| Services needed to break young user cycle
TEENAGERS are dying and families are being torn apart due to a lack of services for adolescent drug addicts, campaigners have claimed. A shortage of detox facilities for teenagers, a lack of mental health beds, no proper aftercare for teen drug users when they come out of treatment along with limited accommodation facilities for recovering addicts are combining to create a crisis within Ireland's adolescent population.
While services for teenage addicts improved in recent years, much of a 2005 government-sponsored report on the problem remains to be implemented.
Professionals have identified the lack of residential detox facilities, specifically earmarked for adolescents, as a key weakness in the State's battle against drug addiction.
Two of the country's main drug treatment centres, Beaumount Hospital and Cuan Dara in Dublin, have no designated detox programmes or beds for under-18s.
Meat-Axe Justice
So many black males are going to prison now that it is a black rite of passage; their forced surrender to reality of justice in America. In nine states, up to 40% of black males are not permitted to vote because their citizenship has been taken away. Of course, now there are over a million black males in prison, but is anyone troubled by this? Not really, and besides, the good people of Tehachapi are begging bread from a flush-with-money prison system to build their hospital. Doesn't this strike anyone as even a tiny bit odd? Since many claim scripture for guidance, don't you think there is some counsel therein for conscientious citizens? What about a cruel David and the little ewe lamb? Do we have the wit to discern and repent when timely truths visit? David did, to his credit.
Are The Wheels Coming Off The Newsom Bus?
Update: National coverage of TourkGate: AP: San Francisco Mayor Admits Affair and S.F. Mayor Apologizes for Affair LA Times: San Francisco mayor admits affair Time: The Scandal of San Francisco Chicago Tribune: San Francisco abuzz over mayor's affair MS NBC: Mayor apologizes for affair with manager's wife Update: More from the Chronicle The Politics Blog's Carla Marinucci: Newsom's Crisis Management Strategy Right on Track Chronicle Podcasts: Open Mic: Your calls on TourkGate, part 2, part 3; Correct Me If I'm Wrong...: Flap's our fault Update: Here's some more coverage from across the web: Pictures from UCSF's Raising Hope event from Wednesday night here. Wednesday night seems so long ago. The Binary Circumstance: Gavin Newsom's Campaign Manager Quits Over Alleged Affair The Left Coaster: Hit The Road, Mayor LA Observed: Mayor's affair gets messy Mother Jones: CBS Says: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Breaks "The Man Code" Bookworm Room: I guess this will kill the gay rumors I Fought the Law: Oh, Gavin...
Beautiful Miss Idaho in LCHS Parade
Below, Family Phil's shot of historic downtown Wallace. BTW, Phil has a Little-Ears-Have-Big-Windows post here. *HBO's still trying to figure out what Stebbijo/Your Choice means by done-r here. *CDADave/Thin Air is trying out a new look as he prepares to return to the HBO blogosphere in a big way on Monday. He's asking folks what they think here. *Amy Crooks/That's Life. Life Goes On sounds as though she's been working hard for her money and not blogging too much here. *Marianne Love/Slight Detour has some fascinating historical info about Bonner County, including how Hoodoo Creek was formed and how Sagle got its name after losing out to Eagle in southern Idaho here. Also: Herb Huseland/Bay Views puts in his 2 cents about the inheritance tax here, Digital Fog has another fine parody here, ErinG/Idaho Native is getting nervous about the birth process here and Cis Gors/From A Simple Mind analyzes an online quiz she took here.
Ex High-Flying UK Banker Launches TV For Addicts
A former London banker whose cocaine addiction cost him his high-flying job and nearly destroyed his marriage has created Britain's first television channel to help addicts and their families. Dan Butcher, 34, from Berkshire, developed an addiction that left him suicidal while running a foreign exchange trading desk at a firm in London's financial district known as the "City." "If I didn't have a wife and children I would have killed myself," he told Reuters in an interview. "If they weren't around, I wouldn't be here." At his lowest point, he was taking up to 300 pounds worth of cocaine a day and was arrested for possession after visiting his dealer. The last few days before he sought help were spent alone in a hotel room, drinking vodka and taking cocaine around the clock without sleeping or eating.
Wild Card/Vacation Day 11 of 12
Only two more shopping days until I return to the final days of the City Council campaigns. Then, we'll have fun taking apart the campaigns. Any dirt yet? Any mudslinging. You know, the good stuff. Or is everyone behaving? My wife is now looking over my shoulder -- literally -- so I have to pretend that I'm just checking ball scores. See ya in two days. Here's Wild Card ... .
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