Man sues Larimer sheriff over destroyed medical marijuana plants after acquittal
December 16, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
A man jurors acquitted of multiple marijuana felonies has sued the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office after his 42 plants were destroyed, according to a lawsuit recently filed in 8th Judicial District Court.
Denver lawyer Rob Corry said his client expects to receive $5,000 per plant (totaling $210,000), based on what law enforcers have testified a marijuana plant is worth, in addition to attorney fees.
Kaleb Young, 34, had been growing the plants in a Wellington home in compliance with Colorado’s medical marijuana laws and during a warrant search in September 2010 had shown deputies paperwork authorizing him to do so, according to the lawsuit.
Young was arrested, and his plants, raw marijuana and equipment were among items taken during the search. An investigation, including surveillance, had been under way for five months after deputies followed up on a tip, according to filings in the criminal court case.
The case went to trial, and Young was acquitted of all charges in November 2011.
“Typically, the agency will preserve the plants as they’re required to do under the (Colorado) Constitution,” Corry said. “Here, they just straight-up cut them down and destroyed them.”
Girl, 8, to get vaccination shots after court overrules mum
November 28, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
A GIRL, 8, will be given vaccinations against the objections of her mother after a Family Court ruling.
News of the judgment comes after a group of Australia’s top scientists warned this week that the anti-immunisation lobby was endangering children’s lives.
The Victorian mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was resorting to homeopathic methods to try to protect her child against disease.
But the court heard that in 2010, the girl’s father allowed his new wife to take the girl to a medical centre, without her mother’s permission.
There she was immunised for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio, HIB, measles, mumps, rubella and meningococcal C.
The father told the court he hoped to continue to “secretly vaccinate” her because he did not want to play “Russian roulette with her health”.
He said he wanted to protect her from infectious diseases, and he was also concerned the child of his new wife, who is now pregnant, could contract a disease from an unvaccinated child.
The mother, who lives with her daughter, said they lived a “simple and healthy way of life’, eating organic and unprocessed food and avoiding toxins.
U.S. stance on marijuana unchanged by legalization votes: Official
October 21, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
LOS ANGELES – A top Justice Department official has told “60 Minutes” the federal government is ready to combat any “dangers” of state-sanctioned recreational pot, amid criticism of the Obama administration for its relative silence on legalization drives in three states.
Voters in Colorado, Washington state and Oregon are set to vote on Nov. 6 on whether to legalize and tax marijuana sales, raising the possibility of a showdown with the federal government, which views pot as an illegal narcotic.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole, in comments to “60 Minutes” posted on Saturday to the website of CBS affiliate KCNC-TV in Denver, said his office’s stance on pot would be “the same as it’s always been” if voters approved legalization.
“We’re going to take a look at whether or not there are dangers to the community from the sale of marijuana and we’re going to go after those dangers,” Cole told “60 Minutes” in an outtake from a report on Colorado’s medical marijuana industry due to air on Sunday, according to the CBS affiliate.
Cole’s statement is an indication the federal government, which has raided medical pot dispensaries in several of the 17 states that allow cannabis as medicine, could also take aim at state-sanctioned recreational marijuana.
It also represents a break with the Obama administration’s relative silence about the pot referendums, which has led to uncertainty about whether federal officials would stop states from taxing and regulating sales of pot in special stores to those 21 and older, as proposed under each of the three state initiatives before voters.
Representatives for the Justice Department did not return calls or emails seeking comment on Cole’s remarks.
A top legalization backer, however, dismissed them as “innocuous,” unlike the stance Attorney General Eric Holder took in 2010 just weeks before a failed California referendum to legalize pot.
US death toll from meningitis increases
October 10, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
It’s become a health crisis… officials say as many as 13,000 people could have received contaminated steroid shots that has resulted in a national meningitis outbreak.
Today, the number of people sickened in the outbreak reached over a hundred. Investigators are pointing the blame on a specialty pharmacy in Massachusetts where a steroid medication was produced. and more than 17,000 vials of the steroid were sent to 23 states. Inspectors now say they have found at least one sealed vial contaminated with fungus.
