Noteworthy News Articles on Mental Health Topics, October 1-6, 2000

A Rape Victim Regrets Role As Witness
Helen O'Neill, Associated Press- 10/1/2000

BURLINGTON, N.C. -- Jennifer Thompson was the perfect student, perfect daughter, perfect homecoming queen. And when her perfect world was ripped apart, the 22-year-old student became something she could never have imagined. The perfect witness. Police had never seen a victim so composed, so sure. Hours after she was raped, Thompson sat in a police station with Detective Mike Gauldin, combing through photos, working up a composite.  She picked out his eyebrows, his nose, his pencil-thin mustache, his photo. A week later, she sat across a table from six men holding numbered cards. She picked number 5. ''That's my rapist,'' she told Gauldin.  In court, she looked directly into the expressionless face of the suspect and stated: ''He is the man who raped me.''  His name was Ronald Cotton, who had served 18 months in prison for attempted sexual assault. His conduct during the investigation and trial did not help him. He was nervous. He got his dates mixed up. His alibis didn't check out. A piece of foam was missing from his shoe, similar to a piece found at the crime scene. But it wasn't circumstantial evidence that brought Cotton down. It was Thompson.
    With a knife at her throat on that night in July 1984, as her attacker shoved her down on the bed, pinning her hands behind her, Thompson knew exactly what she would do. She would outsmart her rapist. She would remember everything: his voice, his hair, his leering eyes. She would trick him into turning on a light. She would study his features for scars, tattoos, anything that would help identify him later. Thompson has told the story many times, but the most powerful was the first time in court. Cotton could feel the jury sympathize. He sympathized himself.
    On Jan. 17, 1985, Cotton was sentenced to life in prison. In prison, Cotton spent his nights writing letters to lawyers, newspapers, anyone who would listen. He spent his days pounding the punching bag. He joined the prison choir. He read the Bible. He tried to believe what his father kept telling him - that someday justice would prevail.
    One day, about a year after Cotton was convicted, another man joined him working in the prison kitchen. His name was Bobby Poole. He was serving consecutive life sentences for a series of brutal rapes, and was bragging to other inmates that Cotton was doing some of his time.  Soon, Cotton learned that he had won a second trial. Another woman had been raped just an hour after Thompson: same neighborhood, same kind of attack. Police were sure it was the same man. An appeals court had ruled that evidence relating to the second victim should have been allowed in the first trial. At the new trial, the witnesses would get a look at Poole, who was subpoenaed by Cotton's lawyer. Finally, Cotton thought, he would be set free.  He had forgotten the power of Jennifer Thompson.
    Back on the stand, she was as confident as ever. She looked directly at Poole and she looked directly at Cotton. Fifteen feet away he could feel the hatred in her heart. Cotton is the man who raped me, she told the jury. The second victim was less convincing, but she pointed to him, too. Cotton hung his head. He had no words left inside him, just a burning disbelief. With the judge's permission he sang a song, a lament of innocence penned in his prison cell.
''Decisions I can no longer make,
because my future is so unknown to me,
and that I could no longer take,
because during the day I wonder,
At night I hurt with fear...''
    The court fell silent as Ronald Cotton was sentenced to a second life term. The knock on the door of her Winston-Salem home came out of the blue. Gauldin hadn't just dropped by casually to say hello. It had been 11 years since the rape. Standing in Thompson's kitchen, Gauldin struggled to break the news. ''Jennifer,'' he said. ''You were wrong. Ronald Cotton didn't rape you. It was Bobby Poole.'' There was new evidence, Gauldin was saying. DNA tests. Scientific proof that had not been available before. Eleven years of nightmares, of Cotton's face taunting her in the dark. Eleven years of struggling to move on, of building a life with her husband and children. Eleven years of being wrong.
    Gauldin tried to comfort her, pointing out that others had also been at fault, including two juries, two judges, detectives, himself. The whole system failed when it condemned Cotton, Gauldin said, but it was about to be set right. Only an extraordinary sequence of events had made that possible: Cotton's persistence in proclaiming his innocence, a law professor's curiosity, the fact that sophisticated DNA tests could now be used. The law professor, Richard Rosen of the University of North Carolina, had taken on the case, troubled that a man had been sentenced to life based almost exclusively on eyewitness testimony. ''In so many cases, eyewitnesses can be unreliable,'' Rosen said. ''At that point, I had no idea how strong and compelling Thompson was. I'm not sure any jury in the world would have acquitted him in the face of her testimony.''
    For two years after Gauldin's visit, Thompson never stopped feeling ashamed. Then one day, she decided what to do. Gauldin knew as soon as she called. ''You want to meet Ronald Cotton,'' he said. ''Can you help me?'' she asked. A few weeks later, she drove 50 miles to a church in the town where she had been raped. She asked her husband and the pastor to leave. Trembling, she opened the door. She had prayed for the strength to face this moment. ''I'm sorry,'' she told Cotton. ''If I spent every day for the rest of my life telling you how sorry I am, it wouldn't come close to what I feel.''
    Cotton was calm and quiet. Finally, he spoke. ''I'm not mad at you,'' he said softly. ''I've never been mad at you. I just want you to have a good life.'' For two hours they talked while their families paced outside. She asked him about prison. He asked why she had been so sure. I don't know, was all she could say. You just looked like the man who raped me. They talked about the pitfalls of memory, the power of faith, the miracle of DNA. They talked about the tortuous journey that had brought them together. They talked about Bobby Poole. We were both his victims, Cotton said, and Thompson nodded. As dusk fell, they made their way out of the church. In the parking lot, their families weeping, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton embraced.
    After meeting Cotton, Thompson wrote to Poole in prison and asked if he would meet her. ''I faced you with courage and bravery on that July night,'' she wrote. ''You never asked my permission. Now I ask you to face me.''  If Cotton could forgive her, she could forgive Poole. After all, she reasoned, something must have gone terribly wrong in his life to make him the monster he became. Poole never responded. He died of cancer in prison this year.
    Thompson has become an outspoken opponent of the death penalty, using her newfound celebrity to talk about the unreliability of testimony. She appears frequently on television talk shows. She is considering writing a book.  She and Cotton talk often. She says he has taught her about forgiveness, and healing, and faith. He has taught her not to feel like a victim anymore.  She has helped him too, lobbying to change laws so that Cotton would be entitled to more than the $5,000 the state offered as compensation. Eventually, Cotton got a settlement of nearly $110,000. Cotton's first job after his release was with the DNA company that conducted the tests that exonerated him. He now works second-shift for a company that makes insulation. He married a co-worker, and they have a baby girl, Raven. When she is old enough, Cotton will tell Raven about the 11 years he spent in prison for a crime he didn't commit. And one day, he will introduce his daughter to Jennifer Thompson.

Drug Use Is Rampant in the High-Tech Work Force, Experts Say
P.J. Huffstutter & Robin Fields, Los Angeles Times- 10/1/2000

