown, compared with 11% a decade ago, partly because the home-grown product is much stronger than smuggled cannabis.
Jamieson tells of addiction
GRINSPOON frontman Phil Jamieson has spoken of the depths of his ice addiction, including stealing money from his bandmates and the realisation he had become "a junkie". Jamieson, lead singer of the Australian rock band named after illicit drug expert and Harvard Medical School professor Lester Grinspoon, says he began using crystal methamphetamine in 2004, recreationally at first. After two years of using the drug, along with cocaine and ecstasy as a source of musical inspiration, the married father of two says he became an everyday ice user on the brink of a psychological, career and family meltdown. Jamieson had become one of Australia's most high-profile victims of the ice epidemic. "August last year, was when things got messy," he tells Andrew Denton on ABC television program Enough Rope tonight.
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It happens to us all. Friends comfort me when I frequently lose things. But that doesn't make it easier to deal with the underlying sense of lack of control that such annoying mishaps breed. While I realize we're all too busy and too stressed these days, some self-imposed order remains comforting, such as knowing where the keys are, the cell phone, pending bills and the checkbook. This past year, I've misplaced each. Most eventually were recovered, but some, alas, are no doubt gone forever. When I was recently caught up in the whirlwind months of helping my mother find the right hospitals and rehab centers, aka nursing homes, I forgave my frequent losses as the result of extreme stress. Misplaced checkbook? O.K., so we start a new one -- only to find the old one weeks later.
Community court plan advances
After stalling for a few months, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's controversial plan for a new community court to prosecute quality-of-life crimes in the city's core has taken a big step forward. Newsom and Superior Court judges have signed off on a plan for the court, dubbed the Community Justice Center, which was written by judges and presented to the mayor Friday. The plan includes some major changes to the mayor's initial idea, including not handling infractions such as public urination and public drunkenness. Instead, the court will focus on misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, most of which are expected to be drug crimes. Other crimes likely to be handled at the court include car break-ins, repeated shoplifting, the passing of bad checks and other more serious offenses.
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