"Health & Medical News"

Raising the specter of convicted crack-cocaine offenders being released from prison due to sentencing reform, Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey asked Congress to appropriate $200 million to help cities fight violent crime, the Washington Post reported Jan. 25.

In an address before the U.S. Conference of Mayors — which last year unanimously adopted a resolution calling the War on Drugs a failure — Mukasey cited the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision to retroactively equalize penalties for crack and powdered cocaine in warning that “a sudden influx of criminals from federal prison into your communities could lead to a surge in new victims as a tragic, but predictable, result.”

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This week’s KaiserNetwork report just hit the two hottest topics for me on HIV right now: male circumcision (Rwanda now has a formal program) and the flattening of vertical HIV funds into primary care, 30 years after the Alma Atta conference had called for a universal primary care package.

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Toni Cordell’s surgery would be “an easy repair,” her doctor said. Embarrassed at being a slow reader, she signed the informed-consent papers she was given without understanding them.

She said no one, including her doctor, explained the procedure in detail beforehand or uttered the word “hysterectomy.” Cordell didn’t discover the nature of her operation until months after surgery when an office nurse inquired about her recovery.

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Drug trafficking funds 18 of the 42 groups considered terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says.

The AFP reported Sept. 9 that DEA chief of operations Michael Braun said that terrorist groups turn to drug revenues because most states have ceased funding their activities, and because drug trafficking is so profitable.

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