Downtown Revitalization in Kingston, Jamaica

From The Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) -

EDITORIAL - Saving the Kingston craft market

Published: Saturday | February 27, 2010

The glory days of the Victoria Craft Market on Kingston's waterfront have long gone. Traditionally, the downtown market scene, whether for produce or craft, brought together people from all walks of life. But this former hub of craft activity has succumbed to the blight that has been eating away at the nation's capital and today vendors are teetering on the edge of collapse.

There was a time when visitors would flock to the vibrant craft market in downtown Kingston to scoop up items such as carved wood, bamboo trinkets, beaded jewellery, even footwear. But the crowds have ceased that trek downtown. With the growing reliance on the Internet, potential visitors are now likely to go online to learn about any country they plan to visit. The reviews for our craft markets are not very encouraging. They speak of the aggressive nature of the vendors, the lack of variety in the offerings, ganja being offered for sale and safety issues were also raised. Against such a background, the vendors cannot expect that the craft markets will get increased patronage.

Apart from any negative view which the market may get, the Kingston craft market itself is a run-down shell. In 2007, members of the Jamaica Defence Force were brought to the facility in the name of Cricket World Cup to give the place a facelift. They did some clearing up of the grounds, painted and undertook other remedial work. Vendors will say it was not a facelift because there was major roof and drainage work to be done. So it was not quite a facelift, more like an injection of Botox. The facility needs to be upgraded to make it more appealing.

worrying matter

Security in downtown Kingston is another worrying matter. It takes some convincing to get even battle-hardened Jamaicans to venture downtown Kingston, and there is no doubt that many visitors who would love to experience the sense of history that the craft market holds are not going to venture downtown.

The tragedy of the Kingston craft market is that the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has simply shrugged its shoulder on the facility. And since the vendors at the craft market are mainly women, it would wreak untold hardships on them if the facility were to collapse and put them out of business.

The JTB should be helping to promote activities at the craft market. For small business to thrive, it has to be promoted. But finding money for promotion is perhaps one of the scarcest resources available to the small-business person. But the tourist board has a huge promotional budget and Minister Edmund Bartlett should make every effort to include the Kingston craft vendors in these efforts.

The private sector could also play a part in raising awareness of the craft business in downtown Kingston. Many north-coast properties have, in fact, opened up their properties to vendors who get an opportunity to showcase their goods to a wider audience and hopefully increase their sales.

With a new custos of Kingston who is focused on the revitalisation of the old city, in keeping with the prime minister's expressed intention, we hope the Kingston craft market can be helped in regaining some of its former glory.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100227/cleisure/cleisure1.html

Pharmaceutical Industry Hanky-Panky

Hard to believe this is an isolated practice.........

Justice suit accuses Johnson & Johnson of paying kickbacks

By David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 16, 2010; A12

Medical giant Johnson & Johnson paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks to boost sales of its drugs in nursing homes, including an antipsychotic that can be used as a chemical restraint, the Justice Department alleged in a lawsuit Friday.

The payments, sometimes disguised as grants or educational funding, were funneled to Omnicare, a pharmacy company that dispenses drugs in nursing homes and used its influence with doctors to get prescriptions switched, the government said. Johnson & Johnson came to regard Omnicare pharmacists as an extension of its sales force, the government said, citing a company document.

"Kickbacks such as those alleged here distort the judgments of health care professionals and put profits ahead of sound medical treatment," Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a news release.

Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said the company looks forward to presenting its evidence in court.

"We believe airing the facts will confirm that our conduct . . . was lawful and appropriate," she said.

The suit is another in a long series of cases alleging that manufacturers have used illegal inducements to skew medical decisions and promote their products, potentially compromising patient care and inflating medical bills.

Whatever happens with national health-care reform, lawmakers are unlikely to repeal the profit motive, with its potential for ill as well as good.

Johnson & Johnson allegedly caused false or fraudulent claims to be filed with Medicaid, the public health program for the poor and disabled.

Friday's lawsuit adds to an already tangled web of claims. Omnicare reached a settlement with the government in November, agreeing to pay $98 million. The company denied wrongdoing. At the same time, a Florida drugmaker agreed to pay $14 million, and the government filed claims against two nursing home chains, accusing them of taking kickbacks from Omnicare in return for pharmacy contracts.

Johnson & Johnson allegedly turned to Omnicare to help it build market share. The patients at issue include people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

From 1999 to 2004, as it allegedly pressed doctors to use Johnson & Johnson products, Omnicare increased its annual drug purchases from Johnson & Johnson, from about $100 million to more than $280 million. Annual purchases of the antipsychotic Risperdal alone topped $100 million, the government said.

