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Posted by john on August 26th, 2007 — in Ultram News
New Topical Formula Provides Pain Relief Alternative To Prescription and Over-The-Counter Medications LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ — The statistics on pain are, well, painful. Nine in ten Americans report suffering regularly from various physical aches and pains with chronic, debilitating pain found to affect more than 44 million American households*. There is a glut of prescription and over-the-counter pain relievers on the market, but none that target the actual source of the pain by combining the potency of traditional medicine with the therapeutic treatment of trigger point therapy found in the new pain relief formula, Niavin(TM) Trigger Point Relief. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070821/LATU103) Niavin is a clinically proven, topical pain medication derived from a propriety blend of absorption enhancing essential oils and aromatherapeutic fragrances shown to be beneficial in treating pain, combined with aspirin-related methyl salicylate (from Oil of Wintergreen). Niavin is a medicinal hybrid, addressing pain synergistically with the body to deactivate pain-causing trigger points, long recognized as a source of pain by the medical community. Current research indicates the use — and abuse — of pain medications, including the drugs OxyContin and Vicodin have doubled in recent years. Pain sufferers are long overdue for an alternative — a way to address pain at its source, which experts agree is the first step to stopping pain. Niavin Trigger Point Relief provides pain relief advantages over current treatments –
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Pain relief without a pill — Unlike pills, Niavin is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the skin, lymphatic system and targeted cells. In bypassing the stomach, liver and digestive system, Niavin eliminates the risk of side effects such as irritated stomach lining, upset stomach, bleeding, allergies, addiction or dependence. Topical absorption also maximizes fast, direct delivery of the medication to the targeted areas. — Targeted pain relief — Niavin targets pain at the source — the trigger point. Most topical pain relief formulas are applied incorrectly, solely to the skin where the pain is felt but not at the original source of the pain. This method offers only short-term pain relief by distracting from the pain with properties that create a heating or cooling effect or act as counter-irritants without addressing the root cause. With the advantage of trigger point application and absorption enhancing essential oils, Niavin provides more effective pain relief with less medicine. Most people can find their trigger points by feeling for the hardened, tender spots in the neck, upper chest, below the collarbone, in front and behind of the armpit, and in the ribs below the armpit. When applied to the correct trigger points, Niavin provides pain relief by deactivating and relaxing active trigger points for long lasting relief from arthritis, everyday aches and pains, muscle spasms and joint pains, while reducing inflammation in the affected tissues. About Niavin Niavin, (http://www.Niavin.com), was developed by Francois Martin, M.D., a California licensed physician and surgeon with a specialty focus in the management of acute and chronic pain for over 30 years.
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Posted by john on August 19th, 2007 — in Ultram News
But despite the advances in pain management over the years, significant cancer pain is still present in more than 70% of patients. “In good centres, pain is well managed,” says Dr. Allan Gordon, director of the Wasser Pain Management Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “But there is still room for improvement.” Lots, it seems.
As the population ages, the number of new cases of cancer will steadily rise. In 2007, an estimated 159,900 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada, an increase of 4% over the previous year. Surveys have suggested that cancer pain is under-recognized and under-treated in up to 50% of patients.
That’s why pain, pain, go away is not just a patient’s wish, it’s also on the minds of people like Gordon and others who work in the area of palliative care.
Cancer pain is not as well controlled as it could be, adds Dr. Yvon Beauchamp, family medicine-chief of palliative care at the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal: “The reasons include everything from physicians not being educated adequately in pain management to physicians not having the right medicines.”
Pain is complicated, Beauchamp explains: “In pain there are at least 15 different mechanisms at work. Each of the various classes of medication available to us only acts on one mechanism of the pain. That’s why when you deal with pain you have to use different classes,” he says, referring to various drug categories.
According to the World Health Organization, pain is a scale and pain relief is like a ladder.
“We refer to pain as mild, moderate or severe,” Gordon explains. “Severe is seven to 10 on a scale of one to 10.” Opioids (drugs like codeine and morphine) have been key to treating the strongest pain, and when they don’t work on their own non-opioid analgesics have been added.
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But a couple of weeks ago, pain experts welcomed another class of drugs when Health Canada approved Sativex, a mouth spray derived from marijuana. The controversial drug, which contains two ingredients used to treat pain, has been used in the past for the symptomatic relief of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis.
