DEA Position on Marijuana report (July 2010),

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The DEA Listed Me #2!!!

The holidays have been very happy for me and everyone here at Quick Trading. Not only has Celeb Stoner listed Marijuana Grower's Handbook as the Best Cultivation Book of 2010, but I also recently received a copy of the DEA Position on Marijuana report (July 2010), and found that they named me second under Biggest Threats: The Legalization Lobby.

It reads:

"Ed Rosenthal, senior editor of High Times [they are a little out-of-the loop], a pro-drug magazine, once revealed the legalization strategy behind the "medical" marijuana movement. While addressing an effort to seek public sympathy fo glaucoma patients, he said, "I have to tell you that I also use marijuana medically. I have latent glaucoma which has never been diagnosed. The reason why it's never been diagnosed is because I have been treating it." He continued, "I have to be honest, there is another reason why I do use marijuana... and that is because I like to get high. Marijuana is fun." "


First, I would like to thank the DEA for their acknowledgement of my work. I appreciate my high ranking on your list, and while I am a supporter and respect the work of Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), what do I have to do to become #1?

Drug Czar Kerlikowske and the DEA have ignored my requests to put my tens of thousands of deputized volunteers to work. They are ready with their portable hazardous waste incinerators and thermal papers to destroy all of the marijuana produced in and coming across our borders.

So, this award to me is bittersweet. That's ok though, I prefer my chocolate that way too. Retweet this button on every post blogger Ed Rosenthal at 10:47 AM

INTERIM LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE'S PROPOSALS TO CHANGE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Sat, 25 Dec 2010
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2010 Missoulian
Contact: oped@missoulian.com
Website: http://www.missoulian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Author: Charles S. Johnson

INTERIM LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE'S PROPOSALS TO CHANGE MEDICAL MARIJUANA
LAW WIDE-RANGING

HELENA - Here are the highlights of an interim legislative
committee's major proposal to revise the state's Medical Marijuana
Act and create a regulatory structure for the industry.

Rep. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, has introduced the bill on behalf of
the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee
that she chaired. Here are its key provisions, according to a summary
by legislative researcher Sue O'Connell:

. Creates a state licensing and regulatory structure for medical
marijuana businesses.

The Revenue Department would be in charge of regulation, while the
Department of Public Health and Human Services would continue to
register patients qualified to use medical marijuana.

Parolees, probationers and individuals under youth court supervision
may not receive cards.

. Creates a tiered licensing system for people growing and selling
medical marijuana.

A provider would be an individual who grows or obtains medical
marijuana for registered cardholders and is limited to working with
five or fewer cardholders.

A medical marijuana dispensary may sell marijuana to more than five
cardholders.

A medical marijuana-infused products manufacturer may make products,
such as edible products or tinctures.

A medical marijuana grower may grow marijuana for a dispensary or
infused products manufacturer. This grower must also have a license
for one of those other businesses.

. Establishes requirements for people applying for a license to grow
and sell medical marijuana. Applicants must submit fingerprints for a
national criminal history background check. They may not have felony
convictions of any kind, nor be on probation or parole or be under
youth court supervision.

Applicants may not be licensed if they owe taxes, child support or
student loans.

Applicants must disclose the names of all people affiliated with the
business and those with financial interests in the business.

The bill would require regular monitoring of license holders.
Licensees must provide quarterly reports on sales, revenues and other
items. The Revenue Department may inspect the business premises and
audit its records.

. Gives local government the authority to regulate. A local
government may establish zoning regulations, business licensing
requirements and building codes and standards, but may not ban
medical marijuana within its boundaries.

. Establishes new requirement for physicians. It creates a definition
of standard of care and requires physicians to meet the standard when
providing a written certification for use of medical marijuana. They
must have an office in the state and not located where medical
marijuana is grown, stored or distributed.

It prohibits physicians from having any financial ties to a medical
marijuana business if they provide written certifications for medical
marijuana.