"WE ARE SELLING MORE HIGH PRICED DRUGS (read Risperdal here) FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY!!" an Omnicare executive wrote in a 2001 letter to Johnson & Johnson released by the government.

The claims against Johnson & Johnson were initiated by whistleblowers, including a former Omnicare financial analyst, who could receive a share of any money the government collects.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011503903.html

Pharmaceutical Industry Has Public Good At Heart

FTC Sues in 'Pay-for-Delay' Pact
Drugmaker Paid Rivals to Withhold Generic, Agency Says

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit in federal court in an attempt to block a deal in which a manufacturer of a brand-name testosterone-replacement drug paid three competitors to delay rolling out cheaper generic versions.

The FTC said the "pay-for-delay" agreement violates antitrust laws, robs consumers of less-expensive alternatives and allows the brand-name drugmaker an unfair monopoly. The state of California joined the federal agency in its complaint, which was filed last week in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

FTC officials are hoping the case will ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. "We want to stop these unconscionable pay-for-delay deals that force consumers to overpay for much-needed drugs," said Jon Leibowitz, an FTC commissioner.

Androgel is a synthetic testosterone gel prescribed to men who have low levels of the hormone due to aging, cancer, or HIV/AIDS, among other conditions. Solvay Pharmaceuticals was granted a 17-year patent for Androgel in 2003, and it has become the drug company's second-highest grossing drug, earning about $400 million in annual sales.

Several other drugmakers -- Watson Pharmaceuticals, Par Pharmaceuticals and Paddock Laboratories -- applied to manufacture a generic version of Androgel and challenged Solvay's patent, saying they could produce a version of the drug that did not impinge on the patent. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval, Solvay made a deal with the would-be competitors: They would get a share of Solvay's profits in return for not marketing a generic version until 2010, the FTC complaint said.

Known as "reverse payments," the deals have become increasingly common. The FTC found that nearly half of all settlements between generic drugmakers and brand-name manufacturers in fiscal 2006 and 2007 resulted in some kind of payment to the generic maker in exchange for a pledge to stay out of the marketplace.

Generic manufacturers pose a significant threat to brand-name drugmakers because they can price their versions of drugs as much as 80 to 90 percent lower than the brand-name price.

The FTC says that such payments, also called "exclusion payment settlements," stymie the intent of the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984, which was meant to speed generic drugs to market. The FTC has tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Supreme Court to hear two cases challenging such agreements in recent years, but each time, the Department of Justice argued that the high court should not take the case.

Leibowitz said he believes the Justice Department under President Obama will be more supportive of the FTC's position. "There seems to be a growing recognition, especially by this administration, that these deals need to be stopped," he said.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and others, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, filed legislation last year that would prohibit reverse payments.

The bill, which faces strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, is expected to be filed again this week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/02/AR2009020202968.html

Washington Post editorial -

Health-care reform should put an end to pay-for-delay by drug companies

Friday, January 15, 2010; A24

A LOOPHOLE in existing law allows manufacturers of brand-name drugs to pay competitors to keep cheaper, generic versions off the market. If there's to be health-care reform this year, it ought to close that loophole.

Such "pay-for-delay" schemes cost consumers an average of $3.5 billion a year in potential savings, according to a recent report by the Federal Trade Commission. The federal government also loses by being forced to pay billions for higher-priced medications needed by patients covered under government health insurance programs.

Pharmaceutical companies spend enormous sums for research and development. Such investments and innovations deserve to be legally protected -- and they are. Would-be copycats can't enter the marketplace until the drug patent expires. Patent law is so strong, in fact, that it discouraged companies from marketing even drugs that did not infringe on patents but came close enough to risk expensive lawsuits.

To ease that problem, Congress in 1984 passed the Hatch-Waxman Act. It allows a company to market a generic "bio-equivalent" version of a brand-name drug if it does not infringe on the patent or if that patent is deemed invalid. The idea was to promote competition that could reduce drug prices. But it hasn't worked that way -- because brand-name manufacturers have been paying generic drug makers to keep their products off the market.

Everyone benefits from this -- except consumers and taxpayers. The brand-name manufacturer keeps its monopoly. The generic manufacturer gets paid for doing nothing. And the rest of us pay too much for our medicine. It is difficult to see how this practice is anything but a sham and anticompetitive.