Neuropathic pain can also be a feature of cancer, Gordon says.
“This is pain that occurs because of damage to the nerves themselves. It could be because the nerves are being stretched or pressed by the cancer surgery or the cancer itself, or it could be as a result of remote nerve inflammation.” Neuropathic pain can be severe, adds Beauchamp, and does not always respond well to opiates such as morphine: “All pains are not alike. There is not really one class of medication that can take care of one pain, or excruciating pain. In cancer, most of the pain comes from the cancer itself, but as much as 25% of it may come from the treatment — from the surgery, the chemotherapy, the radiation. All those kinds of pains are neuropathic pains. We are trying to help the patient, but sometimes we are creating more problems than we are solving.”
“Better education at all levels of care is really needed,” says Gordon, who believes that most pain patients can be treated well in the community by an informed team that includes a doctor, a nurse and a pharmacist. “There’s still a gap in the education of the average practitioner in using these kinds of medications.”
Beauchamp adds that many physicians still wrongly fear that using morphine or a drug like Sativex will make their patients addicted: “You have doctors who have the wrong idea because of lack of information and old knowledge.”
This new class of drugs is not recreational: Unlike marijuana, the effect is not immediate, explains Dr. Gordon who describes the drug as “an add-on, another drug in the arsenal, part of a brave new world of pain management.”
But pain management first requires a proper pain assessment that looks at the diagnosis, what’s causing the pain, the kind of and severity of the pain, the risks of treatment, and the side effects.
“You can’t just blindly give medication,” Gordon explains. “Pain isn’t on the radar screen in as many constituencies as it should be. We have to fight to get pain management as a priority.”
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Posted by john on August 15th, 2007 — in Ultram News
BASEL, Switzerland: Novartis AG said it has removed its pain relief drug Prexige from the Australian market, which the national drug regulator called for after two patients died and two others had to undergo liver transplants.
Patients in Australia should stop taking the medication immediately, return any remaining tablets to their pharmacist and seek medical advice on alternative treatment, Novartis said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration said it had received eight reports of serious adverse liver reactions in patients taking the drug.
“It seems that the longer people are on the medicine, the greater the chance of liver injury,” its principal medical adviser, Dr. Rohan Hammett, said in a statement.
The Swiss company said the drug — which is not sold in the United States — is still available in about 50 countries. Australia is the only country where Prexige is available in a 200 milligram dose, as opposed to the standard 100 milligram dose sold elsewhere.
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Novartis said the company was already reducing the dosage of the drug in Australia when national regulators requested its withdrawal.
“Although we’re working with (the regulators), we still believe in the risk-benefit profile of the drug,” said spokesman John Gilardi.
Novartis said serious side effects were rare for non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs such as Prexige.
It said an estimated 60,000 patients have used Prexige in Australia since November 2005, mostly for pain relief in connection with osteoarthritis.
Sales of the drug reached US$52 million in the first half of the year, said Gilardi.
Novartis shares rose 0.3 percent to close at 65.15 Swiss francs (US$54.04; €39.59) on the Zurich exchange.
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Posted by john on August 10th, 2007 — in Ultram News
Today, Bayer Inc., a subsidiary of Bayer AG, and GW Pharmaceuticals announced that Health Canada has approved SATIVEX(R), a cannabis derived pharmaceutical treatment, as adjunctive analgesic treatment in adult patients with advanced cancer who experience moderate to severe pain during the highest tolerated dose of strong opioid therapy for persistent background pain. SATIVEX, the only pharmaceutical product derived from components of the cannabis plant, is administered through a spray into the patient’s mouth. Health Canada has approved SATIVEX with conditions, under the Notice of Compliance with Conditions (NOC/c) policy. This authorization reflects the promising nature of the clinical evidence which will be confirmed with further studies. Products approved under Health Canada’s NOC/c policy have demonstrated promising benefit, are of high quality and possess an acceptable safety profile based on a benefit/risk assessment for the approved use. In 2005, Health Canada approved SATIVEX for the treatment of neuropathic pain in adults with multiple sclerosis (MS), also under the Notice of Compliance with Conditions (NOC/c) policy. SATIVEX is a buccal spray composed primarily of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. The product is standardized by both composition and dose. SATIVEX is thought to act via cannabinoid receptors that are distributed throughout the central nervous system and in immune cells(1). These receptors are distributed throughout the pain pathways of the nervous system, and their activation is known to reduce pain in relevant pain models. “Cancer pain is not managed as well as it could be and the resources available to manage cancer pain effectively are still somewhat limited. Cannabinoids have an important role in treating complex cancer pain particularly neuropathic pain and demonstrate a positive effect with current treatment options,” said Dr. Lawrence Librach, Director of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital and Vice President of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. “Bayer HealthCare is committed to putting the needs of patients first and is very pleased that SATIVEX can now be used to manage cancer pain in Canada,” said Philip Blake, president and CEO, Bayer Inc. “Health Canada’s approval of SATIVEX is further recognition of the important role this medicine can play in effective pain treatment.” Dr. Geoffrey Guy, GW’s chairman, commented: “GW is delighted to receive Health Canada’s regulatory approval for SATIVEX in the relief of cancer pain. SATIVEX has been shown to provide important pain relief to the most high need patients with advanced cancer.