. Revises the existing law to clean up gray areas. It requires that
applicants for medical marijuana registry cards and business licenses
be Montana residents. A proof of residency would be required for
applicants using medical marijuana cards. There would be a two-year
residency requirement for people applying for licenses to grow or
sell the product.

Two physician certifications are necessary to get a card for chronic
pain. A person with cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS may receive a card
when the symptoms of the condition are seriously affecting the
person's health status.

It increases from 1 ounce to 2 ounces the amount of usable marijuana
a person may possess, but caps purchases at 2 ounces per month. The
current law has no limits on the frequency of purchases.

It prohibits the smoking of medical marijuana in public.

It repeals the so-called "affirmative defense" that people could
raise in court, even if they weren't registered to use or grow
medical marijuana or had more than the allowable amount.

For News, Recipes, and Medical Info
Come visit us at http://www.letfreedomgrow.com

Technorati : Diane Sands, cannabis, hemp, marijuana, medical marijuana, regulatory structure of dispensaries

Medical pot industry sets its sights on Capitol Hill

Medical pot industry sets its sights on Capitol Hill

By Rob Hotakainen

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The cannabis industry has flexed its muscles in 15 states where it's legal to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. Now the industry is ready to go to work in Washington.

A new trade group, called the National Cannabis Industry Association, is an attempt to bring together sellers, growers and manufacturers and to promote pot on Capitol Hill.

"Our intent is to be the go-to organization in Washington for this industry," said Aaron Smith, the group's executive director.

For the past five years, Smith worked as the California director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

"Coming out of California and expanding into this national field is pretty exciting," he said. "There's been a lot of enthusiasm.... It's pretty clear that the medical marijuana industry is becoming recognized more and more by the mainstream as a fully legitimate part of the economy."

Even though California voters last month rejected a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for all adults, Smith said it was just a matter of time before the drug was fully legalized.

"Legalization is looking inevitable," he said. "It didn't happen in 2010, but it's likely to happen in 2012.... It's going to be relatively soon we're going to see states move from medical marijuana into broader legal markets. And the federal government needs to catch up. Frequently the American people are ahead of the Congress."

But Smith will have a hard time finding many

marijuana advocates in Congress.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted 400-4 to back a resolution sponsored by California Republican Rep. Wally Herger that calls on authorities to get tougher with those who cultivate marijuana on federal land.

In a speech on the House floor, Herger said the presence of Mexican marijuana cartel operations in national forests in Northern California "poses a serious threat to our public safety and use of our public lands."

Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin called medical marijuana "a misnomer," adding: "There is nothing safe about smoking. There is nothing safe about smoking an illicit product called marijuana."

Smith said the association officially formed this month, putting together a 23-member board that includes leaders in the cannabis industry, who represent dispensaries, operators, publications and insurance providers, among others.

The association's first target will be a federal law that prohibits marijuana use even if states have legalized it. The law has resulted in confusion amid overlapping jurisdictions, with state authorities enforcing state laws and federal officials enforcing federal laws.

But President Obama's administration has been easing up. Last year, Attorney General Eric Holder ordered federal prosecutors to back away from cases against medical marijuana patients and to focus on higher-level traffickers or money launderers.

"I'd like to see that codified by Congress, to become the law of the land, not just an executive order," Smith said. "This industry's biggest challenges are the obstacles presented by federal law, so that's why we're focusing on the change to federal law first and foremost."

With Republicans poised to take control of the House, Smith said: "I can't say that I'm super optimistic, but we'll definitely be pushing the message of federalism, which the Republicans should listen to. All we're really asking for is to allow the states to essentially make up their own minds on marijuana policy."

Smith noted that the issue of medical marijuana has bipartisan appeal: Republican candidates won a clean sweep in Arizona last month, but voters still approved the use of medical marijuana.

"This is not a left issue," he said. "This is a mainstream issue, and Republicans should embrace it."

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/13/1631040/medical-pot-industry-sets-its.html#ixzz18P0oNofX

Move over, Big Pharma and Big Oil, Big Marijuana is here!

