Adderall the new Gateway drug

Adderall, an amphetamine prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.) is steadily gaining more and more popularity in high school students who are under extreme pressure to get good grades and enter Ivy League colleges.

The prescription drug is becoming commonplace in academically competitive high schools throughout the country. Many students claim to get the drug from either friends, student dealers, or they fake symptoms to get prescribed themselves. DeAnsin Parker, a NY psychologist, says that this pill is the “culture” throughout all private schools in the NY area.

The D.E.A. list Adderall as Class 2 controlled substances, the same category of other drugs such as Ritalin, Focalin, cocaine, and morphine. This group is ranked among the most addictive substances with a medical use. Thus meaning they carry a high legal risk also, where giving the drug to a friend is the same as selling it and they can be prosecuted as a felony.

Those who use the drug without the disorder, find that one pill gives them enough energy and focus to do all-nighters, homework binges, or long papers, and then take extreme long test such as the S.A.T’s afterwards with no problem. However, although it can help it’s users achieve their goal it has negative side effects such as depression, sleep deprivation, heart irregularities, and it can lead to the use of other painkillers and drugs.

According to IMS Health/NY Times, the number of prescriptions for A.D.H.D medication dispensed for people between the ages of 10 to 19 rose to 26% since 2007 (almost 21 million yearly). One student said he makes hundreds of dollars a week selling prescription drugs, priced from 5 to 20 dollars per pill.

Many students interviewed, who remained nameless, said that the drug was used so that the students can continue to work hard especially with busy schedules and to meet academic expectations. Many students lied to their psychiatrist to get the prescription by expressing feelings they didn’t really have.

Is Adderall America’s new gateway drug?

JIMS STEAKS ON SOUTH ST BUSTED FOR DRUG SALES AGAIN???

SOUTH STREET mainstay Jim’s Steaks gets the sandwiches right, but it can’t quite seem to keep the cops from storming through the door with drug warrants.

Tuesday night, for the second time since August, police served a narcotics warrant at Jim’s, busted an employee for his alleged involvement and confiscated drugs, police sources said.

At the steak shop, on South Street near 4th, and at a house on Dickinson Street near 20th, where a second warrant connected to the bust was served, police confiscated marijuana, drug paraphernalia, pills and cash. Police also arrested a 55-year-old cook while he worked at Jim’s on Tuesday night.

He was identified Wednesday as Nathaniel Danny Cyrus, of Dickinson Street near 20th in Point Breeze. His bail was set at $10,000.

In August, cops nabbed a manager at the steak joint, Andre McMillian, 48, during another bust. In that raid, narcotics officers confiscated cocaine, marijuana, 272 Percocet pills, 95 Xanax pills, 21 Endocet pills and $2,400 cash — all with an estimated street value of $25,300. That case is pending.

 

The shop’s owners said at the time that they had no knowledge of the alleged drug activity.

FBi investigating Fattah sons company tied in with missing money for PA schools

Shulick said he believes that the inquiry is focused on the younger Fattah, who has been doing work for Shulick since 2009, according to documents and interviews. Shulick said Fattah Jr. works as “a contracted employee” for the law firm, the school, and his charity, the Judith B. Shulick Memorial Foundation, named for his mother.

Last May, when Shulick threw out the first pitch at a Phillies game, Fattah Jr. posted a video on YouTube.

Last month, Fattah Jr. appeared before the York City school board pitching a $1.5 million contract for Delaware Valley and describing himself as the company’s director of business development, according to a published report.

Rep. Fattah has been a supporter of Shulick’s schools as well.

He sought a $375,000 federal transportation grant to replace the school’s fleet with “green clean fuel burning vehicles,” according to his website. The grant was not approved.

Rep. Fattah, whose district covers parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, is the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee and has long pushed for education funding.

“I stand by my son,” he said in a statement. “Nothing came of the request for funds, and my son had nothing to do with any request for funds.” He said he would “await the results of the investigation before making further comment.”

