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NEWS ... GL@BAL NEWS ... NEW YORK SUES MERCK OVER department of interdepartmental and __ cent of heroin goes through the Albanian VIOXX FRAUD informational activity at the Russian Drug — mafia, which is now more powerful than lhe city and state of New York have Control Agency, was shown saying that _ the Sicilian mafia. He also alleged that filed a joint lawsuit against Merck & economic measures to tackle the problem members of this mafia bribed European Company for deliberately concealing the are foundering on local corruption. "The parliamentarians to support the dangers of its painkiller, Vioxx®, thereby local authorities draw up seriously forged —_ independence of Kosovo. defrauding public health programs out of __ lists in which an amount is recorded for the The report went on to link growing millions of dollars in prescription costs. amount destroyed and, in fact, the crop has _ levels of drug-related crime in Russia with The New York Supreme Court will not been destroyed at all. The theft of the the US invasion of Afghanistan. decide whether Merck defrauded New money to combat narcotics is going on and = (Source: Signs Of The Times, SOTT.net, York's Medicaid and Elderly _ is flourishing," he said. February 2008, http://tinyurl.com/2yyqo5; Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage The accusation that US forces are also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/I/hi/uk/ (EPIC) programs. The plaintiffs say that if involved in drug-trafficking came from —_7144490.stm) doctors had known the risks posed by | Geydar Dzhemal, chairman of the Islamic Vioxx, they would never have prescribed Committee of Russia. "Without the PRISON NUMBERS SOAR IN USA the drug, and state agencies would never control and connivance on the part of the ore than one in 100 adults in the have paid out US$100 million to Merck _ special services, none of these things are United States is in jail or prison—an for the product. They are asking the court —_ possible. For example, in Afghanistan, the all-time high that is costing state to force Merck to pay back all of that | CIA and the special services are quite governments nearly US$50 billion a year ean TIndar tha nen af tha and tha fa. department of interdepartmental and informational activity at the Russian Drug Control Agency, was shown saying that economic measures to tackle the problem are foundering on local corruption. "The local authorities draw up seriously forged lists in which an amount is recorded for the amount destroyed and, in fact, the crop has not been destroyed at all. The theft of the money to combat narcotics is going on and is flourishing,” he said. The accusation that US forces are involved in drug-trafficking came from Geydar Dzhemal, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia. "Without the control and connivance on the part of the special services, none of these things are possible. For example, in Afghanistan, the CIA and the special services are quite brazen. Under the protection of the American army, they meet the necessary people. They collect the stuff, go to the Bagram Air Base and they hand in a large consignment of narcotics, which is then taken away," he said. The report went on to say that heroin reached the Balkans via Turkey, which "has been a member of NATO since 1952 and is the USA's closest ally in the region". It said it is "another amazing coincidence" that Kosovo hosts the largest NATO base in Europe. The correspondent added that there is a "secret Interpol post" next to this base. "Here they speak almost openly about Afghan heroin in American planes," he noted. A man captioned as "Marko Nicovic, Interpol employee" explained that 90 per cent of heroin goes through the Albanian mafia, which is now more powerful than the Sicilian mafia. He also alleged that members of this mafia bribed European parliamentarians to support the independence of Kosovo. The report went on to link growing levels of drug-related crime in Russia with the US invasion of Afghanistan. (Source: Signs Of The Times, SOTT.net, February 2008, http://tinyurl.com/2yyqo5; also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/ 7144490.stm) to PRISON NUMBERS SOAR IN USA ore than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison—an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly US$50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more. With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far- more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States. The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been particularly affected. The study also documents the trade-offs that state governments have faced as they devote larger shares of their budgets to house these prisoners. For instance, some states now spend as much as or more on corrections as on higher education. Despite reaching its latest milestone, the money. New York is the seventh state to file such a lawsuit against Merck. More than 25,000 lawsuits have been brought against the company to date for its alleged malfeasance in covering up the dangers of Vioxx. The city of New York also has a lawsuit pending in Federal Court against 44 pharmaceutical companies including Merck, in which it alleges that the companies artificially inflated the prices of their products, thereby defrauding the city's Medicaid program. [Editor's Note: Merck is also the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.] (Source: Natural News, 15 February 2008, http://www.naturalnews.com/ 022653.html) AMERICAN FORCES IMPLICATED IN EXPORT OF AFGHAN OPIUM ussian state-controlled Channel One TV recently broadcast a report containing allegations that US forces are involved in drug-trafficking from Afghanistan to Europe. The report also highlighted the problem of drug abuse in the British Army, as revealed in a BBC news website story, published on 14 December 2007, stating that the British are losing a whole battalion of troops a year because of drug abuse. The channel's weekly news roundup Voskresnoye Vremya noted on 10 February that, according to the United Nations, the amount of opium being produced in Afghanistan has more than doubled since the coalition troops entered the country. Aleksandr Mikhaylov, the head of the I FovWP THREE CAVITIES, Two serTy oF cAR Kevs Ave A conftAcT vers .. “ ae Fo mers, fe * ———] APRIL — MAY 2008 NEXUS +7 www.nexusmagazine.com