Move over, Big Pharma and Big Oil, Big Marijuana is here

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Beyond The Curtain

Daniel Tencer
The Raw Story

Legalization ‘looking inevitable,’ spokesman says

If there’s one group of people who get their way in Washington, it’s lobbyists.

Now, advocates of marijuana legalization may have a reason to cheer that political reality: They’re getting their own marijuana lobby group.

And just Big Pharma and Big Oil lobby for greater leeway for their businesses, so too will Big Marijuana push for their industry to be given the freedom to succeed.

Aaron Smith, executive director of the newly formed National Cannabis Industry Association, says that marijuana legalization is “looking inevitable.”

Smith told McClatchy news service: “It’s pretty clear that the medical marijuana industry is becoming recognized more and more by the mainstream as a fully legitimate part of the economy.”

Legalization “didn’t happen in 2010, but it’s likely to happen in 2012,” he added. “It’s going to be relatively soon we’re going to see states move from medical marijuana into broader legal markets. And the federal government needs to catch up. Frequently the American people are ahead of the Congress.”

The NCIA notes that 15 states have now legalized medical marijuana, providing the lobby group with a legal base from which to operate and collect funding. And just as Big Pharma and Big Oil frame their demands through the prism of American jobs, so too will the National Cannabis Industry Association argue that legalizing marijuana will put thousands of Americans to work.

“The ever-expanding list of state-sanctioned medical cannabis providers and ancillary businesses have easily become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, generating thousands of good jobs and paying tens – if not hundreds – of millions in taxes,” Smith said in a statement last month. “These businesses have clearly earned the right to strong representation on the national stage and recognition as a true force for economic growth.”

According to McClatchy, the lobby group’s first target will be a federal law that upholds marijuana prohibition in states that have legalized it. But the news service notes it could be an uphill battle: By a margin of 400 to 4, House representatives recently voted in favor of a resolution calling for tougher laws against those who grow pot on federal land.

And the US’s most high-profile political battle for marijuana legalization — California’s Proposition 19 — lost by a margin of 57 to 43 in last month’s vote. The defeat for pot activists came after US Attorney General Eric Holder said he would continue enforcing federal marijuana laws in the state regardless of how Californians voted.

Smith sounded an ambivalent note about his lobby group’s prospects in the coming Republican-dominated House, suggesting that framing the argument as a states’ rights issue — each state should decide its own pot policies — should appeal to federalist Republicans.

“I can’t say that I’m super optimistic, but we’ll definitely be pushing the message of federalism, which the Republicans should listen to,” he told McClatchy. “All we’re really asking for is to allow the states to essentially make up their own minds on marijuana policy.”

Cancer: There are natural cures and treatments available! December 16th, 2010

CANCER. It’s a word that scares the pants off of us, but it doesn’t have to. There are simple, effective and inexpensive natural treatments available that we can do ourselves in the comfort of our own homes; and with amazing results! Just because the medical establishment doesn’t recognize them doesn’t mean they don’t work. Remember, each cancer patient earns the pharmaceutical about 0,000. Do you think they want you to know about something natural that they can’t profit from? Here is an excerpt from the following web site: http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/fraud/chemo.htm

“Most telling, according to Ralph Moss in his book Questioning Chemotherapy, is that in a good number of surveys, chemotherapists have responded that they would neither recommend chemotherapy for their families nor would they use it themselves. One of our advisors, Dr Dan Harper, reported to us about an unpublished cohort study in which it was revealed that only 9% of oncologists took chemotherapy for their cancers.

Let’s hear from a couple of physicians and doctors who have not yet succumb to the heavy hand of the cancer industry:

“…as a chemist trained to interpret data, it is incomprehensible to me that physicians can ignore the clear evidence that chemotherapy does much, much more harm than good.” – Alan C Nixon, PhD, former president of the American Chemical Society.