At age 26, Aaron Bunnell was riding the fastest wave of the New Economy. The son of a technology media baron, Bunnell propelled the fledgling Web site Upside.com into a daily hot spot for Internet news, and pulled all-nighters pumped with caffeine and uppers. When he wasn't working 100-hour weeks, he was partying with Silicon Valley's elite at digerati events, scattered across the sprawling haze of new money in Northern California. The dot-com wave carried him in mid-July from San Francisco to New York City on a business trip, where long days of work on a new venture melted into equally long nights of partying. And ultimately, on July 16, into a toxic combination of alcohol, Valium and heroin. A waiter at the posh Waldorf-Astoria Hotel discovered Bunnell dead in Room 1443 late the next morning, lying in bed with an empty bottle of champagne nearby. "I believe my son was a victim of the dot-com boom," said David Bunnell, the 53-year-old chief executive of Upside Media, which publishes print and online technology industry magazines. "I knew he was drinking a lot and taking uppers to stay awake. I didn't think it was much of a problem. I didn't see it."
    Like the drug waves that swept through places like Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s and Wall Street in the '80s, drug use has found a new, eager home in the centers of technology. The digital revolution has transformed Northern California into the valley of riches, where hope for an explosive stock offering fuels fast deals, faster cars and the fastest computer chips in the world. But the combination of excessive wealth, driving ambition and a youthful sense of invulnerability has created fertile ground for some of society's most expensive, and dangerous, highs. While illicit drug activity wanes nationwide, drug use--particularly methamphetamine and powder cocaine--is booming among high-tech workers, according to scores of interviews with chemical dependency experts, computer programmers, technology executives and former drug addicts.
    "Drugs are the dirty little secret of the dot-com world," said Dr. Alex Stalcup, medical director of the New Leaf Treatment Center in Concord, Calif., which gets 40% of its new patients from the technology world. "It makes sense, really. There's so much money, such long hours, such pressure to perform here. It's speed to work on, coke to play on and smoking heroin to come down on." It's too early for formal studies that quantify the problem, but there are ominous signs of its growing proportions. The San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force, for instance, has seen the amount of cocaine seized jump 173% between 1995 and 1999, while the quantity of methamphetamine seized has skyrocketed 678%. In Wise County, N.C., home to tech hub Research Triangle, the sheriff's office has seen the amount of methamphetamine seized increase by more than 6,000% between 1997 and 1999, while deputies have confiscated 45% more cocaine. And last week, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it had seized 125,904 pounds of cocaine in the just-ended fiscal year, an all-time annual record.
    The young people who are vital to the high-tech work force were mere toddlers during the cocaine epidemic of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and are repeating the mistakes of the past. The number of people age 19 to 28 who say they use powder cocaine jumped by one-third between 1994 and 1999, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research found. And escalating numbers of young tech workers are seeking treatment for drug addictions.  While most dot-commers eschew public clinics and 12-step programs such as Cocaine Anonymous, they are flooding into private treatment centers in the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and New York. The doctors who run these programs say the number of patients they see from the computer industry has grown exponentially since just two years ago, when technology workers were a rare sight. It is relatively easy to hide all but the most extreme problems, say medical experts.
    Most technology firms in Northern California, fearing they will lose hard-to-replace employees, refuse to drug-test their workers. Among Silicon Valley's top tech employers, only chip maker Intel Corp. screens prospective workers for illegal substances. Indeed, weeks after David Bunnell learned that his son had died, the chief executive declined to implement a pre-employment drug-testing policy. "What people do in their own time, in the privacy of their own homes, is not our business," Bunnell said. "We have a policy that we don't want people to be stoned at work, but there is a lot to do here. There's no time to slow down."

Open Drug Use Raises No Eyebrows
Parties abound south of Market Street, the heart of San Francisco's hottest dot-com locale, and elsewhere throughout the city. On a recent Friday night, workers fled their cubicles and loft-like offices to cram into the Merchant's Exchange Club. Vodka flowed easily and heavily on the 15th floor of this California Street skyscraper. A hip-hop beat throbbed through the ballroom, luring women in alligator pants and men in Armani chic toward the deejay's turntable. Two women slinked off to the bathroom and found a quiet corner, away from the harsh fluorescent light. As one woman pulled out a compact and checked her lipstick, the other withdrew from her purse a bullet-shaped vial. Sliding the top to one side, she tapped out a small mound of white powder onto her fingertip, lifted it to her nose and inhaled quickly. She passed the vial to her friend. In between their delicate snorts, they rehashed the latest gossip at their high-tech firm. Who got hired and fired. Who made a fortune. Who lost it all. Other women strolled through the bathroom. No one looked at the pair or asked what they were doing. No one seemed to care.
    "Everyone has coke, especially up north," said a chief executive of a Los Angeles-based dot-com who recently relocated from San Francisco. "If your friends don't have it, or your [banker] doesn't have it, then it's a phone call away. It's like ordering a martini. It's no big deal." Socially, cocaine serves as shorthand proof of prosperity in increasingly nervous times. The silicon success stories that once fed the imagination--tales of brilliant young college students who took fledgling companies public and awoke the next morning as multimillionaires--have been replaced by accounts of layoffs and lost venture funding. But instead of a pall hanging over Northern California, the good times just roll on. Cocaine helps create the illusion of wealth, whether it's real or not.
    Technology workers say cocaine often is used with other party or "club" drugs, such as Ecstasy and GHB, its unpredictable liquid cousin. Speed also is popular, even during work hours, experts say. "I see programmers who start their day by stirring meth into their cup of coffee," said the Rev. Katherine O'Connell, a clinical psychologist and interfaith minister in Capitola, Calif., who has treated thousands of high-tech workers, politicians and executives for drug addiction since 1970. "Their whole social life revolves around their work life. If there's drug use at work, then there's likely drug use when they play."
    Experts say the toxic combination that the New York City Medical Examiner's Office found in Aaron Bunnell's body--alcohol, Valium and heroin--suggests long-term abuse of stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine--even though those drugs were not the direct cause of his death. The medical examiner called Bunnell's death accidental, brought on by acute intoxication. "Virtually 100% [of stimulant users] begin to use downers--alcohol, Valium or heroin--to sleep," said Dr. Stalcup of the Concord treatment center. He declined to comment specifically about the Bunnell case.
    Although there are no statistics showing that drug and alcohol addiction afflicts technology workers more than the general population, drug treatment experts say tech workers are more susceptible than those in, say, Hollywood or Wall Street because of their work. Drug use by white-collar tech workers "makes the Wall Street boom, and the excess that went along with it, look like puppy chow," said Nicholas Ney, a Menlo Park clinical psychologist and addiction specialist. "The body count is just starting."

Rebelliousness Is Part of the Problem
A potent work-hard, play-harder streak runs through the tech work force, as does a free-thinking, rebellious attitude that resists strait-laced corporate values. "There's always been an anarchist technophile drug-use thing that seems to go together," said Josh Fishman, a 26-year-old New York programmer who has tried speed and "extra" doses of his Ritalin prescription to help make deadlines or conquer code-writing challenges. "You tinker with your own body and perceptions as well as with technology," he said. "There's the same romantic, opium-poet mystic theme in the hacker culture that used to be in the Beat culture."
    Network engineer Allan Arimoto's twin compulsions--work and coke--mixed perilously when he worked at the now-defunct PC manufacturer Unitron Computer USA in the city of Industry. Under pressure to prepare exhibits for Comdex, the massive computer industry trade show held annually in Las Vegas, Arimoto fell off the wagon and showed up three days late. He resigned on the spot. Clean for more than a year, Arimoto, 37, now handles computer tasks at the Cri-Help rehab program in North Hollywood. "My work habits are as sick as my drug habits," he said. "I could work for three days straight, no sleep, writing programs, tweaking on computer parts."
    Cocaine always has followed the money, say addiction specialists. That's why, in the 1980s, coke flowed from the banking and stock-trading world of New York to the companies and industries they invested in elsewhere.
Today, the Bay Area is ground zero of the Internet economy and all its excesses, with its frenetic night life and sky-high rents. Just 30 years ago, San Francisco also was the home of the nation's drug culture--a mix of psychedelics and social change and dreams of a brave new world. Today, the drug of choice is cocaine, and the movement's hero is not the Grateful Dead or Timothy Leary, but the Gordon Gecko character in the movie "Wall Street." In West Los Angeles, where entertainment dot-com companies crowd the coastline, workers say they, too, have seen a boom in cocaine use among their peers.
    "Want to know how easy it is to score a gram of coke? My friend and I recently went to a bar in Venice Beach where everyone there was a dot-commer," said a public relations manager for a Los Angeles entertainment firm. "My friend asked the doorman where she could get some coke. One minute and $60 later, she had a gram."  Similar tales can be heard in New York, where Silicon Alley and the related financial industry have grown flush because of the Internet. Dr. Arnold M. Washton, who runs a private New York addiction treatment center for executives and professionals, said he has seen a resurgence of cocaine use among his patients. One of them, a 27-year-old computer programmer for a dot-com, says she became a regular cocaine user as part of her office's social routine. At least three nights a week, she and colleagues would meet after work at a bar and one member of the group would bring cocaine for everyone, Washton said. They would drink until 2 a.m., then go to someone's apartment and do cocaine until 5 a.m., he said. A few hours later, still reeling from the drugs, the group would show up for work. "The person she reports to is part of this crowd," Washton said. "Now that she's in treatment, people are asking her, 'Why don't you come out and party with us?' She's getting worried that now that she doesn't want to use anymore, she may lose her job."

