Fatalities temporally associated with the ingestion of ibogaine

Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive plant alkaloid that is used globally in medical and nonmedical settings for opioid detoxification and other substance use indications. All available autopsy, toxicological, and investigative reports were systematically reviewed for the consecutive series of all known fatalities outside of West Central Africa temporally related to the use of ibogaine from 1990 through 2008. Nineteen individuals (15 men, four women between 24 and 54 years old) are known to have died within 1.5-76 h of taking ibogaine. The clinical and postmortem evidence did not suggest a characteristic syndrome of neurotoxicity. Advanced preexisting medical comorbidities, which were mainly cardiovascular, and/or one or more commonly abused substances explained or contributed to the death in 12 of the 14 cases for which adequate postmortem data were available. Other apparent risk factors include seizures associated with withdrawal from alcohol and benzodiazepines and the uninformed use of ethnopharmacological forms of ibogaine.     

Fatalities associated with the termination of electrical services

The worldwide dependence on electricity to support the needs of today's society is often taken for granted and, as such, the hazards associated with the termination of electrical services are often neglected. Whether electrical services are unintentionally terminated as the result of severe weather or intentionally terminated as the result of nonpayment of utility bills, the ensuing conditions may lead to injury or death in affected individuals. We performed a retrospective review of all deaths investigated by the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office between 1999 and 2004. Our case database was searched for causes of death that included hypothermia, hyperthermia, carbon monoxide, fire, electrocution, and/or electricity. Further review of these cases was undertaken to determine the potential relationship between the death and the termination of electrical services. Seven fatalities were found to be associated with the termination of electrical services. Four fatalities resulted from its unintentional termination and 3 were a consequence of intentional termination. In reporting these deaths, we hope to emphasize the potential dangers associated with the termination of electrical services and explore the informational programs and public health laws that are in place to limit the associated potential negative outcomes.     

Fatalities associated with fentanyl and co-administered cocaine or opiates

Fatalities associated with fentanyl hydrochloride are increasingly seen in Massachusetts. Between September 2005 and November 2006, 5009 medicolegal investigations associated 107 deaths with licit or illicit fentanyl use, along with a co-detection of an opiate/opioid or cocaine/benzoylecognine, or both. Deaths associated with illicit fentanyl use occur in younger people (39.4 vs. 61.5 years) with higher fentanyl (17.1 ng/mL vs. 4.4 ng/mL) and lower morphine (76.9 ng/mL vs. 284.2 ng/mL) postmortem blood concentrations, and more frequent cocaine co-intoxication (65% vs. 3%), than deaths associated with illicit fentanyl use. A wide range of postmortem blood concentrations of fentanyl was detected (trace-280 ng/mL), with a minimum concentration of 7 ng/mL of fentanyl strongly associated with illicit use of fentanyl in poly-drug cases. The most commonly detected opiates/opioids in illicit fentanyl users were: morphine (29%), oxycodone (14.5%), and methadone (14.5%). Ethanol, cannabinoids, diazepam, citalopram, and diphenhydramine were each detected in greater than 10% of the licit fentanyl cases. Most fentanyl abusers died at their own home and their deaths were most often classified as accidental. Mapping of primary residences of decedents revealed conspicuous clustering of the illicit fentanyl use cases, as opposed to the random pattern in licit use cases. Fentanyl misuse is a public health problem in Massachusetts.     

The devolution era in Northern Ireland

By creating ‘outsiders’ … labelling invariably gives rise to repeat interventions of increasing intensity that … ultimately establish, consolidate, and/or confirm offender ‘identities’. Such ‘identities’ attract further intervention and/or negative reaction and so the process continues.

(Goldson, 2010)

As the above quote attests, labelling theorists recognise the harmful impact of formal system contact on the individual and contend that problems occur when members of society become intolerant towards the individual's offending, forming a ‘negative social reaction’, invoking damaging consequences for the ‘offender’ (ibid).     

Determining explosivity part II: comparison of small-scale cartridge tests to actual pipe bombs

The small-scale explosivity device (SSED) has been used to assess the explosive power of a number of low explosives-smokeless powders (WC-870, Red Dot, Bullseye, Winchester Action Pistol, and IMR-PB), Pyrodex, black powder, and an improvised explosive (TATP). The device requires 2 g of energetic material, a heavy-walled containment vessel, and a standard blast shield to permit use in most laboratories. The data from the SSED are compared with the fragmentation of pipe bombs which contained 300 to 700 g of powder. The SSED provided the same relative ordering of explosivity as suggested by the fragmentation of the real devices. In addition, the SSED was used to evaluate the chemical residue remaining after an explosion. Issues in using the device such as optimal detonators and restricted reaction volume were probed using three high explosives--TNT, Tetryl, and RDX.     