Walter Last, writing in The Ecologist, reported recently: “After analysing cancer survival statistics for several decades, Dr Hardin Jones, Professor at the University of California, concluded “…patients are as well, or better off untreated.” Jones’ disturbing assessment has never been refuted.

Professor Charles Mathe declared: “If I contracted cancer, I would never go to a standard cancer treatment centre. Cancer victims who live far from such centres have a chance.”

“Many medical oncologists recommend chemotherapy for virtually any tumor, with a hopefulness undiscouraged by almost invariable failure,” Albert Braverman MD 1991 Lancet 1991 337 p901 “Medical Oncology in the 90s.

“Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast, colon, or lung cancers. This fact has been documented for over a decade, yet doctors still use chemotherapy for these tumors,”  Allen Levin, MD UCSF The Healing of Cancer.

“Despite widespread use of chemotherapies, breast cancer mortality has not changed in the last 70 years,” Thomas Dao, MD NEJM Mar 1975 292 p 707.

Additionally, Irwin Bross, a biostatistician for the National Cancer Institute, discovered that many cancers that are benign (though thought to be malignant) and will not metastasize until they are hit with chemotherapy. In other words, he’s found that many people who’ve been diagnosed with metastatic cancer did not have metastatic cancer until they got their chemotherapy.”

Pretty scary stuff! Anyway, let’s get on with the natural treatments I have found:

One of the most effective treatments is the grape juice cure. It is said that the grape juice treatment can cure lung cancer in two weeks, prostate cancer in about a month, and is also effective against of leukemia (cancer of the blood).
Here is the simple and easy to do treatment:

Go to your local natural food or health food store and purchase a supply of natural, unprocessed dark concord grape juice. Begin with a 24 oz. bottle of this dark concord grape juice the first thing in the morning. Do not eat until Noon. Take a couple of swallows every 10 or 15 minutes; don’t drink it all at once! By noon you should have finished the 24 oz bottle.

After 12 o’clock, carry on with the rest of the day as you normally would, but do not eat anything after 8 o’clock in the evening. Food seems to carry away the curative agent in the grape juice, which may be magnesium, so stick to the fast between 8 P.M. and Noon the following day.

Keep this up every day for 2 weeks to one month.

Another natural therapy for cancer is vitamin B-17. Vitamin B-17 is found in most fruit seeds, with the highest concentration in apricot seeds. Its components make it vital for our survival without cancer. It is said that eating just seven of the soft, bitter inside of apricot seeds per day will nearly guarantee a cancer free life. You can also purchase B-17 supplements at your local heath food store. Use it in conjunction with lots of vitamin C!

And one of the most amazing of all is the hemp treatment. I don’t condone the use of hemp only because it is currently illegal, but many people have been cured of cancer by using this simple plant that anyone can grow in their back yard. Kinda makes one wonder why it is illegal…

Anyway, one of my heroes is a man named Rick Simpson, who is a fellow Canadian. He has been treating and curing people of cancer for years using hemp oil, and the recipe for making and using it is posted on his web site. I strongly recommend you visit his site here: http://www.phoenixtears.ca

One of the least expensive, popular and controversial treatments is the maple syrup and baking soda treatment. It is actually a natural form of chemotherapy without any harmful side effects, provided that you monitor your pH levels (read more below).

It is a known fact that cancer thrives in an acidic (pH) environment in the body, but cannot survive in an alkaline (pH) environment. Every cancer patient and every health care practitioner should know that oral intake of sodium bicarbonate offers an instant and strong shift of blood pH into the alkaline. The effect is so strong that athletes can notice the difference in their breathing almost immediately, as more oxygen is carried throughout the system and more acids are neutralized.

This treatment is a combination of pure, 100% maple syrup and simple baking soda. It is very important not to use baking soda which has had aluminum added to it (as many brands do). Try Bob’s Red Mill Aluminum-Free Baking Soda or other natural baking soda brands.

