free
WEDNESDAY
dec. 6, 2017 high 39°, low 29°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • Interim director
P • Sweet escape
Meet Rob Pusch, an advocate for the local queer community, who’s serving as interim director of Syracuse University’s LGBT Resource Center. Page 3
dailyorange.com
The family behind Glazed & Confused, a doughnut shop that recently opened on North Clinton Street, hopes it will be Syracuse’s next hot spot for fresh pastries. Page 9
S • Moving forward
Syracuse forwards Matthew Moyer and Oshae Brissett combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds as SU got revenge against Connecticut, 72-63. Page 16
county
Miner addresses tax bill at City Hall forum
Tobacco purchasing age raised By Mary Catalfamo asst. copy editor
STEPHANIE MINER, Syracuse’s outgoing mayor, hosted a town hall Tuesday at City Hall to discuss the contentious GOP tax plan and Rep. John Katko’s vote to approve a version of the plan. hieu nguyen staff photographer By Kennedy Rose asst. news editor
Syracuse community members on Tuesday evening urged outgoing Mayor Stephanie Miner to run against Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., during a town hall discussion on contentious GOP tax reform efforts. Katko voted to pass a House of Representatives tax bill that would significantly lower the corporate tax rate and eliminate certain tax deductions that could cost Syracuse residents thousands of dollars, some officials said. About 150 concerned residents and local politicians packed the city’s Common Council Chambers on Tuesday, denouncing the tax bills and what some called Katko’s unwillingness to discuss the potential impacts of tax reform. A crowd of people
waited outside the room, with no space left inside. City officials announced the event would be streamed on Facebook Live to accommodate the crowd. “Our founding fathers had a bold idea about our democratic values, and that idea was based on the fact that each one of us in a democracy has to take ownership of it,” Miner said. Miner, who is term-limited, said people have allowed others to take responsibility of democracy for too long. She encouraged residents to continue speaking out against policies they disagree with. During the event, multiple people yelled that Miner should run against Katko, including one man who wore a “Run Stephanie! Run!” T-shirt. Miner, earlier this fall, initially said she had ruled out a run for Congress. She had long considered the
possibility of challenging Katko, who was first elected to office in 2015 and, in early November, was elected as a co-chair of the moderate Tuesday Group caucus. Miner, though, announced she would be taking a position at New York University in the spring as a visiting professor. But after Katko voted for the House tax plan, Syracuse.com reported Miner may have changed her mind. She alluded to possibly running, according to Syracuse.com. No speakers at the town hall on Tuesday expressed support for Katko. Several held signs that read “#shameonkatko” and “Where’s Katko?” with an image of Katko’s face imposed over the Waldo character from the children’s book, “Where’s Waldo?” Dana Balter, a Syracuse University see forum page 6
on campus
SU students describe prescription drug culture By Hanna Horvath staff writer
It was senior Alicia Rivera’s first semester at Syracuse University, and she had three final exams in one day. She was overwhelmed with studying. Her roommate suggested taking Adderall, a prescription medication that can be used as a study drug but is prescribed for activity deficit hyperactivity disorder, to get her work done. Rivera, who was not prescribed, took two pills that morning and then another right before her second test, which she got from a
boy sitting next to her in class. She didn’t know his name or the dosage he gave her. She later described the drug’s resulting effects as “severe.” “I was sweating bullets, my hands were shaking, my heart was beating so fast,” Rivera recalled. “There was a point where I was really worried that the feeling wasn’t going to end.” More than 18 hours after she took the drugs, Rivera finally started to feel normal and was able to sleep. She said she was “shook” from the experience. Rivera isn’t alone. The Drug Enforcement Agency reported in
2016 that nearly 12 percent of college students admitted to using prescription drugs they had no recent prescription for. Rivera said she has not taken Adderall, or any other drug for ADHD, since then. Drug abuse is defined as taking a prescribed drug without a prescription, or taking more than the doctor-assigned dosage of a drug. Common on college campuses is the abuse of amphetamine, a stimulant used to treat ADHD. Common brands include Adderall, Ritalin and Vyvanse, and dosages for those drugs can range from 5 milli-
grams to 70 milligrams or more. Students can take these drugs to improve concentration, stay awake and, in some cases, suppress their appetites. Dessa Bergen-Cico, a public health professor at SU, said she thinks the number of students abusing these drugs is higher than the DEA has reported. Every semester, she asks her addiction studies class to raise their hands if they use Adderall recreationally or as a study drug. Every semester, the same number of hands goes up: about 50 percent of the class. see
drugs page 7
The Onondaga County Legislature voted Tuesday to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 19 to 21. The bill passed 11-5 with one legislator absent. The bill prohibits the sale of tobacco products, herbal cigarettes, rolling paper and e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 21. An exception for 18-year-old active duty military members in the current law is not included in the new bill, which is sometimes called Tobacco 21 or T21. “One of the ways we can best contribute to improving our community’s health is to change law,” said Franklin Fry, executive director of the American Heart Association in the greater Syracuse area. “We have seen that T21 has proven to be successful. We have the Institute of Medicine report as evidence behind that.”
21
Proposed new legal age for purchasing tobacco in Onondaga County
That 2015 report concluded that the impact of raising the minimum age of legal access to 21 will “likely be substantially higher” than raising it from 18 to 19, which Onondaga County did in 2009. Leslie Kohman, a surgeon at the State University of New York Upstate Medical Hospital, also spoke before the Legislature on Tuesday. “T21 is a vital step that Onondaga County can take to protect our future productive citizens from the scourge of tobacco-related disease, disability and death,” Kohman said. Another family physician with military experience spoke in support of the bill during the session. Along with Kohman and Fry, two health professionals from St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center and a representative from the Tobacco Free Network also stepped forward as proponents of the bill. David Barry, though, opposed language in the bill that will also prohibit vaping. Barry is the central New York director of the state Vapor Association and operations see tobacco page 6