Liar wants to be a lawyer

The San Jose newspaper reports:

In the journalism world, Stephen Glass was a true villain, perhaps the most renowned fabricator in the profession's history.

Dozens of his stories in magazines such as the New Republic and Rolling Stone in the late 1990s were proven to be bogus. His level of journalistic deceit became such a national scandal that Hollywood made a movie about his fall, "Shattered Glass."

But in the 15 years since Glass was caught in his fraud, he has pursued another profession that depends on honesty. And now his own fable of redemption, if it is to be believed, has set a jarring question before the California Supreme Court: Can someone who once built a career on lies be licensed to be a lawyer in this state?

Glass was not convicted of any crime. Since when does the legal profession depend on honesty?

In other news, the FDA announced:

FDA: Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to plead guilty and pay over $1.6 billion to resolve allegations of misbranding and filing false claims for its schizophrenia drug Risperdal

On behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice today announced a guilty plea agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (JPI) of Titusville, N.J., and a $400 million criminal fine for introducing a misbranded drug, Risperdal (risperidone), into interstate commerce. A Johnson & Johnson Company, JPI must also pay $1.25 billion under a separate civil settlement concerning the same drug. The combined criminal plea and civil settlement agreement related to Risperdal totals more than $1.67 billion. ...

The FDA maintains that physicians may, within the practice of medicine, use a drug to treat patients for symptoms or diseases even when the drug is not FDA-approved for such uses. However, if a pharmaceutical manufacturer intends its drug to be used for a new use, not approved by the FDA, and introduces the drug into interstate commerce for that use, the drug is misbranded, and introduction of that misbranded drug into interstate commerce is a violation of the law. ...

JPI also marketed Risperdal for use in children with behavior challenges, despite known health risks to children and adolescents. Until late in 2006, Risperdal was not approved for use in children for any purpose, and the FDA repeatedly advised the company that promoting its use in children was problematic and could be evidence of a violation of the law.

One of my readers has a grandchild ordered to take Risperdal by the Santa Cruz family court and its incompetent experts. If this drug is so dangerous that the maker if fined a billion dollars for promoting, I do not thing that stupid court officials should be requiring over the objections of one of the parents.