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Government Concern (government + concern)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

ASIA PACIFIC COLUMN: New challenges and opportunities in managing substance abuse in Malaysia

DRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 5 2006
MAHMUD MAZLAN MD
Abstract Until recently, Malaysia has lagged behind in the treatment of drug addiction and related disorders, despite experiencing severe drug problems. By the end of 2004, 234 000 heroin users or heroin-dependent individuals had been registered in the official government registry, but other estimates exceed 500 000 for heroin abusers in the country. Amphetamine-type stimulant abuse is also increasing and of considerable public and government concern. Among the population of drug users, HIV and other infectious diseases rates are very high. In the Western Pacific regions, Malaysia has the second highest HIV prevalence (after Vietnam) among adult populations (0.62%) and the highest proportion of HIV cases resulting from injection drug use (76.3%). Drug use and related disorders exert a heavy burden on the country's health care and legal systems. Historically, drug abusers were rehabilitated involuntarily in correctional, rather than health-care, facilities. This primarily criminal treatment approach had limited effectiveness which led to widespread public dissatisfaction and the recent introduction of medical treatments for addiction. Naltrexone was introduced in 1999; buprenorphine was introduced in 2001 and methadone in 2003. Agonist maintenance programmes were embraced rapidly by the medical community in Malaysia. Currently, over 30 000 opiate-dependent patients are treated with agonist maintenance treatments by more than 500 medical practitioners in Malaysia. Despite these recent advances, treatments for amphetamine-type stimulant abuse or dependence are underdeveloped, and diversion of agonist medications is an emerging concern. [source]

Estimating Tax Evasion Losses: The Road Fund Case

PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 1 2001
Merl Hackbart
Federal, state, and local government concern about the loss of state revenues from tax evasion has increased in recent years. In order for policymakers to address this issue effectively, more information regarding the nature and magnitude of the problem is needed. This article reports on research that focuses on estimating the level of road fund tax evasion for several states. Estimates of road fund tax evasion are developed from previous research regarding individual state evasion levels, perceptions of road fund tax evasion by state revenue officials, and a statistical estimate of road fund tax evasion. [source]

CAN A NEW NUCLEAR PROGRAMME BE JUSTIFIED?

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 2 2006
Colin Robinson
The moratorium on the building of new nuclear power stations in the UK that has existed since the 1980s may be ended as a result of government concerns about the security of energy provision and the environmental impact of fossil-fuel-based energy supply. This viewpoint argues that the case for nuclear power on both counts is unproven. Moreover, renewed government support for a civil nuclear power programme may be a case of government attempting to pick winners, when the evidence suggests that such decisions are best taken by energy suppliers, producers and consumers. [source]

Educators and Armaments in Cold War America

PEACE & CHANGE, Issue 4 2009
Charles L. DeBenedetti
This essay was written prior to the end of the Cold War. It may very well be the last scholarly essay that peace movement historian Charles DeBenedetti wrote prior to his death. Charles sent it to me in 1984, and for many years it was kept in one of my files. It is a historical commentary about the nuclear arms race based upon a thorough reading of education journals. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that in the very early years of the Cold War educators paid particular attention to the militarization of society and the construction of weapons of mass destruction. What is most telling is that from 1945 to the early 1950s concerned teachers voiced their worries regarding a race between catastrophe and education. However, by 1953, educators had dropped out of the race, falling victim to McCarthyism and the national government's concern for civil defense. This scholarly article points out that educators had a responsibility to teach the public about the horrors of nuclear armaments as an overwhelming threat and danger to humankind, but failed to do so as prosperity and government pressure silenced their voices. By the time of Sputnik in 1957, DeBenedetti tells us, they considered "nuclear weaponry as the very symbol of the uncharted ocean that separated advancing scientific and technological revolutions from the hoary human politics that made for an intractable Cold War." How can educators today rekindle that awareness and replace complacency with determination? What historical lessons can peace educators today learn from DeBenedetti's research on peace educators of the Cold War period? [source]