Friends Recall Early Drug Use
Though Aaron Bunnell's pursuit of his dot-com dreams ended in Room 1443 of the Waldorf-Astoria, the path to his demise began in college. Friends say he began experimenting with pharmaceutical drugs as an undergraduate film student at USC. "He worked so hard. Everyone knew that he put in long hours," said Roxana C. Reyes, a former girlfriend. "But he didn't start using anything stronger than pot or painkillers until he moved to San Francisco to be with his dad."
    David Bunnell, a well-known tech publishing figure who founded PC World and MacWorld magazines, wanted to expand Upside's Web presence. It was 1998 and the dot-com boom was just beginning. After graduating from USC with a bachelor's degree, where he was named director of the year, Aaron was lured north by the promise of working on the Web. Family members and friends say he also wanted to spend time with his father, whom he had often seen during holidays and long summer vacations after his parents divorced in his youth. "He was always so clean, I never worried about him getting into serious drugs," said David Bunnell. "His mother's a drug and alcohol counselor. We never saw this coming."
    Usually dressed in his favorite baggy trousers, with his stereo blaring out rock tunes, Aaron regularly pulled 15-hour days at the privately held company, say co-workers. He often worked on the site all night, sleeping on the floor or at a nearby hotel. Slowly, the Web site staff grew from five to a team of more than 20. In late 1999, Aaron was promoted to vice president and editorial director of Upside's entire online business. Soon thereafter, he began leaving work to drink at a nearby bar, returning to the office to work while inebriated. "It was pretty clear he had a substance-abuse problem," said a former Upside editorial staffer. "Given the intensity of the [dot-com] community, it's not surprising." Even the online tribute to Aaron from colleagues and other friends betrays a sense of imbalance in the world of cutting-edge technology and its drive to one-up the competition. The opening line of the tribute reads, "Aaron Bunnell never said 'no.' "
    Mourners praised Bunnell's ability to work an insane schedule, "putting in long hours and immersing himself in the task." Many wished he had "come out to play" with them, while others wondered why he didn't spend more time "chillaxing and marinating." No one mentioned drug use, or questioned what price Bunnell was paying for his long hours of work. Gini Talmadge, Upside Media president and Aaron Bunnell's boss, declined to discuss her former employee or how his death has affected the company. "We do not want you to do this story. Let it go," Talmadge said. "We don't have the desire or time to talk about this." For sentimental reasons, the company has not taken the time to update its phone system. It is the only recording of Aaron's voice the family has, his father said. Almost three months after Aaron Bunnell's death, his voicemail at work is still taking messages. "Hi, this is Aaron at Upside Online," says a tired-sounding Bunnell. "I'm going to be out of the office this week, so send me an e-mail message and I'll get back to you."

Maxey Employee Suspended After New Drug Arrest
Marsha Low, Detroit Free Press- 10/2/2000

Blaine G. Burks was supposed to set an example and offer imprisoned youths at the W.J. Maxey Training School in Whitmore Lake some guidance. But the 45-year-old social worker has a lengthy criminal record. And now, Burks could face life in prison after his arrest Friday in Southfield on charges of possessing a handgun and drugs. Prosecutors said they plan to try him as a habitual offender, which carries a life sentence upon conviction. Burks, a resident of Ann Arbor, has seven felony convictions including for armed robbery, larceny of a building and possession of a firearm, said John O'Brien, chief assistant Oakland County prosecutor. The crimes were committed between 1978 and 1998 in Genesee and Washtenaw counties.
    "It's disconcerting that someone with his criminal history ...had any responsibility for troubled youth," O'Brien said Sunday. "I don't know how you hire someone currently on probation and with that many priors." For six years, Burks worked in Maxey's Green Oak Center, the maximum-security section that tries to rehabilitate the state's most violent juveniles. Burks was one of seven social workers offering the center's 81 residents individual and group therapy. He also provided progress reports to the courts. Maxey's social workers are required to hold a master's degree, said Karen Smith, spokeswoman for the state Family Independence Agency. Burks' educational background was not immediately available.
    Green Oak is where Nathaniel Abraham, 14, the state's youngest resident to be convicted of murder as an adult, is being held. Abraham was found guilty last year of killing Ronnie Greene Jr. outside a Pontiac party store in 1997. Burks' arrest came on the day that the FBI announced it would launch an investigation of possible civil rights violations of Maxey's youngsters. Allegations include reports of inmates assaulting one another and inappropriate behavior by staff toward its young prisoners. In a statement released Sunday, Douglas E. Howard, FIA director, said that Burks has been suspended from work without pay. Howard also said the agency's policy requires fingerprinting and criminal history checks of all new employees. However, prior convictions would not preclude an applicant from hire. An internal investigation continues into Burks' employment, and the FIA's hiring practices over the past decade.
    Burks was arraigned Saturday in 46th District Court in Southfield following his arrest Friday. Southfield police received a tip that Burks was about to make a drug deal on the grounds of Brace Lederle Elementary School in Southfield. Officers arrived and found Burks in his vehicle with a gun, heroin and marijuana, they said. He was charged with possession with intent to deliver heroin on school property, possession with intent to deliver less than 5 kilograms of marijuana and carrying a concealed weapon. Burks also was charged with three felony firearms counts and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Bond was set at $50,000. Burks is being held by the Oakland County Sheriff's Department.

Oregon Students in 3-Year Drug Test Program
Rebekah Denn, Seattle Post Intelligencer- 10/2/2000

A three-year study on drug use by high school athletes has begun in Oregon, sparking a lawsuit and raising questions about the effectiveness of random drug tests. Washington schools declined to participate in the study after the American Civil Liberties Union, citing precedents from a Renton School District case, warned that the tests would violate the privacy clause of the Washington Constitution. In a separate case, a judge recently ruled that random drug tests for student athletes could be performed in the Wahkiakum School District in southwest Washington, pending a ruling on a suit filed last year. The Oregon study, conducted by Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, includes questionnaires and random testing of athletes for illicit drug use.
    Researchers say such testing is legal under a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1995 that allowed a school in Vernonia, Ore., to bar a student from playing football because he refused a drug test. And the federally funded study will answer a crucial question, researchers say: whether random drug tests, which are already used in hundreds of school districts nationwide, including at least two in Washington, actually do anything to reduce student drug abuse. "Even though there have been billions spent on drug testing, . . . no one has ever studied to see if it works," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, principal investigator for the Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification (SATURN) program at the Oregon medical school.
    But the ACLU says that, regardless of the Supreme Court decision, such tests still aren't allowed under state law in Washington and Oregon. Still, 13 districts in Oregon agreed to participate in the project, prompting the parents of two high school athletes to file a lawsuit to stop the study last week in Lincoln County Circuit Court. The Oregon study involves 18 high schools. Questionnaires are being administered to 10,000 students.

Student Drug Use 'Status Quo'
Student drug use and drug prevention programs are a pressing topic nationwide, with 42 percent of high school seniors reporting they had used illicit drugs in a 1999 nationwide study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. In a 1998 analysis by the Seattle-King County Health Department, 13.8 percent of eighth-graders and 25.9 percent of 10th-graders reported using marijuana within the past 30 days.     
    The widely used Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program has been rejected by several major police departments in recent years, including Seattle and Spokane, after conflicting studies on its worth. Goldberg estimated that anywhere from 500 to 1,000 school districts nationwide now conduct random drug tests on students, also without evidence of its effectiveness. "The status quo is terrible as far as drugs and kids (are concerned)," Goldberg said. "We want to see what works."
    The SATURN program is being directed by certified U.S. Olympic crew chiefs, using the same expensive, high-accuracy tests that are used to screen Olympic athletes for drug use. Student-athletes and their parents will sign consent forms allowing drug tests. The athletes will be selected by random lottery throughout the school year, with the tests including analyses for narcotics, cocaine, amphetamines and methamphetamines, alcohol, marijuana, and anabolic steroids. If a urine specimen tests positive, the school will be notified, and will notify the student's parents. Either students or parents can request a retest using a reserved part of the specimen. Final results, using code numbers rather than names, will be sent to the SATURN staff. Students will also complete confidential questionnaires about substance abuse. The surveys will use code numbers rather than names, and will be analyzed only by researchers, not school staff.

Effects of Testing
If drug use changes among athletes, Goldberg said, statistical analysis will help show whether it's because of fear of the tests, because of the school's atmosphere toward drug use, or other factors. To participate in the study, schools were required to adopt a "non-punitive" policy toward students who tested positive for drugs; for instance, substance abuse counseling rather than suspensions. The policy the researchers recommended for schools says that no student athlete shall be penalized academically for testing positive for illegal drugs and that test results will not be documented in any student's education records.
    A pilot version of the program in the Chenoweth School District in northern Oregon last year "had a terrific positive impact," Superintendent Jim Kiefert said. Students at Chenoweth's Wahtonka High School said the program gave them "a reason to say no" to drugs, Kiefert said, and others in the 350-student school told him they had stopped using drugs rather than jeopardize their ability to play sports. The Woodland School District in southwest Washington decided against participating in the Oregon study, but not solely because of legal concerns, School Board Chairwoman Dotty Yount said. Another issue was the district's interest in starting a broader drug testing program than the study would have allowed -- testing all students, not just athletes. Such a move would raise even more legal questions in what is already a complex field.
    The Washington state ACLU holds that "suspicionless testing," conducting random drug tests without any reason to suspect those specific students have used drugs, violates the privacy clause of the state Constitution. In its arguments, the ACLU relies in part on a case it won against the Renton School District in 1985, involving a student whose luggage was searched before a school band trip. The state Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to search students without suspicion that they are breaking a law or school rule. "(The ruling) was very clear that individualized suspicion, suspicion about a particular person . . . must be present to search that person," said Jerry Sheehan, legislative director for the Washington state ACLU. "You can't say I'm searching the senior class, or I'm searching the band for the band trip, or I'm searching athletes." A handful of Washington school districts -- including Granite Falls, Northshore, Blaine, and Sequim -- either decided against starting drug tests or cancelled their use in recent years after warnings from the ACLU.