The House and Senate offer different approaches in their respective health-care bills for eradicating pay-for-delay deals. The House version is better: It simply bans the practice

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011403978.html

Medical Marijuana Getting Closer In Washington, DC

Vote moves D.C. toward medical marijuana, abortion funding

By James Hohmann and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 14, 2009; B01

The U.S. Senate passed a bill Sunday that clears the way for the District government to allow medical marijuana use and to spend local tax dollars to help low-income women pay for abortions.

More than a decade ago, D.C. voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that would allow for the possession, use, cultivation and distribution of marijuana if recommended by a physician for serious illnesses.

Initiative 59 passed with 69 percent of the vote in 1998, but before it could take effect, Congress passed legislation banning the practice in the District.

The latest bill, which passed the House on Thursday, also continues to allow needle-exchange programs in a bid to limit the spread of HIV and AIDS, a strategy that Congress had blocked in the District until 2007. It also provides $752 million in federal funds for the District as part of a larger spending package.

"This is the biggest win for home rule in decades," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law this week.

The District would join Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in allowing medical marijuana.

D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chairman of the Health Committee, supports medical marijuana but said city leaders will proceed with caution.

"I wouldn't expect it to be implemented anytime soon, because we are going to need to do thoughtful planning," he said, noting that guidelines must be written about who can grow, distribute and receive marijuana.

First, though, the District might need to submit the text of the voter initiative for a 30-day legislative review. During that window, Congress could take the unlikely step of blocking the initiative. If no action is taken, the District government can issue regulations.

Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, said he thinks medical marijuana could be available in the District by the end of 2010. "They don't have to start over," Houston said.

A federal law known as the Hyde Amendment has barred the District and states from using federal money to fund abortions, but states are free to use local tax dollars to cover the cost of the procedure for women who cannot otherwise afford it. Private donations have helped some D.C. women, but supporters of abortion rights say many have been turned away from clinics and hospitals because the District government has had no financing for abortions.

The bill also allows the District to continue using local tax dollars to fund needle-exchange programs that provide clean syringes to addicts, part of an effort to stem the spread of AIDS. In 2007, Congress ended a decade-long prohibition against city funding, allowing the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration to provide four nonprofit agencies with $700,000 to distribute needles in areas where drug trafficking is common.

For years, the District has fought what residents see as intrusions into city business by representatives from elsewhere. The city's largely Democratic leadership has complained that times were particularly tough when Republicans were in charge.

"It's hard to rank these riders except by lives lost," Norton said. "In lives lost, needle exchange [restrictions] would rank as the most lethal."

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said the Senate vote demonstrates how much the working relationship between the city and Congress has improved since Democrats took over.

"The District has come a long way," he said. "The support from Congress to the District is at an all-time high. We're glad about the substantive issues."

Staff writer Darryl Fears contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121302587.html

What's That In My Beer?

I like Brooklyn Brewery's Chocolate Stout and an Espresso Stout - will find the name - so the article below hits home....




FDA issues a wake-up call about additives

By Greg Kitsock
Wednesday, December 2, 2009

"I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer. The future's uncertain and the end is always near," crooned Jim Morrison and the Doors in the song "Roadhouse Blues." Nowadays, an increasing number of brewers are adding coffee to their porters and stouts to produce beer that you might actually want to down as an eye-opener.

But a Food and Drug Administration crackdown on caffeinated alcoholic beverages might prove to be a buzz kill for this emerging style.

On Nov. 13, the FDA sent a letter to 30 manufacturers warning that "there are no food additive regulations that permit the addition of caffeine at any level in alcoholic beverages." The agency has given the companies a month to present scientific evidence that the combination of alcohol and caffeine is safe. The FDA was prompted in part by complaints from the attorneys general of 18 states that such high-octane energy drinks can be addictive and can create wide-awake drunks who are unable to judge their level of impairment and are therefore prone to engage in risky behaviors such as driving under the influence.

"I didn't know we were starting a new category," says Dave Engbers, co-owner of Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Mich. He was referring to his Breakfast Stout, a cold-weather seasonal brewed with Kona and Sumatra coffee and two kinds of chocolate and oatmeal. The hefty winter warmer (8.3 percent alcohol by volume) is full of roasty and bittersweet chocolate flavor with some spicy hops peeping through. Engbers says it has inspired several other similarly named "breakfast" beers.

Most of the beverages on the FDA's hit list are caffeinated spirits such as the vodka and tequila made by Pink and flavored malt beverages such as Four Loko, a deep-purple concoction spiked with guarana (which contains caffeine) that measures 12 percent alcohol and tastes like grape Kool-Aid mixed with cough medicine.

