Suzi Wizowaty

I always imagined that the push to legalize marijuana came from small-time users who otherwise lived within the law--i.e. generally law-abiding folks who didn't want to go to jail for what they considered a harmless activity. In all honesty, it wasn't an issue that I gave much thought to.

But over the past decade I've spent more time working in jails, off and on, (more…)

Vermont's vigorous populist movement for health care reform has rallied behind the slogan, "Health care is a human right." The unspoken follow-up is "and we demand our rights!" Demands generate a lot of energy.

But the language of demand doesn't speak to me as much as the language of civic responsibility. The language of demand (more…)

"Hold onto your hats," we're being warned, as we approach 2010. The coming legislative session promises to be the most difficult ever, worse even than last year's. True, the economy has hit bottom, according to a range of indicators--job losses have flattened out, for example--which means that things aren't getting worse every week. But unemployment (more…)

This is not the first time an expert panel has generated recommendations that contradict earlier recommendations. Medicine is as much an art as a science--if not more--and new information should spark a re-evaluation of current practice.

NYT health writer Gina Kolata wrote a useful, brief history (Nov. 21) of medicine's conflicted relationship with mammograms. (more…)

Since Doug Racine was in Thailand during tonight's Democratic fundraiser in Barre, at which all the gubernatorial candidates were invited to speak, I was asked to represent him. Here is what I said:

[After my thank yous...]

For as long as I’ve known him, Doug has stood resolutely for fairness and justice, to me the most important principles that guide government. Throughout (more…)

Some have asked me how it happens that the legislature has any authority over Vermont Yankee (VY). With thanks to Tony Klein, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and John Greenberg, independent policy analyst, here's a thumbnail sketch of that history. (Any errors are mine alone.)

Vermont law requires a positive legislative vote for the construction of any new nuclear power plant as well as for any expansion of on-site nuclear waste storage. In the late 1960s, (more…)

Fear is a powerful tool. It regularly motivates us to do all kinds of things we might not do otherwise, from obsessively brushing our teeth (which I do) to invading other countries.

But it's not a tool I choose to use, nor do I admire its use by others. Where I am afraid, I try (more…)

The New York Times reported on Fri., Sept.11, 2009, on the good news that a new swine flu vaccine only requires one shot instead of two. "This is definitely a big deal," says a doc who's a "vaccine expert" at the Univ. of Rochester.

Wait, wait. What's the vaccine? What's in it? How safe is it? How has it been tested? Has it been tested on children? Have there been any independent reviews of the tests? (more…)

Flu season is approaching, and we’re being barraged almost daily with news reports about the swine flu. Interesting fact: on a recent visit to Vermont, David H. Newman, an emergency room physician at St. Luke’s in NYC who also teaches at Columbia, reported that while about 500 people have died of the swine flu so far in the U.S., 50,000 people die of the “regular” flu every year.

So why all the hype, and more significantly, who stands to benefit? (more…)

A few days ago I had a post put into my jawbone as the latest step in getting a new tooth. It’s an unpleasant procedure, with drilling and crunching, though I couldn’t feel the pain consciously because of the novocaine. In the middle of it, I thought, "I’m not doing this again." But you need your teeth, and mine are lousy, so who knows. But then I learned (more…)