When mixed and heated together, the maple syrup and baking soda bind together. You see, cancer needs sugar to thrive and grow, and this treatment “tricks” the cancer cells into self-destructing. The maple syrup is gobbled up by cancer cells (which consume 15 times more glucose than normal cells), and the baking soda (which is very alkaline), is dragged into the cancer cell by the maple syrup and forces a rapid shift in pH, killing the cell.

Here is the simple treatment: Simply mix 3 parts organic maple syrup with 1 part aluminum-free baking soda (Red Mill Brand or similar). Stir on low heat (not over 120 degrees) for 10 minutes, and take 1 to 3 tsp per day for 1 to 2 months. Change your diet to a natural and whole food diet. Do NOT eat meat, and especially no sugar!! Use Stevia as a sweetener instead,and avoid aspartame at all costs! Also, do not consume any white flour or products containing white flour. Use whole grain, natural flour instead. (Do not use pancake syrup; this only works with pure, natural maple syrup!).

Important: If you are using this treatment, please make sure to check your body’s pH levels regularly using pH strips you can purchase at the drug store. The human body must maintain a pH level of 7.4 or else it can cause other serious problems. If you choose this method, please have a naturopathic doctor monitor your pH levels and overall health during treatment!

Let’s not lose site of the fact that cancer is big business for the pharmaceutical industry. They do not want you to know about the alternatives out there, and they will use scare tactics to discourage you from trying them.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I have not had any medical training. I am just a person who has researched this topic a great deal and simply wish to share what I have learned with you. My hope is that it will give you the incentive to do some research yourself and then educate others about what you have learned. The only way we can truly be free is if we rely on ourselves to find the truth and not rely on others who have vested interests in presenting us with their version of the “truth”.

Please visit the website www.noguff.com for some amazing information and a list of links at the bottom of the page.

—————————————————————-
About the author:
Rick Ivanoff is a songwriter, publisher and recording artist with an avid interest in natural cures and alternative technologies.

Rick Ivanoff is a songwriter, publisher and recording artist with an avid interest in natural cures and alternative technologies. Visit his web sites:

http://www.rickivanoff.com

http://www.noguff.com

http://www.trytheseoffers.com

Medical marijuana: City of Mesa clears way for new ‘Mormon Trail’

by Pamela Powers on Dec. 11, 2010, under 2010 elections, Arizona, Drugs, medical marijuana, nanny state

Back in the early 1980s, I interviewed an old rancher who lived in Dragoon, Arizona for a feature story about rural Cochise County.

His 1800s stone ranch house was decorated with rustic furniture, a smattering of family heirlooms, and a large collection of old glass bottles. Being somewhat of an antique buff myself, I remarked at the variety of old bottles he had collected. As I photographed him, his house, and the bottle collection, I asked where he had gotten them all.

“This house is on the Mormon Trail,” he explained. “I found them all on my property.”

“The Mormon Trail?” I inquired– thinking it was a migration route like the Oregon Trail or Cornado’s Trail.

The grizzled old rancher chuckled, “The Mormon Trail is the route the Mormons took from St. David to the bars in Willcox. They didn’t want their family members or church elders in St. David to know they had been drinking in Willcox, so they dropped the evidence– the alcohol bottles– along the Mormon Trail as they rode their horses back home.”

I was reminded of the old rancher’s story this morning when I read Mesa seeks to seclude shops selling medical pot in today’s Arizona Daily Star.

In an attempt to legislate morality and control the temptation of the evil weed– even though it has been approved only for medical purposes– Mesa’s city council is considering highly restrictive zoning laws. Here is an excerpt from the Star (with emphasis added).

Mesa won’t let medical-marijuana shops open in most of its commercial districts, with city leaders saying they don’t want the substance sold near neighborhoods or in prominent locations.

Instead, the shops will be forced to industrial areas and just one kind of commercial use.
The city is taking a different approach from most other Arizona cities, which so far have been restricting the shops to commercial zones. The city staff had proposed that kind of regulation, but members of the City Council feared that would put the stores at the corner of major intersections.