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We are pleased to be able to offer the prospect of an improved quality of life for people who previously had little such opportunity.” Cancer Statistics in Canada According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 159,900 new cases of cancer and 72,700 deaths will occur in Canada this year alone. On average, each week 3,075 Canadians will be diagnosed and 1,398 will die of cancer. Advanced Cancer in Canada Advanced cancer is one that may have spread to other places in the body beyond its origin and usually cannot be cured or controlled with treatment. Sixty to 90 per cent of patients with advanced cancer will experience moderate to severe pain, regardless of age, gender and whether or not they are hospitalized(2),(3),(4). For these patients, pain will interfere with their sleep, daily activities, enjoyment of life, work capacity, and social relations(5). How SATIVEX Works SATIVEX is administered through a spray pump under the tongue or on the inside of the cheek, providing reliable, self-administered pain relief. The spray formulation allows for more flexible dosing than an oral tablet. About Bayer Inc. Bayer Inc. (Bayer) is a Canadian subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international research-based group with core businesses in health care, crop science, and innovative materials. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Bayer Inc. operates the Bayer Group’s HealthCare and MaterialScience businesses in Canada. Bayer CropScience Inc., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta operates as a separate legal entity in Canada. Together, the companies play a vital role in improving the quality of life for Canadians - producing products that fight diseases, protecting crops and animals, and developing high-performance materials for applications in numerous areas of daily life. Canadian Bayer facilities include the Toronto headquarters and offices in Ottawa and Calgary. Bayer Inc. has approximately 1,000 employees across Canada and had sales of over $910 million CDN in 2006. Globally, the Bayer Group had sales of over 28 billion Euro in 2006. Bayer Inc. invested approximately $47 million CDN in research and development in 2006. Worldwide, the Bayer Group spends the equivalent of over 2 billion Euro in 2006 in R&D. About GW Pharmaceuticals GW was founded in 1998 and listed on the AiM, a market of the London Stock Exchange, in June 2001. Operating under license from the UK Home Office, the company researches and develops cannabinoid pharmaceutical products that alleviate pain and other neurological symptoms in patients who suffer from serious ailments. GW has assembled a team of over 100 scientists with extensive experience in developing both plant-based prescription pharmaceutical products and medicines containing controlled substances. GW occupies a world leading position in cannabinoids and has developed an extensive international network of the most prominent scientists in the field. For further information, please visit www.gwpharm.com This news release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect GW’s current expectations regarding future events, including the clinical development and regulatory clearance of its products. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors, including (inter alia), the success of GW’s research strategies, the applicability of the discoveries made therein, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, including with respect to SATIVEX and GW’s other products, the uncertainties related to the regulatory process, and the acceptance of SATIVEX and other products by consumers and medical professionals.
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Posted by john on July 29th, 2007 — in Ultram News
Tamworth town centre back pain clinic and pain relief centre, Atlas Pain Relief Centre, would like to clarify that they do not offer Chiropractic treatment or have a Chiropractor working from their premises. If you are looking for a Tamworth Chiropractor or Tamworth Chiropractic treatment you should consult the General Chiropractic Council register.
Atlas Pain Relief Centre is a multi-disciplinary clinic which concentrates on providing pain relief for back pain and neck pain sufferers. They offer registered Osteopaths, Physiotherapists and Acupuncture and will shortly have a registered Podiatrist and Chiropodist.
