The impact of Federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse block grants on state and local government substance abuse program expenditures: the role of federal oversight

Are the federal Alcohol and Drug Abuse (ADA) block grant funds substituting for or supplementing state and local government spending on substance abuse? Using panel data on state and local government substance abuse programs, this study explores the fiscal effects of the ADA block grant money and the increased enforcement (after 1989) of federal restrictions on state spending of ADA block grants. The findings here reveal that for the current period, the federal ADA grant has no statistically significant effect on state and local government substance abuse spending both before and after 1989, and the increased enforcement of federal restrictions on the ADA grants after 1989 does not change this result. An additional finding is that lagged ADA grants have had a large effect on substance abuse spending both before and after 1989--a feature of the program not considered in previous studies.     

Amendment of the fee exemption for federal, state and local government employees--DEA, Justice. Final rule

This final rule limits the exemption from payment of application fees for registration or reregistration to Federal, state, or local government operated hospitals or institutions. This will eliminate the need for DEA to dedicate manpower or other resources to controlling abuse of the fee exempt status.     

"Special treatment": BiDil, Tuskegee, and the logic of race

BiDil, a drug approved in 2005 by the FDA only for African Americans, was seen by many as almost reparations for the horrors of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-72) where treatment for black men was denied. The logic of race, however, rather than racism, links BiDil to the past many thought it was escaping.     

Corporate crime and the Canadian state: Anti-combines legislation, 1945–1986

This paper analyses post-war (1945–1986) anti-combines enforcement in Canada in the light of major competing theoretical models of the state in capitalist economies. Such an analysis serves as a framework for the clarification of issues pertaining to the debate on the state in advanced capitalism, the outcome of which may permit certain postulates concerning state-corporate relations in Canada. A narrative history of the nature and development of the Canadian economy informed by Canadian political economists will be presented, followed by a brief review of the history of anti-combines legislation and its enforcement up to 1945. Data will then be introduced enabling analysis in greater detail of post-war enforcement.     

Imperialism, race, and therapeutics: the legacy of medicalizing the "colonial body"

The era of high colonialism in South Asia coincided with the period when eugenics came to dominate much of the scientific discourse in Europe and America. Such attitudes were naturally transplanted into the colonial world where medical researchers helped to establish a pathological "difference" between Europeans in India and the colonial "Other," thus creating a medical discourse dominated by racial segregated treatment regimes. With the growth of trans-national transfer of scientific knowledge, this colonial "research" began to underpin racially constructed medical practices wherever they occurred.     

Donor conception legislation in Victoria, Australia: the "Time to Tell" campaign, donor-linking and implications for clinical practice

The State of Victoria in Australia was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce legislation regulating donor conception. Under the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984 (Vic), donor-conceived people, aged 18 years and over, parents of children under 18 years, and donors gained the right to apply for the release of identifying information about each other recorded in a Central Register. As a result, of this and subsequent legislation, services providing donor treatment were obliged to change clinical practice relating to recruitment of donors, counselling of donors and recipients and recordkeeping. Since this legislation was introduced in 1988, over 5,000 donor-conceived children have been born and in 2006 the first 100 of these children reached the age of 18. The Victorian Infertility Treatment Authority (ITA) conducted a public education campaign to provide information and support to people affected by the legislation. This article describes clinical practice changes prompted by legislation, the 'Time to Tell" campaign and the service model developed for linking parties on the donor registers. The Victorian experience demonstrates that laws allowing the parties involved in donor conception access to information about each other must be accompanied by changes to clinical practice, public education about the implications of the laws, and services to meet the needs of those seeking information relating to donor conception and those contacted as a result.