New York State Votes to Reduce Drug Sentences
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After years of false starts, state lawmakers voted Tuesday evening to reduce the steep mandatory prison sentences given to people convicted of drug crimes in New York State
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China is expected to pass its first  anti-drug law this week to combat drug-related crimes and  reduce the number of abusers, state media said on Sunday.
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U.S. state tobacco control programs are effective at cutting the number of smokers, and states that spend more get the best results, federal health officials said on Tuesday.
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Drug stores will have to start locking up common cold medicines that contain chemicals used to make methamphetamine and limiting sales of those medicines to two at a time under a bill Gov.
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SPRINGFIELD - Hoping to curtail the illegal production of methamphetamine, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday signed into law a measure restricting the sale of certain over-the-counter medications that can be used to make the drug.
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Canada&#39;s governing Liberal Party re- introduced a bill decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana and hashish, in contrast with harsher US penalties.
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Mayor Bloomberg announced that the number of city-issued parking placards to city employees will be reduced by at least 20 percent. New steps will be taken to reduce misuse of the permits.
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Spain plans to jail people who sell drugs to sportsmen and women as part of a zero-tolerance crack down on banned drugs, sports minister Jaime Lissavetsky said on Tuesday.
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Montana voters on Tuesday approved 62% to 38% a ballot initiative to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes by patients with chronic illnesses, including HIV/AIDS or cancer, while voters in Oregon rejected 58% to 42% an initiative to expand the
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DRUG dealers who operate around schools are to receive harsher sentences, after Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, yesterday announced a crackdown to accompany Labour - s pre-election theme of security.
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Also in the Morning Buzz: Gov. Eliot Spitzer's second State of the State address, the capture of the second of two New Jersey jail escapees and a City Council vote requiring stores to provide for the recycling of plastic bags.
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The smoking rate among New York Cityâs teenagers is now far lower than among teenagers nationwide, due mainly to high taxes and curbs on public smoking, officials said.
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November 29, 2004 -- ALBANYâ State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today will call for banning lobbyists&#39; gifts to lawmakers and an end to lobbying for government contracts, in a platform aimed at the heart of power politics in Albany.
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A UCLA study concluded that California&#39;s Proposition 36, which diverts non-violent drug offenders to treatment programs instead of jail, has done less to curb re-arrest rates than drug courts or probationary programs, the Los Angeles Daily News reported
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Ministers say attempts to stop drug users from re-offending through treatment are proving successful.
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New York&#39;s attorney general and state legislative leaders presented a bill on Tuesday aimed at protecting people from sexual predators on the Internet, aand Facebook, MySpace, and Yahoo backed the effort.In a press conference, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced legislation they called &quot;groundbreaking&quot; in its proposed restrictions and controls of sexual offenders&#39; online activities.&quot;Today I believe we&#39;re proposing the most comprehensive, smartest, toughest law in the nation to keep people safe online, especially minors,&quot; Cuomo said.The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) responds to the widely documented use that sexual offenders make of the Internet, in particular social-networking sites, to stalk and victimize people, particularly minors.Specifically, e-STOP would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses, instant message screen names, and any other online identifiers with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. That data would then be made available to social-networking companies and other online services so that they can then block access to sexual offenders and remove them from their sites.The bill also calls for allowing sentencing courts and the state&#39;s Parole Board to restrict the online activities of sex offenders who used the Internet to commit their crimes, victimized a minor, or are considered highly likely to repeat their offenses. In particular, the bill would ban many sex offenders from using social-networking sites.There are more than 627,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., about 25,000 of whom are in New York, according to Cuomo&#39;s office.State attorneys general have been very vocal about their concerns over online safety, in particular of minors who are preyed upon by sexual offenders on social-networking sites, which are widely used by teens.The attorneys general have often criticized Facebook, MySpace, and other sites for, in their view, not doing enough to protect minors, but the two sides have recently seemed to get on better terms and have rolled out several joint security initiatives, partnerships and agreements.The e-STOP bill is needed to help social-networking companies keep their sites safer and will complement these companies&#39; in-house security efforts, Cuomo said.MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam agreed and said laws need to keep up with the times and technology. &quot;We hope [e-STOP] becomes a model for other states to follow,&quot; Nigam said.&quot;As Facebook and other Internet companies do our best to exclude [from our sites] those who would do our users harm, we need help from the government,&quot; said Chris Kelly, Facebook&#39;s chief privacy officer.Ideally, legislation like e-STOP would get enacted widely in U.S. states and also at the federal level, Cuomo said.
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New York City prosecutors on Tuesday endorsed the United States' first proposed law to ban registered sex offenders from social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, officials