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If you are suffering from a trapped nerve, sciatica, whiplash, slipped disc, sacroiliac joint inflammation, twisted pelvis, leg length difference, poor posture, backache, knee injury or shoulder pain then Atlas may have the answer.
Sports injuries and sports massage are available from their industry respected Tamworth Sports Injury Clinic frequented by elite athletes, club runners and footballers. Custom fitted orthotics and biomechanical evaluations can be done on site and running and fitness advice is part of the service. Their practitioners are very experienced in sports injury treatment and diagnosis and a fast recovery reputation has been built on previous success stories.
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Posted by john on July 25th, 2007 — in Ultram News
Ever wonder why people who take a placebo sometimes feel better even though they are not receiving any real medication? A group of researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor finished a new study that tested the nucleus accubens (NAC), a region deep in the brain that is known to play a role in reward expectation.
Researchers told the study participants that they were testing a new pain-killing drug and that they would receive the drug or a placebo. The researchers then gave all participants a injection of salt water solution and had the patients rate the effectiveness of the painkiller.
According to HealthDay, “The participants rated their expectation of the pain-killing effects of the “drug,” as well as the level of pain relief they felt with and without the “drug” from a moderately painful injection of salt solution in their jaw muscle.
For the first experiment, the researchers used positron emission spectroscopy to measure release from the NAC of the neurotransmitter dopamine — a chemical trigger of the brain’s reward response.”
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The study found that the higher the participant rated the expected pain relief of the drug, the greater the dopamine release from the NAC. So the patients that anticipated great relief, felt less pain. Also, patients that reported more relief after receiving the “drug” showed greater NAC activity when they received the placebo before the pain.
The studies authors said, the findings support the theory that the NAC system may need to be activated to allow the placebo effect to occur. This information may be used in the future to develop new therapies for a variety of conditions.
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Posted by john on July 22nd, 2007 — in Ultram News
Staffordshire acupuncture practitioner Maddy Sharp is proving a great success with her treatments for Tennis Elbow. Tamworth near Lichfield Staffordshire is the base of Maddy Sharp who works from Atlas Pain Relief Centre in Tamworth town centre. Maddy has joined the industry respected team of Sports Injury Professionals at Atlas and is already making a huge impact.
Chronic Tennis Elbow and Golfers Elbow conditions seem to respond well to acupuncture treatment. Recently a patient arrived for treatment with a long standing problem of Tennis elbow and was referred to Maddy for acupuncture treatment.
The patient was not convinced that acupuncture could help as many previous attempts at treating this condition had failed to get a positive result.
Following the first acupuncture session, before the patient left the practice, he remarked he was pain free and the grip strength had returned in his hand which was previously weak. He was totally amazed that the symptoms of tennis elbow had been drastically reduced after just one session.
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The next visit a week later, the patient had reported a vast improvement and was so delighted that he had been spreading the gospel about the benefits of acupuncture to everyone he met.
The patient reported an overall 60% improvement in symptoms overall since the initial visit.
The second treatment had much the same impact as the first and the patient was able to remove the support strap he was wearing on his forearm.
The patient is currently completing his treatment plan and expects to be discharged after 6 treatments.
Acupuncture is painless and the needles are so fine they mostly cannot be felt when inserted.
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Posted by john on July 17th, 2007 — in Ultram News
DURECT Corporation announced today positive results from a 122 patient Phase IIb clinical trial of POSIDUR(TM) for treatment of post-operative pain in patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair. This Phase IIb trial was designed to be the study upon which DURECT and its collaborator Nycomed would base their decision for advancing POSIDUR into Phase III clinical trials. In the trial, POSIDUR demonstrated statistically significant reductions in pain and total consumption of supplemental opioid analgesic medications versus placebo. These successful results trigger an $8 million milestone payment to be made by Nycomed to DURECT under the parties’ collaborative agreement. In preparation for the Phase III program, DURECT has scheduled an end-of-Phase II meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020717/DRRXLOGO)
“We believe that the results of our Phase IIb trial support the validity of our POSIDUR product concept of simultaneously relieving pain while reducing opioid consumption,” stated James Brown, President and CEO of DURECT Corporation. “Our partnership with Nycomed provides us with financial and development support along with a strong marketing presence to commercialize POSIDUR in Europe and other countries. We intend to market POSIDUR ourselves in the U.S., if approved, thus providing us with a pathway to establishing our own specialty pharmaceutical business.”
