First time film-maker wins top prize at the Sundance Festival

Director Benh Zeitlin reacts as he accepts the grand jury prize dramatic award for Beasts of the Southern Wild during the Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony in Park City, Utah, on Saturday. (Danny Moloshok/Associated Press)

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A mythical film starring an eight-year-old girl and a documentary about the war on drugs took top honours at the Sundance Film Festival.
Beasts of the Southern Wild won the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition and The House I live In won the same award in the U.S. documentary category Saturday in Park City, Utah.
Directed and co-written by 29-year-old first-time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild follows a girl named Hushpuppy who lives with her father in the southern Mississippi Delta. The film also won the cinematography prize.
Winnipeggers  won the top editing award for the Documentary Indie Game: The Movie directed and edited  by Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/01/29/arts-sundance-film.html

Are the rules different for people with disabilities

Everything with them is, let’s sedate the kid instead of trying to solve the problem,” Ms. Strignano said. “They want to dope her up; they want her to sit there like she doesn’t exist.”
Tens of thousands of powerful pills created to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia are given to developmentally disabled people in the care of New York State every day. .....

This articles speaks to the ways in which the disabled population is treated. It seems that when it comes to treatment few rules apply. Those who work with people with disabilities' main focus is to control the behaviour of their clients and if this means packing them with medication to make them into zombies, so be it. 
  We see the same thing happening to children with behavioural problems  in  our school systems. As soon as the child misbehaves frequently, this is seen as a problem that needs fixing. The problem is seen as being with the child and not with the school system that forces all square pegs into round holes or vice versa.
   People with disabilities are people too and need to be protected from unscrupulous practices that cater more to the provider than the clients. Instead of putting untrained people most of the time to work with people with disabilities, maybe we need more trained staff who can deal with disruptive and abhorrent behaviours in a different manner.
    Although this article speaks about an American situation, here in Manitoba there are many group homes and services for people with disabilities and I am wondering if there are parallels here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/nyregion/potent-pills-few-rules-in-states-treatment-of-the-disabled.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha29

MANITOBA TAKE AGGRESSIVE ACTION ON OXYCONTIN MISUSE: RONDEAU

March 24, 2010

Additional safeguards for the use of the prescription narcotic OxyContin were announced today by Healthy Living, Youth and Seniors Minister Jim Rondeau.

“We know that it is important for physicians to have OxyContin as part of their arsenal when treating a patient who has pain that is difficult to control, but when used outside of a physician’s direction, it can be harmful or even lethal,” said Rondeau. “So, while ensuring appropriate access for those who need it, we have to do everything we can to facilitate appropriate use.”
The comprehensive approach includes moving OxyContin to part three of the Provincial Drug Program Formulary, an education campaign and funding training to facilitate an increase in the number of physicians with a methadone licence. These actions are based on the recommendations of an expert working group made up of physicians with varying areas of expertise, representatives from addictions treatment organizations, Manitoba Justice, the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association, as well as Manitoba Health.

OxyContin is a form of opioid. Tolerance develops fairly rapidly to opioids, making higher doses necessary to maintain the intensity of their effect. They are highly addictive and misuse can result in dependence. OxyContin has been known to be illegally obtained, sold on the street and abused.

The Provincial Drug Program Formulary consists of three parts with an increasing number of controls from part one to part three. Effective March 26, OxyContin will be moved to part three. This change introduces specific criteria that restrict benefits to individuals who have pain related to cancer or other chronic conditions and have a history of being unable to tolerate or receive an adequate response to other medications. In these cases, physicians will need to contact the Exception Drug Status Office at Manitoba Health for prior approval of coverage through pharmacare. The new procedure is effective March 26for all new prescriptions. For patients already receiving benefit coverage for OxyContin, there is a two-month grace period. Their physicians must seek approval, where prescribed use meets the new criteria, by May 26.

These changes will be in addition to existing controls already in place such as the Manitoba Prescribing Practices Program used to monitor and control prescribing and dispensing of restricted drugs.

An education campaign aimed at patients being prescribed OxyContin, as well as the general public, is being developed to increase understanding of the dangers that misuse of OxyContin can cause. Posters and pamphlets will be distributed to medical clinics and pharmacies across the province.

As part of the overall strategy, building capacity to provide methadone treatment for people addicted to OxyContin is being supported. Funding for the training of community-based physicians in methadone treatment will facilitate an increase in the number of physicians who are licensed and trained to administer methadone as a form of treatment for people addicted to OxyContin. Both classroom instruction and clinical training are required in order to obtain a methadone licence.

“We know there are no easy answers when it comes to drug misuse,” added Rondeau. “But today we are taking important steps that we believe will reduce future incidence of dependence on a prescription medication known to be misused.”

OFFICIAL STATEMENT:

In a joint statement issued by World Anti-Doping Agency president and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the following foods have been placed on the list of banned substances issued by WADA: yam, green bananas, cocoa, dasheen, breadfruit, ackee and saltfish, mackerel run down, turned cornmeal, Malta, Supligen and coconut oil. Jamaicans seem to become extremely athletic on diets with these foods. Coming out of WADA labs, one of the major banned substances from Jamaica is the Cassava root, a high fibre, high starch tuber root eaten in Jamaica. It has properties which are said to enhance endurance and cause muscle fibres to twitch faster. This comes after extensive study of the diets of the Jamaican athletes which took part in the Beijing 2008 Olympic games. Though natural foods it is felt by WADA that these foods because of their unique properties give Jamaican athletes an unfair advantage. High concentrations of carbohydrates and other naturally occurring substances are said to be mimicking the effects of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs). Some foods have been noted to in particular cause an unusual increase in the male hormone testosterone. As such WADA has seen it fit to add these foods to the list of banned substances. Given the sensitivity of this issue, Jamaican athletes participating in the current Olympic games underway in Beijing have not been banned but must submit to these new restrictions within the next two years.

(Don't let yuh pressure raise up - have a good laugh - this is the official olympic joke of the day. How come dese Jamaicans breaking records like you breaking a rotten pencil - something's up - CASSAVA ROOT buoy! LOL x2