Marriage is not a disease. Is it?
State senator Beverly Fawell, the Glen Ellyn Republican who sponsored the bill, brushes aside any criticism, saying anything that prevents the spread of AIDS is worth it.
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But critics of the law wonder whether testing lovebirds is getting us anywhere. Shouldn’t the state’s limited resources be spent on testing and counseling people who are at high risk–gay men and drug addicts? According to Public Health Director Dr. Bernard Turnock, just over $300,000 has already been spent by the state on the prenuptial AIDS screening program.
A new Illinois tax known as the “grass tax” requires drug dealers to purchase tax stamps ($5 a gram for marijuana, $250 a gram for other drugs, and $2,000 for each dose of drugs not sold by weight) before doing business. The stamps are supposed to be stuck onto any packet of drugs sold.
Women began asking: was relief finally in sight?
Lawyers, doctors, and journalists share this common trait: people don’t know whether to believe them or not. All three professions got into the act this year over a tightly written, emotionless account called “It’s Over, Debbie,” published last January by the Journol of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It was either a well-told piece of fiction or the confession of a coldblooded killer, a doctor who administered a lethal dose of morphine to a young woman already dying of ovarian cancer.