Washington Districts Test
Last December, two families sued the Wahkiakum School District in southwest Washington, challenging its random drug test policy for student athletes that it adopted last fall. A Wahkiakum County Superior Court judge ruled last month that drug tests could be performed, but that all results would be sealed until a final ruling is made.  The judge also decided that the district could have access to positive test results, but the district is still trying to determine under what conditions the results would be legally available.
    In 1996, the Burlington-Edison School District in Skagit County started testing students participating in all extracurricular activities, including athletics, drama, band and debate. So far this school year, 400 students have been tested -- including some random samples -- and none have turned up positive. "This is the first year that we've really gone through this amount of time and seen zero," Assistant Superintendent Bob Penny said Thursday. "That's tremendous supportive documentation for what we are doing." When students test positive, they are banned from extracurricular activities for 30 days and must test negative to be reinstated. They're also referred to a substance abuse counselor. Penny said he supports the program because it prepares kids for the real world. "There are so many workplaces today where drug testing is a fact of life," he said. "I am not one that believes it is an infringement on their lives, but more . . . training them to be accountable."

Study Suggests Smoking Can Cause Depression in Teens
Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press, 10/2/2000

CHICAGO--A new study suggests smoking may be a cause of depression in teen-agers, contradicting the current thinking that says depressed people may smoke to feel better. The study found that teens who smoked were about four times more likely to develop highly depressed symptoms during a year's time. The researchers speculated that nicotine or other smoking byproducts may have a depressive effect on the central nervous system. The study adds to a growing body of conflicting research on links between tobacco and the mind. ''The thing that bolsters the idea is that there is evidence that anti-depressant drugs are helpful in treating nicotine addiction,'' said Dr. Elizabeth Goodman, an adolescent-medicine specialist at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati who led the study.  The study appears in the October issue of Pediatrics, the monthly journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
    Other researchers have linked teen smoking with suicide, and smoking with depression in adults, but they disagree over whether tobacco use is a cause or merely a result of a depressed state. Most people think that those who tend to be depressed ''self-medicate by smoking. This is probably not the case,'' said Naomi Breslau, director of research at Henry Ford Health Systems in Detroit. Breslau's own research also has suggested tobacco may somehow contribute to depression. She said that while the new findings do not prove smoking is a cause, they strongly support that theory. ''They find absolutely no evidence that depressive symptoms per se increase the risk for smoking,''   she said. ''They do find very clear evidence in the other direction.'' She added: ''It's just one more adverse effect of smoking on health.''
    The study relied not on doctors' diagnoses but on teen-agers' reports of having symptoms suggestive of depression.  The study analyzed data from teens questioned in 1995 and 1996 in a national study on adolescent health. It included 8,704 teens who were not initially depressed and 6,947 teens who were not initially smokers. Evidence suggesting depression was a cause rather than a result of smoking evaporated when the researchers took into account other factors that may have prompted the teens to start smoking, such as friends' use of tobacco and poor grades.
    Current smokers included those who smoked as little as one cigarette in the previous month and those who smoked a pack a day or more. The researchers did not examine whether teens who smoked the most were the most likely to develop depression, but some of their other findings suggest that may have been the case. After a year's time, 4.8 percent of the nonsmokers had developed depressed symptoms compared with 12 percent of those who initially smoked at least a pack a day. Linda Pederson, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's office on smoking and health, said the study was well-done, larger and more nationally representative than previous research that reached similar conclusions.

Controversial Group Tests for Lethal Copycat Drugs
Rebecca Raphael, ABC News- 10/2/2000

Ecstasy is dangerous and illegal in its own right, but it’s the knockoffs of the popular drug that are garnering public attention and raising concern. Amid reports last week that copycats of the drug are responsible for at least nine deaths across the country since May, DanceSafe, a nonprofit organization that tests pills for Ecstasy — and its often more dangerous copycats — is in the spotlight. Ecstasy is a psycho-active or mind-altering compound that usually comes in pill form; it’s one of the hottest drugs on the market. Law enforcement officials say they seized 12 million pills last year, up from 200 pills just six years ago. While many users say Ecstasy leads to feelings of joy, euphoria and elation, some say it can also cause brain damage, memory loss, unconsciousness, tremors, chills, dehydration and overheating, which can lead to death.

Dance Safe or Sorry?
DanceSafe, which is headquartered in Oakland, Calif., has 10 local chapters throughout the country and plans on opening 20 more. Volunteers for the group show up at nightclubs and all-night rave parties, where they offer pill testing services for Ecstasy users. Real Ecstasy is MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine). But many pills that are sold as Ecstasy do not actually contain MDMA, and may have components like PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine) or DXM (dextromethorphan), which can be more lethal. "The fake pills are often times more likely to kill you," says Emanuel Sferios, who founded DanceSafe last year. "We screen against fake pills and have successfully prevented thousands of young people from swallowing pills that didn’t contain Ecstasy and had more dangerous substances."
    But the program has drawn fire from parents and drug enforcement officials, who say DanceSafe’s mission ignores the dangers of Ecstasy itself. "What kind of message are we sending the kids?" asks Steve Casteel, chief intelligence officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration. While he believes that DanceSafe does recognize that Ecstasy is dangerous, he thinks the tests performed by the organization are unreliable, inconclusive and misleading. "I’m really concerned about the false sense of security that DanceSafe brings," he says. "The message they deliver by having the word ‘safe’ in their title is a false one." Jan Aeschlemann, whose 18-year-old daughter died from a copycat drug, says that handing drugs back to kids — which DanceSafe always does — "gives them a feeling that it’s OK. That’s not the message that should be out there. It’s not OK." "I think the information that DanceSafe should be putting out is: Stay away from this drug," says Lt. Richard Hart, head of the Oakland police department narcotics division. "It’s very dangerous."
    But Sferios says that it is "absurd to have as a goal stopping the use of ecstasy." The "Just Say No" message, he says, "has been a miserable failure. We have not stopped the spread of drugs. We need to try something different."  His harm-reduction approach, he believes, offers a large segment of the population, whom he calls "novelty seekers," nonjudgmental information on the risks of drugs as well as risk-reduction techniques. Likening his group’s approach to needle exchange programs that aim to prevent the spread of the HIV virus, Sferios says, "Everyone who’s approached our table to get their pill tested was going to swallow that tablet anyway." While Sferios says that the best way to reduce harm is to abstain from using drugs altogether, he believes his harm-reduction approach of providing nonjudgmental information on the risk of drugs and risk-reduction techniques are the best way to reach a large segment of the population whom he calls "novelty seekers." For these youngsters, he says, "drug experimentation is a fact of life."

High-Tech High Touch
And Sferios has his supporters. Bob Wallace, 51, who was the ninth person ever hired by Microsoft and is now semiretired, met Emanuel at a party and has since contributed $70,000 to DanceSafe. "One thing I like a lot about DanceSafe is that they don’t say ‘You should or should not do a drug.’" Instead, DanceSafe is "spreading knowledge very effectively" and "reducing the harm that can happen." In fact, most of DanceSafe’s funding comes from Internet professionals. "In the Internet work community, it’s very intense, long hours, very structured, very difficult," Wallace says. "So you can imagine that when these people have a little free time, they want something that helps them open up and feel compassion and love." So MDMA, which is said to do just that, has made its way from all-night raves to Silicon Valley. "It’s called high-tech high-touch," Wallace says. "The more technical you get in your job, the more touchy-feely you need in your life."
    Wallace, who has also contributed nearly $300,000 to research mind-altering drugs, says that the unique qualities of MDMA, such as increasing feelings of empathy, make it a drug worth studying. "We need to understand how our mind works," he says. Because of DanceSafe, he adds, "people who would normally not have any idea of brain chemistry are starting to learn what’s good for the brain and what’s bad for it." Steve Simitzes, 25, who recently left the Internet industry to work in music production, is also a donor. People who are interested in "forging deeper into their psyches," he says, which can include professionals who work developing new technology, are drawn to Ecstasy. A "raver" for 10 years, Simitzes supports DanceSafe’s mission. "If people are going to use drugs, they’re going to use drugs. Let’s make sure they are doing it safely," he says. But to Casteel of the DEA, "That is a misguided philosophy at best, a dangerous one at worst. It’s like putting on a seatbelt so you can go 1,000 miles per hour. It just doesn’t work."

