Navigating the dilemmas of politically smart,locally led development: the Pacific-based Green Growth Leaders’ Coalition

Abstract

Iterative approaches to development under banners such as ‘thinking and working politically’ and ‘doing development differently’ build upon decades-old commitments to fostering locally led and -owned development. These approaches are increasingly popular with academics and development practitioners. In this paper we argue that outsiders seeking to deliver locally led, politically smart programmes need to either accept that competing priorities, results and values will work to limit the extent of true local ownership, or be sufficiently committed to true local leadership to accept that this may well cut against organisational imperatives. Using the example of the Pacific-based Green Growth Leaders’ Coalition, we discuss how politically tricky partnerships challenge tenets of local leadership and ownership.     

Britain Returns to the Indian Ocean?

This article considers how far the UK is returning to an ‘East of Suez’ role in the Indian Ocean. A threefold structure is taken based on past, current and future aspects of this role. The first section (‘past’) considers the Indian Ocean as a British Lake and the announced withdrawal from East of Suez that was announced in the early 1970s. The second section (‘present’) looks at the various bases, facilities and partnerships that the UK has around and across the Indian Ocean with Bahrain, Oman, Gulf of Aden, Somaliland, Diego Garcia (and the United States), India, Malaysia and Singapore (including the Five Power Defence Agreements), Australia and China. The third section (‘future’) considers likely post-BREXIT decisions facing the UK in the Indian Ocean with regard to its projected naval assets and political choices across the region. It finds there is some substance behind the rhetoric on a British return to the area.     

Metropolitan government in Vancouver: the strategy of gentle imposition††

Abstract. The creation of a metropolitan government in the Greater Vancouver urban region was a deliberate policy adopted by Municipal Affairs Department strategists in the mid-1960s even though for several years the Minister publicly argued that the regional district was not a metropolitan government. The policy was essentially to create a local federation variety of metropolitan government. The strategy was to gently impose an administrative structure without any functions at 1st so as to not unduly compel the local leaders or predetermine those matters on which inter-municipal cooperation was to be based. In time, the local leaders themselves became aware of the potential of this innocuous regional district. The province remained ready to impose an integration of those functions more efficiently performed at the regional level in the event of any recalcitrance developing within established bureaucracies or local political units which was inimical to the provincial policy. The uniqueness of the experiment in BC had two main features: the low-key initiative of the province and the basic flexibility of the new form of government which permitted adaptation to the forces for metropolitan functional integration coming from both the provincial level and the local level. The success in launching regional overnment in British Columbia was to a large extent a result of the heeding, by the strategists, of the experience in the United States, in other places in Canada, and an earlier attempt in the late 1950s in Vancouver. Sommaire. La création d'un gouvernement métropoIitain dans la région urbaine du Grand Vancouver a été une politique préméditée qui a été adoptée par les stratèges du Ministère des Affaires municipales am environs de 1965, bien que le Ministère ait affirmé publiquement pendant longtemps que le “district régional” n'était pas un gouvernement métropolitain. La politique a été essentiellement de créer un genre de gouvernement métropolitain ressemblant à une fédération de municipalités. La stratégie à consisté d'abord dans l'imposition d'une structure administrative sans aucune function faint de be pas forcer la main aux chefs Iocaux ou de ne pas déterminer à l'avance les questions qui serviraient de base à la collaboration intermunicipale. Plus tard, les chefs locaux se sont rendus compte du potentiel de ce “district régional” inoffensif. Le gouvernement provincial de son côtéétait prêt à imposer une intégration régionale des fonctions qui s'exécutent mieux à ce niveau advenant le cas oú une résistance se développerait au sein des bureaucraties ou des cons& municipaux, des oppositions qui iraient à l'encontre de la politique provinciale. Les deux traits principaux de cette expérience en Colombie-Britannique furent: l'initiative discrète de la province et f flexibilité de base de ce nouveau genre de gouvernement qui ont permis une adaptation aw forces locales et provinciales pour une intégration métropolitaine des fonctions municipales. Le lancement du gouvemement régional en Colombie-Britannique fut un grand succès dûá l'attention que les stratèges ont porté aux expéiences américaines et canadiennes ainsi qu'à la tentative antérieure faite à Vancouver entre 1957 et 1960.     

Organic impurity profiling of fentanyl samples associated with recent clandestine laboratory methods

Nearly a decade ago, fentanyl reappeared in the United States illicit drug market. In the years since, overdose deaths have continued to rise as well as the amount of fentanyl seized by law enforcement agencies. Research surrounding fentanyl production has been beneficial to regulatory actions and understanding illicit fentanyl production. In 2017, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began collecting seized fentanyl samples from throughout the United States to track purity, adulteration trends, and synthetic impurity profiles for intelligence purposes. The appearance of a specific organic impurity, phenethyl-4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (phenethyl-4-ANPP) indicates a shift in fentanyl production from the traditional Siegfried and Janssen routes to the Gupta-patent route. Through a collaboration between the DEA and the US Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC), the synthesis of fentanyl was investigated via six synthetic routes, and the impurity profiles were compared to those of seized samples. The synthetic impurity phenethyl-4-ANPP was reliably observed in the Gupta-patent route published in 2013, and its structure was confirmed through isolation and structure elucidation. Organic impurity profiling results for illicit fentanyl samples seized in late 2021 have indicated yet another change in processing with the appearance of the impurity ethyl-4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine (ethyl-4-ANPP). Through altering reagents traditionally used in the Gupta-patent route, the formation of this impurity was determined to occur through a modification of the route as originally described in the Gupta patent.     

Fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237

Novel synthetic opioids contribute considerably to the opioid epidemic, especially with the frequent emergence of structurally similar compounds. This case report describes a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237. A 54-year-old Caucasian male was found deceased from an apparent drug overdose. A plastic container labeled “2MAP” and a cut straw were found in the decedent's backpack at the scene. A white substance found in the container tested positive for fentanyl by field testing. According to his medical history, the decedent was treated for a drug overdose 3 years prior to his death. With no diagnostic findings at autopsy, the case was submitted for toxicological analysis. An unknown substance was detected in peripheral blood and urine using gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorous detection (GC-NPD). Further testing was conducted using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) which confirmed the presence of 2-methyl AP-237 and potential metabolites in blood and urine. Quantitation by GC-NPD revealed concentrations of 2-methyl AP-237 in blood and urine at 480 ng/mL and 4200 ng/mL, respectively. The toxicological analysis also identified and quantitated alprazolam in the blood at 55 ng/mL. Additionally, the metabolism of 2-methyl AP-237 was investigated and three hydroxylated metabolites were identified in peripheral blood and urine. Limited literature is available for the detection and quantitation of 2-methyl AP-237 in postmortem specimens. Given the toxicological findings with unremarkable autopsy findings, this case is an example of a fatal intoxication involving 2-methyl AP-237.     

Conclusion: Mental health and legal responses to the adolescent mental health crisis: Raising the bar on best interests and promoting family connectedness in divorcing families

We are currently facing an unprecedented increase in adolescent mental health problems resulting in alarmingly high levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Significant mental health problems among youth pose unique challenges to families in the process of separation and divorce, as well as to family law professionals across all disciplines. The current adolescent mental health crisis calls for new ways of approaching our work with high conflict families to promote family connectedness and shift away from adversarial approaches that may exacerbate conflict and further destabilize families. As a conclusion to the special issue on adolescent mental health needs, the authors make multidisciplinary best practices recommendations and advocate for systems level changes in recognition of the needs of youth in crisis at this pivotal developmental stage.