His spokesman, Ron Goldwyn, said the investigation does not involve Fattah Sr. or the congressional office.

Rep. Fattah also wrote a letter to Philadelphia school administrators in support of a proposal to send 100 students to Shulick’s school in the 2007-08 academic year.

He called Delaware Valley High a “results-oriented school” and said it was “precisely the type of opportunity that our school district should be capitalizing on.”

Philadelphia schools’ chief executive at the time, Thomas Brady, said he remembered meeting with Shulick. He said he wasn’t sold on Delaware Valley, but added that he received no pressure from Fattah or anyone else.

Since 2003, Shulick has contributed more than $300,000 to state and federal races, including more than $12,400 (with his wife) to Fattah’s campaign and PAC in 2010.

In 2010, he gave $29,500 to State Sen. Vincent Hughes, Fattah’s close ally in Harrisburg, and, with Fattah, he held a fund-raiser in his law office for City Council candidate Cindy Bass, a former Fattah congressional aide who was subsequently elected.

Shulick’s law office website has pictures of him posing with President Obama and Gov. Corbett and, previously, with former Gov. Ed Rendell.

He gave to Rendell and to Republicans. Corbett named him to his transition team, and he served as chair of an education subcommittee.

Shulick said there was nothing wrong with any of his contributions. As for Fattah, Shulick said the congressman supported him because of Delaware Valley’s “long, stellar track record” of saving money for districts and keeping their most troubled students from dropping out.

The state legislature passed a bill in 1999 that allowed school districts to contract with for-profit companies to run their alternative disciplinary schools.

Shulick was on the State Department of Education committee that set up the guidelines for alternative education. Delaware Valley was among the early companies to receive state approval.

In 2002, Bristol Township became the first district to send students to Delaware Valley’s school in Northeast Philadelphia.

Delaware Valley received its first Philadelphia contract the next year and remained a relatively small player in the district’s alternative education program for several years. Its first contract for the 2003-04 academic year was for only 77 of the 4,801 students sent to alternative education schools. The district paid Delaware Valley $394,320 that fiscal year, according to contract documents.

This year, Delaware Valley has 500 Philadelphia students in its two programs, and is being paid a total of $4.1 million for the fiscal year, district records show.

Shulick said his school has succeeded because it has “consistently and repeatedly outperformed” competitors – even while charging less per student.

“You get a lot of attention when you are the cheapest and the best,” Shulick said. “We really are.”

Feds shutting down websites left and right

The gambling website Bodog was shut down and four Canadians were indicted, including founder Calvin Ayre, for illegal gambling that generated more than $100 million in winnings, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The website’s domain name was seized Monday and the indictments, which were returned Feb. 22, were unveiled Tuesday in Baltimore, prosecutors said.

The indictments follow federal prosecutions last year of three of the biggest websites involved in online poker. More than 75 company bank accounts in 14 countries have been frozen, and authorities are seeking $3 billion in fines and restitution, in that investigation.

In addition to the 50-year-old Ayre, prosecutors say the indictment names website operators James Philip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney.

Gamblers in Maryland and elsewhere were sent a least $100 million by wire and check from 2005 to 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s office said, adding Bodog conducted a $42 million advertising campaign between 2005 and 2008 to attract gamblers to the Bodog.com website.

It is illegal in PA to transport Milk across state lines!!!!!!!!

A federal district judge here has found that a Lancaster County farmer violated federal law and ordered him to stop distributing unpasteurized, or raw, milk across state lines.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel made the ruling on February 3, the Justice Department announced today.

The government had filed a civil complaint last April against Daniel Allgyer, who runs a small Amish farm in Kinzers called Rainbow Acres Farm.

The complaint was filed after Food & Drug Administration (FDA) undercover agents conducted an investigation between 2009 and 2011.

The government alleged that Allgyer was packaging raw milk in unlabeled containers and then distributing it for sale across state lines, mainly in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The milk was sold online for $6 per gallon.