Menninger Psychiatric Clinic Is Leaving Topeka
David Miles, Associated Press- 10/3/2000

TOPEKA, Kansas -- Other parts of Kansas have long seen Topeka as culturally backward, nicknaming it ''Slow-peka'' and ''Topuka.'' But in the Menninger Clinic, at least, Topeka had a source of intellectual pride. For generations, the psychiatric clinic has been a world-class center of new ideas and talent in the Midwest, established far from what were, at the time, the twin capitals of psychiatry, New York and Vienna. But now, after 75 years, the Menninger Clinic is leaving town for Houston. Topeka is mourning the loss of a major institution, hundreds of good-paying jobs, a rich pool of teaching talent and a group of arts patrons. Many Topekans also ponder what the loss will mean to the city's reputation.
    Rosemary Menninger, the youngest daughter of the man who was once the clinic's leading light, Karl Menninger, said she suspects the move will have a greater effect on Menninger than on Topeka. ''Topeka kind of accepted psychiatric patients into its midst,'' said Ms. Menninger, who teaches art at a high school. ''While the stigma of mental illness was still raging around the country, Topekans outgrew that.'' Ms. Menninger said she worries about what will happen to the clinic's patients after the organization moves to Houston by 2002.
    The relocation is part of the clinic's new partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Health Care System. The decision to move was a response to financial problems that have reduced Menninger's endowment from $129.2 million in 1998 to $104 million. Dr. Walter Menninger, president and chief executive, said those problems are largely due to insurance companies' increasingly restrictive reimbursement practices regarding mental health treatment. He said the clinic would be out of business within six to eight years if it did not move. As part of the deal, the three institutions have pledged to raise at least $200 million in endowment money, twice the size of a rejected package proposed by Gov. Bill Graves to keep the clinic in Kansas. ''It's a loss to Kansas because it's really kind of a Kansas icon,'' said Tom Bartlett, a psychologist at a Topeka mental health center. ''It's sort of like saying they just pulled all the sunflowers out of Kansas.''
    Many of Menninger's 1,162 employees in Topeka and the Kansas City area are expected to move to Houston.  Merle Blair, president and chief executive of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, said the loss of Menninger's annual payroll of $56 million surely will have an economic impact. But Blair also noted that Topeka, population 123,000, has low unemployment and said that Menninger staffers who choose to stay in town should have little problem finding work at hospitals. The Kansas capital's major employers include the state government, a Frito-Lay chip factory, a Goodyear tire plant, the Hill's dog and cat food company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, and Payless ShoeSource, the discount shoe-store chain headquartered in Topeka.
    But the city will lose more than just jobs. Menninger gave a certain cosmopolitan quality to a town where the restaurants still insist on serving practically everything with cream sauce. Harvard-trained Karl Menninger, his brother and his father founded the clinic in Topeka in 1925 because it was their home. At the time, Topeka was a town of 55,000 people well beyond the geographic frontiers of psychiatry. And locking up the mentally ill in insane asylums was still viewed as the chief form of treatment. Eventually, the clinic's red brick tower became a landmark in the northwest side of town. And Menninger became internationally known for making the treatment of the mentally ill more humane. Karl Menninger enjoyed riding horses with patients on the clinic's pastoral hilltop grounds. He became a towering figure in psychiatry, writing such books as ''The Human Mind'' and ''Love Against Hate.'' He died in 1990 at 96. His brother, William, also won an excellent reputation in the field.
    Starting in the 1930s, emigre psychoanalysts began coming from Europe to Topeka. Some didn't stay -- ''Their wives couldn't stand Topeka,'' said Walter Menninger, Karl's nephew -- but others remained. The foreigners not only brought their knowledge and expertise but also became patrons of the arts. They gave Topekans a glimpse of other cultures by supporting foreign films and lecturers. ''The Menninger staff brought a tremendous vitality to the community,'' recalled psychologist Harriet Lerner, who joined the staff in 1974. She called the clinic's departure ''a tremendous drain of creativity and imagination.''
    Menninger's heyday came in the years after World War II. The clinic opened the Menninger School of Psychiatry in 1946, and a year later, one-third of all psychiatrists being trained in the country were enrolled there. ''Menninger trained a whole generation of psychiatrists in America,'' Ms. Menninger said. In a 1953 radio tribute to the Kansas capital, Karl Menninger declared: ''Psychiatry has changed Topeka, and perhaps Topeka has helped to change psychiatry.'' Over the years, the clinic has treated nearly 224,000 patients. Bartlett, who worked and trained at Menninger, said he fears the clinic's philosophy of treating people rather than just symptoms might be lost once it moves to Houston. ''There was a very, very definite way of thinking about the patient and about the person that I would say was really exclusively Menninger's contribution,'' Bartlett said.

Sex-Criminal Release Leaves Victims Fuming
Kirk Mitchell, Denver Post- 10/3/2000

Prison officials are being bombarded by calls from sex-crime victims demanding to know if their attackers are among 900 convicts being freed from prison and parole because of a state Supreme Court ruling. The Colorado attorney general's office petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to reconsider its Sept. 18 opinion. "This is ridiculous," said Rebecca Nye, the mother of two Westminster girls who were 3 and 5 when molested in 1995 by former neighbor Dean Scott Perry, who may soon be released from prison without parole because of the ruling.  "The laws need to work for the kids," Nye said. "I don't want to ever hear that he has killed someone."
    The court's ruling went widely unnoticed until late last week when the Department of Corrections began notifying parolees they were being released early from supervision. The ruling tossed out mandatory five-year parole for hundreds of sex offenders convicted from 1993 to 1996. "I think the numbers caught people by surprise," said John Suthers, executive director of the Corrections Department. Parole officers had notified 81 of 170 child molesters and rapists statewide that they were no longer on parole when Attorney General Ken Salazar asked Suthers on Saturday to stop until his office could file the motion for a re-hearing. On Monday, parole officers recontacted the 81 and said their release was rescinded and they were back on parole pending the appeal, Suthers said. His department also had planned to release 112 jailed sex offenders, who had returned to prison after violating parole conditions, this week. And in the coming years, another 600 offenders must be released to the streets without serving any parole as a result of the ruling.
    Salazar said the Supreme Court could decide within two weeks whether to rehear the case. "We will remind them of the gravity of their ruling and the implication with respect to public safety," Salazar said. But Salazar and Suthers conceded the request for a rehearing is mostly a stalling tactic that will give prison officials time to contact victims before sex offenders are released from parole or prison. "The likelihood is that we have to face the fact that we're going to have some sex offenders on the street that we would much prefer to have under parole supervision," Suthers said.
    The Supreme Court's 7-0 ruling comes in the case of convicted child molester Vance Martin. The justices ruled that sex offenders convicted between July 1993 and July 1996 were subject to a 1979 law instead of a conflicting mandatory-parole law passed in 1993. The 1979 law forbids the parole board from imposing parole on a sex offender for more than the unserved portion of his prison term or five years, whichever is less.  But Salazar said the five-year mandatory-parole law reflects the direction of the legislature, which has been consistently passing laws requiring lengthier prison and parole terms for sex offenders. Courts across the state applied the 1993 mandatory-parole law while sentencing sex offenders, according to a letter Salazar and Suthers sent to the state's district attorneys on Monday.
    "The seemingly inadvertent effect of (the Supreme Court's) holding is that sex offenders, unlike felons of all classes subject to mandatory parole ... can avoid mandatory parole supervision by simply completing the sentence imposed on them by the district court," Salazar's request for a rehearing says. But unclear and conflicting laws made the intent of legislators difficult to follow, the Supreme Court said. When the 1993 law was passed, the conflicting 1979 law governing sex offenders was not rescinded. It was left for the high court to decide which law should apply.  The legislature discovered the conflict in 1998 and passed a clarifying provision stating that sex offenders convicted between 1993 and 1996 should be placed on parole for five years. And in 1998 the legislature passed the Lifetime Supervision Act.
    If the Supreme Court rejects the request for a rehearing, the state must act quickly to avoid civil rights and false-imprisonment lawsuits by sex offenders who have completed their sentences under the 1979 law, Salazar said.  "Once they learn of this decision they will not tolerate a delay," Suthers said. Gov. Bill Owens' chief counsel, Troy Eid, said he has spoken with Salazar about drafting legislation that would fix the problem of some sex offenders not having to serve parole time. Suthers said he regretted having to release sex offenders to the streets without supervision. Such offenders cannot be rehabilitated, only managed, Suthers said. He recalled one great-grandfather in a wheelchair who had molested three generations of his descendants.