The stores will be restricted from most areas in the city, as they must be at least a mile from each other, 2,400 feet from rehab facilities, 1,200 feet from churches and schools, and 500 feet from day-care facilities or preschools.

A map prepared by the city shows only slivers of land where the shops could open.

This is folly, and obviously another example of Arizona’s nanny state leanings. Once the Arizona Department of Health Services sets up the system for licensing dispensaries, caregivers, and medical providers, medical marijuana sales will begin in Arizona. It will be legal– even for Mesans– to purchase medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

The Mesa city fathers should learn a lesson from the Mormon Trail story. If people want or need drugs– legal or otherwise– they will find a way to obtain then, even if it means driving to an industrial district of their lily-white city or (heaven forbid) driving into Phoenix.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 11th, 2010 at 10:38 am and is filed under 2010 elections, Arizona, Drugs, medical marijuana, nanny state. Tags for this post: Arizona, medical marijuana, Mesa, nanny state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

J.R. will discuss his LSD trips with you...

Addiction Inbox

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MAPS Sponsors Psychedelic Confab

Posted: 01 Dec 2010 11:45 AM PST

And J.R. will discuss his LSD trips with you.
The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has put together a roster of very big psychedelic guns, as well as a few surprises, for its mini-conference on December 12-13 in Los Angeles. On tap for the convocation are such luminaries as Stanislav Grof of Holotropic Breathwork fame; as well as Charles Grob, professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine and a psychedelic research of long standing who recently studied the effects of psilocybin on death anxiety in terminal cancer patients.
“Catalysts: The Impact of Psychedelics from Consciousness to the Clinic, and from Culture to Creativity” will feature presentations and discussions on “psychedelic science, the current state of psychedelic research, and clinical applications for therapeutic use.”
Other experts among the scientists, physicians, psychologists, writers, and artists expected to attend include Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS, who has specialized in research on MDMA (Ecstasy) as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. Another scheduled attendee, James Fadiman, was introduced to the field of psychedelic drugs by his Harvard undergraduate advisor Richard Alpert, who later became well known as Baba Ram Dass. Fadiman holds the distinction of being the last LSD researcher to be shut down by the U.S. government, when he was at San Francisco State University in 1972.
Also in attendance will be Julie Holland, an assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, and the author of “Ecstasy: A Complete Guide,” and Clare Wilkins, director of the Pangea Biomedics Ibogaine Clinic in Mexico.
Special Bonus Appearance:
I can’t imagine that anyone under the age of 55 is likely to know who Larry Hagman is. Long ago, he was on a camp TV show about a Texas oil bazillionaire with nasty habits. Not only was he a big TV star, he was also old enough to have been around when LSD psychotherapy came to the couches of Hollywood analysts for a brief period in the 1960s and attracted some other odd ducks like Cary Grant and James Coburn. Hagman, Star of TV’s “Dallas” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” will discuss his experiences with LSD psychotherapy.
Earlier, he talked about his experiences in a 2003 interview with Rick Doblin, published in the MAPS journal and excerpted below:
Before I tried LSD, I'd been going to a psychologist for a couple of years…. I had been addicted to tobacco and Bontril, a mild form of amphetamine, doctor-prescribed of course….
I was backstage at a performance one time with Crosby, Stills & Nash and I was talking about it to David Crosby. David said, well, shit, man, here. He handed me a handful of little pills. I said what the fuck? He says this is LSD. It was the best going around at that time. This was before Blue Cheer and Windowpane. This was the original Owsley. He gave me about 25 pills. I said, well, how much should I take? He says, well, don't take more than one….
… my first acid trip was the most illuminating experience of my life. I would highly recommend it for people who study and prepare for it and who are not neurotic or psychotic. I don't know what it would do to psychotic people. I know what it does to neurotic people who can't handle that. They get terrified and do crazy things like jumping out of windows and stuff like that. That's happened to a couple of friends of mine.
Graphics Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Hagman

World AIDS Day

Posted: 01 Dec 2010 03:09 AM PST

Testing, Testing.