However, among the recipients of the FDA's letter is the Ithaca Beer Co. in Ithaca, N.Y., which briefly marketed a beer called Eleven, a coffee stout specially brewed for the company's 11th anniversary.

Charlie Papazian, president of the Boulder, Colo.-based Brewers Association, speculated that the FDA's complaint against Ithaca Beer was "inadvertent." "They seem to be going after products that have pure caffeine added," he said, but "brewers should be concerned. This could lead the FDA to question beverages that get their caffeine from natural products like coffee, chocolate or tea. Who's to say where this will end?"

Mike McCarthy, director of brewing operations for Capitol City Brewing Co. in Arlington, expressed some sympathy for the FDA's concerns. He cited two friends who drank five to six cups of Irish coffee over the course of an evening and wound up in a hospital emergency room, apparently suffering from the effects of combining depressants and stimulants. "Their hearts were racing. They thought they were having a heart attack."

Nevertheless, McCarthy says his beer Fuel, a 9-percent-alcohol imperial stout flavored with beans from Misha's Coffee in Old Town Alexandria, presents no danger. The recipe, he says, calls for blending two kegs of a concentrated coffee solution with 26 kegs of stout. To encourage moderation, Capitol City serves the beer in 10-ounce goblet glasses instead of pints. "I would say there's less caffeine in a glass than in a cup of Starbucks," he estimates.

Most of the brewers interviewed for this column were unable to say how much caffeine was in their coffee beers. "We're in it for the flavor, not the buzz," says Russ Klisch, president of the Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, which markets a coffee stout called Fuel Cafe. He says coffee-flavored microbrews and high-test energy drinks such as Joose and Four Loko are "two separate animals."

Caffeinated brews vary widely. Tree huggers might want to reach for Wolaver's Alta Gracia Coffee Porter from Otter Creek Brewing Co. in Middlebury, Vt., made with coffee from a nonprofit farm in the Dominican Republic that's both fair-trade and USDA-certified organic. An addition of vanilla beans helps smooth out the piercing black-coffee aroma and flavor.

The annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver awards medals in a coffee-flavored beer category. The recipient of this year's top prize was Dude, Where's My Vespa?, a coffee-infused oatmeal stout from the Rock Bottom Brewery in Arlington. Brewer Chris Rafferty says he got the name from a red motorbike on a bag of Starbucks Italian roast coffee. (He has since switched to a milder blend from Beanetics, a micro-roaster in Annandale.) The brewpub is set to tap a new batch next week.

Worthy of special mention is Beer Geek Brunch, an experiment from the Mikkeller microbrewery in Denmark. This imperial stout was brewed with coffee that is processed through animals.

You read that right.

The Asian palm civet eats the beans, and enzymes in its digestive tract are reported to break down bittering compounds in the coffee before the beans are excreted and collected. Beer Geek Brunch is not available in this area, but Mikkeller continues to make Beer Geek Breakfast, brewed with more-conventionally gathered coffee beans for a rich, oily mouth feel and a roasty flavor with notes of licorice and burnt molasses.

Using excreted coffee beans to make beer: Now that's an eye-opener.

Kitsock can be reached at food@washpost.com.

Correction to This Article
The column misstated the local availability of a Danish beer called Beer Geek Brunch. Distributors say the beer is not in production right now, but it may be available at scattered locations, including Village Pump Liquors in College Park, which has a limited quantity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113004347.html

Serani in Washington, DC area

Nice to see a good review for a good singer. In the cold of DC's snowstorm, long way from Jamaica! Serani isn't just about about Valentine Day lovers though - worth checking.



Dancehall star Serani's Valentine's Day set at Crossroads
By Sarah Godfrey
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, February 16, 2010; C03
Because music listeners should never have to weep alone, some artists deliver their most wrenching lyrics in a touching -- and comforting -- crying voice. The technique has been perfected by everyone from rapper Ghostface Killah and singer Céline Dion to newish adoptee Serani. The dancehall producer-vocalist sounds as if he's choking back sobs of joy throughout his hit "She Loves Me," and it's an incredible effect. Any dancehall artist can make you soak through your shirt, but few can make you put down your drink and dab your eyes.
A part of the mighty Daseca production trio (he's the man behind Sean Paul's "We Be Burnin' ") and a mix-tape fave for some time, Serani released the full-length "No Games" at the end of last year. He performed much of the material on the album, with emphasis on the emotional romance tracks, at a Valentine's Day show at Crossroads.
After paying homage to some of the best in crossover dancehall (Devonte and Tanto Metro's "Everyone Falls in Love," Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go"), the Kingston native dug into his own songbook: "No Games," which is as much of a poppy weeper as "She Loves Me," as well at the amorous double-header of "Romance Me" and "Naked."
Serani's not all tissues and Visine, though. He ended with the more hard-core sound of his 2008 breakout track "Doh," and also the peppy "Skip to Ma Luu" (during which he leads everyone in the dance of the same name) because the dancehall would start to get a bad rep if it sent folks home tear-stained but not sweat-drenched.
Godfrey is a freelance writer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/15/AR2010021503501.html