State Report Deals Maxey Another Blow After Counselor's Arrest
Detroit Free Press, 10/3/2000

A licensing report critical of the W.J. Maxey Training School says staff members ignored doctor's orders, used profanity with youths and did not follow standard procedures. The report's release comes as officials at the state Family Independence Agency were dealing with fallout over the arrest of a Maxey counselor who is a convicted felon. The inspection report by the state Department of Consumer and Industry Services, dated Aug. 28, was obtained Monday by the Detroit Free Press.
    The report -- and the arrest Friday of Blaine G. Burks, 45, on charges of drug and weapons possession outside a Southfield elementary school -- renewed calls for an outside investigation of the school in Livingston County's Green Oak Township. "We've been knocking on the door of the Legislature, the governor, the lieutenant governor, trying to get them to look at these problems," said lawyer Evelyn Butler. "Hopefully this will spur an independent body to review the problems there. This is a systematic problem." Butler is representing the husband of Barbara Synnestvedt, a social worker killed at Maxey in 1993.
    The FBI on Monday said it had begun a "preliminary inquiry" into complaints that the civil rights of Maxey youths had been violated. The FBI's findings will be sent to the civil rights division of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's office, Cleney told The Detroit News. The state licensing report found the Maxey staff had violated agency rules through the "use of inappropriate language and swearing, intimidation of youth, accepting a gift from a resident."
    Some youths missed multiple days of school and appointments with doctors because of staffing problems, the report said. Staff also refused to dispense prescribed psychotropic medications because "the staff believe the residents pass their problems off as some type of biological problems," said Dr. Joseph Sayed, a facility psychiatrist. "We are taking a very serious look at our policies and procedures right now," said Karen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Family Independence Agency, which manages Maxey.

Police Seek Nine Sex Offenders
Kirk Mitchell, Denver Post- 10/4/2000

Authorities were searching Tuesday for nine convicted sex offenders freed from prison last week because of a Colorado Supreme Court decision. "We need to go round those people up," said John Suthers, executive director of the state Department of Corrections. His office is seeking arrest warrants for the nine. He declined to release their names or details of their crimes Tuesday evening without a public-records request. "As a survivor of rape, it is so hard to battle to see justice done and then watch while nine offenders are released erroneously," said Jennifer Gamblin, a two-time rape survivor and past president of the Rape Assistance and Awareness Program.
    In fact, the release of the sex offenders was not a mistake but rather a recommendation by an attorney in the Colorado attorney general's office that any sex offender in prison who qualified for release under the high court ruling be let go.   The Supreme Court's Sept. 18 ruling tossed out five-year mandatory parole sentences for up to 900 rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders convicted from 1993 to 1996. Authorities notified 104 of 170 parolees last week that the ruling ended their supervision. But the attorney general's office asked the Department of Corrections to stop releasing parolees pending a motion for a rehearing. That motion was filed Monday. Suthers and other corrections officials had said they intended to begin freeing 112 sex offenders who were back in prison because of parole violations starting this week. But Suthers confirmed Tuesday that nine of them already had been released. "We will do whatever we can to bring them back to prison" pending the motion for a rehearing, Suthers said.
    "Because of the insidiousness of sexual assault, I would have thought they would have thought long and hard about this decision to release sex offenders, and it appears they did not," Gamblin said. Department spokeswoman Alison Morgan said the Victims Notification Unit had notified all the victims of the nine that they were back on the streets.  "Our primary role is to protect the safety of the public," Morgan said. "That is critical to us." The department has contacted all but five of the 104 sex offenders who were released from parole last week, informing them that they're actually back on parole until the Supreme Court decides whether it will rehear the case, Suthers said. In at least one case, it appears one of the offenders is purposely avoiding contact by his parole officer, he said.

National Drunken-Driving Standard Passes
Scott Bowles, USA Today- 10/4/2000

A tough new standard for drunken driving is expected to reach President Clinton's desk in a matter of days, the result of years of debate over a nationwide legal blood-alcohol level. If the measure, passed by Congress on Tuesday, receives Clinton's expected approval, states will be required to adopt a .08 blood-alcohol content as the legal drunken-driving level by 2004. States that don't comply stand to lose millions in federal highway funds.  The drunken-driving standard was included in a $18 billion transportation spending bill approved Tuesday by a House-Senate conference committee. It was hailed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has battled for more than five years to establish a nationwide level of .08
    Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia have .08 laws, and 31 states define a drunken driver as one with at least a .10 blood-alcohol level. In Massachusetts, a .08 level is considered evidence but not proof of drunkenness.   Nearly 16,000 people a year die in drunken-driving accidents, which account for more than one-third of highway fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. ''Congress has realized that what happened to me and what has happened to others is wrong,'' said Mothers Against Drunk Driving President Millie Webb, who lost a daughter and nephew in a crash with a driver with a .08 blood-alcohol level.
    Clinton has been a strong supporter of the measure. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater said that as late as Monday night the president was calling lawmakers to nail down their support. Under the final compromise, states that didn't implement the .08 level by 2004 would lose 2% of their highway money; that penalty would increase to 8% by 2007. States that adopted the .08 standard by 2007 would be reimbursed for any lost money. Negotiators from the House and Senate were slow to reach compromise on the transportation bill. Patrick Grant, a Washington transportation policy analyst, said the delay came because lawmakers were worried about the reaction from the beer and restaurant industries. ''It's been a balancing act between the soccer mom voting bloc and the money from the liquor industry,'' he said.
    But John Doyle of the American Beverage Institute said the national standard would ''have no impact whatsoever'' because the average blood-alcohol level for drunks involved in fatal crashes is .17. Several lawmakers made last-ditch efforts to sidetrack the measure. Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., unsuccessfully proposed that the federal government should double grants to states for anti-drunken-driving programs rather than penalize them. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., also contended that it was wrong to take money away from states that, although they might not have a .08 standard, impose other strong measures such as bans on driving with open containers of alcohol. ''It's a gross injustice to many states that have far tougher drunk-driving laws,'' he said.

Signs of Bipolar Disorder May Start in Infancy
Amy Norton, Reuters- 10/5/2000

NEW YORK—Although manic-depressive disorder is usually diagnosed during the late teens and 20s, signs of the mental illness may surface far earlier in life--sometimes even in infancy, research suggests. When investigators reviewed the medical records of 58 adults with manic-depressive disorder, they found telltale "clusters" of symptoms that often began in the first years of life. Since childhood, the patients had suffered bouts of depression, irritability, sleep problems and other symptoms that seemed to foreshadow manic-depressive disorder.
    Since the study looked back on medical records, it can offer no definitive warning signs for the illness, according to lead author Dr. Janice A. Egeland of the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida. However, she told Reuters Health, if further research can weed out "constellations of symptoms" that signal a high risk of manic-depressive disorder, doctors may be able to intervene early on with treatment. Egeland and her colleagues report their findings in the October issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
    Also known as bipolar disorder, manic-depressive disorder is marked by cycles of deep depression and excessive euphoria, interspersed with periods of normal behavior. It affects at least 2 million Americans and tends to run in families. Egeland's team is currently following children and teens who are at high risk of the disorder due to family history. She said they hope to confirm whether symptoms found in this study can predict which children will develop manic-depressive disorder.
    Patients in the current study first exhibited symptoms 9 to 12 years before the onset of the disorder. Some showed signs at preschool age. According to one woman's records, she had suffered "little sad spells" since she was a baby. Most of the patients had begun cycles of irritability, hypersensitivity and low energy by the age of 10. Because such symptoms can be confused with problems like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Egeland noted, it is important to recognize the cyclic nature of manic-depressive disorder. Symptoms come in waves, rather than being part of a child's general nature. "It's important to find a pattern of symptoms over time and a family history," Egeland said. No one knows what treating at-risk children early on will accomplish. However, Egeland said, "if we don't wait until they're desperately depressed or wildly manic to intervene, it may change the course of the illness."

