Free Republic

<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Workers who lose their jobs would have to clear a drug screening to qualify for unemployment compensation under a proposal approved by the Texas Legislature.</p> <p>Under current law, employers take out insurance policies to help laid-off workers survive on weekly payments of $62 to $440. Those who are fired for cause, including failing an employer-sponsored drug test, do not qualify.</p>

Stem cells derived from patients with disorders, such as these Parkinson’s cells, could foster drug screening to find treatments and also provide researchers a valuable tool to study disease. Europe certainly believes in the promise of stem cells.A joint public-private collaboration between the European Union and Europe’s pharmaceutical industry, called the StemBANCC project, will spend nearly 50 million euros to create 1,500 pluripotent stem cell lines. But the initiative’s goal isn’t to find a stem cell-based cure for diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease. They hope instead that their stem cell lines will prove to be faster and more effective drug screens...

TALLAHASSEE -- A proposal Gov. Jeb Bush is championing to create a massive electronic tracking system of who is prescribing and who is using prescription drugs is in trouble in the Florida Legislature. With three weeks left in the 2004 lawmaking session, Bush is doing high-pressure lobbying to persuade leaders of his own party about the merits of the database. It could allow doctors, designated medical assistants and pharmacists to look up online the pharmacy records of patients over the age of 17 to ensure they haven't been shopping for multiple prescriptions. Every pharmacy record for certain classes of potentially...

Lansing, Michigan-AP -- A federal appeals court has cleared the way for Michigan to test welfare recipients for drug use. The state's drug-testing program had been halted by a federal judge, after a group of welfare recipients and the American Civil Liberties Union sued. They argued that the testing is unconstitutional. An appeals court reversed that decision today. The three-judge panel ruled that the testing program is based on a legitimate need to ensure that public money is not used for illegal purposes. The pilot program requires welfare applicants in a handful of Michigan communities to provide urine samples for...