Phase IIb Inguinal Hernia Trial
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Design
The POSIDUR Phase IIb clinical trial was designed to evaluate the tolerability, activity, dose response and pharmacokinetics of POSIDUR in patients undergoing open inguinal hernia repair. The study was conducted in Australia and New Zealand as a multi-center, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study in 122 patients. Study patients were randomized into three treatment groups: patients that were treated with POSIDUR 2.5 mL (n=43), POSIDUR 5 mL (n=47) and placebo (n=32). The co-primary efficacy endpoints for the study were Mean Pain Intensity on Movement area under the curve (AUC), a measure of pain over a period of time, 1-72 hours post-surgery, and the proportion of patients requiring supplemental opioid analgesic medication during the study. Secondary efficacy endpoints included Mean Pain Intensity on Movement AUC over the period 1-48 hours post-surgery, mean total consumption of supplemental opioid analgesic medication, and time to first use of supplemental opioid analgesic medication. The threshold for statistical significance was considered to be at the p<0.05 level.
Results
Pain Control
In relation to the co-primary endpoint of pain reduction as measured by Mean Pain Intensity on Movement AUC 1-72 hours post-surgery, the patient group treated with POSIDUR 5 mL reported thirty-one percent (31%) less pain versus placebo (p=0.0033). A thirty-five percent (35%) reduction of pain as measured by Mean Pain Intensity on Movement AUC for the period 1-48 hours post-surgery, a secondary endpoint measure, was reported between the POSIDUR 5 mL treatment group versus placebo (p=0.0007).
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Posted by john on July 15th, 2007 — in Ultram News
Streamlining local government, imposing stricter spending controls and eliminating property taxes are all among the ideas being floated as lawmakers look to fix a tax system that has left homeowners across the state reeling.
3 BIG REASONS FOR BIGGER BILLS
The staggering property tax increases being levied on some Hoosier homeowners can’t be boiled down to one factor. Among the reasons:
Inventory tax ends
Legislators voted in 2002 to phase out the inventory tax — a tax on goods that sit on store shelves, cars in auto lots and equipment in warehouses. The idea was to make it easier for Indiana to attract businesses.
If left in place, the inventory tax would have brought in an estimated $288 million in taxes this year, according to the state budget office.
Local governments don’t actually have to give up that revenue and cut spending. Instead, all taxpayers had to make up the difference, meaning homeowners assumed some costs previously borne exclusively by businesses.
Counties were required to phase out the tax by 2006, for taxes due this year.
Lawmakers gave counties the option of eliminating the tax early, and making up for the lost revenue by increasing a local income tax by as much as 0.25 percent.
Forty-three counties adopted a local option income tax to blunt the effects of the elimination of the inventory tax. Marion County did not.
Assessment changes
Indiana used to value property based on the amount it would cost to replace it, minus depreciation.
In other words, assessors figured out how much money it would cost to build a new house if the existing one burned down, and then subtracted some amount based on the age of the home. It didn’t matter what neighborhood the house was in or how much it might sell for.
A group of taxpayers in Lake County filed a lawsuit in the Indiana Tax Court in 1993 challenging that system. In 1998, the Indiana Supreme Court ordered the state to begin using objective, verifiable data to assess property.
Beginning in 2002, for taxes due in 2003, the state started assessing property based on fair market value, or what it would sell for.
As a result, some homeowners — particularly those with older homes in more expensive neighborhoods — saw their assessments, and their tax bills, increase significantly.
Homes again were assessed based on market value last year. The new values are reflected in current bills.
The results of the reassessment on homeowners could be especially profound in Marion County. State officials are investigating whether commercial properties were undervalued, shifting even more of the burden onto residential tax bills.
Local spending
Government is spending more, and taxpayers have to pay more to cover the tab.
Combined, all of Marion County’s government units — including the county, city, townships, schools, library and others — raised 10 percent more in property taxes this year than last.
Not all of that is the fault of local government.
For instance, the state tells school districts how much they must raise to cover their share of operating budgets, and counties have to pay for child welfare with property taxes — even though the state runs the program.