Guest Post By Kevin Fenton, M.D., Ph.D., FFPH, Director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Every year on December 1, we commemorate World AIDS Day to bring attention to the tremendous impact of the HIV epidemic in the United States and around the world. In observance of World AIDS Day, today CDC launched a special report, CDC Vital Signs on HIV Testing in the United States, in recognition of the pivotal role that HIV testing plays in our national HIV prevention strategy.

Some highlights of the CDC Vital Signs report on HIV testing include:

    •    In 2009, an estimated 82.9 million Americans ages 18-64—45% of this age group—reported they had been tested for HIV.

    •    At least 1 in 3 Americans who test positive for HIV is tested too late in his or her infection to get the full advantage of life-saving treatment.

    •    Gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men have the highest rates of HIV, but a 2008 study conducted in 21 major US cities, found that about 40% had not been tested in the past year.

    •   African Americans made up more than half of HIV diagnoses in 2008, but 2 in 5 African Americans have never been tested.

CDC recommended in 2006 that HIV testing become a routine part of medical care, including testing of all adolescents and adults at least once, testing at least annually for persons at increased risk, and testing of women during each pregnancy. Since that time, HIV testing has increased, and more people are being tested for HIV than ever before. However, many challenges remain: 55% of Americans ages 18 to 64 still have never been tested, according to CDC Vital Signs. And of the estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States, 1 in 5 do not know they are infected.

More needs to be done. HIV testing is vitally important because it can save lives. For anyone who is infected, it is important to know his or her HIV status in order to access effective life-extending treatment, avoid HIV transmission to partners, and have a better quality of life.

Treatment for HIV is most effective before symptoms develop. It can do much to slow the infection that leads to AIDS and death. Without treatment a person infected with HIV will develop AIDS in about 10 years. With early treatment a 25-year-old adult can survive on average 39 more years.
According to the Vital Signs report, nearly one-third (32%) of the people found with HIV in 2007 were diagnosed late. This means that they likely had HIV for a long time without knowing it because they developed AIDS soon (less than one year) after their HIV test.

Health care providers play a critical role in stopping the spread of HIV as most HIV testing is conducted in health care settings. It is important that patients listen to their doctors and it is important that doctors and other health care providers speak openly and honestly with patients about HIV, and offer routine testing per CDC recommendations.

CDC also plays a critical role. We are committed to strengthening our efforts against the epidemic and working with partners to increase HIV testing. CDC continues to expand its efforts in areas where the burden of disease is greatest. We recently announced an expansion of a successful HIV testing initiative to reach more hard-hit populations, including African Americans, Latinos, men who have sex with men and injection drug users. In 2010, CDC provided more than $60 million to support HIV testing efforts in 30 of the hardest hit jurisdictions in the United States.

In addition, CDC provides funds to all health departments and more than 130 community-based organizations to implement HIV prevention programs, including HIV testing. We are also working to get messages out about testing through the Act Against AIDS  campaign. Of critical importance, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, recently released by the White House, provides a new opportunity to refocus and intensify federal, state, and local HIV testing efforts.

Now more than ever, effective HIV prevention is a critical public health priority for the U.S. and the world, and HIV testing to identify those infected is a vital component of that effort. Working together, we can increase HIV testing. Everyone needs to know how important HIV testing is – it is a simple measure that can literally save the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and help to bring an end to this tragic epidemic.

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SchapelleGate: A Christmas Message For Schapelle

SchapelleGate: A Christmas Message For Schapelle: "As Schapelle faces up to her SEVENTH Christmas suffering in a squalid Indonesian prison cell, we are creating something to try to lift her ..."

N.Y.C. Misdemeanor Defendants Lack Bail Money

By MOSI SECRET

Published: December 2, 2010

Thousands of people arrested on low-level crimes in New York City spend days languishing in jail, not because they have been found guilty but because they are too poor to post bail, according to a report to be released on Friday.

