The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "substance abuse programs" ...
-
Mental Anguish and the Military
Army studies show that 20-25 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq show symptoms of serious mental health problems, including depression, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. Government officials say that the military has programs to treat these soldiers, but National Public Radio's investigation at Colorado Springs' Fort Carson found that "these programs are not working." Soldiers who are desperate and suicidal even have trouble getting the necessary help. Furthermore, "evidence suggests that officers at Ft. Carson punish soldiers who need help, and even kick them out of the Army." In the wake of the report, three senators - Barbara Boxer, Christopher Bond and Barack Obama - wrote a letter to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs seeking clarification of the reports.
Tags: Post-traumatic stress disorder; Iraq War; Fort carson; Department of Veterans' Affairs
-
Steroids and the NFL
This investigation exposed steroid and human growth hormone abuse by several professional football players who received prescriptions from a doctor who was subsequently indicted for prescribing them. The NFL drug testing program failed to detect the players' steroid use. This failure exposed loopholes in the NFL's substance abuse policies.
Tags: football; NFL; steroids; drug testing; performance enhancing drugs; human growth hormone
-
Behind the Prop
California's Proposition 36 aims to help drug offenders out of prison, saving the taxpayers millions. But as Stephen James uncovers, the goal of this plan isn't necessarily fulfilled. Proposition 36, also known as the Substance Abues and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (SACPA), received great praise from its sponsor, the Drug Policy Alliance, who said that the plan would save California taxpayers $1.5 billion over five years. But James discovers that the law just may be a very expensive failure. SACPA allows for criminal offenders convicted of nonviolent drug possession to be sentenced to drug teatment instead of probation without treatment or jail time. James found that only about 10 percent of SACPA defendants actually complete the entire program.
Tags: Proposition 36; drug offenders; incarceration costs; inmate drug treatment; SACPA; Substance Abuses and Crime Prevention Act of 2000
-
Prescription for Pain
The stories demonstrated that Eastern Kentucky led the nation in the distribution of prescription narcotics-much of it illegal. Reporters found a series of unlikely accomplices to the illegal trafficing including the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Local cops were corrupt or compromised and a $30 million federal enforcement effort was rendered ineffective by a lack of cooperation among the police agencies involved. The reports found an elected judge who admitted that he'd had private business dealings with rug dealers and was unilaterally lowering drug offenders' sentences set by plea bargains. The reporters also found that effecive drug treatment was hard to find in rural areas of Kentucky. The newspaper also produced an examination of how OxyContin was marketed through "detailing," the practice of sending sales men directly into doctor's offices. The reporting also took readers inside one local drug ring. Finally, the newspaper examined how public Medicaid payments were providing some rural Kentucy drug dealsers with millions of silent partners-U.S. taxpayers- who were helping to ensure their supply.
Tags: prescription narcotis; illegal trafficking; federal Drug Enforcement Administration; OxyContin; painkillers; FBI; methanphetamine; taxpayers; medicaid; substance abuse; rural Kentucky; Social Security Administrationn; drug traffickers; drug abuse; lortab; tylox; xanax; cocaine; marijuana; Lee County Sheriff's Department; Beattyville; Beattyville Police; Operation Grinch; Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program; HIDTA; Kentucky State Police; Office of National Drug Control Policy
-
A Place Where Children Die
The investigation found that children on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon die at a rate more than three times that for Oregon and nearly twice for Native Americans nationwide. Many of the deaths of 58 children since 1990 occurred because tribal leaders have not pursued basic steps proven to reduce mortality rates on reservations. Some causes for the deaths are due to a lack of seatbelt laws, scaling back of sobriety checkpoints, and failures in the child welfare system.
Tags: Warm Springs Reservation; Oregon reservation; Native American; child mortality; traffic accidents; child welfare system; alcohol; tribal leaders; child safety; sobriety checkpoints; seat-belt law; Warm Springs Early Childhood Education programs; Indian communities; Indian Health Service; tribal Children's Protective Services; Warm Springs Fire and Safety; Boys and Girls Club; Warm Springs Elementary; The Rainbow Market; Oregon Liquor Control Commission; substance abuse programs; tribal budget; Portland's Rose Garden sports arena
-
Attorneys gone worng
A Columbus Monthly investigation sheds light on a respected Columbus law professor's misconduct, which "may be his last, most memorable act as an attorney." The story details how Louis Bernard LaCour, a church leader and a prominent member of the black community, has collected fees from local residents for five years after their case against the Georgia-Pacific had been dismissed. The report looks at several other cases in Ohio, involving theft of client funds or client neglect, and explains the disciplinary process against such types of misconduct. According to some estimates cited in the analysis, 20 percent of all attroneys and judges suffer from alcoholism and other drug dependencies.
Tags: judges; courts; bar associations; disbarment; substance abuse; Ohio Layers Assistance Program; law
-
Methadone: craving the cure
The Evansville Courier investigates the opening of several methadone clinics across the state of Indiana. Started to offer free methadone to recovering heroine addicts, the clinics are supposed to be part of a drug rehabilitation program; however, heroine is not a large problem in Indiana. The clinics encourage methadone addiction among other, drug addicts and encourage "methadone entrepreneurs" to make huge profits off others' drug problems.