But school construction, debt and other locally controlled spending play a significant role in driving up taxes.
OTHER STATES TACKLE PROPERTY TAXES
Ohio
Except in limited circumstances, local governments must ask voters’ permission when they want to raise more money through property taxes. Schools alone have put proposed property tax increases on the ballot more than 10,000 times from 1984 to 2006, with voters agreeing to increase payments a little more than half the time.
Massachusetts
Proposition 21/2limits local governments from increasing property tax collections more than 21/2 percent from one year to the next, with the exception of revenue added from new development. If local governments or schools want to spend more than that for operating costs or capital expenses, they must put the question on the ballot and let voters decide.
Maryland
Rather than leave the job of assessing property to local officials, the state Department of Assessments & Taxation handles all assessments for the state. The state’s 200 assessors are appointed, rather than elected.
New Jersey
The state increased the sales tax by 1 percent in 2006. Half of the money raised is being dedicated to property tax relief, and voters will decide in November whether to use the other half to offset property taxes.
California
Proposition 13, approved by voters in 1978, limits property taxes to 1 percent of a home’s assessed value. It also limits increases in assessments to 2 percent a year, unless the house is sold.
Sources: Ohio Department of Taxation; Howard Fleeter, consultant for Education Tax Policy Institute of Ohio; Citizens for Limited Taxation of Massachusetts; Maryland Department of Assessments & Taxation; news reports.
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Property tax reform has been attempted before, as recently as this year, but changes often amount to little more than Band-Aids that provide short-term relief.
The enormity of this year’s problem — tax bills in Marion County have jumped an average of about 35 percent — and the public outcry that has ensued, may finally provide the catalyst for more dramatic change, several legislators say.
“I don’t think there is anyone who can’t see that this is hurting people and is unfair,” said Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, a leader in property tax reform efforts.
Whether lawmakers are called into a special session this summer or they tackle the issue during their regular session next year, there is no simple remedy.
No state has a model property tax system, so stealing the playbook from somewhere else isn’t an option. And each potential solution creates different consequences, from budget crunches for local governments to increases in other taxes and fees.
Finding agreement between Democrats and Republicans will be tricky at best. Several lawmakers, however, said they have no choice but to do something.
“It’s like everyone is running around rearranging chairs on a financial Titanic,” said Rep. Win Moses, D-Fort Wayne, a former mayor of Fort Wayne who wants to see hard spending caps coupled with a rise in the sales or income tax. “I am absolutely convinced we will crash at some point.”
Here is a look at some ideas being considered, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Spending controls
While Indiana has limits on how much local governments can spend — and as a result, tax — some states are much stricter.
Under Indiana law, cities, counties, townships and other agencies cannot expand operating budgets by more than the six-year rolling average of the growth in nonfarm personal income. Recently, that’s amounted to about 4 percent.
But there are so many exceptions that spending throughout a county can still rise by double-digit percentages. The rule doesn’t apply to school operating levies, or budgets that pay for debt service or capital projects, for example. In other words, there’s no automatic limit on how much can be spent to build that new library or school.
While Indiana has a remonstrance process — essentially a signature-collecting contest — that allows property owners and voters to halt large construction projects, some states give voters even more say.
In Massachusetts, communities are allowed to increase spending only 2.5 percent a year and must ask voters whether they want to raise more.
Ohio goes further and requires voter approval for almost any increase in property taxes.
House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, is calling for a referendum for all major construction projects and said he is interested in Ohio’s system.
The results of such restrictions are a mixed bag.
Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation in Massachusetts, said the law there has helped to keep property taxes from spiraling further out of control.
But Gerald Prante, an economist at the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan tax research organization in Washington, D.C., said spending limits work only if residents are willing to “starve the beast” and reduce services, something many people balk at.
Barbara Shaner, associate executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials, said the referendum rule can be particularly divisive.
“It creates a lot of bad feelings in communities because people take sides,” she said.
Government change
Possible assessment problems that undervalued commercial property could help explain staggering residential tax increases in Marion County.
The Daniels administration is reviewing the situation and could order a new assessment.
Kenley said the situation highlights a system that includes too many assessors at too many levels of government, each with varying skills and training. Altogether, there are 1,100 assessors in Indiana.
The result, he said, is a series of unavoidable problems.
Maryland, by contrast, has one statewide agency responsible for assessing property.