Many Believe Alcoholism Genetic Disorder
Keith Mulvihill, Reuters- 10/5/2000

PHILADELPHIA—Results of a recent survey suggest that most Americans believe genetics play a role in alcohol dependency, researchers reported here Wednesday. "This information may be helpful in devising future strategies for utilizing genetic information to prevent and treat alcoholism," according to Dr. Paul Manowitz, the lead researcher of the study. Manowitz presented the findings at a meeting of The American Society of Human Genetics.
    "There are a large number of studies being undertaken by the government that are trying to identify specific genes that may in part be responsible for alcoholism," Manowitz said. "So far they have not identified any single gene to be associated with the condition. However, researchers are getting close and almost everyone agrees that there are significant genetic factors in alcoholism," he continued. "Once they are identified, the question is how will the information be used in terms of prevention? You have to have the acceptance of the public that genetics play a role," Manowitz said.
    The researchers, from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey, conducted telephone interviews with nearly 1,000 US adults. "We asked people...to choose which factors they felt were important in contributing to alcoholism," Manowitz told Reuters Health. "We asked them to consider four factors, including the person's parents' drinking habits when he or she was growing up, a currently unhappy home life, a person's biological makeup or genetics, and a bad work or job situation." Nearly 77 percent of the respondents stated that genetics has a lot or some effect on the likelihood that someone will become an alcoholic, according to Manowitz.
    "The take-home message is all the subgroups involved, over the majority of those interviewed--regardless of things like age, gender or education--believed that genetics have an important effect on the development of alcoholism," Manowitz told Reuters Health.Those who have an alcoholic parent are more likely to believe that alcoholism is largely caused by genetic factors, he added. The problems with alcoholism are pervasive in our society. Alcoholism and related problems affect about 10 percent of men and 5 percent of women, and cost the US approximately $150 billion annually, Manowitz noted.

New Domestic Violence Unit to Open
Art Aisner, Ann Arbor News- 10/5/2000

The Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office will open its new domestic violence unit to the public October 17th in commemoration of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month which started Sunday.  A team of prosecutors, probation officers and law enforcement officers will greet the public from 3 to 6pm at the new headquarters at 3800 Packard Road.  The open house is the first official program for the unit created by a $10 million federal grant.  Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm is the featured speaker and will be joined by Washtenaw County Sherriff Ron Scheibil, County Prosecutor Brian Mackie and a representative from the courts, said Susan McGee, director of SAFE House, a shelter for battered victims. The staff of five probation officers, four prosecutors and two victim advocates started working cases in August.  The open house, however, will be the first opportunity for the general public to see the headquarters and meet the people they'd encounter if they or anyone they know becomes a victim of domestic assault. 
More than 1.5 million women are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner every year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.  Washtenaw County prosecuted about 1,000 domestic violence cases last year, a consistent figure since a package of domestic violence laws went into effect in 1994, said Blaine Lonsworth, the assistant county prosecutor heading the division.  The county learned in September 1999 that it was one of the three areas across the country to receive a $10 million grant to combat domestic violence.  The grant will provide $2 million annually to increase prosecution of domestic batterers, improve tracking of those convicted and expand support services.  Boston and Milwaukee counties in Wisconsin received the other grants.
"The grant gives us the opportunity to focus more time and attention on cases and help us get better information," Longsworth said.  With more information, prosecutors can make better decisions to keep victims and their families safe.   "These are cases you really need more time to do effectively before the violence can repeat itself," he said.  The unit will add a fifth prosecutor and another probation officer before the end of the year, Longsworth added.  The unit already designated Wednesday and Thursday of each week for domestic violence cases in county courthouses. The organized approach cuts down on travel time for prosecutors and witnesses and also slashes probation officers' caseloads significantly.  One staff member compiles data that will be analyzed by the justice department twice during the first year.
In addition to the new unit, SAFE House is adding services that will improve their support of victims countywide, McGee said.  The organization also now provides a telecom link for deaf victims that call the SAFE House Crisis Line at (734) 995-5444.  McGee said a goal for this year is to expand services to potential victims with language barriers.   Wallet-sized information cards are now printed in 11 languages and starting this month, the crisis line will have a feature that allows non-English speaking victims to consult a counselor in 240 other languages 24-hours a day.  The system, set up by Ameritech's 24-hour Language Line, will simultaneously connect a caller with a SAFE House counselor and an interpreter of the language of their choice.  McGee said.   "It should help a lot because we know language is an issue that keeps people from coming forward and the more isolated avictim is the less likely they'll be able to get to safety."

Drug's Nightclub Pull Seen Hard to Curb
   Amber Bollman, Boston Globe- 10/6/2000

Frustrated law enforcement officials say they are losing the battle to keep ecstasy and other mood-altering drugs out of the city's nightclubs, as young people are increasingly seduced by the drug's social and psychological effects.  According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 12 percent of high school students and 3 percent of middle school students last year admitted to using ecstasy, a euphoria-inducing stimulant surging in popularity. That's double the number who used it in 1996.
    Officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Boston Public Health Commission yesterday told members of the Boston City Council the market for ecstasy is growing at an unprecedented rate, and in spite of efforts to warn young people of potential health risks, the drug remains easy to make, buy and sell. ''This is a hell of a drug to sell,'' said John Gartland, a special agent in the DEA's New England field office. ''Ecstasy is very well-marketed. There were young people on the Internet touting the positive effects of the drug long before law enforcement officials even knew it was around.'' Gartland said the benefits of the drug, which reduces inhibitions, heightens physical sensations and fosters a feeling of love and acceptance, seem to provide many teenagers with exactly the sort of emotional boost they want. ''It's a very easy sell,'' he said. ''It makes you feel better, it makes you feel accepted and relaxed, and you don't have the same anxieties that you would otherwise.''
    Club-goers say the physical effects of ecstasy are apparent at virtually every Boston dance club. Young people on ecstasy frequently give each other massages, guzzling down water to prevent dehydration. Many suck on pacifiers and lollipops to curb the teeth-grinding that ecstasy often causes. John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said ecstasy use has proven nearly impossible to prevent at local clubs and parties. Though most users take ecstasy at home, the drugs are easy to hide. ''There is just no way you can search everything and everyone, so the police have a very difficult job,'' Auerbach said.
    The Boston Police Department has been working with the city's licensing board and local club owners to ensure that all ecstasy-related incidents are reported. Staff members at the Roxy, where several overdoses occurred in February and March, have been trained to deal with possible ecstasy overdoses and injuries. But Gartland and Auerbach said it is difficult to even keep statistics on the use of ecstasy because it is often laced, intentionally or unintentionally, with other drugs.
    On Internet message boards dedicated to the club and rave scene, ecstasy users exchange stories about combining the drug with LSD, which is known as ''candy flipping.''. Many ecstasy users also admit to ''preloading,'' using an array of nutritional supplements to offset the serotonin depletion that ecstasy causes in the brain. Officials said although the long-term effects of ecstasy are still largely uncertain, people who mix so many types of chemicals are bound to see their health suffer.
    Members of Dance Safe, a national organization aimed at promoting safety in nightclubs and at raves, the all-night dance parties, have been unsuccessfully lobbying Boston club owners to allow them to distribute literature about ecstasy's side effects. Spokeswoman Emily Romano said club owners are afraid the city will view the distribution of the information as condoning ecstasy use, and worry that they will come under additional scrutiny from the police.

Forced to Take Ritalin at One School, Boy Is Off Drug at Another
Associated Press, 10/6/2000

NISKAYUNA, N.Y.--A 7-year-old boy whose parents battled a school district over its insistence he take Ritalin is off the drug and in another school. Kyle Carroll was attending elementary school in the Berne-Knox-Westerlo district. Diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, he had been taking Ritalin to control the condition, but his parents didn't like the side effects of the drug and took him off it. The family eventually landed in Family Court where a judge told them they had to continue the Ritalin or risk having child protective workers take the boy out of their home. After a mountain of publicity, the Carroll's doctor said he would drop the prescription if the parents thought it was in Kyle's best interest.
    Kyle now is attending Niskayuna's Craig Elementary School in a BOCES program, according to superintendent Briggs McAndrews. The boy's instruction is still under direction of the staff at Berne-Knox-Westerlo and the Board of Cooperative Educational Services. McAndrews said the district policy was to not get into specifics about any student but would say Kyle is doing ''satisfactorily.'' The Carrolls are confident Kyle is getting the help he needs for his ADHD without medication. ''At this point, we're happy,'' Michael Carroll told the Times Union of Albany.  Berne Knox superintendent Steven Schrade said the district wasn't looking to force the Carroll's to give Kyle Ritalin.

