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Senator Dixon’s Modification to Open Records Law up in Committee Today

My State Senator, Larry Dixon has a bill coming before the Governmental Affairs Committee today that I hope is able to make it to the floor. It would put a timeframe on the ability of citizens to get access to governmental records. Currently, that timeframe is open-ended, and i agree with Senator Dixon that we need to put a definition on it and five business days seems reasonable to me.

Too often document requests get tied up in the legal departments of various public agencies and it takes months for a person to get access to a document. That’s not right, and it needs to be fixed.

Bill would make it easier to access government documents | montgomeryadvertiser.com | Montgomery Advertiser.

Misunderstanding Prescription Methadone

I didn’t hold out any hope that Susan Sidwell would win her appeal, but the rhetoric used by the District Attorney in this article makes me sick to my stomach.

Houston said their office has investigated numerous cases in which death resulted from the use of methadone.

“This is not something, even under the guise of being used for medicinal purposes, that needs to be readily available to the public,” Houston said.

a)I would like to see a list of these supposed numerous cases, and b)prescription methadone is not some nefarious substance, even the Office of National Drug Control Policy says:

Methadone is a rigorously well-tested medication that is safe and efficacious for the treatment of narcotic withdrawal and dependence. For more than 30 years this synthetic narcotic has been used to treat opioid addiction. Heroin releases an excess of dopamine in the body and causes users to need an opiate continuously occupying the opioid receptor in the brain. Methadone occupies this receptor and is the stabilizing factor that permits addicts on methadone to change their behavior and to discontinue heroin use.

As a professional working with those who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction, I can say we have done a very poor job of educating our leaders and the public at large about methadone and other drug therapy treatments. As more and more research is coming to show, utilizing pharmaceuticals in a positive way to bring balance to the brains of those who suffer from addiction is going to be one of the paths to ultimately significantly reducing the suffering that so many experience today.

Clanton Advertiser | Appeal for methadone clinic fails.

Name Alabama Progressives

Mooncat is looking to put together a list of Alabama progressives who have or should run for public office…I think she started off with a pretty good list:

Josh Segall
Stephen Black
Patricia Todd
Susan Parker
Susan Pace Hamill

Commenters have suggested two other names I thought of as well:

Merika Coleman
James Fields

I wish I had many more names to add, but there aren’t as many around as I would like.

Left In Alabama:: Name a Progressive Politician.

Bacchus Represents Single Reddest District in America

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-4th) is representing the single reddest district in the country, according to the numbers from the 2008 election, compiled by Swing State Project. And guess who is number 3? That’s right, another Alabamian, 6th District Congressman Spencer Bachus…not surprising to my Alabama readers, but interesting nonetheless.

Swing State Project: Pres-by-CD: The Margins