A reponse to paramilitary policing in Northern Ireland

This essay arises from the experiences of a practitioner who has, until recently, managed a project offering services to those under threat from paramilitary organisations. This essay is divided into two sections. The first section offers an overview of the ideologies and practices of Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries regarding informal justice. The second section examines the problems of intervention with those under threat and the insights offered by an analysis of the project’s casework. NIACRO     

Discourses of Political Policing in Post-patten Northern Ireland

This article critically examines discourses of political policing in contemporary Northern Ireland (NI). Recognising the post-conflict and post-reform climate that policing now occurs within, it argues that these environmental factors have conditioned discourses of policing that are directly tied to how legitimate political opposition to the political status quo in post-Good Friday Agreement (GFA) NI is policed. The article asserts that political policing discourses have taken a new trajectory that departs from traditional ethno-nationalist interpretations of the issue to instead reflect a broader structuralist interpretation of state-police power relations. It concludes with the argument that political policing discourses have evolved to reflect common class-based disillusionment with the post-GFA state across the political divide that sees the matter rooted in police protection of a system of devolved governance that has failed to tackle structural exclusion and socio-economic deprivation.     

School exclusions: Lessons from Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland there are many fewer permanent exclusion from school than in England and Wales. It has been suggested that this may be linked to differences in the statutory schemes which regulate exclusion. This article compares the legal framework for school exclusions in Northern Ireland and England and Wales; provides a comparative analysis of the statistical data in relation to school exclusions; assesses whether the differences in the legal framework may have an impact on the propensity to permanently exclude; and considers whether there are any other non-legal factors which may explain lower rates of school exclusions. The overall objective is to see whether the legal differences which exist have a meaningful effect on the overall rate of school exclusion and to extrapolate best practice. In particular, the analysis focuses on experience of the statutory pre-expulsion consultation procedure in Northern Ireland, which has no equivalent in England and Wales.     

Towards a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights

The political settlement resulting from the Belfast Agreement recognisedthe fundamental importance of the issue of rights to a stable peace inNorthern Ireland. Indeed, the agreement provided for a Human RightsCommission, one of whose tasks is the drafting of a Bill of Rights thatwill reflect the political reality of the province. This paper arguesthat the proposed document will have to reflect an understanding ofrights and their protection resulting from the particular history ofNorthern Ireland. This specific understanding of rights appeared firstin the Anglo-Irish Agreement and has been gradually developed andconsolidated in the political agreements since. The planned NorthernIreland Bill of Rights will have to reflect this rights thinking. Thearticle also chronicles the recent work of the Northern Ireland HumanRights Commission in drafting the Bill of Rights to be presented to theSecretary of State for Northern Ireland in February 2002. Thereciprocal, if belated, moves in the Republic to set up its own humanrights commission will also be addressed as part of the process to drawup a Charter of Rights for the whole people of Ireland.     

Parent power: building bridges in Northern Ireland?

‘Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children’ (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26(3))     

Human rights and the peace process in Northern Ireland

The notion that the abuse of human rights leads to conflict has been recognised by commentators and international legal instruments. Human rights activists in Northern Ireland have long argued that the failure on the part of the government to comply with its international obligations to protect rights has exacerbated the conflict. This essay is predicated on the thesis that, as issues of justice and the abuse of rights were central to the genesis of the conflict, they must also be the seminal strands in the search for peace. By way of an audit measured against the proposals of human rights activists and the recommendations of international institutions charged with assessing UK compliance with human rights treaties, the essay examines the changes in the human rights situation in Northern Ireland since the declarations of the ceasefires. The discussion draws on the experience of other jurisdictions to support its central thesis. Finally, the reasons for the UK reluctance to adopt a more rights-centred approach to peace negotiations are outlined, and the practical benefits which would result from such an approach is considered. Committee on the Administration of Justice The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CAJ.     

Women,the Home and Resistance in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper provides a perspective on women's resistance in Northern Ireland by focussing on their experiences of house raids. In light of a growing literature on women in conflict with the state, it argues that women have become increasingly politicised and organised in their resistance to repeated incursions into the home by the security forces which have ruptured traditional boundaries around relations of motherhood, home maker and sexual privacy. Based on a qualitative study of one hundred women in Northern Ireland, this paper suggests the coercive agents of the state have played a significant role in both the individual and collective resistance of women. Paradoxically, it seems, the security forces have become agents of change whereby the exposition and violation of the home has been one of the forces which has nurtured and defined women's political consciousness.     

Standing and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

On 7 June 2018, the UK Supreme Court held that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) did not have standing under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (NIA) and Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) to challenge the legality of abortion law in Northern Ireland. This case note argues that while a literal reading of the NIA exposes its inconsistencies, a purposive reading of both the NIA and HRA indicates that the NIHRC should have had standing. The note seeks to highlight the unique democratic function of the NIHRC in a consociational setting in protecting rights that are not represented along ethno‐national lines. It also considers the negative ramifications that the judgment will have on women who have been victims of the legislative regime and seek to challenge the compatibility of Northern Irish abortion law with the HRA in the future.