Alliance Seeks More Mental Health Funding
   Sue Ellen Christian, Chicago Tribune- 10/6/2000

An unprecedented coalition of treatment providers, advocates, families and consumers--groups historically at odds with one another--rallied in Chicago on Thursday to call for increased funding to treat mental illness in Illinois.  More than 400 people gathered outside the Thompson Center in Chicago's Loop to kick off a campaign to increase the state's $611 million mental health budget by an additional $184 million in the coming fiscal year.
    The early start to the campaign and the breadth of the more than 15 groups involved indicates that the perennial demand for more mental health spending may now have a chance at success, participants said. "We're finally putting our differences aside," said Zena Naiditch, president of Equip for Equality, "and saying this state has very little choice for people with mental illness in Illinois. All of us have to pull together on this and demand equity."
    The coalition charges that current funding does not allow the state to provide the newest and most effective medications and decent affordable housing for people with mental illness. Community-based providers cannot recruit or retain sufficient quality staff, the groups say, resulting in unfilled positions, unmanageable caseloads for existing workers and pared-back treatment programs. Even though Illinois ranks 9th in per-capita income in the United States, it currently ranks only 30th in per-capita spending on mental health, the coalition said. State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) and state Sen. Kathleen Parker (R-Northbrook) spoke at the rally, pledging their support for the budget increase.
    The coalition seeks to have the spending increase included in the proposed budget Gov. George Ryan submits to the General Assembly next spring. So far, it hasn't gotten a hearing with Ryan on its request, members said. Tom Green, a spokesman for the state office of mental health, said the annual budget for mental health spending has increased each year in recent years. "Mental health is a priority for us," said Green. "We are working on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year and we are paying close attention to the need for mental health services."

Colorado Judge Blocks Sex-Offender Warrants
Kirk Mitchell, Denver Post- 10/6/2000

A district court judge has refused to issue arrest warrants for nine sex offenders who were freed from prison because of a state Supreme Court decision. "The court is essentially telling us we probably need to wait until the Supreme Court rules on the motion for reconsideration," said John Suthers, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. "The court ruled there was no clear authority to issue a warrant." Suthers declined to name which judge he asked to sign the warrant, but he said that judge consulted administrative judges in Denver before deciding.   Meanwhile, Suthers said he and Attorney General Ken Salazar are exploring other options. But he said in all likelihood there isn't much that can be done until the high court decides whether to rehear the case. "We really have no choice in the matter," he said.
    Other sex offenders who also qualify for prison release according to the ruling are less lucky. Unlike the nine who are free to go where they wish, 103 sex offenders who violated a parole the Supreme Court says they never should have been on in the first place remain behind bars. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan said the nine had been returned to prison from parole because they could not follow rules intended to prevent reoffenses.  "Now they are not under any form of supervision and there is a concern about public safety." They are locked up because the department had not yet processed their paperwork before the attorney general's office changed its original recommendation to release them, Suthers said.
    The nine sex offenders were released from prison, and 84 parolees were released from parole last week on advice from an attorney in Salazar's office, Suthers said. The high court's Sept. 18 ruling tossed out five-year mandatory parole sentences for rapists, child molesters and other sex offenders convicted from 1993 to 1996. But when Salazar learned that the Supreme Court ruling would eventually mean that nearly 900 sex offenders will not have to serve any more parole, he decided on Saturday to seek a rehearing before the high court. A hearing could come as soon as Tuesday. While an answer on Salazar's petition is pending, he asked Suthers to arrest nine convicts and notify the 84 offenders released from parole that they are back on parole. But if the Supreme Court refuses to grant a rehearing, which is likely, all of them will be released again, Suthers and Salazar agree.

Sex-Abuse Suit Against Church Can Go to Trial, Judge Rules
Joseph B. Frazier, Associated Press- 10/6/2000

PORTLAND -- A judge yesterday rejected a request to dismiss a $3 million lawsuit filed by a man who claims a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused him as a child. A jury trial was ordered after the judge rejected a motion by the Archdiocese of Portland arguing the statute of limitations had expired. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael Marcus said Oregon law clearly states the three-year statute of limitations on sexual-abuse cases begins running only after the plaintiff first links abuse to problems later in life.
    Steve Fearing sued in 1994, claiming he was abused for several years in the late 1960s by the Rev. Melvin Bucher, beginning when Fearing was 11. Bucher was assigned to St. Anthony's Parish in Tigard at the time. Fearing's lawyer, Kelly Clark, contended that Bucher, who now lives at a Franciscan retreat in California, used his role as a priest to groom the boy for eventual abuse.
    The lawsuit alleges the church put the priest in a position of trust that led to the abuse. It seeks $2 million in general damages and $1 million in punitive damages. Karen O'Kasey, a lawyer representing the archdiocese, argued the priest's actions were not within the scope of his employment. A trial is scheduled for January.

Crack Babies Now Troubled Teens
Chong W. Pyen, Ann Arbor News- 10/6/2000

Billy's behavior often spins out of control.  The 17-year-old was referred to Washtenaw County Juvenile Court for sexually abusing his two sisters, ages 3 and 9.  He was diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder at age 7 and broke into a neighbor's home at 9.  Billy is among a new generation of troubled kids born of drug-addicted mothers.  Now reaching adolescence, these children are emerging as a new challenge--both socially and financially--for social workers, juvenile advocates, mental health professionals and police.  Today, billy--not his real name--lives at the Adrian Training School where, according to a staff report, "he continues to struggle with his feelings of loss and sadness.  In addition, he appears oblivious to any concerns other than his own immediate need for gratification." 
    Each day at Adrian, Billy costs taxpayers $128.  The expense of treating Billy and others like him is taking its toll on public resources, because their problems call for multiple approaches and placement at expensive residential centers--some charging as much as $248 per day.  This year's caseload at the Juvenile Court's Family Division has nearly doubled to more than 100 from last year, with the budget reaching an all-time high--though how much of the rise is due to children born addicted is open to debate.
    Washtenaw County commissioners approved a revised $8,052,496 budget for the just ended fiscal year for child care programs, a 58.2 percent increase.  The money covers various types of placement and rehabilitation, incuding treatment at specialized facilities.  Linda Edwards-Brown, Washtenaw County Juvenile Court administrator, attributed the big jump in the number of juveniles in out-of-home placement to "the current trend in psychosocial problems."  Specifically, she said, the Juvenile Court "is seeing the first wave of the impact of drug use by pregnant women, otherwise known as 'crack babies,' and from the effect of drug use within the household."  As a result, she said, children are exposed to drugs before and after birth, leading to drug related crimes, domestic violence, sex offenses and "the more complex mental health and deviant behavior issues."
    Fetal addiction has now grown in to an adolescence problem said Juvenile Judge Nancy Francis.  "We are now seeing the effects of children born with cocaine, alcohol or other drugs."  The judge said that sending troubled youth off to expensive, rigorous long-term rehabilitation programs is not an ideal solution but rather the last resort.  Half the county's child care expenses are reimbursed by the state, with the rest born locally.  In-home programs that allow youth to stay at home while receiving counseling, education and treatment cost slightly over $2 million.  The remaining $6 million goes to out-of-home arrangements, such as at Adrian or at Boysville in Clinton. 
    The expense of youth placement worries some county commissioners.   But not everyone is convinced of a direct link to "crack babies."   "This cost of child care has increased every year.  But we haven't seen any tangible explanation for the spiraling costs," said commissioner Joseph Yekulin, R-Chelsea.  Babies born of mothers dependent on alcohol or other durgs go through withdrawal after birth, said Washtenaw County health officer Ellen Clement.   "It's a very stressful event for the baby.  We know that prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol can cause fetal alcohol syndrome that can involve physical cognitive disability, developmental delays or can cause babies to be small," she said.  But she cautioned against hasty conclusions that drugs alone contribute to children's problems as they grow.  "Researchers are not quite sure how prenatal drug exposure relates to later delinquent behavior," she said.  "If you think about a child born into a home where substance abuses occur, the child is also exposed to a disorganized household, neglect and not necessarily the best parents.   There is a whole bunch of exposures, and we are not able to separate the precise relationship between prenatal drug exposure and juvenile delinquency, although we do know it results in some disorders."  The health director also warned of any temptation to wirte off drug babies as social outcasts.  "Drug exposure itself is a somewhat unknown effect.  Even if we remove drug exposure, there might be still multiple problems."
    In Billy's case, social workers have discovered that his mother's addiction to crack cocaine is just one of many factors that may have contributed to his problematic upbringing.  His father was shot to death in a drug-related attack and Billy witnessed it.  His mother was imprisoned on drug offenses and the habit continued after her release.  Rick Richards--interim director of Arbor Heights Center, a local juvenile placement facility--said family involvement is key.   "We don't belive kids get in trouble in a vacuum.  They come from a family system.  If a program does not work intensively with family, it would be missing the point," he said.  One of the misconceptions, Clement said, is that drug-exposed infants are " a lost generation."  She said: "We've seen dramatic articles that are very negative about drug kids overrunning Head Start programs.   This perception is not accurate. . . permanent neurological behavioral problems and inabilities to stay in preschools and schools are probably not true."   Edwards-Brown said more public awareness is needed.  "I hope people do care, but I don't know if they understand the reasons behind juvenile delinquency," she said.  "I don't think these are just bad kids or they just come from bad families."