The FDA had warned Allgyer that his conduct was illegal but said he attempted to evade federal regulations by creating a private membership organization that he used to enter into cow-sharing agreements with customers.

Allgyer, who was not immediately available for comment, said in court papers he was not the owner, or in control of the organization that drafted the cow-sharing agreements.

In finding for the government, Stengel found that the cow-sharing agreements were “merely a subterfuge” and ordered Allgyer and his associates to cease distributing unlabeled or unpasteurized milk for human consumption across state lines.

Pennsylvania permits the sale of unpasteurized milk, but it is illegal to transport it across state lines.

The FDA said unpasteurized milk can contain a variety of harmful bacteria, including Listeria, E.coli and Salmonella, among others.

But raw milk consumers claim the milk is safe and that pasteurization kills off good bacteria too.

STOP THE Violence Philadelphia Murder rate 42 as of feb 2012

The above homicide statistics for 2012 represent the daily count (statistics reflect the accurate count during normal business hours, Monday through Friday) and year-to-date total for victims of homicide and are subject to reclassification according to the rules and regulations of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) guidelines. The homicide statistics above for years 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 have been submitted to the FBI as the final UCR numbers for the City of Philadelphia.

Police are investigating the shooting death of a man on a street in the Holmesburg section.

The unidentified victim, described as being in his 20s, was found just before 5 a.m. on the 3500 block of Arthur Street, police said.

He had been shot in the back and medics pronounced him dead at the scene at 5:04 a.m.

No other details are available at this time.

West Philly murder victim identified

A man found shot dead inside his West Philadelphia home Sunday was identified this morning as 21-year-old Frank Trower.

Police said his sister found his body about 4 p.m. Sunday in the living room of a townhouse he rented in the 3900 block of Market Street in University City.

Trower had been shot in the head, police said.

Police said there was no signs of forced entry and investigators are awaiting a post mortem to learn when he was shot.

They also are seeking a possible motive.

30 year old man killed up germantown

A 30-year-old man was critically wounded today when gunfire erupted on a street in East Germantown, police said.

The victim, not immediately identified, was shot once in left side about 10:40 a.m. on the 5500 block of Blakemore Street, police said.

He was taken Albert Einstein Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

Investigators are trying to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Brick Squad rapper that beat up The Game gets killed

26 year old Bricksquad affiliate Jomo Adoula Zambia (better known as Rosemo700) was murdered on the streets of Inglewood, CA on November 2, the victim of a shooting. Back in September we informed you all of an internet rumor involving Rosemo and Game in which he claimed to have knocked out the rap star at the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, CA over a beef that started on Twitter between fellow Bricksquad member Ice Burgandy and Game.

Over the past few weeks, Jomo was once again involved in a Twitter beef involving his homeboy Ice Burgandy and Inglewood rapper Boskoe. The situation took a turn for the worse when CTE affiliated rapper 2Eleven filmed a brutal attack on Boskoe by Jomo on the streets of Inglewood which resulted in Boskoe receiving a broken arm and a bloody face. The footage of the attack was viewed by thousands on the Internet and even got a video response from the victim in which he acknowledged the attack.

According to an Inglewood police report, Jomo was shot Wednesday afternoon and was trying to drive himself to a hospital when he ran a red light and slammed in to a police car on Florence and Eucalyptus avenues. The officer had to be rescued by the jaws of life and was taken to a hospital and is in stable condition. Jomo however, died of gunshot wounds to his torso and arm.

There are no suspects at this time but many on Twitter and Facebook believe that this was connected to the beefs that started on internet social networks.

MAN SHOT DEAD on 54th and wyndale ave in wynnefield section

A man was shot and killed this morning in West Philadelphia’s wynnefield section police said
Police were looking for two men who fled in a green car, possibly a Chevrolet.

The victim, said to be about 24 years old, was shot once in the abdomen and once in the head about 6:50 a.m. at North 54th Street and Wyndale Avenue in the Overbrook section, police said.

He was pronounced dead at 7:11 a.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, police said.