 

The report, which examines the bail conditions for people charged with nonfelonies like smoking marijuana in public, jumping a subway turnstile or shoplifting, found that the overwhelming majority of defendants in cases in which bail was set at $1,000 or less were unable to pay and were sent to jail, where they remained, on average, for more than two weeks.

The report comes as the number of arrests for low-level misdemeanors, often referred to as quality-of-life crimes, is rising.

Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group that most often focuses on abuses abroad, obtained data on nonfelony defendants arrested in the city in 2008. In more than three-quarters of the 117,064 cases, defendants were released on their own recognizance.

In 19,137 cases from that year, bail was set at $1,000 or less. The report found that 87 percent of the defendants in those cases did not post bail and went to jail to await trial. They remained for an average of 15.7 days.

“Here we are locking people up for want of a couple of hundred dollars,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel with the domestic program of the advocacy group.

“Pretrial liberty should not be conditioned on the size of your bank account,” Ms. Fellner said.

The report raised the possibility that many of the poorer defendants pleaded guilty at arraignment for sentences with no jail time, simply to avoid being behind bars while awaiting trial.

“The client is placed with a choice of staying out of jail and being on Rikers Island and fighting their case,” said Robin Steinberg, the director of the Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit group that provides legal representation to Bronx residents charged with crimes. “Almost anybody would plead guilty. It creates a pressure on poor people in the criminal justice system for them to plead guilty without regard to whether they were guilty or not guilty.”

Arraignments in New York are a speedy affair, with prosecutors, defense lawyers, other advocates and judges working to ensure that defendants get their day in court — or just a few moments, really — within 24 hours of arrest, as state law requires.

Someone from the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, a nonprofit organization, interviews those arrested in the booking cells, gathering criminal histories and basic biographical and employment history to present to the prosecutor, defense lawyer and judge. The prosecutor requests a bail amount, and the judge makes a determination.

Some of those involved in the process take issue with the findings of the report.

Jerome E. McElroy, the executive director of the Criminal Justice Agency, which provided some of the data for the report, said there were complicating factors that the study had not taken into account.

“In many instances,” Mr. McElroy said, “there may be another open case, and that may be why the person is not released on their own recognizance.”

He also said that gathering information about a defendant’s financial situation in a five-minute jail interview was a tall order.

“It is not really possible for us to get reliable information on a person’s financial condition before the arraignment,” Mr. McElroy said. “At the present time, we don’t do that. If we did, by virtue of simply asking the defendant, and the court wanted some further verification of the reliability of the answer given by the defendant, I don’t know how we could do that.”

Melissa C. Jackson, the supervising judge for Manhattan in New York City Criminal Court, said state law already required that judges take into account a defendant’s financial situation when determining bail, and she disagreed with the assertion that judges would set high bail as a form of pretrial sentencing.

“It’s really counterintuitive because those judges are going to be handling the cases all the way through,” she said. “Why would they want a heavier caseload? That to me is a purely political take on what is really a complicated judicial decision.”

Judge Jackson said the main reason judges set high bails was that in the past, defendants had failed to appear in court.

Prosecutors also disputed the contention that they requested high bail amounts to pressure destitute defendants into pleading guilty.

“Pressure to get a defendant to plea is not a factor in setting bail in Staten Island,” said Daniel M. Donovan, that county’s district attorney.

“We have an assistant prosecutor who in about 30 seconds has to come up with a dollar figure that that young person believes is adequate,” Mr. Donovan said.

“We don’t get to interview the defendant; we have to make a determination without substantiating any of the information before us,” he said.

The district attorney of Brooklyn, Charles J. Hynes, said the report dealt with an important issue.

“My office is committed to request bail only when it will ensure a defendant’s return to court to face criminal charges, and never solely on the basis of the defendant’s inability to pay,” he said in a statement.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 3, 2010, on page A27 of the New York edition.