Race and problem drug use in an English city

The primary aim of this article is to look at the impact of drugs on the drug-using Black population, and in doing so, the article draws comparative attention to drug use within the White community. The article is based on a research study of problem drug users registered with a London drugs project in 2000 and 2001. During the period of fieldwork, the vast majority of clients of the drug project were male, and the gap in the sex composition of the clients was more conspicuous in the Black group. For the sake of clarity in the use of statistical information, the article draws substance solely from information on the Black and White male clients. The findings present the Black community as a group who is also victimised by drugs but whose experiences of drug victimisation have often been undermined in the "war on drugs" rhetoric about drug trafficking.     

Population data of nine Y-chromosomal STR loci in northern Poland

Allele and haplotype frequencies of nine Y-chromosome STR loci were determined from a sample of 508 unrelated males from north Poland. Three samples containing insertion polymorphism DYS19 (duplication) and DYS385I/II (triplications) were observed.     

Growing Up Young,Asian and Female in Britain: A Report on Self-harm and Suicide

It is now a well-documented statistic that Asian women between the ages of 15–35 are two to three times more vulnerable to suicide and self-harm than their non-Asian counterparts (Soni-Raleigh, 1996). The article will summarize the findings of the research report Growing Up Young, Asian and Female in Britain (Newham Asian Women's Project, 1998), which aimed to explore the reasons why young Asian women self-harmed and to evaluate the service responses they were given. It also made recommendations aimed at decreasing the high prevalence of suicide and self-harm among young Asian women. The article concludes by reflecting upon the impact and service developments that have been made since the report was published.     

Predictive Genetic Testing: Congruence of Disability Insurers' Interests with the Public Interest

This article argues that, under existing jurisprudence, the disability insurance business will be harmed, not benefited, from broad access to the results of genetic testing identifying people with higher than species-typical genetic propensities for illness.     

Die neuen wasserrechtlichen Instrumente des Hochwasserschutzgesetzes vom 3.5.2005

Das Hochwasserschutzgesetz vom 3.5.2005 (BGBl. I S. 1224) reagiert auf die Erfahrungen mit katastrophalen Hochwasserereignissen. Es sucht der Verbauung gew?ssernaher Fl?chen entgegenzuwirken, den Flüssen Rückhaltefl?chen zurückzugeben und Schadenspotentiale zu mindern. Den Schwerpunkt des Gesetzes bilden die §§ 31a–32 Wasserhaushaltsgesetz (WHG). Deren wasserrechtliche Instrumente schneiden tief in das Bauplanungsrecht ein. Dies gilt vor allem für die neuen überschwemmungsgebiete mit speziellen Nutzungsregelungen, dem grunds?tzlichen Verbot der Ausweisung neuer Baugebiete und dem neuen Genehmigungsvorbehalt für bauliche Anlagen (§ 31b WHG). Die L?nder müssen die bundesrechtlichen Regelungen bis zum 10.5.2007 ausfüllen und überschwemmungsgebiete neuen Rechts bis zum 10.5.2012, in Gebieten mit hohem Schadenspotential bis zum 10.5.2010, festsetzen. Erschwerend wirkt sich aus, dass das Hochwasserschutzgesetz an zahlreichen Zweifelsfragen leidet.