| Bernalillo County works on new program to help meth addicts
Starting with methamphetamine addicts, Bernalillo County has made its first move toward creating a social services safety net program for people coming out of jail. The Meth Team started taking clients June 18 and provided them with services they need to stay sober, employed and mentally and physically healthy. County officials say the team also aims to start education programs in schools, community centers and other venues. The team is the beginning of the county's hope to reduce the number of people returning to jail for addiction-driven crimes and to help stabilize affected families. In the first month, the Meth Team's two case workers have enrolled about 25 clients. Face-to-face visits — on a daily basis and sometimes more often — ensure the clients have access to the services they need, officials say.
Drugs; Drug Use, Possession, Dealing, High ...
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman and president of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, will release the findings from CASA's twelfth annual back-to-school report, "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XII: Teens and Parents" on Thursday, August 16 at 10:00 a.m. at the Kaiser Family Foundation building, 1330 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. .
Brother of slain man blames 'demon of drugs'
Mike Smith said he's relieved that police believe they know who shot and killed his younger brother, Donnell Woods, in York City Saturday. But today, Smith, 39, of York City, said he's going to begin his own fight against what he says really killed his younger brother. "I'm going after the demon that killed my brother -- the demon of drugs," Smith said. Smith is the founder of Temple Guard youth drill team program at the Crossroads Youth Center at 255 W. King St., and tonight he and the youths in the program will be participating in the National Night Out against crime in York City. "It's a perfect time for me to get back up and fight," Smith said. Woods, 36, was fatally shot Saturday morning in the 100 block of Lincoln Street .
Bracelet can't work miracles says maker
The electronic monitoring device Lindsay Lohan was wearing on her ankle when she was arrested for drink-driving this week failed to save the actress from a relapse of alcohol abuse. But the company that makes and markets the ankle bracelet stands behind its product, saying the device is not meant to be a magic cure for addiction. "A lot of people just don't understand how the device works," said Don White, an executive at Alcohol Monitoring Systems. The Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, or SCRAM, has become an increasingly popular tool in court-ordered rehabilitation programmes in the US. About 40,000 people nationwide have used the device, some of them voluntarily, as in Lohan's case, Mr White said. Worn around the lower leg or ankle, the monitor detects whether a person has been drinking by measuring the evaporation of alcohol from perspiration on the surface of the individual's skin, using essentially the same technology as a breath tester.
MONDAY'S CALENDAR
The Comedy Addiction Tour La Nuit Theater, 2301 Soniat St. Stand-up performances about addiction and recovery, featuring Mark Lundholm, Billy Robinson, Kurtis Matthews and Jesse Joyce, 8. $10. Call 899-0333. CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES Jefferson Parish Library Summer Reading Programs East Bank Regional, 4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie. Family night with stories and crafts, 7. Free. A calendar of events for each branch may be found at www.jefferson.lib.la.us/calendar.htm. COMMUNITY EVENTS East Bank Regional Library 4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie. The Friends of the Jefferson Public Library hold a half-price sale at the gift shop (books not included), 1-4:45. Call 838-1100, ext. 239. Planetarium Shows St. Charles Parish Library, 105 Lakewood Drive, Luling.
The Reluctant Hedonist
"I intend to write an opera one day," says Rufus Wainwright. "Especially after these horrifyingly personal albums. I think I might need to concentrate on some other person's dire life." Wainwright is one of independent music's gay darlings, blessed with a silken, soaring voice and the ability to craft intoxicating melodies. His newest album, Want One (Dreamworks), is the first of a two-part musical chronicle that delves into the 30-year-old musician's dark forays into crystal meth addiction and anonymous sex, as well as his eventual journey through rehab. Released this week, Want One is consummate Wainwright -- filled with addictive melodic hooks, sweeping orchestrations and a playfulness that evokes everything from The Wizard of Oz to Maurice Ravel to Kurt Weill. It's a magnificent pastiche, one that makes you want to drop everything else you're doing just to spend time listening to it again.
Homeless vets can get aid at center
VANCOUVER -- Air Force veteran Roxanne Clark lost her family and her house as she succumbed to a substance-abuse addiction in the late 1990s. The Vancouver resident -- who, at the depth of her addiction, was homeless -- didn't know the Veterans Affairs Medical Center-Vancouver Campus, in the heart of her community, could help. "For 19 years I drove by this place, and I had no idea what went on behind the fence," Clark told U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Tuesday, when the senator spent about two hours at the Community Reintegration Services building hearing about services offered to homeless vets. And during a roundtable discussion with veterans and service providers, Murray said the importance of the Vancouver center -- a meeting place and temporary home for homeless veterans or veterans at risk of becoming homeless -- will grow as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan and mental conditions emerge years after their service has ended.
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