Investigators say its unclear how the steroids became contaminated with fungus, but the outbreak is highlighting a well-known practice in America, where physicians and clinics are increasingly getting material from compounding pharmacies that sell drugs at a much lower cost than major drug manufacturers, creating customized medication solutions for patients. According to the International Academy of Compounding an estimated 56,000 U.S. pharmacies across the country practice compounding.
CDC Recommends Whooping Cough Vaccine For All Adults
August 26, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its recommendation on the Tdap vaccine and now urges all adults to get a single dose from their health care provider. Dr. Tom Clark, a CDC medical epidemiologist, said that even adults who had whooping cough as children or who were previously vaccinated should get a dose of Tdap. A 2010 survey found that only 8% of adults have gotten a Tdap booster. The Tdap vaccine is sold under the brand names Boostrix and Adacel.
The Tdap vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. Diphtheria has been nearly eliminated in the United States and tetanus has about 30 or 40 documented cases a year. Unfortunately, pertussis, also known as whooping cough, is surging in many states across the nation.
The CDC has tracked nearly 18,000 cases of pertussis in the United States this year, more than twice as many as last year at this time. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the agency’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said, “We may need to go back to 1959 to find a year with as many cases reported by this time. I think there may be more coming to a place near you.”
How Students Are Affected By School Sunscreen Ban
June 25, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
The summer heat and sun have become a really health threat, particularly for children. Sunscreen should definitely be part of a regular routine when outdoor activities in the scorching summer heat are planned. However, many schools have banned sunscreen without a doctor’s note. The summer is early and one Washington family has learned how students are affected by the school sunscreen ban.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, sunscreen is regulated as a drug that does not need a doctor’s prescription. Doctors recommend the use of sunscreen not only for adults, but for kids too, particularly when the daily agenda has longtime exposure to the sun. However, many schools in America have banned the use of sunscreen over allergic concerns. Two girls from Washington have learned what it’s like spending time in the sun without sunscreen on the hard way.
Jesse Michener of Tacoma, Washington, has two girls: Violet and Zoe, both students with the Tacoma School District. During a field day the girls spent time in the sun and got severe sun burns because nobody had sunscreen on, given the ban. The two students had to be hospitalized.
The mother explained that Zoe is suffering from a form of albinism, making her skin very sensitive to the sun. She said she regrets not putting sunscreen on them herself before the two girls left for the field day because it was raining. Even if she had, doctors say sunscreen should be reapplied every three hours, but that’s against school policy.
“They couldn’t even reapply sunscreen without a doctor’s note. They couldn’t carry that in their backpacks” complained the mother.
Petty Tyrants Ban Sick People From Growing Their Own Medicine Ignoring Voters Wishes
June 6, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
Warning That Children’s Vaccines Are Not Being Stored Correctly
June 6, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma
U.S. bans import of Canadian meds by individuals
May 31, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma, Health News
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill that would ban Americans from bringing safe, approved Canadian prescription drugs into the country.
H.R. 5651 — the Food and Drug Administration Reform Act of 2012 — was passed Wednesday by a vote of 387-5.
Among other things, it gives the FDA new authority to prevent drug shortages and speed reviews of medical devices. The bill also addresses the matter of drugs imported from abroad, including those deemed safe by Health Canada.
When the Senate debated the bill last week, former presidential candidate and senator from Arizona, John McCain, wanted an amendment that would allow individual Americans to bring in prescription drugs under certain conditions.
Amendment 2107, Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada, would have permitted the import of drugs that were: Purchased from a licensed pharmacist, from an approved pharmacy in Canada; purchased for personal use; issued by a doctor licensed to practice in the U.S.; and has the same specifications as a drug approved by the FDA.
His amendment was struck down 54-43.
Accused Tucson shooter loses appeal over forced medication
March 5, 2012 by uncoverthenews
Filed under Big Pharma
(Reuters) – Prison doctors may continue to forcibly medicate the man charged with the deadly Tucson shooting spree last year that gravely wounded then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords as they seek to restore his fitness for trial, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court ruling that extended Jared Loughner’s stay at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri, and permitted staff there to administer anti-psychotic drugs to him against his will.