Kenley wouldn’t take it that far but said he plans to resurrect a proposal to reduce the number of assessors here. Under the plan, trustee-assessors — township trustees who also serve as assessors in smaller communities — would relinquish appraisal duties to county assessors. Other townships could also choose to have the county take over the job.
The governor has also supported dramatically reducing the number of assessors.
The idea, though, has met opposition and will again.
Thelma Kelley Jeffries, the trustee-assessor in Monroe County’s Clear Creek Township, said the state would lose valuable knowledge if it yanked assessing duties from her and her colleagues.
“The trustee-assessor, the local grass-roots government, knows the businesses, knows the area, knows the township,” she said. “The other people who are hired to do some of the assessing may drive out and can’t even find the address because they don’t know where they are going.”
Assessors might not be the only ones in the crosshairs.
Gov. Mitch Daniels, who on Saturday unveiled a short-term tax-relief proposal, said Hoosiers should expect an announcement on something that “would go to the root cause, and that is, we have too much government in this state. Too many layers, too many subdivisions, too many offices.”
Daniels did not say exactly what he might propose but in the past has pushed measures that would make it easier for townships and other units of government to share services to save money, or to consolidate without seeking permission from the state.
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Posted by john on July 9th, 2007 — in Ultram News
July 9 (Bloomberg) — Reefer madness can still be hazardous to your health.
That’s the message of “In Pot We Trust,'’ a Showtime documentary airing tonight at 8:30 p.m. New York time. The show makes a persuasive case that marijuana provides some patients a degree of relief they can’t get from standard medications and should be legally available.
Yet many patients continue to face prosecution and even jail for smoking the palliative weed.
The show presents several compelling witnesses: a mother with severe palsy, a stockbroker with bone tumors, a churchgoing woman suffering from multiple sclerosis, and a man whose post- traumatic stress problems began when his father took the family to a restaurant and shot his mother, whose “head ended up all over me and my sister.'’
All insist marijuana relieves their pain and allows them to be productive citizens. Sadly for them, some people in high places fervently disagree.
The hero of the show is Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that backs medical-marijuana legislation at the state and federal levels. While a small number of Americans participate in strictly regulated weed-providing programs, millions more risk legal sanction for using pot.
Lobbying
Houston has short hair, wears a conservative business suit and kisses his kids goodbye before heading to Capitol Hill to lobby for his cause.
Anyone wondering how lobbyists operate will benefit from watching Houston dog various congressmen, some of whom react as if they’d been approached by a representative from a child- molesting ring.
Houston is used to rejection and clearly comfortable with political combat, describing one opponent as “foaming at the mouth.'’ He also notes that his organization, in finest Washington tradition, dispenses campaign donations to “the good guys.'’
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The show gives plenty of face time to opponents, including former Health, Education and Welfare chief Joseph A. Califano, now head of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. There are also various drug czars and law enforcement officials, one of whom insists that “society can perish'’ if drugs are decriminalized.
Police Raid
Then there’s Steve Reed, a pony-tailed sheriff’s deputy in San Diego who runs the “marijuana eradication program.'’ He leads a dawn raid on a marijuana garden containing, by his count, 10,000 plants.
Reed has a missionary zeal — “this is a drug war so we’re out there to win it,'’ he says — though his concern seems to be in keeping marijuana away from young people, not ailing patients.
The documentary — written, produced and directed by Star Price — doesn’t overlook the negative effects of toking. One memorable segment, featuring pro-legalization marchers chanting “We smoke pot and we like it a lot,'’ includes an enthusiast who loses his train of thought in mid-sentence.
Such lapses, to be sure, aren’t confined to stoners. We see snippets of congressional debate over medical marijuana legislation that makes you wonder what they’re smoking on Capitol Hill. One sputtering pol rails that clerks at his grocery store have turned into dimwits from smoking marijuana, though as Houston points out such arguments have nothing to do with medical marijuana.
The show is sympathetic to the view expressed by writer Christopher Hitchens, who calls current drug policies “insane.'’ He brands the war on drugs as “the last dying smell from the Nixon administration.'’
The war certainly isn’t over. Reed brags that his raid “hurt somebody today.'’ Houston, however, has the last word: “We’re going to win eventually.'’
(Dave Shiflett is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this story: Dave Shiflett in New York at
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