Damian Marley / Nas - reggae hip-hop

I am looking for this CD - not at Best Buy here............. guess I will have to go on line.....


Bringing 'Distant Relatives' together
By Sarah Godfrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 11, 2009
The culture and music of reggae and hip-hop have much in common -- weed, sure, but also roots: the similarities between the genres and their shared connection to Africa are explored by hip-hop icon Nas and Jamaican reggae star Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on the forthcoming album "Distant Relatives." And in case a history lesson on the music of the African diaspora can't be fully absorbed when it's blaring out of a car stereo, "Distant Relatives" is also the subject of a documentary and a discussion panel, which take place Saturday at the National Geographic Society, on the connection between hip-hop and reggae.
"Sixty minutes of audio is not enough to express everything we want to express," Marley says. Nas gives another reason for doing the documentary and the discussion: "A lot of people won't understand why the hell Nas is doing an album with Damian Marley, or why the hell Damian Marley is doing an album with Nas, so they'll get to look at us, hear us explain it," he says.
After the legendary rapper and the renowned reggae artist (the son of reggae great Bob Marley) collaborated on "Road to Zion," a track on Marley's 2005 Grammy-winning album "Welcome to Jamrock," they decided to team up on an EP, which grew into an album. Marley, who produces all but one of the tracks on the new album, worked with the sounds of sub-Saharan Africa -- the music draws influence from everything from soukous to Afrobeat. From there, the album's larger focus emerged.
"We have a common interest in Africa, but it wasn't like we came into it with that in mind," Nas says. "But once we started working on the music, it kinda took on that form."
In "Distant Relatives," the artists top Marley's music with everything from political commentary on Africa ("Africa Must Wake Up") to fiery verbal sparring ("As We Enter"). That the fusion works is not only a testament to the men's skill, but evidence of reggae and hip-hop's sonic and social commonalities.
"Reggae and hip-hop, those are the two soundtracks for young people around the world," says Rob Kenner, reggae writer for VIBE and organizer of Saturday's panel discussion (the event is sold out, but will be streamed live beginning at 7 p.m. at http://www.natgeomusic.net). "Although people segregate them, they're very closely connected -- and they're both distant relatives of Africa." Kenner adds that although reggae and hip-hop artists frequently work together -- a remix here, a guest verse there -- "Distant Relatives" is the first significant, album-length collaboration.
Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang outlines the intertwined histories of hip-hop and reggae in his book "Can't Stop Won't Stop," which covers everything from the influence of American radio on Jamaican music in the '40s and '50s to the emergence of hip-hop that began with Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc in the early 1970s. Chang believes that for hip-hop and reggae artists to explore their ties to Africa is a natural progression. "Here are two artists interested in pushing the edge to really take it out there," Chang says of "Distant Relatives." "With artists like K'Naan and M.I.A., there's a global context now -- in order for all art forms to move forward, you have to have someone like Nas or Damian Marley to step up and push the edge."
Saturday's discussion will attempt to cover just as much ground as the "Distant Relatives" album itself -- not only the hip-hop/reggae connection, but the link to Africa. The panel includes Daddy U-Roy and King Jammy, who are often credited as early architects of sounds that would come to define hip-hop, along with Senegalese rapper Waterflow. "We bring the whole circle back," Kenner says of the panel. "The inspiration flows from Africa, from the use of drums to communicate and tell stories as griots would, then it comes to Jamaica and becomes sound systems, then moves to America and becomes hip-hop, and then it moves back to Africa."
Marley says that although he and Nas are the voices of "Distant Relatives," the goal was always to use the project as a way to spark discussion. "When it comes down to the hip-hop/reggae thing, we want to hear from other artists and pioneers," he says. "And when it comes to the Africa part we want to hear from African artists from the ground -- ground zero."
Godfrey is a freelance writer.

photo credit - Nabil Elderkin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/10/AR2009121004210.html